Trump believes "socialism = Stalin." But how was socialism defined by people like Albert Einstein & Harry Truman?

submitted by Anticapitalist from self.Socialism

President Truman:

  • "Socialism is a scareword they have hurled at every advance the people have made. Socialism is what they called public power. Socialism is what they called social security. Socialism is what they called farm price supports. Socialism is what they called bank deposit insurance. Socialism is what they called the growth of free and independent labor organizations.

    Socialism is their name for almost anything that helps all the people."

Einstein:

  • "The real purpose of socialism is precisely to overcome and advance beyond the predatory phase of human development, economic science in its present state can throw little light on the socialist society of the future."

And to me, socialism is mostly about worker-owned co-ops:

When workers own their means of production (eg factories or shops) they can elect management where workers are in control, & those workers can keep the full product of their labor instead of part being taken by the very wealthiest people.

The billionaires have enough money. Instead that money can stay in the business, eg used to pay for more employees and equipment.

Co-ops aren't some utopian fantasy, they are already successful (some have tens of thousands of employees.) They're an advancement which are being held back because of capitalist government policies. The very wealthiest people write the laws and choose the congressmen via financial support.

all 1 comments
sorted by:
top
newinsightfulfun

[–]Anticapitalist[S] 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Similarly (on the topic of what these "-ism" words mean) here's what anarchism should mean:

  • Anarchism is not a system of giant corporations ruling society.

    eg big corporations like ABC, NBC, Ford, etc are constructs of government.

  • In anarchism the property systems of genocide & killing (eg killing the native americans so the 1% can own almost all the land) are not legitimate. Similarly, the basis of modern property in Europe is the mass killings where the very wealthy took the land from the public, this is not legitimate. It is an illegitimate distribution of land, where the few can profit essentially just from owning land.

    Instead (in anarchism) land is distributed in an egalitarian way, and thus there is no landless class forced to work for the land owning class. Workers would start their own businesses/co-ops on the land they personally use.

  • Anarchism is about ending violence that oppresses/exploits so we achieve a society where everyone is treated equally. But that does not mean "everyone has the same amount of stuff". There won't be totally equal social connections, work, or reward. There will be minor injustices/defects due to the randomness of birth and how society functions.

    However, without violent systems of oppression/exploitation, things will be massively more egalitarian than under the government of the billionaires & industrialists. Especially in terms of ownership of big properties like land & the means of production.

    (eg under anarchism everyone would own land, & thus almost every worker would own their means of production.)

  • Anarchism is not a system where the poor have no voice and the wealthy choose who is in power. No one should "be in power."