The Hubris of Socialism - Granite Grok

The Hubris of Socialism

The goal of socialism is communism

Socialists say often that socialism has never failed because it has never been tried. That is incorrect. The truth is socialism has failed in every country in which it has been tried. Just saying, from the Soviet Union to Israel, India, and the United Kingdom, socialism is an object lesson in failure.

There were major political differences between the countries mentioned. The Soviets used totalitarian rule. Israel, India, and the U.K. voted themselves into socialism.  Their politics remain largely democratic. But, all three of the latter countries adhered to socialist principles. They went through nationalizing their major industries. Economic decision making was placed in the hands of the government.

Historians have documented the Soviet failure very well. In 1985, General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev took command of a bankrupt disintegrating empire. After nearly 70 years of Marxism, Soviet farms were unable to feed the people. Factories failed to produce sufficient goods. The people lined up for blocks to buy bread and other necessities. The Afghan War was dragging on with no end in sight.

The economies of the Communist nations behind the Iron Curtain too were in trouble. These countries were functioning as colonies of the Soviet Union. and had no incentive to compete or modernize. They were the image of the spread of socialism. They were poor, totalitarian, and stagnant.

The industrial sector in Eastern and Central Europe was a monument to bureaucratic inefficiency and waste. It was more a museum of the early industrial age than something useful to the people of the countries. Singapore, an Asian city-state of only 2 million people, exported 20% more machinery to the West in 1987 than all of Eastern Europe.

Still, socialism beguiles leading intellectuals and politicians of the West. They cannot resist its utopian musings. Socialism always has the same pocket full of mumbles to offer. If we were all socialists we would have a world without strife. It only we had a world without private property what would there be to squabble about?

Socialists remain convinced a bureaucracy will make more informed decisions. The Government knows more about the welfare of a people than the people themselves ever could. They believe the state is benevolent and wise. More importantly the market is stupid. Socialists are filled with hubris stemming from ignorance.

Note: One can be immensely intelligent and still be ignorant. Wisdom is not acquired from the barrel of a gun. Power may come from the wisdom of a gun. When we ignore history we embrace ignorance. (There’s more to come.)

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