How Can Socialism Be Built in the United States?
Let me first begin with a hint: You can't do it by voting for Bernie Sanders or Tulsi Gabbard. The only thing they have any vested interest in is the preservation of capitalism and imperialism. No amount of "debates", interviews with rich asshole media personalities or excuses from their supporters (Including and especially here) will prove otherwise.
So how do we go about building socialism then? It is a long and difficult process. There is also resistance from capitalists to worry about because as has been shown time and time again, they'll die and take the rest of life on earth with them before giving up even ONE RED CENT to help anything or anyone not part of their clique. In their eyes, if they can't have it, no one will. It will be difficult, but it can be done and there is a historical precedent on how we can proceed.
So, here are a few ideas based on the video below:
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l7VXtQ6vtpE]
1. The abolition of the current government from top to bottom. The court system, congress, the presidency, local government, all of it.
The government of the United States was set up for the purpose of protecting the capitalists from those they enslaved and indentured. Local governments were set up in a similar fashion. Either way, they have operated in this manner since the founding to no benefit of workers here or abroad.
A government of, for and by workers would ensure that the needs of workers are met and that workers decide how the resources and products they produce are used, with the profits going back to the workers.
The goal is to form local, state and national workers' councils to decide what to do with resources at every level.
2. A New Constitution Drafted by a Workers' Congress
To say that the current constitution doesn't recognize the rights of workers would be the understatement of the millennium. The congress shall work to make sure the rights of all workers, including workers of color, women and LGBTQ+ workers, are respected to the fullest extent possible. This workers' constitution shall be updated as material conditions change for the continued benefit of all workers.
3. A Complete Economic Overhaul, Beginning with the Abolition of Wall Street
Wall Street, along with all forms of capitalism, do nothing to help with the betterment of society. Wall Street shall be one of the first items abolished under the new Workers' Congress. The Federal Reserve shall become a national public cooperative bank under the control of this congress.
Large corporations will be given a 'Corporate Death Penalty' with the assets used to improve the lives of workers. Smaller businesses and self-employed workers will be given assistance in transitioning to local cooperative communities that allow all workers to have a stake in the workplace.
There shall be no unnecessary credentialism as is pushed in the current capitalist, imperialist paradigm. All workers who are able shall be given the opportunity to do the work they wish in their community with whatever paid training or education is appropriate for said work.
The work week shall not exceed 40 hours. Overworked workers are not productive workers. To that end, there shall also be mandated vacation time.
4. A Long-Overdue Overhaul of the Justice System
The court system as we know it will be completely abolished. It serves no purpose other than the defense of capital at worker expense.
To begin with, bribery of public officials will not be tolerated. Bribery shall be prosecuted to the fullest extent possible.
There shall be no religious or politically motivated laws to restrict the rights of workers.
Policing shall be handled with compassion in mind. There shall be no profiling based on race, gender or religion. Any peace officer that uses excessive force in dealing with suspects shall be immediately removed from their position and prosecuted severely.
The current for-profit prison system shall be replaced with a public re-education system focused on rehabilitation to allow offenders to re-enter society and prevent recidivism. When released, a job, home and other needs as necessary shall be met.
5. Education Overhaul
To start with, all student loan debt shall be forgiven. No worker should have to go into debt peonage just to make a living. A job shall be guaranteed once education or training is completed with a worker placement program.
A worker-based education system shall do the following:
a. teach skills necessary to empower workers for the betterment of local communities based on community needs (as Mao did with education in rural areas) and what students wish to learn to some degree
b. develop and strengthen consciousness for continuation of the class struggle
c. treat educators with respect, as they are workers as much as all of us, with their role being among the most important
6. Healthcare
The for-profit system for delivering medical care shall be abolished. In its place, the Congress of Workers shall implement a National Health Service.
The pharmaceutical and insurance industries shall be abolished. Opioids shall be abolished save for in the most extreme cases where they may be medically necessary.
Women shall not, under any circumstances, be obstructed from seeking information regarding, or obtaining, a termination of pregnancy. Any discussion shall be left between doctor and patient.
