What is socialism? Let’s get specific

[umbertino]

by: Pat Fry

February 24 2016

 

 

 

Everyone seems to be talking about socialism these days, but what does it mean? That was the question asked by Susan Webb in one of our most popular and widely-shared recent articles. Millions of Americans are considering alternatives to a system run by and for the 1 percent. They are taking an interest in socialism, a word that has meant a great many things to activists, trade unionists, politicians, and clergy around the world over the last century and a half. The article below is one of a series on socialism, what it can mean for Americans in the 21st century, and how we might get there.

 

I appreciate the invitation to respond to Sue Webb's essay addressing a deeper discussion on a definition of socialism. Bernie Sanders' campaign for president certainly has elevated this discussion to a national stage - masses of people in the U.S. are voting for a socialist for president, drawn by his unabashed progressive economic populist agenda. This, in and of itself, is an advance over decades of anti-communist, anti-socialist propaganda. Sanders has given expression to a powerful progressive majority, and moved politics to the left, including the likely Democratic Party nominee. 

 

The moment challenges us to get a bit more specific on how socialists define socialism. To speak to this, I would like to draw from the thinking of the Committees of Correspondence for Democracy and Socialism. In our Goals and Principles document, adopted in 2009, we say that the efforts to build socialism in the 20th century in uncharted territory were carried out under conditions of severe coercion from outside capitalist powers. In that context, the democratic soul of socialism was seriously undermined, the essential need for popular participation in building the system was largely unrealized, and economic advances were distorted by dogma.

 

For the 21st century, we agree, there is no blueprint for socialism. This we can all agree on - socialism cannot emerge from sentiment, ideology, or wish fulfillment. Socialism emerges because the working class, as it struggles around the crisis of everyday living, comes to recognize that it is a necessity.

 

Socialism is a democratic political system wherein the interests and organizations of the working class and its allies have attained and hold the preponderance of political power and play the leading role in society.

 

It is still a class society, but in a protracted transition to a future classless society. It will be a mixed economy, with both public and private capitalist ownership, for some time. There will still be a need for entrepreneurial startups, both as worker cooperatives and as private firms serving the common good. Capital markets and wage-labor markets will be sharply restricted and even abolished over time.

 

If needed, a stock market can exist for publicly-traded firms and investments abroad, but it will be strictly controlled. A stock transfer tax will be implemented. Gambling in derivatives will be prohibited. Fair trade agreements with other countries will be on a bilateral basis for mutual benefit. Socialism will feature planning to face the challenges of uneven development and harsh inequalities.

 

Socialism will guarantee democracy in the workplace and the right to unions; democracy in voting with representative government; a society in harmony with the natural environment; living-wage jobs, genuine full employment, and adequate security for those who cannot work; freedom to practice religion; full equality in all spheres between women and men, between Black, Latin, Asian, Native and white people, and for *** and lesbian, trans, and bi-sexual people.

 

The role of the armed forces under socialism will be transformed from occupying forces around the world in the interests of capital to defending the interests of people in time of natural disaster, for example. Local police under community control, a prison system based on the principle of restorative justice, non-violent conflict resolution and community-based rehabilitation will be established.

 

The starting point on the path to socialism today is the struggle to both safeguard and advance democratic openings. It will require new directions in our nation's domestic and global policies, including: democratic control of the Federal Reserve that can channel stimulus funds to workers, not bankers; public ownership of banking and financial institutions that would place people's resources in their own hands; and nationalization of energy to eliminate fossil fuels and move toward a clean energy economy. Democratic advances in housing, education, health care, affirmative action to address centuries of racial inequality, civil and human rights, voting rights and democratic electoral reforms, women's reproductive rights, child care, environmental justice and reversing climate change - in sum, an all-sided progressive democratic agenda.

 

Whether Sanders or Clinton wins the Democratic Party nomination, the progressive movement has been strengthened in opposition to a virulently racist, sexist, homophobic, anti-immigrant, anti-communist/anti-socialist right wing centered in the Republican Party.

 

A key question for all of us is how do we translate the votes for Sanders into organization beyond the November elections? Needed is strength at the grass roots.  Organizations like the Working Families Party, Progressive Democrats of America and other such forms that can mobilize around issues in communities and neighborhoods with electoral capacity at all levels of government are urgently needed.

 

The Sanders campaign signals that the time is ripe to step it up.

 

Pat Fry is co-chair of the Committees of Correspondence for Democracy and Socialism, is retired from the staff of a health care union, and lives in New York City.

 

 

http://www.peoplesworld.org/what-is-socialism-let-s-get-specific/

[Sage449]

For all the information above about equality in pay, jobs etc. Socialism is a political and economic theory that advocates that the "means of production, distribution and exchange" should be OWNED or REGULATED by the COMMUNITY as a WHOLE. Synonyms for this are leftism, welfarism, radicalism, progressivism , communism, Marxism and social democracy.

