Ever since the mind- boggling ascendency of the Orange Magnificence et al., to America’s Oval Office, we have been desirous, but hesitant, to publish a post such as this one, for fear of appearing to be arrogantly pedantic. However, a felt need of late has overridden such diffidence, and so we now will bravely set forth below what in fairness, may be seen by some followers as academically obvious.
There have been a great many inadequately informed, highly impressionable citizens, who have used the words, “socialist” and “communist” interchangeably. Many have utilized them as critical adjectives with which to saddle aspiring candidates, thus establishing their purported ineligibility to hold office. As will be observed, below, these are the least appropriate voters to assert such a notion.
The terms, “communist” and “socialist” are academic constructs, considered by political scientists as alternatives to the system of capitalism. While inarguably inappropriate for our nation, these terms are intrinsically substantive and are not indications of depravity or moral sacrilege.
COMMUNISM: A political-economic concept in which, there is no private ownership of property, the same being, instead, owned by the collective society; the latter is run by the people (proletariat), the government itself, having withered away by the logical operation of an institutionally accepted dialectic. In this classless society, one is compensated in accordance with his demonstrated need.
It may be observed that there never has been a regime that qualifies as communistic, despite some pretentions to the name. The USSR, for example, has always evinced the ownership of private property, a central (repressive) government, inheritance of property, capitalistic enterprise, special privilege and a prodigious number of social classes [ studies have shown a greater number of managerial classes in the USSR, than the number of social classes anywhere]. The dogmatic theory [as is the case with other countries, and other theories] has been utilized, essentially, as a tool of repression, having little to do with Messrs. Marx and Engels.
SOCIALISM: A political and economic system of social organization, in which the government (“The State”) rather than withering away [ as under communism] owns and controls all basic industry and means of production. Compensation, under socialism, is based on the contribution of the individual [in contrast to the communist theory where it is based upon his need].
It should be specifically emphasized, for the enlightenment of misinformed people who use the two terms interchangeably, that Socialists and Communists see each other as bitter (competing) enemies.
There appear to be several nations with general socialistic attributes, such as, Canada, Germany, Finland and Sweden, however, it seems to us that these countries are not socialistic in every aspect of their economy. As far as Mainland (“Red”) China is concerned, we have great difficulty in principle as to its designation, despite that nation’s official assertion of Communism, because it has, in addition to an autocratic, totalitarian government, many capitalistic as well as socialistic manifestations.
In an early blogpost, “American Socialism,” we observed that some unschooled citizens choose to use the word, “Socialist,” as a disqualifying epithet for candidates, even though it is, in this country, an expression of compassionate capitalism; a moral and responsibly empathic undertaking, to render assistance to the needy, and, incidentally, operates to preserve capitalism by making it livable. The cold, heartless, 18th Century, entrepreneurial- capitalistic theory of Adam Smith, abandoned mankind to the cruel, unsympathetic vicissitudes of natural law.
We have stated in an earlier post that many of the voters who are most in need of compassionate capitalism, were so mesmerized by the detestable Orange Snake Oil Salesman, that demagogic purveyor of grandiose, but non-specific, promises of heaven on earth, that they were induced to vote against their own vital interest, government assistance [ presumably, as “socialism.”] They bit the hand that fed them, as their own hound dog would have discouraged, had they been wise enough to have listened to their hound dog instead of Donald J. Trump.