7. Prosecution of Capitalists and War Criminals
Current and former presidents still living shall be tried and prosecuted for war crimes with regards to military adventurism in the Middle East and North Africa that has destroyed millions of lives. A war-crimes tribunal shall be convened to facilitate trials and sentencing.
Capitalists who push for said adventurism shall also be tried not only for war crimes, but for deliberately crashing the world economy as was done in 1981 and 2008 for the gain of the capitalists at worker expense.
8. Firearms and Training
No worker shall be without the right to defend themselves. A worker may possess and receive training with a personal handgun. Unarmed combat training shall also be offered.
For community defense, there shall be an armory for automatic weapons that can be quickly accessed whenever necessary. Training for use and safety shall be provided.
9. Infrastructure, Climate Change and Disaster Relief
It can be thoroughly demonstrated that an infrastructure overhaul is absolutely necessary. Renewable energy must be developed quickly, not gradually as some pro-capitalists suggest.
Infrastructure and other measures to combat climate change will also be addressed immediately.
Disaster relief will be as fast as possible, and no situation like Puerto Rico after Maria or New Orleans after Katrina will be allowed to happen ever again (Especially with "President" Trump using PR's debt as an excuse to deny them relief).
The nation's water system shall also be modernized to prevent disasters such as those in Flint, Michigan from ever happen again. Governor Snyder and his accomplices shall also be jailed immediately for their actions regarding Flint.
10. National Defense and Foreign Policy
The United States shall no longer engage in imperialist action. All overseas bases shall be shut down and troops brought back home immediately.
US foreign policy will be based on international empowerment of workers, with no imperialist action taken under such pretenses.
National defense shall include:
Assisting with construction of infrastructure, restoration of ecosystems, rebuilding efforts for disaster relief and assisting with efforts to combat climate change mentioned above
Defense against invasion from hostile forces
Yes, this is a short list, but it's a start. Feel free to add more in the comments.
Comments
It's possible for your bullets to succeed
when the world carries one tenth of the current human population and is on it's way to extinction.
Then, and only then, will this happen.
Your first highlight is but a pipe dream.
I wont waste my time dreaming. I may not be happy with the current system we have, yet I know the limits of human degradation. There are none.
I call mad max before utopia.
Try your best to enjoy the ride. It wont be pretty but it will be entertaining in a sick sort of way.
Peace.
Regardless of the path in life I chose, I realize it's always forward, never straight.
if #1 then the rest follow
there's no sense in holding on to the dollar in a true socialist state. Money equals hoarding.
In a true socialist state there isn't any color, there isn't any LGBTQ+. There would only be the people.
Your #10 is a big one.
Pricknick is right about the impossibility of it, at least in our lifetimes. It'll probably take a catastrophe, financial or climate, before it falls.
Everyone's a socialist
This shit is bananas.
Thanks for the hint but,
has it occurred to you that maybe the people who will vote for Bernie Sanders or Tulsi Gabbard aren't actually trying to "build socialism"?
We wanted decent healthcare, a living wage and free college.
The Democrats gave us Biden and war instead.
I, for one,
am not trying to "build" it.
It will only happen naturally. A wolves laying with sheep sort of thing.
It's just not in the human nature to get along with everything and everyone.
Socialism by humans will never happen.
Just ask the wolves.
Regardless of the path in life I chose, I realize it's always forward, never straight.
Of course they don't.
Modern education is little more than toeing the line for the capitalist pigs.
Guerrilla Liberalism won't liberate the US or the world from the iron fist of capital.
There is little to be learned from Bolshevik loons,
who remind me of these guys.
We wanted decent healthcare, a living wage and free college.
The Democrats gave us Biden and war instead.
What did the SCAdians ever do to you?
What did the SCAdians ever do to you, Azazello?
They're no more harmful than any other historical battle re-enactors.
Modern people (i.e., Internet age) who don't recognize, accept, and embrace the fact that Leninism is permanently dead are far more of a danger to humanity than the SCAdians will ever be.
The closest parallel I could imagine would be Civil War re-enactors of the Confederate (Traitor) side who actually kept blacks as slaves.
