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Communism is based on erroneous premises: that central planning is more efficient than decentralized decision- making; that the politicization of the economy will ultimately lead to social justice rather than parasitism; and that human beings are "naturally" prone to consensus and strong fellow- feeling, such that competitiveness, disagreement, and conflict are the result of erroneous social arrangements. Almost everyone, even the Chinese, admits that the first premise is untrue. In fact, in the last 10 or 15 years, the buzz phrase in socialist circles is the "social market", the attempt to blend market discipline and social justice. Misgivings about the second premise are widespread: not only is it well known that the Soviet nomenklatura and Chinese cadres became privileged classes, but also that African socialism, one of the early "third way" slogans, turned into kleptocracy. Thus, even die- hard socialists fret over the danger of political corruption overtaking social justice. On the last, almost everyone is at least less sanguine about the corruption of society and the perfection of nature. For example, it is now widely admitted that ethnocentrism is natural, and one must be "socialized" out of it. Socialism has become more tentative, and few are socialists any longer....... |
