{"id":948,"date":"2013-11-18T21:46:43","date_gmt":"2013-11-19T05:46:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/anitra.net\/word\/?p=948"},"modified":"2013-11-21T20:35:43","modified_gmt":"2013-11-22T04:35:43","slug":"what-is-socialism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/anitra.net\/word\/what-is-socialism\/","title":{"rendered":"What is Socialism?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Seattle now has a Socialist on our City Council!\u00a0 Kshama Sawant<\/a>. is not the first socialist to win a city election – that was Anna Louise Strong, elected to the School Board in 1916 – but she is the first in 97 years, and the first ever on the City Council.\u00a0 She will take office in January.<\/p>\n

And my friend Annie asked, “What is<\/strong> <\/em>socialism, anyway?”\u00a0 The far right makes it sound like “The government owns everything and the government decides who gets what,”\u00a0 and that equates to no more freedom for anyone, the government controls your life, and we’re all gonna die.<\/p>\n

#1<\/span><\/strong>\u00a0 Socialism is an economic system that can operate under any political system, including democracy.\u00a0 On the evidence of European democracies and the early United States, socialism operates best under a democracy.<\/p>\n

There is a difference between the communist principle of “The people own the means of production” with the government acting for “the people,” and the socialist principle of “the means of production should be owned by the community and everyone share in the profit.”<\/p>\n

Communism:\u00a0 The government owns the shoe factory, sets the wages, decides what shows will be made, and decides how to distribute the shoes.\u00a0\u00a0 Wealth, resources, and all goods and services are, in theory, distributed equally; in practice, everything is distributed by a central group of decision-makers, and tends to favor them and their friends.<\/p>\n

Socialism: Everybody who works in the factory shares ownership of the factory, collaborates in decisions, and shares in the profit.\u00a0 Since decisions are made locally, by people immediately affected, and who all know each other face-to-face, they tend to be both more democratic and more practical.<\/p>\n

Capitalism: Ms. X started the show factory; it is now owned by shareholders, managed by employees they hire, and the work is done by employees that the managers hire.\u00a0 Profits go to the shareholders; employees get wages. Managers are rewarded (sometimes by a share of the profits) for maximizing shareholder profits, both by increasing production and by cutting costs, which includes cutting wage costs and\/or number of workers.\u00a0 When shareholders and managers make decisions that affect the people on the production line, without consulting the people affected, the results can be disastrous.<\/p>\n

Can you tell which I favor?<\/p>\n

The people who are affected by a decision should always have a controlling voice in making the decision.\u00a0 The people who do the work, the people who produce goods and services, should always have a share in the profits.<\/p>\n

This is not centralized control.\u00a0 A giant corporation owning factories all over the world is centralized control.\u00a0 Worker-owned business is decentralized, local, on-the-spot control .<\/p>\n

A free market remains the most effective way of distributing goofs and services. Not only is socialism compatible with a free market, it is far more compatible with a free market than corporate capitalism is.\u00a0 Adam Smith, more often idolized than read, identified essential elements for a free market system that creates prosperity for all, including:<\/p>\n