This is a list of self or otherwise proclaimed socialists. Some of these people moved away from socialism, while others espoused other ideologies before turning to socialism. There are many different views of what constitute socialism, and most socialists would feel that some of the people on this list were not true socialists. The people on this list have been nominated because they claimed to be socialists, or were very widely perceived to be by others. When a person has shifted from being one kind of socialist to another (for example, from being a communist to being a social democrat), they appear under their most recent identification.
See also the list of anarchists.
François-Noël Babeuf, Ernest Bax, Louis Blanc, Louis Blanqui, Robert Blatchford, Edward Carpenter, Friedrich Engels, Charles Fourier, Morris Hillquit, H. M. Hyndman, Peter Kropotkin, Ferdinand Lassalle, John Lilburne, Eleanor Marx, Karl Marx, Giuseppe Mazzini, William Morris, Robert Owen, Georgi Plekhanov, Pierre-Joseph Proudhon, Harry Quelch, Claude-Henri de Saint-Simon, George Bernard Shaw
A. Iso Abe, Gerry Adams, Grantley Adams, Mari Alkatiri, Salvador Allende, Francisco Xavier do Amaral, Julio Anguita, Kenny Anthony, Fernando de Araújo, Jacobo Arbenz, Clement Attlee, Obafemi Awolowo
B. Natsagiyn Bagabandi, Sirimavo Bandaranaike, Solomon Bandaranaike, Ehud Barak, Agatha Barbara, José Batlle, Timoci Bavadra, Kim C. Beazley, Kim E. Beazley, August Bebel, David Ben-Gurion, Hillary Benn, Tony Benn, Pierre Bérégovoy, Paul Bérenger, Aneurin Bevan, Ernest Bevin, Istvan Bibo, Tony Blair, Léon Blum, Juan Bosch, Robert Bradshaw, Willy Brandt, Karl-Hjalmar Branting, Algirdas Brazauskas, Ed Broadbent, George Brown, Gordon Brown, Gro Harlem Brundtland, Alexander Bustamante, Tubal Uriah Butler
C. Jim Cairns, James Callaghan, Lorne Calvert, Arthur Calwell, Lázaro Cárdenas, Ingvar Carlsson, Barbara Castle, Milton Cato, Mathew Charlton, Mahendra Chaudhry, Hugo Chávez, Ben Chifley, Frederick Chiluba, Helen Clark, Avelino Coelho, Major Coldwell, Jeremy Corbyn, Bettino Craxi, Frank Crean, Simon Crean, Edith Cresson, Stafford Cripps, Tony Crosland, Richard Crossman, John Curtin, Massimo D'Alema, Hugh Dalton, Luís Inácio Lula da Silva, John Clynes
D. Moshe Dayan, Eugene Debs, Bertrand Delanoë, Joop den Uyl, H. D. Deve Gowda, Donald Dewar, Gary Doer, Takako Doi, Denzil Douglas, Tommy Douglas, Willem Drees
E. Friedrich Ebert, Tage Erlander, Levi Eshkol, H. V. Evatt
F. Laurent Fabius, Karl-August Fagerholm, Ferenc Farkas, Zdenek Fierlinger, Dingle Foot, Michael Foot, Peter Fraser, Leonora Fulani
G. Hugh Gaitskell, George Galloway, Ralph Gonsalves, Felipe González, Bernie Grant, Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson, Joăo Goulart, Jules Guesde, Xanana Gusmăo, António Guterres
H. Hugo Haase, Tarja Halonen, Per Albin Hansson, Keir Hardie, Michael Harrington, Sheikh Hasina, Bob Hawke, Bill Hayden, Arthur Henderson, Harry Holland, Edward Hunter, Camille Huysmans
J. Glenda Jackson, Cheddi Jagan, Janet Jagan, Bharrat Jagdeo, Thorbjřrn Jagland, Jean Jaurès, Roy Jenkins, Lionel Jospin, Anerood Jugnauth
