[ad_1]
There is a story of Yeonmi Park, a girl who had escaped from the brutal regime of Communist North Korea. It was a story of misery and human rights abuse at best. It is heart wrenching and depicts the brutality of Communism; but how did it happen?
Some people believe that it started with Socialism which is a precursor to Communism.
What is Socialism? Socialism is when a population COLLECTIVELY owned and CONTROLS the means of production and DISTRIBUTES the end result “equally”. Socialism means, or often used to describe the ideals of Social Justice, Greater Equality, and Security. These are powerful slogans effectively used by those who are championing the rejection of private profits, labor alienation, inequalities of wealth, and discrimination based on race and sex.
“The idea of Socialism is at once grandiose and simple… We may say, in fact, that it is one of the most ambitious creations of human spirit,… so magnificent, so daring, that it has rightly aroused the greatest admiration”, said Ludwig von Mises.
The fighting and striving for these noble values could understandably cause one, not only to feel good, but sometimes a feeling of conceit to feel more human, more intellect, and better than others; Hence, a powerful addictive concept, especially to those, the more idealist younger generation or millennial.
If it’s so noble, why would socialism have the possibility to develop to a horrible system such as in North Korea?
We all know that Society consist of individuals with a myriad of different needs, different wants and different aspirations. In order to achieve those noble ideals of Socialism, one not only needs a Plan, but also a Mechanism or System with Power that, amid those differences, controls the desired outcome. Aristotle believed that “order among men could extend only so far as the voice of a herald could reach, and that a state numbering a hundred thousand people was thus impossible.” Therefore, a centralized economic plan and centralized governance with iron hand appears to be necessary to realize the given socialistic distributive deals. “Central Economic planning and Control lies in the heart of Socialism”, said F.A Hayek in his book, The Fatal Conceit.
To be effective, Power is required, and when it becomes too big and centralized, it would ultimately lead, or at least create a slippery slope to Totalitarianism, which we find in either Fascism or Communism. The propensity of Socialist ideas moving toward Totalitarianism has been interestingly analyzed and discussed by an Austrian Economist and Philosopher, Frederick A,Hayek, a Nobel Prize Laureate in Economics in 1974. The Road to Serfdom and The Fatal Conceit – The Errors of Socialism are his books worth to read.
Based on his analysis above, Centralized Socialism could lead to Totalitarianism or Communism which would cause human misery as we see happening now in North Korea. We saw this misery in the form of physical and mental abuse as well as economic failures. It happened in North Korea, old North Vietnam, Cambodia under Khmer Rouge, former Soviet Union, former Red China, Cuba and Eastern European countries. This appears to validate the argument that Communism didn’t work, has failed, and will always fail. Therefore, the question would be, why should we go for Socialism if it leads to a totalitarian system, such as Communism? This is something worth to ponder and to be viewed with care.
Apparently, there are several types and level of Socialism; one of which is known and called “Democratic Socialism”, which was recently brought to the forefront of the political debate by a Democratic US Presidential candidate, Bernie Sanders. Mr. Sanders cited the Scandinavian countries, such as Denmark, Finland, Sweden, as the successful models of Democratic Socialism. This is the type of Socialism that does not have the totalitarianism effect as discussed above.
[ad_2]
Source by Andy Wirjadi
