Socialism Is the Only Way

darkbeaver

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Socialism Is the Only Way

by Malcolm Martin / December 27th, 2007
Much like Charles Darwin, who discovered immutable truths regarding of the origins and evolution of life, Karl Marx was a pioneering scientist. He guided humanity through the reasons capitalism was born, why it would thrive and dominate for a time, and how its inherent contradictions condemn it to death. Marx forecast capitalism, once dead and buried, would be replaced by a superior economic system. Under socialism the shots would no longer be called by a wealthy few but by all the productive people in society in a genuine democracy. For the sake of human survival, sharing rather than competition would be at the foundation of the new system.
History up to Marx’s day and time recorded the transition from feudalism to capitalism as a bloody mess. So Marx well knew that it was likely to be just so when capitalism was forced to make way for socialism. One thing he could not gauge was the scientific and technical advance capitalism would make before it reached its dying days.
So the problem humanity faces is that capitalism in its last throes, rotting internally, irrational and increasingly insane, is now armed with doomsday weapons and has created the technology to create the Orwellian state. The system infects culture and controls the mass media and education across a growing part of the world. It places its servants in seats of political and military power, and creates philosophy and myth to glorify its own existence. It is complete amoral. It has now evolved into a system that would not bat an eye before killing every single human being on the planet.
In the near term, capitalism will take increasing advantage of war, disaster, disease, terror, and slavery to feed itself. Wholesale destruction and regime change will be visited on the oil producing states like Iraq, Iran and Venezuela and other resource-rich areas. Left unchecked, eventually the United States, China, India and the European Union will fight wars for control of world markets and access to resources.
Capitalism depends on profits to live and the appetite for those profits simply cannot be satisfied! For example U.S. oil companies have realized world record profits every quarter for the past several years yet Big Oil must continue to raise the price of gas. The fact is, unless they make ever-greater profit into the indefinite future ExxonMobil and Chevron will whither and die. That is why, against every instinct toward justice, the oil company’s servants in the Congress reject a windfall profits tax, have given away billions of dollars of royalty rights revenues, and will eventually give up drilling rights prohibitions on the Gulf Coast and in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Today, even the largest corporations, like General Motors, Nissan and Renault, seek the comfort of each other’s arms. They will only survive in combination as wealth is consolidated in fewer and fewer entities!
But wars for resources, higher commodities prices and mega-mergers are only putting off the day of reckoning for capitalism. There is only so much technology can boost production or wages can be depressed until a slave system must be created. Even at that, the system will then stare into the eyes of its fatal contradiction. Slaves cannot buy the products they produce.
The American electorate again slogged through the political muck to try to be heard in 2006. Their effort turned out to be an exercise in complete futility or the nation’s symbol of anti-war motherhood Cindy Sheehan would not be challenging the nation’s first female House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in 2008. The experience, frustrating as it was, will open more minds to the real source of our oppression and the true telling of our nation’s history. The fact is that the story of the United States of America is bound up in the birth and rise of capitalism, and the nation’s present descent into dictatorship is part of the same economic system’s decline and inevitable death.
Coincidental with the birth of the US, fueled by the Industrial Revolution, the capitalist system was beginning to break the brutish shackles of feudalism on the people of that day. At the same time capitalism began creating the only force capable of destroying it—the working class. Nascent capitalism enjoyed explosive growth and it spawned revolutions around the world, including the American Revolution. The young and dynamic economic system found that a bourgeois democracy was the most fertile soil for development. The new nation and several other rising industrial countries adopted this form of government.
From the birth of the republic, capitalism has been able to provide the American people with several powerful incentives to buy into the program. Five percent of the world’s population is invited to consume 30% of the world’s resources by way of imperialism. Then the white American majority is invited to enjoy a disproportionate share of that material wealth by way of racism. An especially comfortable place is provided to politicians, intellectuals, academics, bureaucrats, and entertainers in the narrow strata of society Marx called the petty bourgeois.
Nowadays though, the deal with the capitalist devil is becoming more and more difficult to keep! The U.S. is being integrated into a global economy as capitalism searches for the lowest possible wage and the greatest possible profit. The process is steadily reshaping ours into a subsistence-wage service economy. The jobs of elite industrial workers, from auto and steelworkers to airline pilots, are disappearing across the country along with their health benefits and pensions. Even white Americans have begun to feel the pain of a declining standard of living. It is a process that will not be reversed.