K. Clements Kadalie, Antti Kalliomäki, Mauno Koivisto, Paul Keating, Neil Kinnock, Norman Kirk, Wim Kok, Bruno Kreisky, Juscelino Kubitschek, Pentti Kuisma, Aleksander Kwasniewski
\L. Jack Lang (Australia), Jack Lang (France), David Lange, George Lansbury, Francisco Largo Caballero, Mark Latham, Carmen Lawrence, Jack Layton, Edmond Leburton, Hégésippe Légitimus, David Lewis, Wilhelm Liebknecht, Anna Lindh, Walter Lini, Paavo Lipponen, Ken Livingstone
M. Ramsay MacDonald, Alexa McDonough, Audrey McLaughlin, David McReynolds, Nelson Mandela, Peter Mandelson, Michael Manley, Milton Margai, Julius Martov, Pierre Mauroy, James Maxton, Thabo Mbeki, Tom Mboya, Golda Meir, Pierre Mendès-France, Alun Michael, Leszek Miller, Alexandre Millerand, Dom Mintoff, François Mitterrand, Guy Mollet, Mike Moore, Francisco Morazán, Rhodri Morgan, Herbert Morrison, Pierre Mulele, Hermann Müller, Said Musa, Levy Mwanawasa
N. Fatos Nano, Walter Nash, Edward Natapei, Juan Negrín, Jawaharlal Nehru, Maria das Neves
O. Punsalmaagiyn Ochirbat, Erich Ollenhauer, David Owen
P. Pertti Paasio, Rafael Paasio, Olof Palme, Geoffrey Palmer, Andreas Papandreou, George Papandreou, Victor Paz Estenssoro, Shimon Peres, Göran Persson, Sandro Pertini, Symon Petlyura, Pedro Pires
R. Yitzhak Rabin, Bob Rae, Navin Ramgoolam, Seewoosagur Ramgoolam, Ernesto Ramos Antonini, Poul Nyrup Rasmussen, Johannes Rau, John Reid, Karl Renner, Michel Rocard, Walter Rodney, Roy Romanow, Kevin Rudd, Arnold Rüütel
S. Jorge Sampaio, Bernie Sanders, Alfred Sant, Giuseppe Saragat, Michael Joseph Savage, Philipp Scheidemann, Willem Schermerhorn, Helmut Schmidt, Gerhard Schröder, Kurt Schumacher, James Scullin, Jim Sillars, Costas Simitis, John Smith, Phillip Snowden, Mário Soares, Kalevi Sorsa, Paul-Henri Spaak, Benjamin Spock, Thorvald Stauning, Jens Stoltenberg, Aung San Suu Kyi
T. Väinö Tanner, Norman Thomas, Frank Tudor, Erkki Tuomioja
U. Cassam Uteem
V. Achille Van Acker, Ronald Venetiaan, Mário Viegas Carrascalăo
W. John Christian Watson, William Wedgwood Benn, John Wheatley, Gough Whitlam, Shirley Williams, Harold Wilson, James Woodsworth
Z. Hernán Siles Zuazo
A. Rosa Aguilar, D. N. Aidit, Ramiz Alia, Anandyn Amar, Yuri Andropov, Julio Anguita, Kanson Arahata
B. Jyoti Basu, Jambyn Batmöhn, Lavrenty Beria, Enrico Berlinguer, Boleslaw Bierut, Maurice Bishop, Leonid Brezhnev, Earl Browder, Josip Broz Tito, Tim Buck, Nikolai Bukharin, Nikolay Bulganin
C. Adil Çarçani, Santiago Carrillo, Fidel Castro, Nicolae Ceausescu, Oldrich Cerník, Chen Yi, Konstantin Chernenko, Vulko Chervenkov, Bernard Coard, Józef Cyrankiewicz
D. S. A. Dange, Angela Davis, Deng Xiaoping, Georgi Dimitrov, Milovan Djilas, Do Muoi, Alexander Dubcek, Jacques Duclos
F. Tetzuo Fuwa
G. William Gallacher, Ernö Gerö, Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej, Edward Gierek, Wladyslaw Gomulka, Klement Gottwald, Andrey Gromyko, Károly Grósz, Otto Grotewohl, Che Guevara
