Socialism
Author
Discussion

Marquis Rex

Original Poster:

7,377 posts

270 months

Monday 31st October 2011
quotequote all
"Socialism is a philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance, and the gospel of envy, its inherent virtue is the equal sharing of misery."- Winston Churchill

"Socialism, if it is worthy of the name, means human relations without greed, friendships without envy and intrigue, love without base calculation" - Leon Trotsky

Discuss!


dmulally

6,403 posts

211 months

Monday 31st October 2011
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I just got a Chang Jiang 750 (BMW R71 then Ural M72 knock off) so I am all about socialism. Then again, I once dated a Russian girl who wore these see through knickers. (iron) Beef curtains so big it looked like she was packing a folded up stingray down there.

In summary, socialism gets mixed results.

phumy

5,828 posts

268 months

Monday 31st October 2011
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dmulally said:
I just got a Chang Jiang 750 (BMW R71 then Ural M72 knock off) so I am all about socialism. Then again, I once dated a Russian girl who wore these see through knickers. (iron) Beef curtains so big it looked like she was packing a folded up stingray down there.

In summary, socialism gets mixed results.
Excellent descriptive English......love it, 10/10 hehe

AJS-

15,366 posts

267 months

Monday 31st October 2011
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I can't think of a more comprehensively tried and failed system of government or social organisation that still merits discussion at all.

Countdown

49,519 posts

227 months

Monday 31st October 2011
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Most of the Scandinavian economies seem to be doing quite well - aren't they fairly Socialist?

turbobloke

117,446 posts

291 months

Monday 31st October 2011
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Socialism is a different planet for young socialists these days. The class struggle is all about business vs first.

Welcome to misery tourism, a sort of Gap Yah for well-heeled Lefties. Just as cheap flights enabled working-class Brits to descend on the Costa del Sol in the early 1970s, so information technology enables self-styled “activists” and “photo-journalists” to flit from trouble spot to trouble spot. Passport? Check. Smartphone? Check. Loan from mummy and daddy? Check. Congratulations: you’re a humanitarian.

Click

Jasandjules

72,664 posts

260 months

Monday 31st October 2011
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Marquis Rex said:
"Socialism is a philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance, and the gospel of envy, its inherent virtue is the equal sharing of misery."- Winston Churchill

"Socialism, if it is worthy of the name, means human relations without greed, friendships without envy and intrigue, love without base calculation" - Leon Trotsky

Discuss!
That's where it all falls down. Because once they have power and money, it's amazing just how many "socialists" decide they'd quite like to keep it rather than share it around and not be greedy....

Bing o

15,184 posts

250 months

Monday 31st October 2011
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The real problem is the parliamentary system that encourages short termism. No-one sees any benefit in any multi-term investment projects, especially at the expense of short term policies. Any country, be it socialist or capitalist, can expect to thrive in the long-term without strategic vision and conviction politics. Something that the west in particular seems to have been very bad at in the last 20 years.


chris watton

22,547 posts

291 months

Monday 31st October 2011
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Jasandjules said:
That's where it all falls down. Because once they have power and money, it's amazing just how many "socialists" decide they'd quite like to keep it rather than share it around and not be greedy....
Look at Blair and his other stooges - richer than Avarice – and getting even richer by the day! Who was the party that cheated the expenses system the most?
But of course, he wasn’t a socialist, was he – if anything fails under socialism/communism, then we’re told by the ‘enlightened’ that it wasn’t really socialism – just another Thatcher….
In the UK, Socialism is – “I exist, I don’t contribute to society even in its basest sense, therefore I am entitled to the same money and lifestyle as thy neighbour who works 60 hours per week – cos it’s fair, innit….

andyroo

2,469 posts

241 months

Monday 31st October 2011
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Socialism can't work because people are imaginative, creative and competitive, as well as greedy, back-stabbing and aggressive. In other words, it won't work because we're human.

greygoose

9,669 posts

226 months

Monday 31st October 2011
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Bing o said:
The real problem is the parliamentary system that encourages short termism. No-one sees any benefit in any multi-term investment projects, especially at the expense of short term policies. Any country, be it socialist or capitalist, can expect to thrive in the long-term without strategic vision and conviction politics. Something that the west in particular seems to have been very bad at in the last 20 years.
This pretty much sums it up.

