Socialism as a Dirty Word?

Talk about things turning into their opposites. I grew up in a world of “utopian socialists.” The key word here is “utopian.” We believed that if the world could be “owned by labor,” it would be a real life utopia. No need to wait to die to go to heaven. We could have heaven on earth. Like many true believers, we not only believed it but we sang about its wonders at every opportunity.

One of my best memories of that kind of singing was in the early fifties in London. Arthur Horner, the President of the Welsh Miners Union and a member of the Communist Party, invited me to their convention. The intense discussion of the coal crisis in Britain was the central issue before the convention. The deeper down the Welsh mines had to go, the more expensive their coal. As a result, Polish coal was cheaper and Welsh mines started to shut down. There was a real crisis looming. No matter. At every opportunity the whole convention would burst into song. My memory of the songs was the sounds of hope for a better world.

That better world that we demonstrated, marched, and sang about was socialism. It was our version of religion. Not “pie in the sky” as in that old Wobbly song, but a heaven right here on earth in our own lifetime. I think that utopian vision was the engine that drove the idea of socialism. A central problem for the left in todays world is the lack of any kind of utopian vision for our future. Our politicians try to fill that human need with their constant repetition of how American exceptionalism creates an opportunity for all of us to go from rags to riches, just like Google’s entrepreneurs. In my youth it was Andrew Carnegie or Henry Ford. That’s how capitalism captured the market for utopian dreams. My immigrant father told how in the early part of the last century in Europe people spoke of the streets in America as being paved with gold. Now the the worst thing a conservative Republican can say about the bailout is that it smacks of socialism. The very word “socialism” has become the hell word to describe government intervention in the bailout crisis.

So here we are in yet another severe economic crisis of capitalism. The tragedy of our time is the lack of any serious discussion regarding an alternative the the existing system. We have been repairing and fixing it since the great depression of the thirties, and God knows we probably saved it from itself. It was all those marches and demonstrations in the thirties demanding government action in the face of the hardships that gave us the safety-nets that we depend on today to get us through this crisis. And who organized all that resentment into common causes? It was the left. The communists, socialists, and a whole assortment of radical groups all seeking some form of socialism as the antidote to the capitalist crisis. That is precisely what is missing today. There is simply no organized force out there that can channel all the rage and resentment into a mechanism for change.

I attribute the loss of any semblance of an organized left today to the downfall of the Soviet Union. Though it never was a truly socialist country, the Soviet Union somehow managed to capture the idea of socialism. With its collapse went any possibility of resurrecting the idea. That leaves us with no real alternative ideas for dealing with yet another capitalist crisis. Yes, we will find some ways to get us through this mess. The system, fearful of social unrest, will make some more imperfect adjustments until the next crisis. I hope to see the emergence of a new left before I depart this planet.

Thanks Kate N.H.W.Y.