Saturday, August 27, 2022

In Praise of Socialism

 


Economic and social disasters continue to increase worldwide. Contradictions are sharpening daily in all spheres on all continents. The top-down assault on living and working standards continues unabated. Worldwide there is no letup in the intensification of the destruction and violence produced by the outdated political and economic system of the rich. Inhumane conditions are flourishing globally under a system which has long benefited the master class rule. Capitalist fiscal and monetary policies have solved nothing; they have not prevented recurring crises. More people are becoming more fed up with politicians and demanding an alternative to the untenable status quo. A socialist direction is needed for the economy and society.


End the silence on economic and social conditions.  This is a good time to jump into the fray, expose the failures of the rich and their outmoded systems, and boldly speak up for human-centred interests. Discuss these worsening conditions with everyone. Share and disseminate information that combats the disinformation and propaganda of the rich. Speak up in your own name and strive to organize each other for pro-social aims. Put these serious matters on the agenda, reject unprincipled divisions and diversions, and work together to develop collective solutions. History and the will-to-be demand it. It is all do-able. The international financial oligarchy is unable and unwilling to solve any of the serious problems that continue to worsen worldwide. Instead, it keeps taking actions that successfully degrade the social and natural environment. Things keep going from bad to worse, causing more people to view the rich and their political and media representatives as irrelevant, irresponsible, and illegitimate. The majority clearly have little to be satisfied with when it comes to the direction of the economy and society. They want to know how and why we are in the abysmal mess we are in today.


Millions have been in dire straits for a long time. They do not care about how capital-centred ideologues technically define a recession. They experience hardship first-hand every day and do not need the privileged wealthy elite to tell them when things are not going well. All the dots need to be connected, analysis needs to be developed, and collective action needs to be taken on the basis of constant analysis and discussion that deepens social consciousness. This is not the time to embrace the self-serving views and schemes promoted by the rich. The rich offer no meaningful answers. Every “solution” the rich put forward has harmful consequences. They continue to dogmatically rely exclusively on outdated economic theories put forward by long-gone capital-centred economists like John Maynard Keynes, Milton Friedman, and others. Such ideas and theories never stabilised capitalism. They never brought lasting and sustainable peace, security, stability, and prosperity for the majority. The system continues to lurch from crisis to crisis. Major corporations, however, are having a field day.  


Democratic renewal is the order of the day. People need an electoral and political set-up that is going to empower them to decide all the affairs of society. No one else is going to solve the worsening problems confronting humanity. The polity, not the international financial oligarchy, must have sovereign power over the direction and aim of society. No meaningful lasting solutions will come from the rich and their representatives. While people want an alternative to the misery and anarchy that has been worsening for many years, they do not trust the politicians of the rich )to bring about such an alternative. People have been dissatisfied with the political representatives of the rich for decades.  Capitalists are not interested in sharing power and wealth. They are not interested in the dignity and humanity of all. On the contrary, all their actions and policies further degrade the social and natural environment. It cannot be otherwise.

 

People do not feel represented under “representative democracy” and want a real say in the affairs of society. They want to end their marginalization and become the decision-makers in society so that problems can actually be solved. How is it possible that millions can be held hostage to a few big businesses and a broken economic system? Why can’t hundreds of millions of people stop a handful of big businesses from immiserating more than 90% of the population?  The only way to extricate society from this crisis is by depriving the rich of their ability to deprive everyone of their rights. Working people must organise themselves to affirm the right to decide all the affairs of society. Experience has also taught people that constantly begging politicians to do the most basic simple things has left millions exhausted, disillusioned, and humiliated. People do not want to fight for years just to secure minor changes that favour them. Concrete, sustained, collective action with analysis is needed to move forward.


The only way out of recurring crises and endless tragedies is by ending the rule of capital and establishing the rule of working people. Experience shows daily that an economic system dominated by competing owners of capital striving to maximise profit as fast as possible is a disaster for the social and natural environment. Rule by the financial oligarchy must be replaced by the rule of the working class if human rights are to be guaranteed in practice. An integrated socialized economic system built and operated by working people but divided up amongst competing owners of capital to do with as they wish will only guarantee more crises and tragedies. 


What is needed is an economic system based on the broad aim of using socially-produced wealth to advance the general interests of society. Such a society will empower people to take charge of the affairs of society. Such a society is called socialism

 

Adapted from an article by Shawgi Tell astell5@naz.edu.

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