What is Socialism?

Clean and Simple.

INTRODUCTION

In the last two presidential elections, the term “socialism” has made its way into everyday society. I had not heard “socialism” used before in everyday discussions of current American events; however, I had heard the term “communism” or “red scare” used in the 1950's and that turned out to be either paranoia or a hoax. This has been very confusing to me. The term socialist has been primarily linked to Bernie Sanders during his run as a democratic presidential candidate in the last two presidential elections. Bernie has said he wants government benefits to include working Americans and the poor in addition to the rich (billionaire) class. These benefits include extending health care to all citizens, extending public education to the college level, creating jobs by investing in renewable energy and repairing our infrastructure. Mr. Sanders has said he describes himself as a democratic socialist.

Critics have been extreme. James Carville, a long-time democratic party strategist, has referred to him as a communist. Chris Matthews, a long-time mainstream media broadcaster, has said that he fears being executed (as a journalist) in Central Park if Bernie is elected. Multiple hosts of The View (Whoopi Goldberg, Joy Behar, Sunny Hostin, and Meghan McCain) have stated that Bernie is a supported of Fidel Castro, Hitler, and Mussolini.

Additionally, the USSR, was described as a Communist country, but USSR stands for Union of Soviet Socialist Republic. Was the USSR communist or socialist or something else? And Hitler was head of the National Socialist German Workers Party.

This is all very confusing. What then is specifically meant by the term “Socialism”? Does it mean the same thing in all cases? And if Bernie is the same as Castro and the others why has he been a member of congress for 29 years, and Mayor of Burlington, Vermont for 8 years before that? Why are we just hearing of it now?

RESEARCH

I did research on the above issues. As it turns out, there are three very different meanings for the one term “Socialism”. It is a very ambiguous term. The first meaning is when the term originally came up in the mid 1850's during the industrial revolution and refers to an economic situation. Before the industrial revolution, most work was done on farms and plantations. During the industrial revolution, industries developed in cities. These industries were designed with owners who made the profit (or loss) and workers who supplied the labor for a wage. The life of a laborer was usually very hard. Wages were not enough to buy food and housing. Working conditions were often dangerous with work schedules of 6 to 7 days a week and 12 hour days. All products of the work were owned by the business owners and sold for profit. The owners of successful businesses accumulated great wealth, while the workers usually lived in poverty.

This existing system was (and is) called Capitalism (See the upcoming articles “The Origin of American Economics” and “What is Capitalism”). Socialism was an idealist theory that grew out of this situation as a counter to Capitalism. Socialism stated that this situation was too one-sided with the Owners becoming rich and powerful while the workers struggled and lived in poverty their entire life. Socialism proposed that the workers should acquire ownership (at least part) of the products they produce and also have control over how the business is run. In this sense, Socialism is the precursor to labor unions co-op businesses, and employee profit sharing. I call this Worker's Socialism.

The second meaning is very different. It is centered around an authoritarian government system. It refers to countries where the government controls everything. The government controls what types of businesses are favored and how money is distributed to the individuals in the society. Cuba is considered Socialist. When Cuba became socialist, the government confiscated all the money of the private citizens and the government controlled how much money each person got and what jobs were made available to people. The few people in the government and the social elite became wealthy while most citizens or workers lived in poverty. I call this “Authoritarian Socialism”.

The third meaning is called “Democratic Socialism”. It recognizes the divide between the wealthy business owners and the poor workers. It also recognizes that the government uses its wealth and power to support the wealthy business owners. The goal of Democratic Socialism is to use a portion of the wealth of government to meet the basic survival needs of all citizens, especially the poor workers. Many workers live in poverty. Poverty is defined as not being able to meet the basic needs for survival which are food, shelter, and health care.

CONCLUSIONS

So when someone uses the term “Socialism”, you have to figure out which viewpoint they are coming from. Are they referring to an economic system where workers share in the profits or own the businesses they work for, or are they referring to an authoritarian government who controls all wealth and business without input from the citizens, or are they referring to a government that provides for the basic survival needs of its citizens?

In my opinion, Bernie Sanders' main desire is to help working people who struggle with survival. He abhors Authoritarian governments and has no intention of confiscating wealth. The “Democratic” part of “Democratic Socialism” refers to citizens having input into government which is the opposite of an authoritarian government or oligarchy (which is government run by a small group of people). As Bernie Sanders has said, “All that socialism means to me, to be very frank with you, is democracy with a small ‘d.’ I believe in democracy, and by democracy I mean that, to as great an extent as possible, human beings have the right to control their own lives. Check out this article on Politico for a great summary of what Mr. Sanders means by Socialism. https://www.politico.com/story/2015/07/14-things-bernie-sanders-has-said-about-socialism-120265 .

Personally, I don't see any of these definitions of Socialism as the ultimate solution to the problems in this county, but I do support the values of Democratic Socialism and Worker's Socialism in our current society. I think all human life is of value and that all citizens should have their basic survival needs met in our society. I am strongly against authoritarian regimes and I want to build a society where all humans get to choose how they want to live their life.