Its 2025 so if you haven’t noticed yet, international capital and its exploitative dominance over the entire world’s human and material resources is facing its most serious challenge. Just 35 years ago, even the then powerful Warsaw Pact, or Eastern European countries led by the former Union of Socialist Soviet Republics (USSR or Soviet Union) were not able to mount the type of challenge to the capitalist/imperialist system that its seeing today.
And this is borne out by Kwame Ture’s prophetic statement during the 1990s that the cracks in capitalism’s armor were exposed by the fact “the same white racists who attacked us in the 60s for protesting because they saw this as communist activities, are now protesting against the very same government they brutalized us in favor of!” Ture went on to state that attacks from the right and left make the capitalist system that much more vulnerable.
None of this is to say that the capitalist system isn’t still extremely resilient. It certainly has life to continue fighting back, but one of its most important tools in doing so is its ability to maintain its dominant anti-communist propaganda over a large segment of the world’s population.
This is evidenced by the fact that much of Europe today, at the very demand of the populations in countries like France, Italy, Germany, etc., uphold socialist influenced national programs like free healthcare, education, etc. While doing this, these countries, including Canada, laugh off U.S. critiques of their systems as costing too much by responding that they, unlike the U.S., don’t spend 50% of their national tax revenues on maintaining war mechanisms and militaries, around the world. And, the majority of the people in these countries happily agree with this approach while many of them would still resist any comparison between their countries and socialist development.
Of course, the U.S. is still the unquestioned leader of international capitalist/imperialist dominance and as a result, the most effective and consistent anti-communist propaganda exists within the U.S. This can easily be demonstrated by simple experimentation. If you go to any U.S. state, urban or rural setting, and stand on any intersection, offering passersby $100.00 USD if they can demonstrate any comprehensive book on socialist development they have read, outside of an assigned reading from school, etc., you would find no more than 1%, and that’s being optimistic, who would be qualified to cash in on your proposal.
This reality exists due to this non-stop anti-communist propaganda that exists like the sun comes up in the U.S.. And, the three myths about socialism are just some of many that can be easily dissected, yet they continue to represent what is without question the most dominant thinking about socialism in the U.S. today.
Myth # 1 – There is no freedom of thought in socialist societies.
This one is most likely the most widely propagated and the easiest to disprove of the many unfortunate lies about socialist development. The core of this mistruth rests in the mistaken assumption within capitalist U.S. that freedom and democracy is defined solely by being able to do what you think you want to do with no context and/or analysis. The truth is you can do what you want in capitalist societies as long as what you want does nothing to challenge the status quo of capitalist domination. In capitalism you can be racist, patriarchal, homophobic, and can even brag about being completely ignorant about any and everything, and all of this is not only acceptable, its encouraged within many quarters. This is of course an extremely primitive and underdeveloped perspective on freedom. Any healthy freedom has to require people within society to recognize not just their responsibility to themselves and their loved ones, but their responsibility to everyone. This is what socialist development promotes. So, in this collective mindset, a conscious socialist operating within a society committed to socialist development would have no issue in recognizing that the amount of money they can make should be limited for a time. Not to say that they cannot make money, but to say that their ability to make money cannot result from exploitative activities that maintain class inequities crucial for the continuance of capitalist development. For example, this conscious socialist would prefer that schools be prioritized with infrastructure. They would demand that the elderly and sick be taken care of without the burden of worrying about the finance to do so properly. And this socialist would always see these responsibilities as theirs as a human living in a collective society as a opposed to seeing the necessity to utilize tax revenues to fund schools as a personal financial burden that limits their personal profitability as is promoted within backward capitalist societies.
Also, since socialist societies prioritize collective input and participation, it’s insane to suggest that capitalist societies offer more free speech than socialist societies. Sure, from a surface perspective, capitalists can argue this point while leaving out that socialist societies haven’t been able to consolidate the values of socialism and moral incentives like capitalist societies have with financial incentives. So, to make that comparison is like expecting an undisciplined child to understand collectivism at the same qualitative level in a selfish capitalist society as someone who has practiced and is committed to collective development.