Fortunately for humanity, the latter don't exist. (At least as far as I can tell.) Unfortunately for humanity, there are still true beLIEvers in Leninism out there.
"US govt/military = bad. Russian govt/military = bad. Any politician wanting power = bad. Anyone wielding power = bad." --Shahryar
"All power corrupts absolutely!" -- thanatokephaloides
Yeah, Civil War re-enactors crossed my mind
when I was looking for an analogy and, like latter-day Bolsheviks, I regard them as basically harmless. The irritating thing is, these Bolsheviks presume to lecture the rest of us, as though they have it all figured out and we're just some dumb-asses. Jimmy Dore has a term for this: smugnorance. I've been reading Bolshevik history for years. I wish some folks would spend some time doing the same instead of watching YouTube vids and then telling us how misguided we are. It's funny, really, but sad at the same time.
We wanted decent healthcare, a living wage and free college.
The Democrats gave us Biden and war instead.
smugnorance
And unfortunate. Those efforts would be better spent almost everywhere else rather than trying to restore life to something that cannot and should not be.
"US govt/military = bad. Russian govt/military = bad. Any politician wanting power = bad. Anyone wielding power = bad." --Shahryar
"All power corrupts absolutely!" -- thanatokephaloides
So is Social Democracy.
Modern education is little more than toeing the line for the capitalist pigs.
Guerrilla Liberalism won't liberate the US or the world from the iron fist of capital.
winners and losers
False. From Iceland to Sweden to Bolivia, the most successful governments and economies in the world are Social Democracies. Venezuela's only not among them because their only major export commodity is petroleum, which is a cluster-fuck no matter how you slice it.
All systems of human beings have winners and losers. All of them. This fact is about as escapable as gravity or electromagnetism. Every human being has to live with that unfortunate fact.
"US govt/military = bad. Russian govt/military = bad. Any politician wanting power = bad. Anyone wielding power = bad." --Shahryar
"All power corrupts absolutely!" -- thanatokephaloides
And yet, even in Europe....
Was it perfect? Hell no. But virtually all accusations made to it, Maoist China and other socialist countries are outright bullshit. And considering the fact that every imperialist power tried to take them down, they still did well all things considered.
I will agree that we shouldn't revive dead leaders, but trying to keep a dying ideology such as Social Democracy alive is equally foolish, especially considering the fact that the capitalists will just roll it back all over again.
Modern education is little more than toeing the line for the capitalist pigs.
Guerrilla Liberalism won't liberate the US or the world from the iron fist of capital.
evening ac...
one of the things that has always bothered me about marxist ideology/rhetoric is its emphasis on people as workers.
i have a couple of reasons. one, capitalists value people as commodities rather than recognizing their intrinsic value as human beings. by almost exclusively pitching their rhetoric to/about workers, marxists appear to buy into the commodification of humans and the values that extend from that. i have often wondered if this not-too-subtle bias in rhetoric was the reason that communist experiments (particularly in russia and china) seem to have amounted to a form of state capitalism (where the power of a small group of capitalists to order the economy and the society was transferred to a small group of men at the head of the state).
two. when i dream, i dream big. i would like to abolish work to the greatest extent possible, especially industrial work, which i feel would be better performed by machines.
most work these days is bullshit work. tedious, soul-killing, servility-imposing make-work. there is no real reason for it, except that we have been condtioned (with existential threats) to believe that we must have a job because work (any work) is double plus good and signals our value to society. the powers-that-be have conditioned us to serve and accept that our value comes from service rather than from being human.
there is no need for most of us to work. the opportunity cost of so many humans wasting their time making pet rocks and shining shoes is enormous.
if work is largely abolished and marxist society values and is for workers, what happens?
The Objective In Life is to Work, Work, Work
I think you just threw Marx a curve.
Maybe the socialists could organize AI while humans sit on their asses?
Great response js
The mind can develop and be full used, it can be used to create instead of being used to destroy and then we can actually become human beings.
