Socialism Works
First, no entity that "doesn't work" can grow and spread. Socialism grows through new socialist voters, new socialist politicians, and even new socialist countries. So, socialism works, although it is sad to admit it. The question is how it works and what it does. So here it is necessary to consider a second assertion that socialism ensures equality in poverty. This concept is absolute nonsense. The greatest stratification of wealth exists precisely in the socialist countries. What the ruler of a socialist country can do with a citizen of such a country cannot be compared to the difference in opportunities between a billionaire and a homeless person in a capitalist country. The point here is not in formal monetary wealth, although the socialist rulers have a lot of money. For example, the daughter of Hugo Chavez has a fortune of more than 4 billion dollars. The biggest difference is in rights. A socialist ruler can take away any property, freedom, and life itself from almost any citizen of that country, simply declaring that person a capitalist henchman. The ruler of a victorious socialist country is always a dictator with practically unlimited powers within the country.
Of course, two types of objections that appear at once: 1. But socialism promises something completely different! 2. These are all examples of wrong socialism, but in Sweden ...
I will discuss Sweden later, and but for now the topic about promises and results is significant. If someone promises you a lot of money after a small investment, and then disappears with your money, then this is called fraud. One of the most successful mass fraud schemes is the Ponzi's pyramid scheme. Using it, millions of people were robbed. The MMM case was especially successful during perestroika in the USSR and the Russian Federation. It worked extremely well then, because some prospered at the expense of others. But the Ponzi's pyramid scheme is much weaker than socialism. The pyramids have robbed millions, and socialism has robbed billions. The MMM existed for no more than 7 years, while the Soviet Union existed for about 70 years. Thus, the most important feature of socialism is fraud. However, this is a huge understatement, such as calling an atomic bomb an advanced lighter. Socialism is a super mega fraud, which not only robs, but also enslaves people. Socialism is the most successful fraud in the world, and it works great.
The second property of socialism is its enormous ability for destruction, pollution, and murder. The total number of victims of socialism is estimated at 100 million lives. Its impact is much more than atomic weapons or chemical warfare. Socialism is being used successfully even against the United States. Here is a famous meme comparing Hiroshima with Detroit:
Socialism is the most effective weapon of mass destruction, and it works great.
Here the question arises: who benefits from this system? Is the ruler of a socialist country the only beneficiary? Obviously not. Every socialist country has security agencies such as the KGB in the USSR, or the SS in Nazi Germany. Usually such agencies employ sadists, rapists, and mass murderers such as the Argentine Marxist revolutionary, Che Gevera. Obviously, in a capitalist country, such people may not satisfy their desires, but under socialism they can show themselves. There is also a whole class of bureaucrats who are involved in the distribution of the loot among the population. Their power to decide whom to give and whom not to give is quickly converted into personal wealth. The third class of beneficiaries of socialism are ordinary bandits. When law enforcement agencies looking for counterrevolutionaries, the life of the bandits is much easier. In addition, the socialist rulers constantly use bandits to intimidate the population, i.e. specifically give them the opportunity to commit riot without interference. A common property of the beneficiaries of socialism is the lust to dominate. Incapable for creative work, such people derive pleasure from humiliating other people. So, socialism is an excellent vehicle for the seizure of power by sadists, rapists, and mass murderers.
Then the objection will immediately appear that I am confusing socialism, communism, fascism, Nazism, etc. I do not confuse them at all. They are one and the same type of fraud. Like all frauds, socialism constantly changes names, IDs, and appearance. Also, these new leaders always say that this time, of course, everything will be different. The goal, however, remains the same: the seizure of power and the abuse of it. A wolf in a sheep's skin or a goat's skin is still the same wolf.
Now about why people are vulnerable to socialism. Most people have the feelings of empathy, mutual assistance, a desire to help their neighbor: altruism. This feeling is an evolutionary beneficial feeling. While it may not be beneficial for a particular person, it helps the survival of the genes that carry this feeling. Socialism abuses this feeling. The socialist concept offers to help people in difficult situations at someone else's expense. During this process they spend the funds of third parties, usually "rich" ones. There is no natural stop to this process, which happens in private charity. In efforts to monopolize the satisfaction of the feeling of altruism, socialist politicians do everything they can to hinder private charity. At the same time, the entire population is massively losing their rights that allow people to become rich. For most people, however, these rights do not provide direct and obvious benefits. The losses from the lack of these rights are vague and remote, and therefore most people easily fall into this trap of “free” satisfaction of the desire to help their neighbor.
The especially important feature of socialism is that most of its victims become accomplices in the fraud, just like in the case of Ponzi's pyramidal fraud. Getting satisfaction of their desire to help their neighbors, they tell how good socialism is to their friends, increasing the number of supporters of socialism through personal communication. In this sense, socialism is like a contagious disease and like a religion. Competing with religions for power over minds, socialism suppresses religious freedom. The population majority becomes atheists. Belief in the welfare state replaces belief in God. For the rest, usually one religious organization remains, which is completely controlled by the state and in every possible way supports government.