Deeper inspection confirms that that you truly can only say what you want within capitalist societies provided what you are saying is not opposed to capitalism and that a reasonable number of people are not listening to you. A simple inquiry into the capitalist system’s elimination of people like Malcolm X, Dr. Martin Luther King, Patrice Lumumba, Amilcar Cabral, Thomas Sankara, Fred Hampton, Salvador Allende, Samora Machel, Eduardo Mondalane, Ernesto Guevara, etc., etc., illustrates that capitalism will end you quickly if you speak out against it in ways that undermine its stability and ability to continue to dominant.
Meanwhile, socialist construction relies on tools like democratic centralism, which properly instituted ensures that everyone’s voice is heard and all debate is fully exhausted before a decision is made. Then, after the debate is exhausted, everyone has that collective responsibility to make a decision. With this socialist method, if anything, the danger is bourgeoisie democracy where people who don’t do the work are still able to express their opinions without any accountability to the work, but to call this style of work restrictive and undemocratic is laughable. This is especially true when free speech in capitalism doesn’t exist without dollars because dollars buys you the access. There are no historical accounts of capitalist development written and widely consumed by poor people.
Myth # 2 – You cannot make money in socialist societies.
The basis of this lie is that everything and everyone is equal under socialism and work is not incented so no matter how hard you try, everyone gets paid the same. This is also laughable. Doctors and lawyers within socialist societies make much more than street sweepers and garbage collectors. The fundamental and important difference is that within socialist development the value of that garbage collector and street sweeper is encouraged with the understanding that their role, although different, is as important as the doctor and lawyer. In socialism, the type of class hierarchy that dominates in capitalist societies is openly discouraged with education having a focus on eliminating this all together.
Another importance difference is since education, healthcare, childcare, etc., are free in socialist development, any and everyone is encouraged to pursue whichever type of career they wish because all work contributes to the revolutionary process. So, if the street sweeper decides not to go to law school, they aren’t socially penalized for this. That stigma doesn’t exist like it does in capitalist societies because the ability to have education isn’t decided by your elite class status, but by what contribution you wish to make to the collective society. Once all work is respected, you will always have some who wish to be doctors and some who decide to be street sweepers.
Myth # 3 – Production of products in socialism is inferior to capitalist production.
Although widely believed, another laughable concept. If you take s cellular phone for example. One developed in socialist societies is done under an environment of providing a necessary service to the user/buyer. The company is state owned so this is its motivation, not profitability. As a result, they have every incentive to build a superior product because their success is measured based on their ability to provide the people what they need, not how much money they make. This model has been proven time and time again, but a clear example is the work of Ghana’s tire manufacturing plant in Takaradi, Ghana from 1960 to 1966 under Kwame Nkrumah and the Convention People’s Party’s socialist development. Ghana’s socialist tire factory out produced Firestone Tire and Rubber in Liberia during that period producing hundreds of thousands of tires that performed better and lasted longer. And, the recipe was no mystery. Under the socialist tire factory, workers were respected as contributors to the revolution by making those tires. They were paid respectively, provided benefits and treated as valuable members of the society. Even within capitalist societies we know that when workers are respected, they perform better, call in sick less, and produce at higher levels. In fact, the number one reason for worker dissatisfaction in capitalist countries is that lack of respect, not wages.
Meanwhile, capitalist tire production repped the same tired approach that is common in capitalist societies. Poor pay. Bad work conditions. Less workers to increase profitability with higher penalties for not meeting production goals. The fact that the neo-colonial U.S. backed thugs who illegally overthrew Nkrumah’s government in 1966 had the vision to close that tire factory immediately and sell it off to Firestone to be immediately closed, forever (it was never reopened) tells the full story. Capitalism will do anything to prevent the people from finding out what it really is because once people find out that capitalism is nothing except a brutal oppressive system, they will learn that scientific socialism is the exact opposite of that. As capitalism gets weaker and weaker, its ability to maintain that mirage of superiority is really the only trick up its sleeve that it has left.
o edit.