That's my guess
I never knew that the term "Never Again" only pertained to
those born Jewish
"Antisemite used to be someone who didn't like Jews
now it's someone who Jews don't like"
Heard from Margaret Kimberley
Can't argue with that.
That is where Marxism's problems definitely lie these days. Many seem to think that material conditions are still the same as the post-WW2 period.
You're also correct about most work being complete bullshit (especially in the world of IT). That also means that most education is bullshit. Look no further than Computer Science degrees, with no chance in hell of finding work once completed because employers want pointless certifications to go along with the years of education we went into debt to get. It's also why I'm back to languishing in a classroom setting for another three years. It'll never be enough for them.
Modern education is little more than toeing the line for the capitalist pigs.
Guerrilla Liberalism won't liberate the US or the world from the iron fist of capital.
Tomorrow we'll celebrate moving from
a monarchy to a capitalist oligarchy. Best book ending I ever read was by Tom Clancy. Almost every person involved in the government was at the capital like at the state of the union address and a Japanese pilot flew a plane into it. The new VP was waiting in the tunnel and survived and he rebuilt the government with normal people and also rewrote the tax code.
This is a nice pipe dream and I'd love to see it happen. But I disagree with this..
This should be nationalized and should have been long ago because we helped pay for their research and development. But opioids do have a place in this world unless you can do away with pain from all sources.
Scientists are concerned that conspiracy theories may die out if they keep coming true at the current alarming rate.
Is there...
any "ism" that isn't susceptible to the human propensity towards greed, power and corruption at the top? Until we humans figure out how to keep sociopaths and psychopaths from the reins of power there will be no relief.
Not just the top.
Greed, power and corruption is what makes humans human.
Regardless of the path in life I chose, I realize it's always forward, never straight.
There are exceptions...
benevolent rulers and just societies that eventually succumb to the weight of power and corruption given enough time.
Has there ever been an example that disproves that?
And to keep on topic, what would cause socialism to be immune from that same fate?
Good point
It is human nature after all and no form of true socialism can exist.
Wolves are always going to eat lamb.
Regardless of the path in life I chose, I realize it's always forward, never straight.
I guess my point is...
that it's a paradigm shift in the human mind that's needed.
Agreed.
Regardless of the path in life I chose, I realize it's always forward, never straight.
Not just needed
As Caity Johnstone says, "evolve or die".
Interestingly, our having reached that point is what gives me hope. I personally believe that the human species, at the collective level, has made the decision to survive. The fun part is, we have absolutely no idea what human life will be like once we're on the other side of that paradigm shift. Seen in this light, our speculations about the roles of capitalism, Marxism, etc. become potentially meaningless in any event.
(If this sounds too "woo" for anyone reading it, just pass right on by. )
"Don't go back to sleep ... Don't go back to sleep ... Don't go back to sleep."
~Rumi
"If you want revolution, be it."
~Caitlin Johnstone
Too Woo, not
[video:https://youtu.be/_CJHbfkROow]
Your Rumi quote always awakens me
I keep that Rumi quote there
Some days I feel very despairing and cynical, like I want to give up. Then I remind myself that's another form of going back to sleep.
"Don't go back to sleep ... Don't go back to sleep ... Don't go back to sleep."
~Rumi
"If you want revolution, be it."
~Caitlin Johnstone
What a wonderful sentiment,
and very comforting.
you've written:
and
may i ask survive what? nuclear war or climate chaos? quite different, imo.
i'll drop off another favorite rumi quote that to me equals capitalism. after all, capitalism exists to create more capital for the ruling class, and there's never enough.
Whatever possessions and objects of its desires the lower self may obtain, it hangs on to them, refusing to let them go out of greed for more, or out of fear of poverty and need.
so i'll wait to see which threat you imagine before i go on, okay? ; )
Either or both
Either, or both, or something else (a global pandemic that arises and wipes us out, for instance). These events are - directly or indirectly - a product of the human collective consciousness, and of our actions and inactions.
This doesn't mean that we humans are in control of everything that happens in the universe that could affect us. If a huge meteor heads to the Earth, that's probably not something we caused. On the other hand, we could take action in an attempt to avert disaster, or mitigate the damage after it's happened. In our present state, I don't believe we're capable of working together to accomplish that sort of thing.