Now about why socialism is destructive, even without the dictatorship of sadists and murderers. So here it makes sense to return to Sweden and the Scandinavian countries in general. The problem is that socialism destroys motivation for creative work in all classes of the society. Under capitalism, the rich seek to satisfy their sense of self-realization. Some of them want to fly to Mars; others are creating a cure for cancer. In any case, this requires a lot of money. But socialism takes away these large sums of money from the rich, and now they lose their desire to work, because their goals are no longer attainable. The poor, under capitalism, work to satisfy their simple necessities of life, such as food and shelter. However, under socialism these needs are satisfied by the state, and the people no longer have reason to work. For some time after establishing socialism, some people still work out of habit, but then most individuals quit trying. This is exactly what happened in the Scandinavian countries. Fortunately, their rulers did not understand what the main benefit of socialism is, i.e. personal unlimited power; therefore, they mostly curtailed socialist reforms. If we compare socialism with cancer, in these countries, it has entered the stage of remission: it is not completely cured, but it also does not threaten immediate death. The example of the Scandinavian countries is interesting precisely because socialism failed there, failed to organize tyranny.
An important feature of successful socialism, after the seizure of full power by a dictator, is the stopping of the system of distribution of welfare, and the following mass starvation. It is the main tool that socialist dictators use to motivate the population to work. This happened in most of the socialist countries: the USSR, China, Cuba, Venezuela. Another effective motivator under socialism is hatred, which Hitler used most successfully. Both of these motivators massively kill people. This is how socialism actually betrays the majority of its supporters, i.e. the poor. Now they must work much more just to keep their lives.
Summing up, I want to say that socialism is an extremely effective entity, excellent in its results. The fact that its results are mass murder, destruction and enslavement of people should not confuse you. From the very beginning of its history, humanity has been creating instruments of murder and destruction, i.e. weapon. People have even learned to successfully use weapons to preserve life and freedom. I do not think that socialism can be used in any way for peaceful purposes, but it certainly needs to be studied in order to defend against it. The best way to prevent fraud is to warn the public about the typical practices of fraudsters. It is categorically wrong to say that "socialism does not work." Because the natural desire of a person about an entity that does not work is the wish to throw it out and forget. This is what socialist crooks want most of all, this is why they constantly rename their product and add new flavors to it. Socialism is too dangerous for that. One does not throw the VX agent into an ordinary garbage can, and certainly leave it unattended either.
Afterword:
I understand very well that this text lacks many examples and evidence, and that it is deeply secondary. However, the works of Ayn Rand, Friedrich von Hayek, and George Orwell and other philosophers and writers, rich in substantiation, are too large for sufficient study. Therefore, I deliberately simplified and shortened this text to highlight the main points.
The Russian version is in the previous post.
This entry was originally posted at https://avryabov.dreamwidth.org/7634.html. Please comment there using OpenID.
Of course, two types of objections that appear at once: 1. But socialism promises something completely different! 2. These are all examples of wrong socialism, but in Sweden ...
I will discuss Sweden later, and but for now the topic about promises and results is significant. If someone promises you a lot of money after a small investment, and then disappears with your money, then this is called fraud. One of the most successful mass fraud schemes is the Ponzi's pyramid scheme. Using it, millions of people were robbed. The MMM case was especially successful during perestroika in the USSR and the Russian Federation. It worked extremely well then, because some prospered at the expense of others. But the Ponzi's pyramid scheme is much weaker than socialism. The pyramids have robbed millions, and socialism has robbed billions. The MMM existed for no more than 7 years, while the Soviet Union existed for about 70 years. Thus, the most important feature of socialism is fraud. However, this is a huge understatement, such as calling an atomic bomb an advanced lighter. Socialism is a super mega fraud, which not only robs, but also enslaves people. Socialism is the most successful fraud in the world, and it works great.
The second property of socialism is its enormous ability for destruction, pollution, and murder. The total number of victims of socialism is estimated at 100 million lives. Its impact is much more than atomic weapons or chemical warfare. Socialism is being used successfully even against the United States. Here is a famous meme comparing Hiroshima with Detroit:
Socialism is the most effective weapon of mass destruction, and it works great.
Here the question arises: who benefits from this system? Is the ruler of a socialist country the only beneficiary? Obviously not. Every socialist country has security agencies such as the KGB in the USSR, or the SS in Nazi Germany. Usually such agencies employ sadists, rapists, and mass murderers such as the Argentine Marxist revolutionary, Che Gevera. Obviously, in a capitalist country, such people may not satisfy their desires, but under socialism they can show themselves. There is also a whole class of bureaucrats who are involved in the distribution of the loot among the population. Their power to decide whom to give and whom not to give is quickly converted into personal wealth. The third class of beneficiaries of socialism are ordinary bandits. When law enforcement agencies looking for counterrevolutionaries, the life of the bandits is much easier. In addition, the socialist rulers constantly use bandits to intimidate the population, i.e. specifically give them the opportunity to commit riot without interference. A common property of the beneficiaries of socialism is the lust to dominate. Incapable for creative work, such people derive pleasure from humiliating other people. So, socialism is an excellent vehicle for the seizure of power by sadists, rapists, and mass murderers.
