From each according to his ability, to each according to his need. This, most agree, is the fundamental tenet of socialism. Socialism, despite being the single most deadly ideology in human history, despite leading to tyranny and misery every single time it has been tried, is experiencing a revival with renewed enthusiasm, particularly in places hitherto relatively unscathed by it's pestilence.
No country is entirely socialist or entirely capitalist, so it is hard sometimes to nail down the criteria of what makes a country socialist. Proponents of socialism claim that Norway and the Netherlands are socialist countries, while detractors prefer Venezuela and North Korea as good examples. Based on Marx' maxim that I started this article with, we can ascertain that policies and economies are more or less socialist depending on their propensity to redistribute money and material goods or services from one group of people to another, to limit or eliminate profits and private property and increase the amount of central planning and central direction of the economy. This broad definition of socialism is widely accepted by both supporters and detractors of socialism.
So which countries are socialist? Or rather which countries rank highest on the socialist scale? By these criteria, it is clear that Venezuela and Cuba, having very large portions of the economy run directly by the state, nationalised industries and state run services are very socialist countries. By this measure we can also see that North Korea is far more socialist than South Korea or even China as in the former's case, the state virtually runs the entire economy whereas in the latter's case, there is a large thriving private sector where capitalists are allowed to allocate the factors of production in pursuit of profits.
What about the Nordic countries and the Benelux? While they have high redistribution rates (high taxes and 'generous' welfare programs), government involvement in the economy is low with even most schools and hospitals being in private hands. Private property and profit-seeking enterprise is not only tolerated, but encouraged. In Europe, The Netherlands (which I am most familiar with, having lived there) is by our criteria far less socialist than France, Spain, Italy, Greece or even the UK.
It is also often argued, by the advocates of socialism, that the horrific totalitarian regimes of the Soviet Union, Nazi Germany, Mao's China or Pol Pot's Cambodia were not socialist. The Soviet Union, they say was communist, not socialist. The soviets themselves disagreed, communism was the utopian ideal they had not yet reached, and described themselves as socialist republics. Indeed, the near total ownership of the economy by the state and the daemonisation of profit-seeking capitalists leaves little doubt to as to where they stand on our scale.
Although thoroughly explained by Hayek's Road to Serfdom, many still do not recognise that the German Nationalist Socialist party was a socialist party. Hitler’s economic policies championed state direction and Capitalism, which according to Hitler was run by a cabal of Jews, was derided as the biggest evil in the world. The Third Reich featured many government infrastructure programs, price controls, industry nationalisation and widespread economic regulation. The main difference between the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany was that one embraced the ideology of universal socialism, whereas the latter embraced national socialism. As Hayek also explains, redistributive policies and nationalised industries always lead to nationalism and friction with extra-national people within and without the state's borders. The more that is done by the state and the less left to the individual, the more important it becomes to define who is part of the state and who is not.
There being almost 200 countries in the world, it will take too long here to investigate and rank each one on our socialism scale. Ranking high on the socialist scale are fascist kleptocracies like Iran and Zimbabwe that use state interference in the economy to benefit a small elite instead of the unwashed masses. Lower down on the socialist scale there are southeast Asian countries whose citizens have low levels of political freedom, but high levels of economic freedom.
So given that the most socialist countries in the world today, and in the past are and have been the worst places for people to live in general and given that these places have seen rampant human rights abuses and the highest levels of inequality and human misery and murder, why would socialism appeal to anyone? I think the fundamental reason for the appeal of socialism and the general low opinion of capitalism is due to the fundamental error of attributing values to ideologies instead of to the outcomes they produce.
Ideas like socialism and capitalism don't have values. It is not correct to say that socialism is compassionate and capitalism is greedy. Only people have values. The reason that socialism always fails (and fails more the more it is applied) is the conceited idea that planners can do a better job of making decisions about where someone should work, what they should buy and from where, who deserves what portion of the fruits of their labour, what someone should learn and whether or not that person should be allowed to live at all better than those people involved can themselves. Inevitably, the planners get it wrong, and the more they try to achieve ‘social’ justice, the more they pervert actual justice and the more misery they sow into the ground.
So adding a word like "democratic" to an idea as flawed, dangerous and old as socialism will not change its outcome. Indeed one should not be distracted by political marketing labels such as "liberal", "conservative", "freedom" or "democratic". One should instead look at the policy proposals of parties and governments and ask: is this increasing the state's role in the economy or not? Such an increase, whoever it is who champions it, will always move you further down that road to tyranny and misery.
