Phillip J Bryson

Socialism USA Phillip J Bryson

Socialism USA: A Plea for a Soft Variant, was written by one who rather dreads the coming socialist economy in the United States. It reviews the results of "hard" socialism in countries that have become totalitarian dictatorships, depriving their citizens of human rights and producing an equality of poverty. Of the two elements of genuine, Marxist-Leninist ("hard") socialism, it is the state's attempt to own and micro-manage every firm and corporation in the economy that brings disaster. Nationalization of industry is more than a state bureaucracy can handle for an entire economy; it leads to great efforts to force control on the system and the citizens. The second element of socialism is the redistribution of income and social welfare policies. If only this element comes into play, socialism can become "soft" as in Sweden and the Scandinavian countries, and need not be dictatorial and authoritarian. Technically, that system is still capitalism (no state ownership of the means of production), but it is with redistribution of income. Happily, it is achievable and meets socialistic objectives and preferences. Please, young and also seasoned socialists, let us have soft socialism and be as free as the Scandinavians with an economy that works.