Sure. I’ll try to answer the best I can, but I’ll start by saying this is a very complex topic and it’s really worth reading some other materials on it depending on what you’re interested in specifically.
I’ll start with the most important point which is: Socialism isn’t just one static thing. It is essentially a belief in radical democracy. That the majority of people, the people actually doing the work in society, ought to be the ones who get to control their economic and political lives. This is hindered by the means of production, the tools and materials needed to make stuff, being owned by a handful of people who don’t work and have incentives which are in direct opposition to those of the workers. How exactly create this transition and then manage society in the future is in our hands, but it’s not a set path. It’s on us to analyze our situation and make decisions accordingly. We can make the wrong decisions, but at least we got to make them. There is no inevitable outcome of a socialist project because we’re the ones responsible for making it happen.
By contrast, capitalism is a system that is mostly controlled by market forces. Even in the idealized version of capitalism, nobody is in the driver’s seat. The world we see today was not the deliberate result of any intentional action by a person or group, but by essentially an evolutionary process by which competition filters out less profitable businesses and elevates more profitable ones. Of course, capitalist economists would say that this is a good thing and a reason for it’s “success.” They’d say, among other things, that humans cannot make decisions that are as good as the results of this “natural” process and therefore, we should let that process go in order to produce the best results for society. What a Marxist economist points out is that these forces actually result in some inherent contradictions which lead to social problems which this system cannot naturally overcome. I’d also have you ask the question: WHO has capitalism helped? Progress isn’t even. What helps some people may not help, or may even hurt others. What metric for progress can we realistically use to account for the fortunes of a capitalist, the deaths and injuries of people in sweatshops, homeless people, people in other countries exploited by imperialism, etc.?
Basically, I can tell you why capitalism will inevitably end up acting in a certain way because we know how it works. It’s almost like a math question. Socialism isn’t bound by any specific thing other than our own creativity, ingenuity, and will. Past and present socialist societies don’t represent a fixed end goal, they are history we can learn from, good and bad.
As far as those specific societies go, there’s so much reading to do on this to fully understand the topic and it’s not like I’m even an expert, but I’d push back on the idea that “socialism” has failed to create good outcomes for people. Each of these countries has their own particular history and material conditions and we should analyze them with those in mind.
Russia was an agrarian feudal society that was way behind the west in industrial development. It also took a lot of the brunt of damage from WWII. Despite this and having to fend off antagonism by the US, they managed to develop society into a modern industrialized economy.
China was an agrarian feudal society in it’s death throes beset by exploitation by European colonialists carving out economic spheres of influence. It fought off Imperial Japan in WWII with massive loss of life. Immediately following this, they were abandoned by their supposed allies in the west who then helped rebuild their former enemy. Despite this, they have evolved into a modern economy that rivals and in some ways surpasses the US economy. You might say that this is due to their market reforms, but the key part of those market reforms is that the state retained control over key sectors of the economy and were able to deliberately make use of foreign capital towards their own developmental ends. It’s yet to be seen if in the long term this is going to work out or if the rise of a capitalist class in China will lead to their eventual political dominance.
Vietnam was a colony which had to fight off it’s owners, then the US along with the dictator they propped up. This was a pretty viscous war that killed many and ruined what infrastructure they had. On top of that, the use of Agent Orange has had long lasting effects. There are STILL children being born today with birth defects due to Agent Orange. After the war they were the subject of US sanctions for some time. And yet, again they became a rapidly developing economy that while not quite at the level of China or the US, has made some massive strides towards becoming a modern nation.
Korea also dealt with the horrors of Imperial Japan during WWII followed up by a dictator and then a war by the US which absolutely leveled their infrastructure. While the US assisted the south in rebuilding, they isolated the North. They definitely haven’t had the success of countries like China, but the fact that they’ve had any progress under such harsh conditions should be considered a miracle.
Cuba used to be a playground for foreign capitalists who owned plantations, casinos, etc. Their revolution was immediately followed by the US isolating them and repeatedly trying to sabotage them. Again, it’s hard to make much progress when you have no access to trade with the rest of the world and have to be constantly on guard against a superpower at your doorstep, but even then, they’ve managed quite a bit. Cuba has had so much success with their healthcare system that they’ve been able to send doctors around the world on humanitarian missions as one example.
Were all of these societies perfect? No of course not. People are people and they will struggle and sometimes stumble, but were/are they complete failures owing to the inherent properties of socialism? No. But again, this is all a very cursory overview of the topic. I would highly encourage you to learn more for yourself on whatever part of this interests you most.
EDIT: Also, taking this back to capitalism, it has been responsible for tons of deaths and human suffering over the course of it’s history, but people don’t really consider that suffering in the same way as they do any suffering that happened during the history of various socialist societies. This isn’t whataboutism, it’s highlighting a flaw in the way we think about these issues. A famine caused by natural conditions in a country that has had famines for all of it’s history? The failures of communism. Capitalism failing to feed large amounts of people while it produces more than enough food to do so? Apparently that’s not a problem.
