Ebrima I bleive it will be interesting as a departing point to look at
whether Socialism exist or not. I stand by the point that it did not exist
from the experience i gathered whiles studying in Poland.
After reading the theories about these systems, leaving Gambia I was hoping
to see it in practice but unfortunately it wasn't. So for me to say that it
has fail will really be unjustified. Some might say that is did exist and it
has
failed.
Why did I believe that it did not exist neither in Soviet Union nor in
Eastern Europe especially in Poland where I lived and studied.

I understood socialism to mean  a system of society based upon the common
ownership and democratic control of the means and instruments for producing
and distributing wealth by and in the interest of society as a whole. SO
therefore from my experience this was not what was happening in Eastern
Europe neither in Soviet Union.
Looking at Poland as a specific country I came to the conclusion that it has
never being a socialist country and I felt the same way for the Soviet
Union.
It s low industrial productivity and the non-socialist outlook of
the vast majority of its population do not bring such a thing within the
realms of possibility. This was the most that struck me in the
Poland, I was expecting everyone to be able to understand the system at the
tip of their fingers. Maxism, Lenism etc. was something I believed the
people from Eastern Europe as well as Soviet Union should be equipt with.
At the same time they have their privileged section of the population and
they will buy the bulk of the luxury articles which average worker cannot
afford. These privileged people receive incomes a hundred times bigger than
that of the average worker. With the legality of inheritance in force,
accumulation of wealth today is taken place in Poland and even in Russia
among the wealthy.

It has always being said that it is impossible for Socialism to be imposed
from the above even if the minority who hold power genuinely have that as
their object. But these elements were rampant there, various political
groups or individuals who seek to discredit the socialist movement by
holding up Russia as a proof of the impossibility of abolishing capitalism
were jail or silence very qucikly. I remember in Poland at that time there
was
a saying among the masses that "every wall in Poland talks".

The so called social system that existed can be described as capitalism
since the essential features of capitalism predominates: class monopoly of
the means of production, commodity production, wage-labour and capital
accumulation.
A class is made up of people who are in the same position with regard to the
ownership and use of the means of wealth-production and distribution. One
class has a monopoly over these means of production if the rest of society
are allowed access to them only on terms imposed by the group in control.
These people occupy the top posts in the party, government, industry and the
armed forces.The failure in Soviet Union has been a whole mistaken Policy of
the Bolsheviks.

Whether Socialism has a future is another debate of its own, I do strongly
believe that it does but I will allow others to come in answering the
first part of the question why has socialism failed. I believe there might
be
people who will believe that it did exist and it failed. I would also like
to see PDOIS analysis on this as well. Saiks also has a different
perspective of the whole issue but that we can debate.

The Struggle Continues!!
Ndey Jobarteh

-----Original Message-----
From: ebrima ceesay <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask] <[log in to unmask]>
Date: 30 July 1999 14:20
Subject: Why has Socialism failed?


