The Great Debates

Socialist :

And socialism IS the government ownership of the means of production..."
More correctly, thats State Capitalism. Socialism argues for Means of Production to be controled by People, via cooperatives and simmilar arrangements. [Not a fan of forced collectivisation though, as that's just Stalinism.]

Anarchism came from Socialism, the break was between Marx's strict Communist followers and Bukarin's Anarchism, and though they agree in goal they differed in method..
I am at heart a Pacifist so I don't agree particularly with Marx's revolutionary violence... but there is more to Socialism than that.

As such, I take bits and pieces from all that is Socialism, a wide political affiliation indeed which includes , rather than restrict myself to one form of it, like Anarchism or Communism.

Socialism refers to a broad array of movements which aim to improve society through collective action and to a socio-economic system in which property and the distribution of wealth are subject to control by the community.
This control may be either direct—exercised through popular collectives such as workers' councils*—or indirect—exercised on behalf of the people by the state**. As an economic system, socialism is often characterized by state or worker ownership of the means of production.

Anarcho Capitalist :


And I oppose state capitalism or "managed marketes" as much as I oppose socialism. Freedom and free markets is the society we need.

"Socialism argues for Means of Production to be controled by People, via cooperatives and simmilar arrangements."

aka, the government controlling the means of production... when you have a group of people deciding things for everyone, that's the government...

"Socialism refers to a broad array of movements which aim to improve society through collective action and to a socio-economic system in which property and the distribution of wealth are subject to control by the community."

Translation, for people who don't speak commie : socailists want to take your stuff and give it to other people. They say this is the poor, but it always ends up being their powerful friends.

"As an economic system, socialism is often characterized by state or worker ownership of the means of production."

In short, the government owns everything, and controls who gets what. There's no competition, so everything sucks and fails, and the wealthy in capitalism (that is, the people who actually work and make wealth for everyone) are replaced by the powerful state authorities.



Aside from the immoral problems with socialism (it's wrong to steal my stuff) it simply does not work. Capitalism does. Unfortunately, the trend towards collectivism and away from individual rights is so powerful and ubiquituous and manifests itself constantly in a democratic society... if only people weren't so fucking stupid and they could see that "free" stuff costs A LOT OF MONEY.