With climate chaos, no matter what the causes for it may be, we have so far failed to take appropriate measures to address it. Mostly, we remain in a state of collective denial. That's on us.
I think it's also important to note that the survival of the human species doesn't necessarily mean that all individual members of the species will survive.
Yes. It feels like an addiction. The system we've collectively put, or allowed to be put, into place literally cannot stop itself.
The Buddhists call this the "hungry ghost", and it's a part of the human psyche at our present state of evolution.
I believe that's what Rumi was talking about here when he referred to the "lower self". It's not just oligarchs like Jeff Bezos who are the addicts. It's a part of all of us.
It's therefore a part of the human collective consciousness that has created the world we're living in. Including Donald Trump as POTUS.
"Don't go back to sleep ... Don't go back to sleep ... Don't go back to sleep."
~Rumi
"If you want revolution, be it."
~Caitlin Johnstone
yes, the taoist symbol
notes that within every yin is a speck of yang. while i agree with mot of what you've written, i'm not able to buy 'we're in state of collective denial' as the underlying failure to address it; to me it's being enslaved by capitalism. by now, it's too late, but i'm not sure that the human species even deserves to be saved, myself. the planet may be be able to cleanse itself, although it will sure be tough for the oceans to.
take a peek if you might care to at the indigenous side meetings at rio 2012 i'd provided to aspie corner. they knew what was killing the planet long ago, as well as all of the 'false solutions' afoot.
sorry to be burned out enough that i'm unable to answer your considered comment better.
dunno what a
'paradigm shift' connotes, but certainly we need a global 'massive shift to higher consciousness'.
Bingo!
i totally disagree with
your statement. most humans are hard-wired for empathy and cooperation at birth (although the experiments that claim to prove it don't account for toddlers' mums in the room, etc.). but humans can and often DO learn to be bullies and sociopaths when raised by authoritarian bullies, and learn from kindergarten onward that it's a dog eat dog, zero-sum, social Darwinian nation. compete, win...or die world.
some exceptions are babies that failed to bond to a prime caregiver, those who were damaged in utero, and especially those who were physically and emotionally abused by their alleged caregivers.
socialism in its simplest definition means all are equal in a society, and the rules laid out come from the population upward, much like the zapatistas in chiapas. howie kleins's 'socialize these sectors' lists are good, but sadly he's predominantly running on his Green Party green new deal.
I believe in the basic goodness
I do not have much to add to this discussion because there are far more people here who are better read and understand political systems and history than me. Still, I am finding the discussion on this essay very interesting and enlightening.
Do I hear the sound of guillotines being constructed?
“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." ~ President John F. Kennedy
if you're speaking
globally, i reckon most humans are good, or good enough in most situations, depending on what that means to each of us.
amerikans? as i'd said, i believe most were born decent and empathetic, but that was trained out of them at early ages, including in school, or course. (i spent some time on the subject in a recent diary titled close to 'cooperation v. competition'. some of those 'subtle ways' you mention may be under the category: 'when the economic pie gets smaller and smaller' that changes people quickly: someone's to blame! but i haven't lived in a time where that wasn't true.
a far as neo-liberalism on steroids, and depending on what one's definition is (free market globalization and privatizing what was once public (or 'the commons'?), i suppose so. but it's capitalist corporatism that's torched the planetary ecosystems, and especially the US war machine, now busy in 70% on the nations of the world, tom dispatch wrote the other day.
so for me, it makes no sense that climate chaos will be mitigated by capital, although all sorts of new businesses are popping up to do just that, bill gates' wild geo-engineering is only the most recent that i've seen in the twittersphere. guess somebody's gotta make money while the planet burns, the oceans rise and boil, though.
given the ocasio/markey and the UK green new deals, it was inevitable. just hand the money over to the lords of capital directly; they'll fix it! me, i'd rather see the bucks spent on holding back the seas where it can help, and aiding the nations and islands hit by the epic hurricanes. the everyday hatians are still in mortal distress.
ach, i should STFU; the commander-in-chief's military day celebration is probably about over; i shouldn't have read about it at wsws. and of course the US and UK are both provoking iran again. my apologies for ranting, gulfgal. but on this 'independence day', i ask 'where's the independence from want of the most basic needs for ordinary amerikans? shelter, medical care, healthy food, clean drinking water, public transportation...well, you know the list.
bill gates' wild ride
but it's alright, ma: they're bein' careful! wot could possibly go wrong?
