One of the reasons conservatives fear socialism is that they confuse it with statism. Socialism means that the productive resources of the economy are used for the benefit of all the people in society, while statism, a fundamentally fascist idea, is that the state itself is a good institution, even the apex of human existence, and all should be run for and by the state. They are not the same thing. Socialism can mean, in a given historical period, large and beneficial government programs like public pensions or health care; but it also means workers cooperatives, community enterprises, and pareconomic councils. It necessarily entails democratic control of economic organizations, large and small. It does not mean that state controls everything with a central bureaucracy. It means that regular people do, with a variety of institutions and organizations.
If tea baggger says Obama is a socialist, you would say you wish it were so?
ReplyDeleteIn my experience, 'statism' is a derogatory term used by anarchist libertarians on youtube meaning the belief that it would be a good idea for there to be any government at all. The way you define 'statism' is what i would call totalitarianism. Fascism could be right wing totalitarianism. Communism is leftist totalitarianism.