Do you think socialism works?

Question

I agree with a lot of people here, I think it is a nice ideal, but in order for it to work it needs everyone to be 100% confident in it. The only socialist society that could truly work would be the one of that in George Orwell's 1984.

Answer 1

Yes, but only to a point. People are not naturally socialist. Everyone want to better himself, and generally, people want the the best/most for themselves and their loved ones. They will share, but only when they want to. Nobody wants to be told that they HAVE to share. Most people are willing to work hard, but only if they are rewarded for their work. Too much socialism leads to degenration, like in the Soviet Union and China. Capitalism, with all its attendant evils, is really the only way to progress. Unfortunately, it also means exploitation, both of people and the environment. America is successful because it abhors any form of socialism. So take your pick. Be partially socialist and stand still, or reject if and progress. I'll take progress every time. We have to keep moving forward, at an everp increassing pace. Maybe theres a solution up ahead.

Socialism is a fantastic ideal, but there is NO socialist country where it actually works.

Answer 2

Well Ill say this. A farmer once said Socialis is owning two cows and then the people calim one, Communism is the state orders you to take care of two cows and mybe you get some milk, Capitalism is selling one of the 2 cows and buying a bull. The fact is socialism only works in geographically small ares that are set in places where everyone has to work togather to survive, say like frozen Sweden. You get along or you freeze. Socialism is all about the needs of the many. Well, Thats is by definition Anti American from a policy standpoint. How can you excell and create say a Proctor and Gamble or a Johnson and Johnson, or live as you choose to (providing that your not criminally affecting somebody else) if theres a mandate against? The fact is the opposite of socialism isnt capitalism, its individualism. And a small nation where everybody gets along is fine. But were not a small nation where everybody gets along.

Answer 3

No.

And USSR was a SOCIALIST country not Communist. Socialism is when GOVERNMENT redistributes income and resources to the people. It comes from the government and is a mind set of what can the government do for me? Most European countries are merely not as socialist as the USSR was. They allow more freedoms and you have an opportunity to make lots of money though not near as great of an opportunity that you would have in the US.

Communism does not come from the government. The reason we called them communists is that communism as created by Marx is as anti American as could be and easy to understand why that would be a threat. Socialism is basically the closest anyone could get to communism so we called it communism.

Answer 4

Ok well lets start by looking at what socialism is and its history. Marxsism (real socialism different from Stalinism that many people think is true socialism) is the idea of a society that is able to provide for everyone according to his/her needs. It is a society where the workers (not government) own the means of production, it is the notion that people should hold political power and that the governments do what the people want them to do. The people as a majority own the state and its economy. Excluding the Paris commune (first workers state) which in all its glory lasted for a short time because of the circumstances facing it, the Russian Revolution and the state that emerged from it is an example of the first socialist society. The leaders of the revolution that sought to end the feudal system and free the masses from their supression was led by Trotsky and Lenin. What emerged from the revolution is considered to be the most democratic state in history, examples of this democracy are as follows, the workers owned the means of production and held political power, they had the power to over throw the government at any point if they found it to be unfair and the politicians did not have a higher wage than a normal worker and the people had the power to limit even the president's earnings. However Lenin and Trosky and other revolutionaries wanted to spread the revolution to other countries because socialism cannot survive in an islotated country it must be global. Workers all accross the world were inspired by the Russian revolution. Countries all accross the world, Sweden, America, Germany, England, South American countries, Asian countries were on the brink of a socialist revolution. Capitalism and right winged governments were very scared of this and they knew that they had to stop this movement if they were to protect their priveliges, their power over the workers and their ritcher classes. So what did they do? They adopted socialist ideas and programs which is what they call now democracy to satisfy the workers and prevent a revolution however these programms were only meant to be temporary and we can see them being destroyed by the govenrments today. So Russia was faced with circumstances that did everything to prevent its socialist development such as, revolutions in other countries were destroyed it was isolated and Russia was generaly (before the revolution) a backward country and did not have the resources to provivde for everyone, so out of this was formed a beurocracy and emerged Stalin. Who went on to seize political power for himself and a few priveliged others, who destroyed socialist qualities, who betrayed the Marxist revolution, who massacered Trotsky's folowers as to get rid of any opposition and who created a deformed worker's state. The only thing and I mean the only socialist thing in Stalinism was a central and planned economy, even though it was owned by the government when realy it is supposed to be owned by the people its structure was basicaly socialist, this type of economy proved to be far, far superior to the capitalist one and during world war 2 it proved itself to be stronger than than that of capitalist Germany's. However this deformed workers state could not last forever, Trotsky had predicted that it was either going to go forward into socialism or backward into capitalism, however for it to go forward the people had to rise against the dictator type governemnt and over throw it but for it to go back to capitalism the governemnt had to brake the workers as has happened. Also similar examples of this Stalinist regime was China, Cuba, North korea, Eastern Europe and so on. Many ignorant people say simply that socilaism doesnt work but history infact does no prove them right! The main thing people are scared of when thinking of socialism is that they will be much poorer than they are now. When realy its the contorary socialism works in favor of the workers which means they work a lot less and are exploited a lot less however because of the magnificent socialist structure of the economy means that actualy more is produced than in capitalism and their needs wether financial or other are met much more succesfuly in socialism than in capitalism. Others think of supression and no democracy but realy here they are thinking of Stalinism since democracy is actualy a socialist construct it works a lot better than in capitalism. Those who think that they can balance the two systems are wrong because in capitalism there is no room for socialism or democracy for that matter. Today some capitalist countries have more socialist qualities than others but all and I mean all are abolishing these qualities because they prevent capitalism from expanding. However some say that mans inherent greed or evil makes soclialism not work but realy that greed or evil is not inherent but a product of this capitalist society get rid of that and you have a better society that nurtures better people.

Answer 5

Socialism doesn't work in reality. That's why governments either use sneaky reformism to slowly implement it or radical revolutions to suddenly spring it.

Under Socialism, freedom and liberty change from individual to that of the social group. Property rights go, creativity has no benefit and history shows risk of tyrannical unaccountable governments. The real Socialist theory is a one world government and religion, and is not good.

Answer 6

Not sure. We've been trying Socialism in UK for many decades but it seems to work in some areas and not in others. Social reform in areas like public housing was good but is not so good any more. Social engineering has never been good, a lot of people are opposed to it and are taking their votes away from Labour to other parties.

Answer 7

no no I dont it is completly contrary to human nature to keep everyone equal would mean you have to hold some back I refuse to work hard go to work and then be told that I have to provide for another who wont work . the American plains indians came as close to the ideas of socialism as any group could but given time even that great social order would have collapsed greed is part of our creation and cannot be long ignored now Im not talkin about haliburton greed but everyone likes the little extras that a few hours of over time at the mill might allow and to have to give that to a nieghbor would just suck socialism wont work cant work and doesnt work thank you

Answer 8

No it inhibits freedom of chose and gives to many powers to the state and on a social level it can stifle creativity . We already got a taste of this with political correctness and the behaviour of the British government.

Answer 9

Hey there,
I easily got for free Areshere http://bitly.com/1wDktIz
It's amazing.
Bye Bye

Answer 10

Sadly socialism does not work in reality. All is does is stifle innovation, enterprise and inefficiency due to its lack of personal and corporate incentives. Think about why we do the things we do on a personal level and times it by millions... quid pro quo!