And this is borne out by Kwame Ture’s prophetic statement during the 1990s that the cracks in capitalism’s armor were exposed by the fact “the same white racists who attacked us in the 60s for protesting because they saw this as communist activities, are now protesting against the very same government they brutalized us in favor of!” Ture went on to state that attacks from the right and left make the capitalist system that much more vulnerable.
None of this is to say that the capitalist system isn’t still extremely resilient. It certainly has life to continue fighting back, but one of its most important tools in doing so is its ability to maintain its dominant anti-communist propaganda over a large segment of the world’s population.
This is evidenced by the fact that much of Europe today, at the very demand of the populations in countries like France, Italy, Germany, etc., uphold socialist influenced national programs like free healthcare, education, etc. While doing this, these countries, including Canada, laugh off U.S. critiques of their systems as costing too much by responding that they, unlike the U.S., don’t spend 50% of their national tax revenues on maintaining war mechanisms and militaries, around the world. And, the majority of the people in these countries happily agree with this approach while many of them would still resist any comparison between their countries and socialist development.
Of course, the U.S. is still the unquestioned leader of international capitalist/imperialist dominance and as a result, the most effective and consistent anti-communist propaganda exists within the U.S. This can easily be demonstrated by simple experimentation. If you go to any U.S. state, urban or rural setting, and stand on any intersection, offering passersby $100.00 USD if they can demonstrate any comprehensive book on socialist development they have read, outside of an assigned reading from school, etc., you would find no more than 1%, and that’s being optimistic, who would be qualified to cash in on your proposal.
This reality exists due to this non-stop anti-communist propaganda that exists like the sun comes up in the U.S.. And, the three myths about socialism are just some of many that can be easily dissected, yet they continue to represent what is without question the most dominant thinking about socialism in the U.S. today.
Myth # 1 – There is no freedom of thought in socialist societies.
This one is most likely the most widely propagated and the easiest to disprove of the many unfortunate lies about socialist development. The core of this mistruth rests in the mistaken assumption within capitalist U.S. that freedom and democracy is defined solely by being able to do what you think you want to do with no context and/or analysis. The truth is you can do what you want in capitalist societies as long as what you want does nothing to challenge the status quo of capitalist domination. In capitalism you can be racist, patriarchal, homophobic, and can even brag about being completely ignorant about any and everything, and all of this is not only acceptable, its encouraged within many quarters. This is of course an extremely primitive and underdeveloped perspective on freedom. Any healthy freedom has to require people within society to recognize not just their responsibility to themselves and their loved ones, but their responsibility to everyone. This is what socialist development promotes. So, in this collective mindset, a conscious socialist operating within a society committed to socialist development would have no issue in recognizing that the amount of money they can make should be limited for a time. Not to say that they cannot make money, but to say that their ability to make money cannot result from exploitative activities that maintain class inequities crucial for the continuance of capitalist development. For example, this conscious socialist would prefer that schools be prioritized with infrastructure. They would demand that the elderly and sick be taken care of without the burden of worrying about the finance to do so properly. And this socialist would always see these responsibilities as theirs as a human living in a collective society as a opposed to seeing the necessity to utilize tax revenues to fund schools as a personal financial burden that limits their personal profitability as is promoted within backward capitalist societies.
Also, since socialist societies prioritize collective input and participation, it’s insane to suggest that capitalist societies offer more free speech than socialist societies. Sure, from a surface perspective, capitalists can argue this point while leaving out that socialist societies haven’t been able to consolidate the values of socialism and moral incentives like capitalist societies have with financial incentives. So, to make that comparison is like expecting an undisciplined child to understand collectivism at the same qualitative level in a selfish capitalist society as someone who has practiced and is committed to collective development.
