There is a considerable amount of confusion over what genuine socialism is. For decades, capitalist spokesmen, politicians, educators and preachers have been telling us numerous falsehoods about this socio-economic system of the future. We have been told that it existed in the former Soviet Union, China and Cuba, that it's been active in Sweden and Great Britain, that it's a dictatorship or that it means state control over the economy. Capitalist speakers have been spreading these lies because it's within their interests to promote the falsehoods so that the working class never understands or supports, en masse, a viable alternative to capitalism or any other system based on class rule and exploitation of labor. As a result, since it was first conceived in the early 19th century as the next step in social evolution after capitalism (just as capitalism replaced a previous economic system, feudalism) the tenets of socialism have been suppressed by the ruling class. No school textbooks, from elementary school to graduate school, accurately promote it, all spread one or more of the aforementioned falsehoods, and all attest that such a system is impossible and that capitalism is the pinnacle of socio-economic evolution.
All this so that the ruling class can maintain their despotic wealth and privilege, continue fighting their useless and bloody wars with the full support of the general public and continue to dominate the world economy with their ideas and interests. The cost to the working class, i.e., the vast majority of citizens of the world, is poverty, massive unemployment, a culture dominated by nihlism, despondency, crass materialism, avarice and selfishness, crime, violence, constant attacks on our basic civil rights, repressive laws, environmental devestation and the continued threat of a nuclear war. All this so a few individuals can live in luxury, while the rest of us do not.
Capitalism takes several forms, be it the pure, privatized version of the system which exists in the U.S., Japan, Germany, etc., or the state capitalism, or Leninism/Stalinism, that exists (or has existed) in Russia, China and in all the nations that falsely claim the mantle of "communism" or "socialism." The name "socialism" has also been claimed by the liberal form of capitalism that exists in Sweden, France and previously, in Great Britain.
What it all boils down to is that socialism has been terribly misrepresented, and it certainly must be clarified to a growing number of people in the 21st Century if we are ever to move beyond the current social system that is killing us and rapidly leading to global chaos. We must understand what capitalism truly is, how we can organize against it and what the next form of society should take. That system should be the humane, classless society written about by Karl Marx and his intellectual collaborator, Frederick Engels. This is why genuine socialism is often called Marxism. Contrary to what we are often taught, Marx had nothing whatsoever to do with that corrupt, class-divided system in the former Soviet Union. That was an "alternative" to capitalism created by revolutionary Vladimir Lenin, and later deformed by Josef Stalin, which was actually a mere variation of capitalism, and not at all a higher form of society. Stalin claimed the mantle of socialism to convince the world that he had a beneficial system, and this lie was propounded by the U.S. and the pure captialist nations to convince the people that "real" socialism was a dictatorship, and that capitalism was better. The Cold War rivalry between U.S. capitalism and Soviet "Communism" (i.e., Stalinism) was never a war between capitalism and socialism. It was a worldwide turf war between two despotic ruling classes determined to control the world markets for themselves (equivalent to the bloody turf wars between rival street gangs, but on a far larger scale and endangering the entire planet rather than a few neighborhoods).
My purpose on this site is to promote genuine socialism, explain its purpose and the promise it holds for our future, and to expose capitalism for what it truly is. All of the lies and social mythology expounded upon us daily by the capitalist controlled media and school textbooks will be pointed out, and hopefully, I can help create more genuine socialists, or at least to get people believing that there is indeed hope for the future, and that a viable socialist society, and a benevolent alternative to capitalism and class rule, is indeed possible. Keep reading, visit often and be enlightened.