H. Gus Hall, Chris Hani, Denis Healey, Heng Samrin, Ho Chi Minh, Erich Honecker, Enver Hoxha, Hu Jintao, Hu Yaobang, Hua Guofeng, Gustáv Husák
I. Dolores Ibarruri, Ieng Sary
J. Jambyn Batmönh, Piotr Jaroszewicz, Wojciech Jaruzelski, Martyn Jones,Jiang Qing, Jiang Zemin
K. János Kádár, Lazar Kaganovich, Mikhail Kalinin, Lev Kamenev, Stanislaw Kania, Kaysone Phomvihan, Khamtai Siphandon, Khieu Samphan, Khorloyn Choybalsan, Nikita Khrushchev, Kim Il Sung, Kim Jong Il, Alexandra Kollontai, Aleksey Kosygin, Egon Krenz, Bela Kun
L. Le Duan, Le Kha Phieu, Vladimir Lenin, Li Dazhao, Li Peng, Karl Liebknecht, Lin Biao, Liu Shaoqi, Luigi Longo, Rosa Luxemburg, Julio Llamazares,
M. Georgy Malenkov, Tom Mann, Georges Marchais, Ion Gheorghe Maurer, Anastas Mikoyan, Kenji Miyamoto, Petur Mladenov, Mao Zedong, Slobodan Milosevic, Hans Modrow, Vyacheslav Molotov
N. Rakhmon Nabiyev, Imre Nagy, Nguyen Van Linh, Nong Duc Manh, Antonín Novotný
O. Edward Ochab
P. George Padmore, Rajani Palme Dutt, Sylvia Pankhurst, Pham Van Dong, Wilhelm Pieck, Nikolay Podgorny, Pol Pot, Harry Pollitt, Yevgeny Preobrazhensky
R. Karl Radek, Mátyás Rákosi, Christian Rakovsky, Aleksey Rykov, Nikolai Ryzhkov
S. Mehmet Shehu, Eduard Shevardnadze, Kazuo Shii, Horst Sindermann, Viliam Siroký, Joe Slovo, Marian Spychalski, Joseph Stalin, Willi Stoph, Lubomír Strougal, Mikhail Suslov, Ludvík Svoboda
T. Ernst Thälmann, Maurice Thorez, Nikolai Tikhonov, Stanko Todorov, Palmiro Togliatti, Truong Chinh
V. Vladimir Voronin, Vo Nguyen Giap, Vo Van Kiet, Kliment Voroshilov
Z. Antonín Zápotocký, Zhao Ziyang, Todor Zhivkov, Zhou Enlai, Zhu De, Grigori Zinoviev
Askar Akayev, Heydar Aliyev, Hafizullah Amin, Juan José Arévalo, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, Bashar al-Assad, Hafez al-Assad, Mohamed Siad Barre, René Barrientos, Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, Ahmed Ben Bella, Chadli Bendjedid, Houari Boumedienne, Habib Bourguiba, Desi Bouterse, Forbes Burnham, Luís Cabral, Joaquim Chissano, Blaise Compaoré, Manuel Pinto da Costa, Moktar Ould Daddah, Abdou Diouf, Félix Éboué, José Eduardo dos Santos, Joseph Kabila, Laurent Kabila, Islam Karimov, Babrak Karmal, Modibo Keita, Mathieu Kérékou, Lee Kuan Yew, Pascal Lissouba, Alexander Lukashenko, Patrice Lumumba, Samora Machel, Francisco Macías Nguema, Alphonse Massamba-Débat, Léon M'ba, Mengistu Haile Mariam, Michel Micombero, Francisco Morales Bermúdez, Robert Mugabe, Mohammad Najibullah, Gamal Abdel Nasser, Ne Win, Agostinho Neto, Marien Ngouabi, Gaafar Nimeiry, Saparmurat Niyazov, Kwame Nkrumah, Sam Nujoma, Julius Nyerere, Daniel Ortega, Alfredo Ovando Candia, Aristides Pereira, Mu'ammar Al Qathafi, Emomali Rahmonov, Didier Ratsiraka, Jerry Rawlings, France-Albert René, Saddam Hussein, Augusto Sandino, Thomas Sankara, Denis Sassou-Nguesso, Léopold Sédar Senghor, Ali Soilih, Siaka Stevens, Sukarno, Nur Mohammad Taraki, Maaouya Ould Sid'Ahmed Taya, Ahmed Sékou Touré, Juan Velasco Alvarado, Joăo Bernardo Vieira, Emiliano Zapata