Deeper inspection confirms that that you truly can only say what you want within capitalist societies provided what you are saying is not opposed to capitalism and that a reasonable number of people are not listening to you. A simple inquiry into the capitalist system’s elimination of people like Malcolm X, Dr. Martin Luther King, Patrice Lumumba, Amilcar Cabral, Thomas Sankara, Fred Hampton, Salvador Allende, Samora Machel, Eduardo Mondalane, Ernesto Guevara, etc., etc., illustrates that capitalism will end you quickly if you speak out against it in ways that undermine its stability and ability to continue to dominant.
Meanwhile, socialist construction relies on tools like democratic centralism, which properly instituted ensures that everyone’s voice is heard and all debate is fully exhausted before a decision is made. Then, after the debate is exhausted, everyone has that collective responsibility to make a decision. With this socialist method, if anything, the danger is bourgeoisie democracy where people who don’t do the work are still able to express their opinions without any accountability to the work, but to call this style of work restrictive and undemocratic is laughable. This is especially true when free speech in capitalism doesn’t exist without dollars because dollars buys you the access. There are no historical accounts of capitalist development written and widely consumed by poor people.
Myth # 2 – You cannot make money in socialist societies.
The basis of this lie is that everything and everyone is equal under socialism and work is not incented so no matter how hard you try, everyone gets paid the same. This is also laughable. Doctors and lawyers within socialist societies make much more than street sweepers and garbage collectors. The fundamental and important difference is that within socialist development the value of that garbage collector and street sweeper is encouraged with the understanding that their role, although different, is as important as the doctor and lawyer. In socialism, the type of class hierarchy that dominates in capitalist societies is openly discouraged with education having a focus on eliminating this all together.
Another importance difference is since education, healthcare, childcare, etc., are free in socialist development, any and everyone is encouraged to pursue whichever type of career they wish because all work contributes to the revolutionary process. So, if the street sweeper decides not to go to law school, they aren’t socially penalized for this. That stigma doesn’t exist like it does in capitalist societies because the ability to have education isn’t decided by your elite class status, but by what contribution you wish to make to the collective society. Once all work is respected, you will always have some who wish to be doctors and some who decide to be street sweepers.
Myth # 3 – Production of products in socialism is inferior to capitalist production.
Although widely believed, another laughable concept. If you take s cellular phone for example. One developed in socialist societies is done under an environment of providing a necessary service to the user/buyer. The company is state owned so this is its motivation, not profitability. As a result, they have every incentive to build a superior product because their success is measured based on their ability to provide the people what they need, not how much money they make. This model has been proven time and time again, but a clear example is the work of Ghana’s tire manufacturing plant in Takaradi, Ghana from 1960 to 1966 under Kwame Nkrumah and the Convention People’s Party’s socialist development. Ghana’s socialist tire factory out produced Firestone Tire and Rubber in Liberia during that period producing hundreds of thousands of tires that performed better and lasted longer. And, the recipe was no mystery. Under the socialist tire factory, workers were respected as contributors to the revolution by making those tires. They were paid respectively, provided benefits and treated as valuable members of the society. Even within capitalist societies we know that when workers are respected, they perform better, call in sick less, and produce at higher levels. In fact, the number one reason for worker dissatisfaction in capitalist countries is that lack of respect, not wages.
Meanwhile, capitalist tire production repped the same tired approach that is common in capitalist societies. Poor pay. Bad work conditions. Less workers to increase profitability with higher penalties for not meeting production goals. The fact that the neo-colonial U.S. backed thugs who illegally overthrew Nkrumah’s government in 1966 had the vision to close that tire factory immediately and sell it off to Firestone to be immediately closed, forever (it was never reopened) tells the full story. Capitalism will do anything to prevent the people from finding out what it really is because once people find out that capitalism is nothing except a brutal oppressive system, they will learn that scientific socialism is the exact opposite of that. As capitalism gets weaker and weaker, its ability to maintain that mirage of superiority is really the only trick up its sleeve that it has left.
o edit.
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