N,Chris, Socialism: What it is, what it's not; June (1999)
See the home pages of the Socialist Labor Party, the New Union Party and the World Socialist Parties for more info
This page was last updated on 12/21/08
Note: I'm sorry that this site hasn't been updated too much in the past eight years since I first posted it online. Needless to say, I have suffered health problems that have kept me from updating it as much as I like and I have since become distracted by other projects. Needless to say, I remain a dedicated socialist and I fully plan to update this site further in the future. As of today, I updated the existing essays, corrected certain grammatical flubs, and improved the format a bit. I will get back to responding to the missives in the guest book soon enough. In the meantime, I continue to support socialism as the future socio-economic system of the world and this site remains as a resource for all who may want to learn about genuine socialism and to learn where to go to support it further.
I would hereby like to extend my condolences to all people who lost family and/or friends in the tragic act of terrorism launched against the U.S. targets on 9/11/01--however, instead of rallying behind America and its political state with a red, white and blue flag, as most people appear to be doing, I instead stand behind the working class of all nations in the world today to unite on the basis of their common class interests, and not by petty nationalistic boundaries. I also stand behind the socialist goal of building a better and more free world that is bereft of opposing class interests and seperate, competing nation-states that are the very cause of horrendous tragedies like the World Trade Center incident. We must deny the U.S. government, or any other government, worker support in pursuit of their selfish profit interests, and continual antagonism towards each other. The many unwarrented attacks on Muslims and workers of Mid-Eastern descent is playing capitalism's game for it by dividing workers amongst each other, and also ignoring the fact that many innocent people killed in that attack were not indigenous Americans, and many of them were Muslims of Mid-Eastern origin. We tend to forget the huge ethnic diversity of New York City, and instead imagine every person in those buildings to have been people born in U.S. territorial borders only.
I also call upon all Americans to resist supporting President Bush's chilling vow to attack terrorism "by any means necessary," and to create an online poll to attempt to garner widespread approval for any type of tactic he may use, no matter how unethical...which may include hitting civilian targets in foreign nations, increase destructive economic sanctions against Third World countries, to target all members of a particular ethnic group for investigation and/or harrassment, or most importantly, to pass harsh laws which greatly diminishes the civil rights and privacy rights of all citizens of this nation. As one member of the Defense Department already mused, if the President does any of these things, then "the terrorists have won." Please think carefully and coherantly about this situation, and do not give in to the nationalistic rhetoric that the Bush administration is spouting right now to justify American workers overlooking the many atrocities that the U.S. government has committed abroad to provoke such hideous violence and tragedy against this country in the first place. Instead, we as workers (not "Americans," but workers) must support an end to the imperialistic economic policies that create such hatred against this nation, and the people born here, in the first place. Remember how important our civil rights are, and do not get manipulated into supporting any such plan that the President may have in order to diminish them. No greater a menace exists then the potential police state now looming over us, and if the President truly values "freedom" and "democracy" as he claims so much in the press, then he will not support any type of policy, either foreign or domestic, that compromises these principles.
The fact that the poll has already been placed on the Net, and the many viciously deluded responses already written there by severely misled and non-objective American citizens, is already a strong indication that what the President plans to do as a "response" to the terrorist attack are not things that a free and democratic society would ever approve of, the same as the policies which provoked this attack in the first place. Please oppose terrorism of all kinds by opposing the polices, and ultimately, the economic world order itself, that causes such horrific events and breeds hate-filled zealots like Osama Bin Laden.
Go to the following site, fill out the poll, and tell the President and Congress that we will not tolerate "whatever is necessary" as a response if it means the loss of innocent lives or our civil rights:
http://www.supportournation.com
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What's on this site?
Socialism FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions)
What is Capitalism?
What is Socialism?
Pretenders to Socialism
How to Establish Socialism
How Capitalism Causes Racism and Sexism
Capitalism and Environmental Destruction
Capitalism and War: The Modern Reasons for Warfare and the True Purpose of the Military
The Union Question: The Principles of De Leonism and the Socialist Industrial Union Program
How Goods and Services Will Be Distributed Under Socialism: Labor Vouchers Vs. Free Access
Socialist Parties: Which One Should I Support?
Education Under Socialism
a bit about myself
Socialist Links
