Please know the difference between socialism and communism.
Unfortunately these two always came together but the idea of socialism cannot be denounced because of communist involvement.
What I agree with is that young people know nothing about old times and sometime should keep their mouth shot .
As I understand it, Marx said that socialism prepares the way and opens the door for communism, which remains the ultimate goal.
Opening the door for something doesn’t mean the door will be opened. Every opportunity can or cannot be used.
Capitalism opens a lot of door as well. For good and for bad things.
Unfortunately we don’t live in Utopia and there is no perfect system.
We will always find bad parts of anything, depending on the standpoint.
“The ultimate goal of Socialism is Communism.”- Vladimir Lenin
Socialism is a system where workers own means of production. An individual cannot create a business a hire workers under socialism. No ranch hands allowed. Owning industrial equipment or too much farm land is considered means of exploiting your fellow man, leading to confiscation. Either people with guns come, or you are suffocated with taxation until you let go of that property. You cannot have too much house, what if you rent some rooms? You are not allowed to have occupation that is not on the list of state-approved jobs, etc. etc.
This is the root of all evil. Social insurance programs or various money give away programs are not socialism.
Socialism exists today in small agrarian communes in Israel, for example. It is voluntary, one can leave at any time. But from what I read, people are not allowed personal property beyond tooth brushes. Once socialist idea grows beyond this scale – inevitable happens, statism with its tyranny. And since many people fail to appreciate The Great State and its tender care, mass reeducation becomes necessary. Rest of the story we know.
Same kind of people that float to the top under Capitalism, do so under Socialism. People can benefit greatly under Socialism, like the Nomenclature class in the former USSR. Once there is a door, there will be a line of people waiting to enter and march to the top, stepping on heads of others. I don’t need to name names, you can see them on TV.
The MOD Squad of today don’t really know the difference between the 2!
“Opening the door” does indeed mean “the door will be opened” because it already has been. Now, whether or not anyone walks through the open door is another question.
You are correct, there are no perfect systems. ANYTHING can be abused and turned to evil purpose. One then must evaluate a particular system by assessing whether the good effects outweigh the bad. Socialism and communism, singly or in combination. have invariably produced nations of misery, poverty, and corruption, not to mention the wholesale slaughter of its own citizens to the tune of around 100,000,000 in the twentieth century alone. The fact that some nations so constructed manage to limp along, neither succeeding nor failing, is not an endorsement. It is simply a demonstration of the effects resulting from a toxic brew of lies, propaganda, apathy, fear, and ruthless brutality.
And, before you point it out, I recognize and denounce the abuses and corruption that happen within capitalist systems as well. But, in my estimation, capitalism has produced more good than bad. More freedom, more opportunity, more wealth, more individual success, more innovation, more advancement, and more accountability. The fact that ANY system -political, economic, or governmental- can be abused is simply proof of a fundamental flaw underlying all human endeavors, to wit, people suck. Most people don’t suck very much, but there are always enough who suck so completely that they actually prefer to abuse whatever they find. It’s a tightrope walked by humanity since the beginning and shows no sign of fading.
You hit on what is perhaps the greatest failing of many systems, not just socialism–They are not scalable beyond a certain size. What works well within a family, or a tribe, or a community fails when expanded beyond its limits.
Proving my point made above: people suck, and some people suck to the extreme.
Hence the Orwell phrase in Animal Farm.
“All pigs are equal. Some pigs are more equal than others”.
I am sure. But socialism (including National Socialism, aka Nazism), is probably the only system that invariably produces mass murder and totalitarianism.
But let’s not excuse communists, who have proven themselves to be equally as capable of mass murder and totalitarianism.
Absolutely, communism and nazism have the same driving idea behind them, they are not opposites. The antithesis to both of these Socialist systems are “the nations of shopkeepers”, as old Adolf called the US and UK in contempt. Small business owner is the worst opponent to Socialism.
Now, who is the worst hit group by the recent crisis, the pandemic, the riots? Yea. Think about it
I think most here would consider many European countries to fall under the socialist banner. I don’t see Finland, Norway or Sweden being accused of mass murder too often. And it’s not like most of the world’s other forms of government haven’t been built on a lot of bloodshed and brutal control.
The problem with all the ists and isms is that most people just want to be left alone to take care of themselves and their families. But there will always be those who want to corrupt whatever system they find themselves in for their own benefit. As well as the few who seek to gain power and control over others.
Thank you for pointing out the fact that Communists and Nazis were both socialist parties. Too few people understand this. Nothing in the world has led to as much unnecessary suffering as socialism has.
When the free military defense and medical research provided by the US runs out, those euro nations will either become fully tyrannical, abandon socialist policies that can no longer be funded, or be conquered because they cannot fund their own defense.
That is entirely possible though I don’t see things going much better for our Republic when our debt bubble, money printing, Ponzi Scheme reaches its inevitable end.