Why I am Not Ashamed To Be Socialist

Day 2,102, 16:08 • Published in Ireland Ireland • by The Irish William Wallace

It is an almost forbidden word outside of the American intelligentsia, with such negative connotations as being "unpatriotic" and "evil". It is not just Americans who view this as a dirty word, but many people outside of America do too. I could write all day about how the right-wing has claimed the word "socialism" as their own and have done much in their power to discredit and demean it so that anyone who even utters the word is immediately thought of as a traitor, a foolish idealist, or someone who is poor and just wants to rob rich people of their so-called hard earned cash (you know, the surplus they collect without doing the labor - the same labor that makes their wealth possible). Some critics cite the 100 million that were killed "under socialism".

Just a general note about methodology... numbers such as this are obtained basically by ascribing communism to every death occurring in a socialist country which could have been prevented by a better performing economy. You understand? Someone starves under socialism, they go on the list. Of course the numbers are also hugely inflated, but it doesn't even matter... compared even to the inflated numbers, capitalism performs far, far worse by this method. Something like 15 million people starve in the capitalist world every single year, so that capitalism starves in a mere seven years as many people as this person thinks communism has EVER killed.



Abandoning that methodology though, we can look at socio-economic political systems in a clearer light. Socialism, nor capitalism, has ever killed anyone. Socialism has never really been done on a large scale, despite what you may assume about the USSR. If you know true communist ideology (or socialist even) you can point out several examples of why the USSR shouldn't be used as an example of what a socialist state would look like. Research "state capitalism".



To me, socialism is more than just an economic system to strive for. To me, the socialist struggle has existed since primordial civilization. It is the fight against the privatization of wealth and power in the hands of the few, the socially constructed divisions between society based on class-gender-race-sexuality, and the strive toward a society in which everyone truly has a chance to better themselves and the world around them.

Think of it - a lot of arguments against socialism tend to play on buzzwords like "lazy" and "unmotivated". If everyone's basic necessities are provided for them, what will be the point of working? Everyone will just live off of the work of others right?

No. Human nature dictates against that notion, people do not simply waste away their lives if opportunity is presented to them. Why do you think people waste away their lives today? Perhaps it is because the gap between rich and poor is ever growing and there is almost nothing one can effectively do to change that. Maybe it is because we are underemployed, working tedious jobs that degrade our individual existence and turns us into machines. Whatever you argue, we do not have much opportunity as a general populace because we, about 80% of the world, live in struggle/poverty/nearing poverty.



I am proud to be a socialist because even in a world full of gross equalities, I believe in the spirit of humankind and the dream of progressing civilization so we can tackle the greater mysteries of life and give everyone the basic necessities because every citizen has the right to life.

Anyone who tells you that any man, woman, or child doesn't deserve food and shelter - punch them in the face and take their money and throw them in a third world country. Then they can see how much *opportunity* they have to make a decent living.