What is the attraction of socialism?
I am, in fact, researching socialism. The first part of my question has been answered. Here is the dictionary view of socialism:
Main Entry: so·cial·ism
Pronunciation: ˈsō-shə-ˌli-zəm
Function: noun
Date: 1837
1 : any of various economic and political theories advocating collective or governmental ownership and administration of the means of production and distribution of goods
2 a : a system of society or group living in which there is no private property b : a system or condition of society in which the means of production are owned and controlled by the state
3 : a stage of society in Marxist theory transitional between capitalism and communism and distinguished by unequal distribution of goods and pay according to work done (Mirriam-Webster online dictionary).
The second part of my question is:
Why is socialism attractive to those wealthy people who stand to lose all their riches and be brought to the same economic level as the ‘poor’ ??
There are several reasons. The first is that not all wealthy people come from wealthy, or exploitative backgrounds. There are people who experienced the worst of society, yet managed to obtain a wealthy status through hard work. These peopel may sympathize with socialism because socialism provides support for people who went through the same things that they had gone through. Secondly, certain people see socialism as a sign of humanity. People believe that socialism brings out the humane and moral in individuals and reduces exploitation and various social ills. To them, socialism appears to be some kin dof paradisicial symbolism of an ideal state, and it supplants the religious perception of “paradise” because it seems like a paradise on earth. Thirdly, they may not symjpathize with socialism in itself, yet sympathize with socialist countries that maintain a degree of national autonomity and national elevation by rising agaisnt imperialist ills.
The sad fact is, many peope in socialist countries do not understand capitalists. They were raised to believe, through their textbooks and movies, that all capitalists are greedy money grubbers, that all of them are exploitative, and that they are evil. The landlords are all depicted as evil, bald headed selfish sociopathic individuals, while the working class are all angelic, virtuous and kind people who needlessly suffer under the yoke of bourgeois capitalists. This stereotype in communist culture causes communists to believe in the illusion of the capitalist world; that the capitalist world is one that has complete freedom, and that capitalists can make millions of dollars in a short amount of time through minimal work and maximal cheating. When they see wealthy capitalists, they assume that they have made their money very easily or by cheating many individuals; they do not see them as humane people, but rather peopel from whom they can exploit and take money from. They believe that money comes easily to capitalists and are not hesitant to demand lots of money from them; often with little consideration or attention to ethics. Which brings me to another drawback to stereotypes in communism: poor people in capitalist societies are not necessarily moral, nor good. In fact, there are many poor peopel who remain poor because they lack responsibiltiy, proper work ethic, or they are lazy.
In the end, yes, there are individuals from propertied classes who sympathize with communism. Yet the irony is that they end up in a situation where they do not belong to teh propertied class because they sympathize with socialism, yet they are rejected by communists because they are viewed as exploiters. The only way that wealthy people can ever be appreciated with communists, is to offer them lots of money and their property.
Yoru question brings attention to another conclusion: many communist practices and revolutions have failed and received much criticism, because it focused solely on class struggle. When nations were built under communism, the class struggle had lead to needless purges, executions, and social segregation purely due to the fact that the propertied classes were deemed evil. This lead to teh disintegration of society, rather than the cohesion of society. That is why nationalism in some communsit countries was deemed a primary goal, rather than communism itself; because communism through dogmatic practice lead to the disintegration fo the country rather than its construction, developement and cohesion.
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