Bing o

15,184 posts

250 months

Monday 31st October 2011
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andyroo said:
Socialism can't work because people are imaginative, creative and competitive, as well as greedy, back-stabbing and aggressive. In other words, it won't work because we're human.
Reading the Wiki entry for Socialism, I don't see that the UK is Socialist, or has had a socialist government for 40 years? The welfare state alone is not socialism, which is what some posters seem to think defines socialism. In fact, show me a 'socialist' country outside of Europe that pays 10-20% of it's working age population to sit around in relatively comfortable surroundings with free healthcare and education without making any contribution economically?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Socialism

jshell

12,106 posts

236 months

Monday 31st October 2011
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Countdown said:
Most of the Scandinavian economies seem to be doing quite well - aren't they fairly Socialist?
They are very Socialist, verging on Communist in philosophy. But, this is PH and Thatcher is a minor Deity so don't come here with your big ideas and proof that some forms of Socialism work quite well... biglaugh

  • NB. I really am not a Socialist, but I can see where it has merits.

odyssey2200

18,650 posts

240 months

Monday 31st October 2011
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I git one of those silly emails a few weeks ago, which I normally delete.
However this one, I saved

email said:
An economics professor at a local college made the statement that he had never failed a single student before but had once failed an entire class.

That class had insisted that socialism worked and that no one would be poor and no one would be rich, a great equalizer.

The professor then said, "OK, we will have an experiment in this class on socialism. All grades would be averaged and everyone would receive the same grade so no one would fail and no one would receive an A.

After the first test, the grades were averaged and everyone got a B.

The students who studied hard were upset and the students who studied little were happy.

As the second test rolled around, the students who studied little had studied even less and the ones who studied hard decided they wanted a free ride too so they studied little.

The second test average was a D! No one was happy.

When the 3rd test rolled around, the average was an F.

The scores never increased as bickering, blame and name-calling all resulted in hard feelings and no one would study for the benefit of anyone else.

All failed, to their great surprise, and the professor told them that socialism would also ultimately fail because when the reward is great, the effort to succeed is great but when government takes all the reward away, no one will try or want to succeed.

It could not be any simpler than that.

"You cannot legislate the poor into freedom by legislating the wealthy out of freedom. What one person receives without working for, another person must work for without receiving. The government cannot give to anybody anything that the government does not first take from somebody else. When half of the people get the idea that they do not have to work because the other half is going to take care of them, and when the other half gets the idea that it does no good to work because somebody else is going to get what they work for, that my dear friend, is about the end of any nation.
~~~~ Dr. Adrian Rogers, 1931



Tycho

12,293 posts

304 months

Monday 31st October 2011
quotequote all
Jasandjules said:
Marquis Rex said:
"Socialism is a philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance, and the gospel of envy, its inherent virtue is the equal sharing of misery."- Winston Churchill

"Socialism, if it is worthy of the name, means human relations without greed, friendships without envy and intrigue, love without base calculation" - Leon Trotsky

Discuss!
That's where it all falls down. Because once they have power and money, it's amazing just how many "socialists" decide they'd quite like to keep it rather than share it around and not be greedy....
Yep, socialism could work is humans weren't "human"

Bing o

15,184 posts

250 months

Monday 31st October 2011
quotequote all
Marquis Rex said:
"Socialism is a philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance, and the gospel of envy, its inherent virtue is the equal sharing of misery."- Winston Churchill

"Socialism, if it is worthy of the name, means human relations without greed, friendships without envy and intrigue, love without base calculation" - Leon Trotsky

Discuss!
A system of capitalism presumes sound money, not fiat money manipulated by a central bank. Capitalism cherishes voluntary contracts and interest rates that are determined by savings, not credit creation by a central bank. - Ron Paul

Capitalism attacks and destroys all the finer sentiments of the human heart; it ruthlessly sweeps away old traditions and ideas opposed to its progress, and it exploits and corrupts those things once held sacred. - Daniel De Leon

Capitalism is not about free competitive choices among people who are reasonably equal in their buying and selling of economic power, it is about concentrating capital, concentrating economic power in very few hands using that power to trash everyone who gets in their way. - David Korten

Saddle bum

4,211 posts

250 months

Monday 31st October 2011
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A socialist will give you the shirt from another man's back.

Bing o

15,184 posts

250 months

Monday 31st October 2011
quotequote all
Saddle bum said:
A socialist will give you the shirt from another man's back.
A capitalist will make you a shirt from slave labour and then charge you 50 quid for it.

turbobloke

117,446 posts

291 months

Monday 31st October 2011
quotequote all
“The inherent vice of capitalism is the unequal sharing of capital, the inherent virtue of socialism is the equal sharing of misery.”

“Socialism is workable only in heaven where it isn't needed, and in hell where they've got it”

“Socialism in general has a record of failure so blatant that only an intellectual could ignore or evade it”

anonymous-user

85 months

Monday 31st October 2011
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"The socialism I believe in is everyone working for each other, everyone having a share of the rewards. It's the way I see football, the way I see life"
Bill Shankly

Socialism works in principle but human nature doesnt fit with the ideology. as soon as someone realises that they can get by without contributing as much the whole thing crumbles.