>Gambia L,
>
>As I was going through my letters a few minutes ago, I saw one e-mail
>written to me in private, in which the writer - a Gambia L subscriber
>studying political science - has asked me to help him tackle these two
>questions - why has Socialism failed and whether it does have a future or
>not - as part of his research.
>
>Well, I do know that the writer is asking these questions in private and
>would therefore want/expect my answers to be posted to him, also, in
>private.
>
>But I've decided to send my comments through the L, so that people who know
>better might also help him in tackling these questions for the research he
>is conducting. Someone rightly said the other day on the L that no one has
a
>monopoly of ideas.
>
>"Why has Socialism failed? Does it have a future a future?", are the two
>questions he asked. Well, because of lack of research as I write this
piece,
>I'll have to be briefed.
>
>All the same, it is, of course, an open secret that Socialism has indeed
>suffered reverses and not lived up to expectations. However, having said
>that, it is also a fact that in human history, it is not unusual nor
>unprecedented for ideas to suffer such reverses and bounced back with time
>to fulfill their mission. Therefore, an idea rejected with bitterness today
>may well emerge the wisdom of another time.
>
>For instance, no one would have thought - or believed - that the sun will
>ever rise for capitalism when its foundations crumbled in the 1930s, during
>the dreary depression.
>
>I am of the view that the failure of capitalism then and the failure of
>Socialism today is but a failure in truthfully implementing an idea. They
>say a brilliant idea in the wrong hands may prove a disaster.
>
>The real problem of Socialism was the dogmatism and rigidity with which the
>implementors went about their task. And needless to say that a good
ideology
>must be flexible and adaptive. Brother Saiks, please feel free to correct
>me. Your input/thoughts would be most appreciated.
>
>In m view, what must be acknowledged is the fact that many of the
>implementors of Socialism were not genuine or sincere at all!! For example,
>throughout the history of socialist rule, ever since the Bolsheviks
>triumphed in 1917, it had been the maxim in socialist press theory that
like
>all institutions, the press must be under the firm control of the
>proletariat, here translated to mean control by the communist party.
>
>To achieve this control, censorship laws were resorted to. But I was taken
>aback, or surprised, when I discovered - some time ago - what Marx himself,
>father of Socialism, had said on the question of the press which the
>implementors had buried/hidden as they killed Marxism on the altar of their
>own political survival. This is why I have been emphasizing that this is an
>era of endless reading.
>
>Condemning press censorship and encouraging press freedom, Marx had
written,
>among other things, that..."The censored press has a demoralising effect.
It
>is a potentiated evil from which hypocrisy is inseparable, and from this
>fundamental evil flow all its other weaknesses. The government hears only
>its own voice, and yet fixes itself in the delusion it is hearing the voice
>of the people and demands of the people that they, too, affix to this
>delusion"...
>
>It is unfortunate that as I write this piece, I do not have the whole
>statement Marx had given, in relation to press freedom, but it is,
>nonetheless, clear - based on these quotations - that there are indeed
>enough guidelines in Marxism to support genuine democratic rights. The
>problem of Socialism therefore had to do with its implementors' lack of
>sincerity and also their lack of flexibility.
>
>Capitalism, as seen by Marx and Engels, had also shown that rigidity as the
>bourgeoisie became slaves to their greed. However, what saved capitalism
was
>the preparedness of modern capitalists to trim off the ugly edges by
>introducing socialist recommendations, by giving it a human face, by
>stressing the welfare component, which ultimately increase the profits for
>the owners.
>
>Therefore, the future of socialism, in my view, lies in adopting capitalist
>methods or any other device that will enhance the attainment of a society
>which guarantees that every citizen can have decent standard of living.
>Where modern socialism went wrong was to plunge into the past and use
>feudalist practices to achieve socialism.(Again I stand to be corrected)
>
>Finally, it is interesting to observe that while America's capitalism
claims
>victory over socialism, thousands are homeless in the land of plenty, where
>some people have 20-bedroom mansions. The US is bathing in a bloodbath;
>crime and violence marks the skyline and what the books do not say is that
>capitalism is what breeds the malaise.
>
>Last night I was glued to my TV, watching CNN's live coverage of yet
another
>shooting, this time in Atlanta Georgia, in which 12 people were reportedly
>killed and several others injured. It is indeed regrettable that while
>cities in the USA should be in a race to find out who has done more for its
>residents, the race is about crime statistics, about how many people have
>been killed in a month.
>
>Because of lack of research, I do not have the statistics of the current
>killings in the US, but while I was there in 1995, thousands were slain in
>the whole of the US for that particular year. Hundreds were slain in New
>york alone.
>
>At the time, homicide had outstripped other causes as the leading killer of
>black males aged 14 to 25 and random killings had also soared. In fact,
>there were cities which even set murder records.
>
>Surely, America is an advanced/developed country, but it is also a fact
that
>it has shown retrogression in other aspects. Isn't it therefore
ironic/funny
>when you read in the newspapers that the US is sending so much aid to
Africa
>and other parts of the world, and yet thousands of its citizens are
homeless
>and begging on the streets?
>
>Ebrima Ceesay,
>Birmingham, UK.
>
>
>
>
>
>______________________________________________________
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>
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