by Nicholas | When I was at school in London back in the Seventies I knew lots of socialists. In fact, I think more of my friends were socialists, or at least socialistically inclined, than were conservative or liberal. A few were even communists. It didn’t matter – we all hung out together and on one occasion I went with a friend of mine to a Communist Party rally in Trafalgar Square. It was a nice afternoon out and it was something to do, and I didn’t think the few thousand people there assembled presented much of a threat to the nation.
I don’t remember any of the speeches, or even the names of the men who gave them, but I do remember that the rally began with a folk singer of suitably proletarian appearance, there to warm up the proceedings. He sat with his guitar at the microphone and began to sing some ditty about oppressed peasants in days gone by, or some such, but after a line or two his voice broke into a strangulated croak as he tried to reach a high note, which brought one of the elderly comrades from the dais. “Nay, lad,” he said, “Tha’s started too high. Sing it again only deeper.” Which the young fellow did, and then when he was done the speeches began and I more or less tuned out.
None of which convinced me that The Revolution was coming to Britain any time soon. There was a certain quaintness about the whole thing. So, I thought as I looked around me, these are communists, are they? Strange to think that those ordinary, everyday looking folk were dedicated to overthrowing everything I was more or less in favour of. But yes, they were, and mirabile dictu, they haven’t succeeded.
Socialists, though, are a different matter altogether. All communists are socialists, but not all socialists are communists – not by a long chalk. Socialists who work within the system of modern democracies seek to adjust the status quo, not to destroy it. Some are dedicated to the public ownership of the means of production and distribution, others are content to have a mixed economy, with private and public sectors working alongside each other. The guiding principle has been stated as: From each according to his abilities, to each according to his needs. And that doesn’t sound too bad to me, as long as individual freedoms are not stifled. It was that credo that brought about, for example, free healthcare for life for everyone under the National Health Service, the whole thing to be financed by taxation. Rich people pay more than poor people, though poor people, by virtue of their environment and lifestyle tend to require more medical treatment. Still, we’re all in it together and we all contribute our bit.
Another aspect of a mixed economy is the idea of government running certain enterprises as public services. The military, of course, and the postal service and the libraries; goes without saying. But also, for example, in some countries, the rail service – subsidised to make sure an efficient, affordable mass transportation service is available to all.
Not everyone agrees with that, but the thing is, socialists are not out to poison your dog, kidnap your children and put everyone in a gulag. They just believe in doing some things differently. And that is why I wonder at the fear and ignorant hatred of socialism that one sees expressed during the presidential election campaign. “I’m fed up with the way socialism is taking over.” said one man at a McCain rally, to thunderous applause. Another, many others in fact, have accused Barak Obama of being a socialist. News to me!
I don’t think most Americans have the remotest idea what a socialist is. Socialism to those who seem most scared of it, seems to consist of not expressing prejudice against minorities, not wanting to wage as many wars as possible, not embracing selfishness and greed. There is a belief in the attitude of: To each as much as he can get, from each as little as possible and preferably nothing and to hell with everybody else. If you don’t want the poor to starve, then you’re a socialist and spawn of the devil. There’s an unspoken feeling among Republicans that to do anything to help anyone, except for payment, is somehow unnatural. It’s godless socialism and must be avoided. Then these same Republicans go to church every week in their millions and worship the man who was probably the earliest socialist.
I am not a socialist, though I appreciate what past socialist administrations in my home country and elsewhere have achieved. Barak Obama is not a socialist, and what he thinks of other nations’ socialist governments past and present I have no idea. I just know that there is no danger of socialism coming to America under his administration, or, for generations to come probably, under anyone else’s. So this would be a good time for the hysterical name calling and invocation of socialism as a blanket slur against anyone who disagrees with you to stop. Some hope!
An example of something that I find very funny. Over the past few years, we have watched major corporations dump their pensions and move hundreds of thousands of people off private health insurance on to medicare and medicaid at the government’s expense (Delta Airlines comes to mind, I believe United was another one from the 2005 PBGC mess), we have doubled the national debt and passed the MASSIVE prescription drug plan, we have watched the government nationalize several industries, the government is currently nationalizing the banks, the Republican party candidate is proposing spending near a half trillion dollars allowing the government to buy private mortgages, and the right wing is running around screaming “SOCIALISM” because Obama is proposing increasing the top tax rates a few percentage points.
That is funny. Sad and depressing, but funny.
To coin a phrase: "Heh. Indeed." And Memeorandum is tracking quite a lot of the nonsense and as well as more sensible commentary such as the above.
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