This essay is passacaglia on an ideological theme. I propose to adopt the discursive style of the novelist. I will explore the discrepancy between socialism and capitalism.
Socio-political and ideological issues which socialism aimed at solving, were more or less achieved, first in the then Soviet Union and now, eminently so, in Communist China.
Social ownership of the means of production and democracy for the working class, have been established in Vietnam, North Korea, Cuba, China, Venezuela, Singapore, Egypt, Russia, etc.
Modern Russia is enjoying the immortal feat of the Soviet people and the Armed forces, which defeated Hitler’s Germany during the Second World War.
There is no denying the fact that for seventy years, socialism lifted backward European nations from the Baltic to the Adriatic, from poverty and illiteracy, to societies that now enjoy international standing like Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Poland, Hungary and other East European states, now being courted by the West.
I have watched the jingles about Poland being propagated on CNN, as if Polish prosperity only took place after the Solidarity Movement impacted on Poland. The truth is that if the Soviet Union did not have a socialist state organization that defeated Hitler, Warsaw would not have seen war and survived.
Those journalists, academics, pundits in the West, who relied on speculative musings about socialist states, peddled misinformation, disinformation about Socialist states and under-rated the opportunities socialism created for growth, strengthening societies, national liberation in Africa, Asia and Latin America, from 1960 till 1989.
What some writers fail to point out is that the Soviet Union was Russia’s big burden. Not to acknowledge the Herculean task of catering for the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics by the Russians, in which republics like Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Georgia, Mongolia, Bulgaria, contributed little, can not be the basis of serious analysis.
The Soviet Union came to an end when Gorbachev and the Russian leaders in the Union decided that it was time to allow those Republics outside Russia to be on their own.
It was ideologically convenient for the West to regard this as the “collapse of communism” It was the collapse of the Soviet Union, which served the historical mission of the type of society, Lenin, Marx and Engel advanced. The Union served the world.
Socialism did not collapse totally as can be seen in China’s resilience and stability. In spite of suffering from environmental disasters, China has demonstrated that the socialist form of development, though painful and arduous, is the more progressive social system
I live in China for three years and that gave me the opportunity to see for myself and form my own opinion.
I also live for five years in the Soviet Union (1963-68), at the time the state was undergoing its post-war, severe test.
I was lucky to live in West Germany from (1968-72). I witnessed German ingenuity and how the country climbed from the ashes of defeat to recover fully, within two decades. The capitalist system assisted the Germans to gain acceleration in the right direction.
This was because the Western nations granted long term credits to West Germany and massively invested in the West German economy, which was efficiently run under Conrad Adenaeur and Dr Erhard, who was the Economics Minister.
The US placed embargo on trade in many strategic goods with the Soviet Union and its allies causing those nations to recover, after the Second World War, at a very slow pace. This was then blamed on communism, instead of on geopolitics.
Cuba has been affected most by a denial policy that has spanned five decades. American citizens and business house have lost myriads of financial opportunities as a result of their government’s policy on Cuba.
My research shows that trade between the US and Cuba, trade between the US and North Korea are capable of turning the US economy around. America could supply from pin to aero planes. But since pride goeth before dollar loss, so be it.
As North Korean Professor, Kim Cheng told me in Beijing, “The Americans do not know what they are missing” in North Korea. He advised, flooding the country with electronic gadgets and other merchandise, invest massively in the food business and see the effect of love going through the stomach.
He pointed at the sophistication of Russian citizens, who, during the 1960’s and 70’s were not able to get hold of good detergents, perfumes and other life-enhancing products.
In spite of all that, life in Socialist states was more peaceful, ordered and very safe until rapaciousness became the order as the new wave of everyone to himself while the devil dispensed greed and avariciousness under the new dispensation.
This was why the Government of Vladimir Putin pruned the growing whiskers of the oligarchs, who threw caution to the winds and who, associated the new freedom with lawlessness and murderous escapades.
Socialism has laid an infrastructural foundation from which the new Russia has taken off and with its enormous hydro-carbon reserves, its economic co-operation with China, India and other Asian states, the sky is the limit,
Some people glibly talk about COMMUNIST STATEs, without really understanding that there are no communist states yet. Those states that are referred to as “Communist States” are only aspiring to build one, as a futurist hope.
The ideals contained in the Communist philosophy are humanitarian and it propagates the elimination of the exploitation inherent in unequal social conditions, which create societies, where oppression, suppression and neglect of the weak and under-privileged, thrive as a social system.
For example, feudal societies have perpetuated social inequalities and societal injustices as a result of birth, political affiliations, and marital associations. Capitalism has tended to stratify the position of merchants, bankers, contractors, government officials, Chamber of Commerce Chieftains and their agents.