Capitalism’s contradictory impulses have begun bumping into each other. It’s happening in the ongoing national debate on immigration and it happened in the recent Dubai Ports World controversy. Profits remain the system’s lifeblood so the ruling class craves an immigrant guest worker program and the United Arab Emirates’ petrodollars but the rabid anti-immigrant and anti-Arab sentiment coursing through U.S. society blocked that path to greater riches. The situation is worsening though. No matter the potential backlash now, desperate crumbling financial pillars of the system like Citicorp and Morgan Stanley are happily accepting the sovereign wealth funds of Abu Dhabi, Singapore and China.
Racism and xenophobia and nationalism and patriotism and every other tactic of division have been promoted relentlessly by capitalism with good reason. White supremacy, Black Nationalism, religious fundamentalism, sexism, homophobia, and all the crackpot schemes and the nihilistic cults of the bourgeoisie, like al-Qaeda, are dead ends for all of us who work. In contrast, our unity would be a poison arrow shot into this system’s Achilles’ heel.
Now as capitalism enters its final stage, a nearly seamless political transition to fascism is well underway in the United States. The mass media, the electoral machinery, and both major political parties are under corporate control. The trappings of bourgeois democracy are a hindrance on profits and so they are being shredded. The Constitution and its Bill of Rights are being rendered meaningless by plans for perpetual war, by presidential signing statements and the theory of the unitary executive, extraordinary rendition, government surveillance programs and the like. Programs based on democratic principles like the public schools, Social Security, and Medicare are being starved to death. Separate and parallel Internet and military forces are being constructed along with internment camps and the legal construct for a martial law declaration. Blackwater is the growing private military force of the ruling class, protecting them in Baghdad and patrolling the streets of New Orleans for them now. Because there are too many sons and daughters of the working class in the US military it can not be trusted by the bourgeoisie when the order is given to attack the American people. Likely the two militaries will one day face each other in combat.
Bloodless coups in 2000 and 2004 installed George W. Bush in the White House and it would take a team of psychoanalysts and profilers to catalogue the many and varied mental pathologies of Bush and his henchmen in the U.S. government. The point to keep in mind is that in this time and in this place the capitalist system required barely human persons in power capable of carrying out insane and grotesquely inhumane policies, up to and including nuclear warfare. Capitalism, like the HAL 9000 computer onboard the spaceship Discovery in the film 2001: A Space Odyssey is out of the control of its makers. The system now has only human sentinels, best represented by the so-called Neo-Conservatives in ruling circles.
American bourgeois democracy is being held under water. It will drown, never to be resuscitated. The liberal intelligentsia of the petty bourgeois spins its wheels in the mud of this reality. On this point Al Gore’s quixotic campaign to sound the alarm on the ecological disaster right around the corner is instructive. In An Inconvenient Truth Gore lays out the incontrovertible facts of global warming, hoping to organize and agitate to a tipping point that changes governmental policy. A young Al Gore saw Dr. Martin Luther King do just that in his confrontation with racism. Despite titling his recent book “The Assault On Reason” Gore and clings to the idea that rationality still has influence in American ruling circles. The real inconvenient truth is that even the great Dr. King could not generate an effective civil rights movement in this era and that the rape of the planet will not end until a stake is driven into the heart of capitalism.
The sad truth is that the petty bourgeois cannot defeat the capitalist ruling class! They are a timid and passive group who, in this time for warriors, gather at the gates of the palace to nag and complain essentially to each other. There are scores of Internet websites, magazines, newspapers, radio programs and networks, and some small television networks where liberal, left, progressive, and other commentators show up to whine out loud. They rail against the outrages and inhumanity of the U.S. government and the Bush Administration. They point out the duplicity, the corruption, the hypocrisy, the inhumanity, and the utter criminality loosed in the world today but to no useful end since capitalism will not be reformed nor shamed to death. Pointing out the defects of capitalism has become as easy as shooting fish in a barrel. The ruling class brushes its liberal democratic critics off like gnats as long as they stay away from the third rail. But let one of these voices dare mention unity based on working class-consciousness and a mobilization to strike at profits and great danger would shortly thereafter visit.
No matter the danger, it must begin to be spoken by a warrior vanguard: socialism is the only way humankind will live into the distant future on this planet. Only a working class with a consciousness of itself and united across all racial, national and cultural boundaries is capable of seizing power. Only a working class in power will see to the end of this madness and willingly share our available resources for the sake of human survival.
Malcolm Martin is a teacher and an elected teacher's union official of an American Federation of Teachers affiliate. He can be reached at: Malcolmxmlk@aol.com. Read other articles by Malcolm.
This article was posted on Thursday, December 27th, 2007 at 5:27 am
 

