Who Killed Socialism?
IN response to the repeated failures of socialist countries - whether from economic or political crises - the favorite rescuing device of far-left apologists is to cry, “It wasn’t real socialism!” Since it, ostensibly, wasn’t true, orthodox socialism, then we don’t know what it’s like for true socialism to be implemented, meaning we can’t critique practical (in contrast to theoretical) socialism. This recourse is, of course, fallacious, and can be refuted in three easy ways: Noting how socialists, in other contexts, will refer to these countries as sources of socialist pride. Noting how historical socialists, contemporaneous with these regimes, affirmed their socialist nature. Responding in kind, “Well, they certainly weren’t capitalist!” The final point is my favorite, especially since I made it. Socialist apologists might assert that these nations had capitalist characteristics, or were forms of “state capitalism”. However, you either have - exclusively - capitalism or so...