Porto, September 17th, 2018
TLDR: Democratic socialism doesn't make socialism any better.
No country is entirely socialist or entirely capitalist, so it is hard sometimes to nail down the criteria of what makes a country socialist. Proponents of socialism claim that Norway and the Netherlands are socialist countries, while detractors prefer Venezuela and North Korea as good examples. Based on Marx' maxim that I started this article with, we can ascertain that policies and economies are more or less socialist depending on their propensity to redistribute money and material goods or services from one group of people to another, to limit or eliminate profits and private property and increase the amount of central planning and central direction of the economy. This broad definition of socialism is widely accepted by both supporters and detractors of socialism.
So which countries are socialist? Or rather which countries rank highest on the socialist scale? By these criteria, it is clear that Venezuela and Cuba, having very large portions of the economy run directly by the state, nationalised industries and state run services are very socialist countries. By this measure we can also see that North Korea is far more socialist than South Korea or even China as in the former's case, the state virtually runs the entire economy whereas in the latter's case, there is a large thriving private sector where capitalists are allowed to allocate the factors of production in pursuit of profits.
What about the Nordic countries and the Benelux? While they have high redistribution rates (high taxes and 'generous' welfare programs), government involvement in the economy is low with even most schools and hospitals being in private hands. Private property and profit-seeking enterprise is not only tolerated, but encouraged. In Europe, The Netherlands (which I am most familiar with, having lived there) is by our criteria far less socialist than France, Spain, Italy, Greece or even the UK.
It is also often argued, by the advocates of socialism, that the horrific totalitarian regimes of the Soviet Union, Nazi Germany, Mao's China or Pol Pot's Cambodia were not socialist. The Soviet Union, they say was communist, not socialist. The soviets themselves disagreed, communism was the utopian ideal they had not yet reached, and described themselves as socialist republics. Indeed, the near total ownership of the economy by the state and the daemonisation of profit-seeking capitalists leaves little doubt to as to where they stand on our scale.
Although thoroughly explained by Hayek's Road to Serfdom, many still do not recognise that the German Nationalist Socialist party was a socialist party. Hitler’s economic policies championed state direction and Capitalism, which according to Hitler was run by a cabal of Jews, was derided as the biggest evil in the world. The Third Reich featured many government infrastructure programs, price controls, industry nationalisation and widespread economic regulation. The main difference between the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany was that one embraced the ideology of universal socialism, whereas the latter embraced national socialism. As Hayek also explains, redistributive policies and nationalised industries always lead to nationalism and friction with extra-national people within and without the state's borders. The more that is done by the state and the less left to the individual, the more important it becomes to define who is part of the state and who is not.
There being almost 200 countries in the world, it will take too long here to investigate and rank each one on our socialism scale. Ranking high on the socialist scale are fascist kleptocracies like Iran and Zimbabwe that use state interference in the economy to benefit a small elite instead of the unwashed masses. Lower down on the socialist scale there are southeast Asian countries whose citizens have low levels of political freedom, but high levels of economic freedom.
So given that the most socialist countries in the world today, and in the past are and have been the worst places for people to live in general and given that these places have seen rampant human rights abuses and the highest levels of inequality and human misery and murder, why would socialism appeal to anyone? I think the fundamental reason for the appeal of socialism and the general low opinion of capitalism is due to the fundamental error of attributing values to ideologies instead of to the outcomes they produce.
Ideas like socialism and capitalism don't have values. It is not correct to say that socialism is compassionate and capitalism is greedy. Only people have values. The reason that socialism always fails (and fails more the more it is applied) is the conceited idea that planners can do a better job of making decisions about where someone should work, what they should buy and from where, who deserves what portion of the fruits of their labour, what someone should learn and whether or not that person should be allowed to live at all better than those people involved can themselves. Inevitably, the planners get it wrong, and the more they try to achieve ‘social’ justice, the more they pervert actual justice and the more misery they sow into the ground.
So adding a word like "democratic" to an idea as flawed, dangerous and old as socialism will not change its outcome. Indeed one should not be distracted by political marketing labels such as "liberal", "conservative", "freedom" or "democratic". One should instead look at the policy proposals of parties and governments and ask: is this increasing the state's role in the economy or not? Such an increase, whoever it is who champions it, will always move you further down that road to tyranny and misery.
Porto, September 17th, 2018
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| The long downward road is paved with good intentions and tarmac |
TLDR: Democratic socialism doesn't make socialism any better.
