We need to talk about socialism. The term has been bandied about as if we know what the definition is. We don’t. Socialism has to be redefined to fit 21st-century realities. All socialists will agree that socialism is about labor having a bigger say in our democracy (what’s left of it). All socialists will agree that in a wealthy society if you work, you should have a decent life where you don’t have to worry about the basics of life – food, housing, education, medical care, clothing, etc. – the necessities of life. Any decent society will provide this to its citizens whether through higher wages or through programs that provide for those necessities. If you work, you are owed this by the community that you serve.
Once one gets beyond that definition though, each person views it differently. For instance, Independent Bernie Sanders states that he is a democratic socialist but he’s not trying to abolish capitalism. I, on the other hand, believe that capitalism is the problem; that we have to move away from capitalism to achieve a more perfect union. Both of us agree that the present form of capitalism (neoliberalism) is an abject failure and needs to be corrected to allow for human needs and that we have the power, as citizens, to control how the economy works and to make it moral and effective. This is in contrast to the leadership of the Democratic Party and the entire Republican Party who want “the market” to determine our future. And that is where, I believe, the real divide is. Those of us who are socialists believe that we citizens have the power and obligation to ensure an economy that supports all. Capitalists believe that the “market” is the only and best determinate of what society is about and who wins and who loses.
In this sense, the terms liberal and conservative have to be redefined also. I would define the old guard Democrats (Joe Biden, Nancy Pelosi, et al) as conservative. They want the economy to go back to the late 20th - and early 21st -century neoliberalism where markets ruled all and the role of the state is to ensure that people of color and women can take part in that economy. The new Republicans are not conservative; they are reactionary. They want to change the United States into a new sort of Christian fascism where the rich rule over the rest of us. They are so certain of their righteousness that the old rules and the Constitution no longer apply. The new young Democrats and Bernie Sanders are the new liberals. They want to change the notion of “work” and “markets” so that they serve all of humanity, not just those that were born into their wealth. This is the new socialism where democracy is broadened into our workplaces and the economy: where competition is put into the proper perspective of sports and other endeavors that don’t affect the most basic of services to our citizens. It’s actually a return to the realization that, as we are the beneficiaries of the past, we owe the future our sacrifices so they may have an Earth that can sustain them in a beneficent manner.
As a final note, I write these essays to encourage discussion and debate on a rational stage. No American socialist wants to be like Venezuela or the old USSR or China and yet these are the arguments that the mainstream media and politically powerful use to demonize us socialists. In my opinion (IMO) this is an indication of their fear; fear that, in a rational discussion, the socialist ideals stated here are not radical but a starting place to address systemic changes.
Lehman lives in Warren.
