Socialism Doesn't Work!

How many times have you heard this phrase, or something akin to it? Maybe you even are one of the many who hold this opinion. One might hear this uttered in a conversation about Bernie Sanders; "Say what!? You're planning on voting for Sanders!?! Don't you know that socialism doesn't work!??"

_{source: Public Domain Files}

When it's asserted that socialism doesn't work, people always point the finger at the totalitarian mutations of socialism, like Maoist China, Stalinist Sovjet Union, modern day North Korea or even National Socialism as practiced by the Nazis in the run up to, and during the Second World War. These assertions rest on a poor understanding of what socialism actually is. Before one can say "I'm not a socialist", one must first understand what it is, and that none of the eagerly pointed at failures qualify. When you look it up, you'll find something like "the means of production are collectively owned by the community as a whole." Now, start by explaining to me how you square this in your head with a totalitarian state.

In fact, don't look it up just yet; try to describe it for yourself first, and then look it up. I've often given the example of the term "economy"; we all talk about it, but when asked what economy is, many will stand dumbfounded or just regurgitate some definition they heard or read somewhere, instead of trying to formulate for themselves what it is first. I've come to my own definition of economy that has served me quite well since adulthood; it's the answer to the question how we distribute all that we collectively produce with the planet's resources. That's it. We have a planet full of stuff, we have heads full of ideas and we have bodies with hands, and hands with opposing thumbs, so we can materialize what's been in our heads with labor and cooperation.

Now, how do we decide who gets what? Do we all make everything we need ourselves? Or do we recognize that this mindset will trap us forever in the stone age? And who decides who gets what? Do we all have a say or do we leave this decision to a small group, or even just one person? Socialism, comrades, is any set of economic and political ideals that answer both these questions in a specific manner; "all of us" to the latter and "everyone according to their need" to the first. In fact, both questions can be answered by one word: "democracy".

_{Marxism is not equivalent to socialism! - source: Wikipedia}

So, does socialism work? The answer is an unequivocal "of course it does!" It has been working for ages and will continue to work even better in the future. I don't know if you've noticed, but even in the Bible there are many socialistic themes present, like helping the poor, being nice to immigrants, distribute wealth according to people's needs, loving thy neighbor and so on and so forth. Also I hope you've noticed that capitalism is actually the system that that opposes democracy, kills it even. Capitalism answers the two questions posed earlier with the same: "ME!". And only one of us, or the small group that's smart enough to band together, will be that "ME", or in case of a small group: "ME, MYSELF AND I". The small group variant of kleptocrats is our current socio-economic reality, and it's a global reality, and we often call it, quite aptly, "socialism for the rich".

There are several variations of Socialist Anarchism that do away with all forms of government, or syndicalism in which the workers democratically govern the means of production, or social democracy in which the democratic state interferes where capitalism fails miserably; many western European countries, like the Scandinavian countries, are capitalist societies in which the government does much in the way of providing basic needs like education, healthcare and welfare, paid by taxes from a very progressive taxation policy. It's worth noting that these countries score best with regards to low crime rates, low suicide numbers, equal opportunities between the sexes and races and so on: capitalism is heavily regulated by socialist policies, the two happily coexist in these countries, yet many will describe them as completely socialist. These are the same people who have to be explained that Bernie Sanders is not a socialist.

I'll close with a small excerpt from one of Trump's many capitalism-glorifying speeches, but first I'll give the transcript, edited by myself, with the word "socialism" replaced by "capitalism", and some strategic replacements of nations mentioned; you tell me which rings more true...

"All of us in this arena, an thousands and thousands and thousands of people outside you have to see, are united because we know the truth about capitalism, in America, in China and Saudi Arabia and all around the world. (crowd cheers and applauds) Capitalism promises prosperity, but it delivers poverty. Capitalism promises unity, but it delivers hatred and it delivers division. Capitalism promises a better future, but it always returns to the darkest chapters of the past, that never fails, it always happens... Capitalism is a sad and discredited ideology, rooted in the total ignorance of history and human nature, which is why capitalism eventually must always give rise to tyranny, which it does. (crowd cheers and applauds even louder) Capitalists profess a love of diversity, but they always insist on absolute conformity. We know that capitalism is not about justice, it's not about equality, it's not about lifting up the poor. Capitalism is about one thing only: power for the ruling class. And the more power they get, the more they crave, they want to run healthcare, run transportation and finance, run energy, education, run everything. They want the power to decide who wins and who loses, who's up and who's down, what's true and what's false, and even who lives and who dies... (crowd cheers and applauds again) In short, al of us here today know that there's nothing less democratic than capitalism. Everywhere and anywhere it appears, capitalism advances under the banner of progress, but in the end it only delivers corruption, exploitation and decay."

_{Trump Destroys the Idea of Socialism in America and the Crowd Goes Wild}

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