 

What happens when that community whole doesn't work or function on an equal level - you or I are carrying more of the work load, cost and being controlled more by the government - wow! Sounds like now already.........it didn't work for Marx, Communism or the new democratic socialism. We've plenty of welfarism, progressivism and radicalism - frankly I don't think I can handle more of it. Those that tout this as a good thing - expect to be in the minority few leadership roles in government, therefore being above the masses and not adhering to its own principles - the working class still is on the short end of the stick and those in the 1% "allies" class still make the big bucks and screw the rest of us.

[bohica]

The only thing socialism has to do with the working class is that it takes from the working class to give to the non-working class.  Eventually you run out of other people's money and things must start being rationed.  Once that happens then the same class that was delivering the goods before will be the ones who will ration out the goods then.  

[Yankees27]

Being a political science major in college (readCommunism, Fascism and Democracy-it's very informative re: political theory and application), I've found it amazing over my 61 yrs., that the average person does NOT understand what socialism really is (and you don't have to be a Fox Noise or ****** Limbaugh devotee').

While it's true that communism (which has never REALLY existed- the USSR, for example, was a fascist and military industrial complex) is ONE form of socialism, it is NOT, by any means the ONLY form of socialism. 

Democratic socialism, like the more saner societies of Northern Europe enjoy, is simply when the gov't oversees and regulates corporations and capitalism so that   tragedies like the  2008 Wall St collapse and the recent Flint, MI water/environmental crisis do not occur.

A simple analogy is :  All communism is socialism, but all socialism is NOT communism.

In the same vein:       All apple trees are trees, BUT all trees are NOT apple trees. 

So if you're over 65 and still are sure about Bernie's  or Norway's version of socialism, feel free to surrender your medicare, and tell your congressmen not to support the world's biggest socialized program sponsored by the U.S. taxpayer (I'm preparing for the "boos", friends), the U.S. military!

 

Peace  to All

[Laid Back]

Perfect example of socialism is Venezuela.

The country with the biggest oil reserves in the world.

Calculated inflation for 2016. 700% by IMF

Devalued currency

Infrastructure destroyed

No food

No medicines

No jobs

Rampant corruption

"Socialism is a philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance, and the gospel of envy, its inherent virtue is the equal sharing of misery"

Winston Churchill

[eastcreek]

by: Pat Fry

February 24 2016

 

 

 

Everyone seems to be talking about socialism these days, but what does it mean? That was the question asked by Susan Webb in one of our most popular and widely-shared recent articles. Millions of Americans are considering alternatives to a system run by and for the 1 percent. They are taking an interest in socialism, a word that has meant a great many things to activists, trade unionists, politicians, and clergy around the world over the last century and a half. The article below is one of a series on socialism, what it can mean for Americans in the 21st century, and how we might get there.

 

I appreciate the invitation to respond to Sue Webb's essay addressing a deeper discussion on a definition of socialism. Bernie Sanders' campaign for president certainly has elevated this discussion to a national stage - masses of people in the U.S. are voting for a socialist for president, drawn by his unabashed progressive economic populist agenda. This, in and of itself, is an advance over decades of anti-communist, anti-socialist propaganda. Sanders has given expression to a powerful progressive majority, and moved politics to the left, including the likely Democratic Party nominee. 

 

The moment challenges us to get a bit more specific on how socialists define socialism. To speak to this, I would like to draw from the thinking of the Committees of Correspondence for Democracy and Socialism. In our Goals and Principles document, adopted in 2009, we say that the efforts to build socialism in the 20th century in uncharted territory were carried out under conditions of severe coercion from outside capitalist powers. In that context, the democratic soul of socialism was seriously undermined, the essential need for popular participation in building the system was largely unrealized, and economic advances were distorted by dogma.

 

For the 21st century, we agree, there is no blueprint for socialism. This we can all agree on - socialism cannot emerge from sentiment, ideology, or wish fulfillment. Socialism emerges because the working class, as it struggles around the crisis of everyday living, comes to recognize that it is a necessity.

 

Socialism is a democratic political system wherein the interests and organizations of the working class and its allies have attained and hold the preponderance of political power and play the leading role in society.

 

It is still a class society, but in a protracted transition to a future classless society. It will be a mixed economy, with both public and private capitalist ownership, for some time. There will still be a need for entrepreneurial startups, both as worker cooperatives and as private firms serving the common good. Capital markets and wage-labor markets will be sharply restricted and even abolished over time.

 

If needed, a stock market can exist for publicly-traded firms and investments abroad, but it will be strictly controlled. A stock transfer tax will be implemented. Gambling in derivatives will be prohibited. Fair trade agreements with other countries will be on a bilateral basis for mutual benefit. Socialism will feature planning to face the challenges of uneven development and harsh inequalities.

 

Socialism will guarantee democracy in the workplace and the right to unions; democracy in voting with representative government; a society in harmony with the natural environment; living-wage jobs, genuine full employment, and adequate security for those who cannot work; freedom to practice religion; full equality in all spheres between women and men, between Black, Latin, Asian, Native and white people, and for *** and lesbian, trans, and bi-sexual people.