Then the objection will immediately appear that I am confusing socialism, communism, fascism, Nazism, etc. I do not confuse them at all. They are one and the same type of fraud. Like all frauds, socialism constantly changes names, IDs, and appearance. Also, these new leaders always say that this time, of course, everything will be different. The goal, however, remains the same: the seizure of power and the abuse of it. A wolf in a sheep's skin or a goat's skin is still the same wolf.
Now about why people are vulnerable to socialism. Most people have the feelings of empathy, mutual assistance, a desire to help their neighbor: altruism. This feeling is an evolutionary beneficial feeling. While it may not be beneficial for a particular person, it helps the survival of the genes that carry this feeling. Socialism abuses this feeling. The socialist concept offers to help people in difficult situations at someone else's expense. During this process they spend the funds of third parties, usually "rich" ones. There is no natural stop to this process, which happens in private charity. In efforts to monopolize the satisfaction of the feeling of altruism, socialist politicians do everything they can to hinder private charity. At the same time, the entire population is massively losing their rights that allow people to become rich. For most people, however, these rights do not provide direct and obvious benefits. The losses from the lack of these rights are vague and remote, and therefore most people easily fall into this trap of “free” satisfaction of the desire to help their neighbor.
The especially important feature of socialism is that most of its victims become accomplices in the fraud, just like in the case of Ponzi's pyramidal fraud. Getting satisfaction of their desire to help their neighbors, they tell how good socialism is to their friends, increasing the number of supporters of socialism through personal communication. In this sense, socialism is like a contagious disease and like a religion. Competing with religions for power over minds, socialism suppresses religious freedom. The population majority becomes atheists. Belief in the welfare state replaces belief in God. For the rest, usually one religious organization remains, which is completely controlled by the state and in every possible way supports government.
Now about why socialism is destructive, even without the dictatorship of sadists and murderers. So here it makes sense to return to Sweden and the Scandinavian countries in general. The problem is that socialism destroys motivation for creative work in all classes of the society. Under capitalism, the rich seek to satisfy their sense of self-realization. Some of them want to fly to Mars; others are creating a cure for cancer. In any case, this requires a lot of money. But socialism takes away these large sums of money from the rich, and now they lose their desire to work, because their goals are no longer attainable. The poor, under capitalism, work to satisfy their simple necessities of life, such as food and shelter. However, under socialism these needs are satisfied by the state, and the people no longer have reason to work. For some time after establishing socialism, some people still work out of habit, but then most individuals quit trying. This is exactly what happened in the Scandinavian countries. Fortunately, their rulers did not understand what the main benefit of socialism is, i.e. personal unlimited power; therefore, they mostly curtailed socialist reforms. If we compare socialism with cancer, in these countries, it has entered the stage of remission: it is not completely cured, but it also does not threaten immediate death. The example of the Scandinavian countries is interesting precisely because socialism failed there, failed to organize tyranny.
An important feature of successful socialism, after the seizure of full power by a dictator, is the stopping of the system of distribution of welfare, and the following mass starvation. It is the main tool that socialist dictators use to motivate the population to work. This happened in most of the socialist countries: the USSR, China, Cuba, Venezuela. Another effective motivator under socialism is hatred, which Hitler used most successfully. Both of these motivators massively kill people. This is how socialism actually betrays the majority of its supporters, i.e. the poor. Now they must work much more just to keep their lives.
Summing up, I want to say that socialism is an extremely effective entity, excellent in its results. The fact that its results are mass murder, destruction and enslavement of people should not confuse you. From the very beginning of its history, humanity has been creating instruments of murder and destruction, i.e. weapon. People have even learned to successfully use weapons to preserve life and freedom. I do not think that socialism can be used in any way for peaceful purposes, but it certainly needs to be studied in order to defend against it. The best way to prevent fraud is to warn the public about the typical practices of fraudsters. It is categorically wrong to say that "socialism does not work." Because the natural desire of a person about an entity that does not work is the wish to throw it out and forget. This is what socialist crooks want most of all, this is why they constantly rename their product and add new flavors to it. Socialism is too dangerous for that. One does not throw the VX agent into an ordinary garbage can, and certainly leave it unattended either.
Afterword:
I understand very well that this text lacks many examples and evidence, and that it is deeply secondary. However, the works of Ayn Rand, Friedrich von Hayek, and George Orwell and other philosophers and writers, rich in substantiation, are too large for sufficient study. Therefore, I deliberately simplified and shortened this text to highlight the main points.
The Russian version is in the previous post.
This entry was originally posted at https://avryabov.dreamwidth.org/7634.html. Please comment there using OpenID.