Too bad the Gentricraps have already co-opted
Modern education is little more than toeing the line for the capitalist pigs.
Guerrilla Liberalism won't liberate the US or the world from the iron fist of capital.
as it turns out,
that's what 'net-zero carbon' actually means: market solutions (carbon trading and offsets), carbon capture and storage, nuclear for now, not later, a wet dream for finance capital.
the indigenous of the planet called it over twenty years ago: the planet cannot survive capitalism, nor the Green Revolution (gmo food). the indigenous brought the bolivian cochabamba accords to the rio sustainabiity conference in 2012...again. and on other document i've forgotten. most the links to the full texts from my diaries during that time are no longer extant, sadly. i grabbed one link from twitter, but i'm not sure where (or if) i'd stored it.
just for the
'ell of it, i grabbed two diaries from the 2012 rio sustainability conference. both have part of the accords brought by the indigenous to the 'side meetings' (they weren't allowed into the Big Deal Meetings).
Mexican peace group Teotihuacan and la via campesina
kari-oca II
awesome documents, magnificent activists. any number of videos and photos.
greed, power and corruption at the top
Yes. Anarchism. Eliminate "the top", and that problem goes away. Now how to implement that? No one knows.
spelling corrected
Neither justice nor peace.
Ewww!
"US govt/military = bad. Russian govt/military = bad. Any politician wanting power = bad. Anyone wielding power = bad." --Shahryar
"All power corrupts absolutely!" -- thanatokephaloides
Thanks...
corrected.
I'm sure the Anarcho-capitalists feel the same.
Modern education is little more than toeing the line for the capitalist pigs.
Guerrilla Liberalism won't liberate the US or the world from the iron fist of capital.
i was too beat to get into all
this yesterday, but earlier i'd grabbed these links to possibly put up for discussion in a separate thread.
i'm not a big fan of this proyect fellah, although i've forgotten my earlier chich with him, but you'll no doubt enjoy the following:
June 28, 2019 ‘Socialism 2019: the Left at a Crossroads’, by Louis Proyect, counterpunch
the conference link
amy goodman and naomi 'this changes nothing' author? ah: let's fetter capitalism again!
but i got to remembering how scathing the SEP authors have been about the ISO, and dug up a ew titles:
Leaders of dissolved International Socialist Organization openly embrace Democratic Party politics’, By David Walsh, 24 June 2019
who funds the ISO?
‘An assembly of political bankrupts: Historical Materialism and Jacobin host “Socialism in Our Time” conference’, 16 April 2019
it all reminds me of the (sorta) Left Forum conferences, and which panel discussions have been deemed 'too fringe/conspiracy to be worthy of serious discussion'. one i remember was a discussion of the official 9/11 report.
on later edit: seriously?
Any and every political, social, cultural, religious system
will become corrupt. So wiping the whole of what exists now in terms of political/governmental/labor systems off the map will only guarantee that whatever takes its place will spiral downward too. The impulse to create utopia, while interesting sometimes in theory, is one that can only bring more heartburn.
Nice try, but your emphasis on calling everyone "workers" gives me the creeps. It smacks of that old Russian Lenin/Marx stuff. I get a picture of some dictator looking down over the "masses of workers" who are on their way to the factories.
And just WHO runs the "worker placement programs"? Sounds like another bureaucracy just ready to become corrupt.
The phrase "shall be" .... h-m-m-m... again, dictatorial.
I feel like your suggestions for a socialist utopia come from a place of anger. I can't sign on to that.
"Without the right to offend, freedom of speech does not exist." Taslima Nasrin