In USA and Europe, the perception of socialism is very different. In Europe, the general attitude is, that socialism is not possible without telling people what to think and stealing their property, and therefore oppression is absolutely needed to create socialism. The Soviet Union took time to create, and maybe some stupid people thought that everybody would become socialists quickly, but it is not possible to create a socialist state without violence and oppression. Most of those that vote for socialist parties today, argue that "they're not really socialist, they only want to make the state bigger".
To me, socialism is the current world record holder of mass murder ideology. The main difference between socialism and nazism is, that socialism has killed a lot more people. I got very offended by many Americans until I realized, that in USA, socialism is used to describe a mechanism in society that USA already has.
I'd call it socialism when the state forcefully make people leave their home in order to create a new highway. I would not call it socialism to tax people and spend the money.
Socialism in the sense "an economic system based on state ownership of capital" or "An economic system in which the basic means of production are primarily owned and controlled collectively", is the same as oppression and failure to me. The system is so far from the human psychology, that history rewriting, history destruction, control of news distribution, undercover agents etc. are simply unavoidable.
I have experienced so many believers in socialism, and had many discussions with them, and I really cannot distinguish Stalin, Mao, Pol Pot and other kinds of socialism. To me, the Cubans were just lucky, that they didn't have more fatalities. |