Mumia Abu-Jamal, Theodor Adorno, Dusé Mohammed Ali, Louis Althusser, Walter Benjamin, J. D. Bernal, Mongo Beti, Amílcar Cabral, Albert Camus, Aimé Césaire, Noam Chomsky, G. D. H. Cole, Maryse Condé, René Depestre, Blaise Diagne, Cheikh Anta Diop, Milovan Djilas, W. E. B. Du Bois, Albert Einstein, Frantz Fanon, Édouard Glissant, Antonio Gramsci, Nicolás Guillén, Jürgen Habermas, J. B. S. Haldane, Mohammad Hatta, Eric Hobsbawm, Max Horkheimer, Takuboku Ishikawa, Maulana Karenga, Karl Kautsky, Harold Laski, Étienne Léro, Jack London, Georg Lukács, John Maclean, Herbert Marcuse, Dashdorjiin Natsagdorj, Pablo Neruda, Paul Niger, Alfred Orage, George Orwell, Anton Pannekoek, Regino Pedroso, John Reed, Paul Robeson, Walter Rodney, Jacques Roumain, Bayard Rustin, Noémia de Sousa, E. P. Thompson, Beatrice Webb, Sidney Webb, H. G. Wells, Raymond Williams, Howard Zinn
Domingo Iturbe Abasolo, Mikel Albizu, Ignacio Gracia Arregui, José Astorquiza, Andreas Baader, Sabri al-Banna, Dipankar Bhattacharya, Jorge Briceno, Mofakkar Chowdhury, Pushpan Kamal Dahal, Hagop Hagopian, Francisco Javier Garcia Gaztelu, Abimael Guzmán, Naif Hawatmeh, Alberto Félix López de Lacalle, Julen Madariaga, Subcomandante Marcos, Manuel Marulanda, Ulrike Meinhof, Gino Perente, Jonas Savimbi, Fusako Shigenobu, José María Benito del Valle
Marcel Déat, Jacques Doriot, Lyndon LaRouche, Oswald Mosley, Benito Mussolini, Corneliu Vadim Tudor, Vladimir ZhirinovskyPioneer and utopian socialists
Democratic socialists
(includes social democrats and Labor / Labour figures)
George LansburyCommunists
(members of orthodox Communist parties)
Dolores IbarruriAncarchists and syndicalists
Mikhail Bakunin, Daniel Cohn-Bendit, James Connolly, Bob Crow, Daniel DeLeon, Bill Hayward, Mother Jones, Helen Keller, Jay Lovestone, Tan Malakka, Grandizo Munis, Victor Serge, Andreu Nin, Harold Pinter, Sacco and Vanzetti, Arthur Scargill, Henk Sneevliet, Mark Thomas, Ricky Tomlinson.Trotskyists
Martin Abern, Robert Barcia, Daniel Bensaďd, Olivier Besancenot, Alex Callinicos, James P. Cannon, Tony Cliff, Farrell Dobbs, Hal Draper, Wang Fanxi, Paul Foot, Pierre Frank, Josef Frey, Ted Grant, Duncan Hallas, Joseph Hansen, Chris Harman, Jock Haston, Gerry Healy, Irving Howe, C. L. R. James, Michael Kidron, David Korner, Alain Krivine, Arlette Laguiller, Pierre Lambert, Abraham Leon, Ken Loach, Guillermo Lora, Ernest Mandel, Sean Matgamna, Raymond Molinier, Nahuel Moreno, Pierre Naville, Jabra Nicola, N. M. Perera, Juan Posadas, Pandelis Pouliopoulos, Michel Raptis (Pablo), Vanessa Redgrave, Roman Rosdolsky, Alfred Rosmer, Leon Sedov, Natalia Sedova, Mark Serwotka, Max Shachtman, Tommy Sheridan, Maurice Spector, Mark Steel, Peter Taaffe, Ta Tu Thau, Alan Thornett, Pierre Tresso (Blasco), Leon Trotsky, Esteban Volkov, David WidgeryThird World and ex-Soviet Authoritarians
Kwame NkrumahSocialist intellectuals
(who may well also have been members of parties, but are best known as intellectuals)Extremist and terrorist leftists
(leaders of self-proclaimed leftist terrorist groups; most would argue that the actions of the following people are inherently anti-socialist)Socialists who became fascists