Essay:Abandon that which you cannot defend

There are socialists who, when asked to defend socialism against competing ideologies, will point to the Soviet Union. Indeed, the USSR was a brilliant success. Its communist government turned a deeply poor semi-colonial, semi-feudal country into the second largest economy in less than a century's time.

But, to claim that no other country was socialist (on the basis of self-described anti-revisionism, oftentimes) is a serious indictment of socialism. If an ideology cannot produce more than one single success after being tried repeatedly, that ideology should be retired to the dustbin of history.

Worse yet, there are socialists (Westerners, more often than not) who even contend that there has been "no true socialism" in the past, and that all past attempts had failed. These foolish idealists contend instead that "we will do it right this time." The intellect of these "socialists" is apparently far beyond anything that the global proletariat could ever produce.

Both of these positions are folly.

If socialism does not produce successes, then we must abandon it.

I will not abandon socialism, however, because socialism has indeed worked in the past! It has raised many millions of persons out of poverty. It has brought food security to nations historically plagued (thanks in part due to their colonial exploiters) by famine, it has brought electricity to rural and historically underdeveloped regions, it has brought literacy to the illiterate, medical care to those who had not previously had it.

To obfuscate or ignore these shining successes is doing the dirty work of the imperialists! You've been misled by their propaganda machine to side against the global proletarian struggle. Those common folk who have resist exploitation and reaction deserve our utmost admiration, even despite the inevitable mistakes they might've made along the way.

If you do not believe socialism has produced successes, I beg of you: Do not be a socialist.

Abandon that which you cannot defend.

See also

• Successes of socialism