Sure. I’ll try to answer the best I can, but I’ll start by saying this is a very complex topic and it’s really worth reading some other materials on it depending on what you’re interested in specifically.
I’ll start with the most important point which is: Socialism isn’t just one static thing. It is essentially a belief in radical democracy. That the majority of people, the people actually doing the work in society, ought to be the ones who get to control their economic and political lives. This is hindered by the means of production, the tools and materials needed to make stuff, being owned by a handful of people who don’t work and have incentives which are in direct opposition to those of the workers. How exactly create this transition and then manage society in the future is in our hands, but it’s not a set path. It’s on us to analyze our situation and make decisions accordingly. We can make the wrong decisions, but at least we got to make them. There is no inevitable outcome of a socialist project because we’re the ones responsible for making it happen.
By contrast, capitalism is a system that is mostly controlled by market forces. Even in the idealized version of capitalism, nobody is in the driver’s seat. The world we see today was not the deliberate result of any intentional action by a person or group, but by essentially an evolutionary process by which competition filters out less profitable businesses and elevates more profitable ones. Of course, capitalist economists would say that this is a good thing and a reason for it’s “success.” They’d say, among other things, that humans cannot make decisions that are as good as the results of this “natural” process and therefore, we should let that process go in order to produce the best results for society. What a Marxist economist points out is that these forces actually result in some inherent contradictions which lead to social problems which this system cannot naturally overcome. I’d also have you ask the question: WHO has capitalism helped? Progress isn’t even. What helps some people may not help, or may even hurt others. What metric for progress can we realistically use to account for the fortunes of a capitalist, the deaths and injuries of people in sweatshops, homeless people, people in other countries exploited by imperialism, etc.?
Basically, I can tell you why capitalism will inevitably end up acting in a certain way because we know how it works. It’s almost like a math question. Socialism isn’t bound by any specific thing other than our own creativity, ingenuity, and will. Past and present socialist societies don’t represent a fixed end goal, they are history we can learn from, good and bad.
As far as those specific societies go, there’s so much reading to do on this to fully understand the topic and it’s not like I’m even an expert, but I’d push back on the idea that “socialism” has failed to create good outcomes for people. Each of these countries has their own particular history and material conditions and we should analyze them with those in mind.
Russia was an agrarian feudal society that was way behind the west in industrial development. It also took a lot of the brunt of damage from WWII. Despite this and having to fend off antagonism by the US, they managed to develop society into a modern industrialized economy.
China was an agrarian feudal society in it’s death throes beset by exploitation by European colonialists carving out economic spheres of influence. It fought off Imperial Japan in WWII with massive loss of life. Immediately following this, they were abandoned by their supposed allies in the west who then helped rebuild their former enemy. Despite this, they have evolved into a modern economy that rivals and in some ways surpasses the US economy. You might say that this is due to their market reforms, but the key part of those market reforms is that the state retained control over key sectors of the economy and were able to deliberately make use of foreign capital towards their own developmental ends. It’s yet to be seen if in the long term this is going to work out or if the rise of a capitalist class in China will lead to their eventual political dominance.
Vietnam was a colony which had to fight off it’s owners, then the US along with the dictator they propped up. This was a pretty viscous war that killed many and ruined what infrastructure they had. On top of that, the use of Agent Orange has had long lasting effects. There are STILL children being born today with birth defects due to Agent Orange. After the war they were the subject of US sanctions for some time. And yet, again they became a rapidly developing economy that while not quite at the level of China or the US, has made some massive strides towards becoming a modern nation.
Korea also dealt with the horrors of Imperial Japan during WWII followed up by a dictator and then a war by the US which absolutely leveled their infrastructure. While the US assisted the south in rebuilding, they isolated the North. They definitely haven’t had the success of countries like China, but the fact that they’ve had any progress under such harsh conditions should be considered a miracle.
Cuba used to be a playground for foreign capitalists who owned plantations, casinos, etc. Their revolution was immediately followed by the US isolating them and repeatedly trying to sabotage them. Again, it’s hard to make much progress when you have no access to trade with the rest of the world and have to be constantly on guard against a superpower at your doorstep, but even then, they’ve managed quite a bit. Cuba has had so much success with their healthcare system that they’ve been able to send doctors around the world on humanitarian missions as one example.
Were all of these societies perfect? No of course not. People are people and they will struggle and sometimes stumble, but were/are they complete failures owing to the inherent properties of socialism? No. But again, this is all a very cursory overview of the topic. I would highly encourage you to learn more for yourself on whatever part of this interests you most.
EDIT: Also, taking this back to capitalism, it has been responsible for tons of deaths and human suffering over the course of it’s history, but people don’t really consider that suffering in the same way as they do any suffering that happened during the history of various socialist societies. This isn’t whataboutism, it’s highlighting a flaw in the way we think about these issues. A famine caused by natural conditions in a country that has had famines for all of it’s history? The failures of communism. Capitalism failing to feed large amounts of people while it produces more than enough food to do so? Apparently that’s not a problem.