Talking Socialism

The ideas of socialism are featuring in the media again. In the United States, the word, “socialism” is no longer taboo as it was for so many decades and the principles behind it are becoming more discussed and debated. 

Three Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) members won their Chicago city council races in runoff elections on Tuesday. They will join two other socialists who won the first round of elections outright in February. As the editor of the left-wing Jacobin observed:
“…Chicago’s socialist victories last night weren’t a fluke. Throughout the country, people are tired of low wages, soaring housing costs, privatization of public goods, budget cuts and corporate giveaways of public money. They have tried austerity and found it miserable. If Chicago’s elections are any indication, maybe they’re ready to try socialism.”

But despite a relatively growth in interest, there are still many misunderstandings and myths about what socialism means, including a number of false interpretations fostered a collection of professors and intellectuals. Our mission is to reach a socialist society and the task is not made any easier by the mistaken misinformation and deliberate disinformation about it. Our mission starts with education. Not just educating working people on what socialism means, but educating on how we are to reach a socialist society. If you support our message, reach out to us by visiting our website. 

Those who identify as Democrats or Republicans are foolish participants in a fraud. When Nancy Pelosi stated “We’re capitalists. That’s just the way it is”, she was saying that the Democrats are united with the Republicans in their shared worship of capital. 

Those who claim to be “progressive Democrats” should explain what the word “progressive” really means to them. It appears to any onlooker that the Democratic Party uses them as propaganda. The effect of all of the so-called progressive Democrats has been to prevent the rise of a real opposition party, a genuine socialist party.

Radicals such as Richard Wolff propose to American Leftists that the answer lies in cooperatives. There has indeed been some very moderate success in the creation of co-ops but they cannot beat capitalism at its own game. It is unrealistic that cooperatives can expand until they displace capitalism. Regardless of their (self-)management structure, proponents of coops have never made it clear how a business run on capitalist lines can evolve into something that is the opposite of capitalism. Co-operatives bears no relation to socialism. It no more leads to socialism than does nationalization. 

Before we can understand Wolff’s “Workers Self-Directed Enterprises” it is necessary to understand capitalism. It is far easier and less painful to learn facts of this kind by knowledge and reasoning than by experience.