Walter

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Socialism Is the Only Way

by Malcolm Martin / December 27th, 2007
Malcolm Martin is a teacher and an elected teacher's union official of an American Federation of Teachers affiliate. He can be reached at: Malcolmxmlk@aol.com. Read other articles by Malcolm.
This article was posted on Thursday, December 27th, 2007 at 5:27 am
You'd think a teacher would know history. Socialism has always failed.
 

hermite

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Nov 21, 2007
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Ahh, beve, such long posts you post. And that's past. We need to come up with new and better ways, incorporating the best of all ideas from the old ways.

And Walter, every gov't based on dogma and hierarchy has failed. Except the U.S., right? Yeah, well, just watch. If you, personally, haven't been failed by them, well, you'll see.

I like the idea of a benevolent dictatorship myself.

Best of luck in 2008 to all. And I'll make a resolution here, now. If some big thing don't go down, and make things even worse than they are now, I'll eat my hat. Right here, on CC.
 
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lone wolf

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Nov 25, 2006
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You'd think a teacher would know history. Socialism has always failed.

That depends on what you call socialism. Something between Bushism and Stalinism might just do it ... but neither side is going to give ground for fear they might lose something - or not know what to do with that which they'd get.

Woof!
 

Walter

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That depends on what you call socialism.
so·cial·ism /ˈsoʊ
ʃəˌlɪz
əm/ [soh-shuh-liz-uh
m]–noun

1.a theory or system of social organization that advocates the vesting of the ownership and control of the means of production and distribution, of capital, land, etc., in the community as a whole.
2.procedure or practice in accordance with this theory.
3.(in Marxist theory) the stage following capitalism in the transition of a society to communism, characterized by the imperfect implementation of collectivist principles.
 

wallyj

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May 7, 2006
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Socialism versus capitalism. Wouldn't it be great if we could compare the two systems using identical subjects. If we could only divide a country in two,same demographics,language,culture and people and then compare the results..............Oh wait a minute,it has been done,at least twice,Korea and Germany. Which system prospered and which system failed? That should end any debate .
 

lone wolf

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so·cial·ism /ˈsoʊ
ʃəˌlɪz
əm/ [soh-shuh-liz-uh
m]–noun

1.a theory or system of social organization that advocates the vesting of the ownership and control of the means of production and distribution, of capital, land, etc., in the community as a whole.
2.procedure or practice in accordance with this theory.
3.(in Marxist theory) the stage following capitalism in the transition of a society to communism, characterized by the imperfect implementation of collectivist principles.

Okay, genius ... now look up conservative....

It's politics, remember?

Woof!
 

Walter

Hall of Fame Member
Jan 28, 2007
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cap·i·tal·ism /ˈkæp
ɪ
tlˌɪz
əm/ [kap-i-tl-iz-uh
m]
–noun

an economic system in which investment in and ownership of the means of production, distribution, and exchange of wealth is made and maintained chiefly by private individuals or corporations, esp. as contrasted to cooperatively or state-owned means of wealth.
 

darkbeaver

the universe is electric
Jan 26, 2006
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Canadians enjoy socialized medicine, socialized education, socialized old age security, socialized transportation infrastructure etc. Capitalism also would like to enjoy these public institutions. Not one progressive socialist government has failed of it's own accord, everyone was destroyed by capitalists. Get used to the idea of capitalist exclusion zones, get used to visiting zoos and museums if you want to see capitalists. You do have a choice you can continue to work for less every year while the rich enjoy the fruits of your labour or you can think collectively and provide for the future of your children instead of selling them to the corporations.
 

Zzarchov

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Well socialism will always fail im afraid. Its a perfect system except for one small flaw, humanity.

Capitalism is a far inferior system to socialism, except for the fact it works well with human nature.

Quite frankly I don't want to share or share alike. I dislike the concept of pure socialism, I would die in such a system. I grew up a poor kid, and I've worked my way up..not because I needed to (being poor in Canada still isn't that bad compared to humanity in general) but because Its in my nature to always be working for self advancement. If you outlawed that, well I imagine I'd go into a depressed state, drink alot, half ass my work and leach off of everyone else with a "why bother" attitude.

Im all for socialist concepts (health, police, defence and even knew ones) but Im all for it in a cost-benefit manner. Not because I think its some magic duty that we are owed, but because we could all get it cheaper and if everyone had it would pay for itself :ie, medicine, a healthier society means fewer sick days, meaning more productivity, more overall wealth, meaning higher wages to everyone, everyone as a whole pays more taxes, meaning I don't pay as much (when you count the cost of the health premiums im saving).
 
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darkbeaver

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Well socialism will always fail im afraid. Its a perfect system except for one small flaw, humanity.

Capitalism is a far inferior system to socialism, except for the fact it works well with human nature.