 

The role of the armed forces under socialism will be transformed from occupying forces around the world in the interests of capital to defending the interests of people in time of natural disaster, for example. Local police under community control, a prison system based on the principle of restorative justice, non-violent conflict resolution and community-based rehabilitation will be established.

 

The starting point on the path to socialism today is the struggle to both safeguard and advance democratic openings. It will require new directions in our nation's domestic and global policies, including: democratic control of the Federal Reserve that can channel stimulus funds to workers, not bankers; public ownership of banking and financial institutions that would place people's resources in their own hands; and nationalization of energy to eliminate fossil fuels and move toward a clean energy economy. Democratic advances in housing, education, health care, affirmative action to address centuries of racial inequality, civil and human rights, voting rights and democratic electoral reforms, women's reproductive rights, child care, environmental justice and reversing climate change - in sum, an all-sided progressive democratic agenda.

 

Whether Sanders or Clinton wins the Democratic Party nomination, the progressive movement has been strengthened in opposition to a virulently racist, sexist, homophobic, anti-immigrant, anti-communist/anti-socialist right wing centered in the Republican Party.

 

A key question for all of us is how do we translate the votes for Sanders into organization beyond the November elections? Needed is strength at the grass roots.  Organizations like the Working Families Party, Progressive Democrats of America and other such forms that can mobilize around issues in communities and neighborhoods with electoral capacity at all levels of government are urgently needed.

 

The Sanders campaign signals that the time is ripe to step it up.

 

Pat Fry is co-chair of the Committees of Correspondence for Democracy and Socialism, is retired from the staff of a health care union, and lives in New York City.

 

 

http://www.peoplesworld.org/what-is-socialism-let-s-get-specific/

Well, lets see. The Nazis were socialists. The USSR was (and still mostly is). The Chinese government is. Well. you see where I'm going. Several of the western European countries have moved more and more in that direction, and as they have, they've gotten collectively weaker and weaker economically and militarily. Practically all of Africa, except for South Africa has been socialist or absolute dictator/monarchy for as long as I can remember. Lots to be said/debated about those.

Socialism, while it sounds good in many respects (it sounds really good to the weaker among us, so look in the mirror), invariably gives in to the worst of our human instincts. It NEVER serves the whole well.

[yota691]

What happens when you grow up getting participation trophies..

Sad Sanders supporter cries about mean Trump supporters.

[Texstorm]

Awesome Yota ! Can I have a trophy for just hanging out.

[leanonme]

This girl does not have a clue about what is going on. Probably doesn't know what socialist way of life ends up to total destruction of a society.

[SgtFuryUSCZ]

 

What happens when you grow up getting participation trophies..

 

Sad Sanders supporter cries about mean Trump supporters.

 

***///

Wow...!    Exactly, LEANONME !

If she ever grows up and matures enough to seek truth & enlightenment, 

she's going to regret ever having exposed her ignorance on the worldwide web !

 

At this point, this brain-washed pollyanna tree-hugging tool is groping around in a dark room

and doesn't even have enough sense to flip on a switch ! 

 

PATHETIC ! 

 

And her dainty sensibilities are SO shaken by those 'evil Trump supporters'... tsk, tsk...

Bet she'd have another major melt-down if she found out her commie master, sanders,

used to write filthy porn articles about masturbation for 50 bucks a pop.... 

 

 

 

.

Edited February 25, 2016 by SgtFuryUSCZ

[Shabibilicious]

And her dainty sensibilities are SO shaken by those 'evil Trump supporters'... tsk, tsk...

Bet she'd have another major melt-down if she found out her commie master, sanders,

used to write filthy porn articles about masturbation for 50 bucks a pop.... 

 

Be sure to hold onto those articles.......they may be worth money some day, if they're originals.    

 

GO RV, then BV

[RV ME]

“….we say that the efforts to build socialism in the 20th century in uncharted territory were carried out under conditions of severe coercion from outside capitalist powers. In that context, the democratic soul of socialism was seriously undermined, the essential need for popular participation in building the system was largely unrealized, and economic advances were distorted by dogma.”   I needed to read no further.

 

Like the same cannot be said for capitalism.  Capitalism has been under severe coercion from outside and inside socialistic powers, and has been seriously undermined.  In that context, true capitalism has not be practiced for many many years.  Yet its’ economic advances are constantly distorted by the (fill in the blank)ism dogma, and I would add propaganda.

 

The statement also notes that popular participation is essential for socialism, but it does not note that over time the participation becomes mandatory, popular or otherwise.  Because just as there is no pure capitalism, there will never be true socialism because those “administering” the socialist system always seem to be “more equal” than the populous.  Those in the ruling class never seems to suffer from food shortages or lack of basics like toilet paper.

 

Those that know and love freedom cannot exist in a socialist society and they are maligned, imprisoned, or disappeared.  Socialism is the antitheses of being all you can be.  Margaret Thatcher said it best when she said “The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other peoples’ money”.  See Greece and Venezuela for the most recent examples.

[SgtFuryUSCZ]

Be sure to hold onto those articles.......they may be worth money some day, if they're originals.    

 

***///  he should be jailed for sending that trash through the USPS !  FELONY !