Socialism. What's good enough for Einstein is good enough for me.

[white_wolf]

A few years ago I did a paper on Albert Einstein and came across an interesting article he wrote for the Monthly Review. Feel free to let me know your thoughts on it. http://www.monthlyreview.org/598einstein.php

[AndyTiedye]

1. At the End of the Article He Identifies the Main Problem With Socialism

He correctly identifies the problems with capitalism
and says that socialism is the only solution, but...

Nevertheless, it is necessary to remember that a planned economy is not yet socialism. A planned economy as such may be accompanied by the complete enslavement of the individual. The achievement of socialism requires the solution of some extremely difficult socio-political problems: how is it possible, in view of the far-reaching centralization of political and economic power, to prevent bureaucracy from becoming all-powerful and overweening? How can the rights of the individual be protected and therewith a democratic counterweight to the power of bureaucracy be assured?

and he does not offer any solutions in this article.

Without those solutions, you cannot have socialism as he defined it.

Did he ever write a follow-up?

[eridani]

5. I think it's pretty obvious

Some things are by nature public goods, and others aren't. Prolly makes me a Social Democrat.

[jahlove17]

2. Good Find

I didn't know this existed. Thank you for sharing.

[nilram]

3. Hellen Keller, too.

All I remember from when I first learned about Hellen Keller was that she was a gifted deaf, blind, and mute woman who learned sign language. She also learned to speak, went to college, and was, in fact, a well-spoken socialist and suffragist. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helen_Keller

And in the 1930s, even Will Geer -- who later played Grandpa Walton on teevee -- was a member of the Communist party. Funny how this whole side of the political spectrum is not discussed...

[Electric Monk]

4. I wish I'd been a plumber

how many plumbers work for free?

[Catherina]

6. Can't disagree with a word he wrote.

but Einstein was a diehard Communist from the Trotskyist camp, not Socialist. He gets 34 mentions in The Red Network


Did you ever read his huge 1,427 page FBI file? It's fascinating http://foia.fbi.gov/foiaindex/einstein.htm

I can't get enough of these Einstein statements from your link. They hit hard right now.

"The economic anarchy of capitalist society as it exists today is, in my opinion, the real source of the evil. We see before us a huge community of producers the members of which are unceasingly striving to deprive each other of the fruits of their collective labor - not by force, but on the whole in faithful compliance with legally established rules. In this respect, it is important to realize that the means of production - that is to say, the entire productive capacity that is needed for producing consumer goods as well as additional capital goods - may legally be, and for the most part are, the private property of individuals."

"Production is carried on for profit, not for use. There is no provision that all those able and willing to work will always be in a position to find employment; an "army of unemployed" almost always exists. The worker is constantly in fear of losing his job. Since unemployed and poorly paid workers do not provide a profitable market, the production of consumers' goods is restricted, and great hardship is the consequence. Technological progress frequently results in more unemployment rather than in an easing of the burden of work for all. The profit motive, in conjunction with competition among capitalists, is responsible for an instability in the accumulation and utilization of capital which leads to increasingly severe depressions. Unlimited competition leads to a huge waste of labor, and to that crippling of the social consciousness of individuals which I mentioned before."

Thanks for posting that, I never read it before.

[upi402]

7. and Jesus

that commy pinko bastid!

[Hydra]

8. Socialism is also good enough for the Rich

They make exceptionally good use of it, even as they speak of the evils of the "common person" having it.