Quite frankly I don't want to share or share alike. I dislike the concept of pure socialism, I would die in such a system. I grew up a poor kid, and I've worked my way up..not because I needed to (being poor in Canada still isn't that bad compared to humanity in general) but because Its in my nature to always be working for self advancement. If you outlawed that, well I imagine I'd go into a depressed state, drink alot, half ass my work and leach off of everyone else with a "why bother" attitude.

Im all for socialist concepts (health, police, defence and even knew ones) but Im all for it in a cost-benefit manner. Not because I think its some magic duty that we are owed, but because we could all get it cheaper and if everyone had it would pay for itself :ie, medicine, a healthier society means fewer sick days, meaning more productivity, more overall wealth, meaning higher wages to everyone, everyone as a whole pays more taxes, meaning I don't pay as much (when you count the cost of the health premiums im saving).

So vote for a wealth ceiling that you could live with Zzarchov, nobody mentioned stripping your assets and sticking you in grey overalls. Collective programes such as our medicare are the most cost effective, that type of programe can and does work accross the board. I would be in favour of a modified mixed economy but with no opulent useless upper class. Individual initative can be rewarded and the needs of the majority can still be addressed simultaneously. Of course the rich ain't going to tell you that are they? Pure socialism is many generations in the future if it happens at all, and I agree with you I wouldn't like it myself. We will very shortly witness what happens when pure capitalism unwinds, again.
 

jimshort19

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Nov 24, 2007
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Dark Beaver, where have you been?

- 21st Century to Dark Beaver... come in Dark Beaver...

The moral error of centralized capitalism is the lust for and abuse of power on the part of the socialist despot, who as often as not is criminally insane, and the more generally degenerate (cowardly, materialistic, covetous, lazy, ignorant) nature of those who find boot licking and larceny appealing. But I mean that in a nice way.
 

darkbeaver

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Jan 26, 2006
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Dark Beaver, where have you been?

- 21st Century to Dark Beaver... come in Dark Beaver...

The moral error of centralized capitalism is the lust for and abuse of power on the part of the socialist despot, who as often as not is criminally insane, and the more generally degenerate (cowardly, materialistic, covetous, lazy, ignorant) nature of those who find boot licking and larceny appealing. But I mean that in a nice way.

Of course.So why don't we try democracy? Heavy on the social light on the capital. Could it be so bad to play by some agreements? I don't like regulation, but I would submit if the book was applied evenly.
 

warrior_won

Time Out
Nov 21, 2007
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They all suck and they will all fail. Socialism ain't got the parts. Capitalism ain't got the conscience. Communism ain't got the will. Anarcy is the only system that has a shot at working. It's the only one. Only anarcy gives you the right to knock on doors and blow people's brains out. :p
 

darkbeaver

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Jan 26, 2006
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Much like socialism itself, the OP was dense and hard to follow since it was all mushed together and hard to take on the senses. Kind of like looking down into an outhouse toilet.
Get used to socialism Toro, true to the work of Marx it's the logical result of capitalism and there's nothing you or anybody else can do about it. It's just economics ain't it. Next time you look into an outhouse pit (strange scatological analogy by the way) it'll be full of greenbacks, stock certificates, IOU's and other useless paper. Don't loose your shirt in the market man.:smile:
 

warrior_won

Time Out
Nov 21, 2007
415
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I don't like regulation, but I would submit if the book was applied evenly.

What if you could write your own rules? Imagine that! Imagine you were an industry that got to write your own rules. Wouldn't that be great? You would only write rules that you knew you could live by, right? So you'd never break the rules. After all, you wrote them!

But wait a minute...

What if you wrote your own rules and someone happened along and said, "Hey, you're not even obeying your own god damned rules!" How would you respond to that?

You'd probably respond by saying, "You're a hypocrite! You're not obeying my rules... Why should I have to obey my own rules?"

And then that person would sue you into the stoneages. He would appear before the Judge and say, "We're talking about essentially unregulated industries. They get the right to write their own rules, and they're expected to abide by their own rules. If they don't abide by their own rules, they're liars and hypocrites. They don't practice what they preach and the very existence of their so-called rules is a scam. It's a deception of the people who actually hold that self-made rules should actually mean something.

Now these liars, hypocrites, and fraudsters are calling us hypocrites. And why? Because we didn't write for ourselves the same rules that they wrote for themselves. Our rules say that to create your own rules and not abide by them is a big no-no. Our rules say that pointing out lying, hypocrisy and deception is permissable. We're confident that the evidence will show only one party in this proceeding to have engaged in such practices... And that one party is not us. We wrote our own rules, and we wrote rules that we could live by. We're here today because our elected officials also wrote rules. Those rules are rules we are required to live by. They broke their own rules AND they broke the rules of the land. For that, they are both accountable and liable. We're asking you to hold them both accountable AND liable... And to the fullest extent of the law. Thank you."