We are not threatened by the socialism that does not work according to Western standards. We are threatened when socialism works, radiating its egalitarian and gray presence everywhere.
The victory of socialist candidates in recent elections has highlighted the renewed appeal of the Marxist system. Some now see socialism as the wave of the future. Conservatives reply by saying that this system must be rejected because “socialism does not work.”
Whenever I hear this “socialism does not work” mantra, I am reminded of a trip I took to Poland around 2004. The country was vibrant with activities as it awoke from the nightmare of communism. Back then, a spirit of excitement and rebirth was in the air as the Poles put things back in order.
The Gray Alley of Despair
As I was walking the streets of Krakow, I happened upon an alley and casually entered it. I was shocked to find that all the buildings inside were grey, dilapidated and neglected. It was a depressing sight.
Later, I asked a Polish friend about my alley experience. He told me that I had entered one of the unrestored areas. The whole city used to look like the buildings in the alley! All Krakow was once a grey and depressing city.
As I travelled around the country, I began to see similar signs of what socialism does to a nation. In the suburbs of many cities, there were block after block of grey concrete apartment buildings, all equal, unadorned and depressing. I was impressed by the efforts of the new owners who were painting, modifying, and enlivening the buildings to make them livable and give them some soul.
A Grayness that Permeated Everything
Later, I learned about socialist building codes that were still in effect, preventing owners from making improvements. Everywhere I turned, I could see this leftover spirit of dreary grayness permeating everything. It was in the coarse language and missing manners. It could be found in the smallest things, even years after the fall of the Iron Curtain.
Proof that Socialism Does Not Work?
Most people hearing this report would conclude that my observations were yet more proof that socialism does not work. It proves the failure of a defective economic system that rewards laziness and encourages theft in the redistribution of wealth.
The socialist fools can’t see that socialism does not work! It is so obvious.
However, I come to an opposite and more terrifying conclusion: Socialism works.
What “Works” Means
My point is that there is a pattern in what I saw in Poland. This impoverishment was obviously intentional. This was no mistake. The horrific grayness was not caused by socialist leaders making endless attempts to reach prosperity with broken tools and a defective system. The people who created these eyesores wanted them to be this way.
The key to understanding this conclusion is to agree on what we mean by “works.”
When we say that something works, we mean it functions according to its intended purpose. A car that does not move forward fails to perform its transportation function. It does not work. A piano that can only play half of the notes in the C major scale fails to reach its musical end. It does not work.
How Market-Driven Societies and Socialist Economies Work
So it is with socio-economic systems. A free-market economy and its corresponding society aim to produce great wealth and prosperity through certain economic rules. The present system has many shortcomings. However, its stated goal is “human flourishing.” The natural result is a hierarchical society where all individuals prosper according to the effort they exert. In addition, the culture strives for excellence because it improves production and prosperity. When a society reaches this goal, it works. When a stock market generates great financial losses instead of profits, we say it has crashed. It didn’t work.
However, a socialist economy and its corresponding society aim to redistribute wealth. Marxism (in all its forms) is not only an economic system but also a philosophical sect that idealizes an egalitarian society in which everyone is equal and no one possesses more than anyone else. In all its manifestations and varieties, what unites socialist thought is that it attacks hierarchies and those manifestations of excellence that give rise to inequalities. It is hostile to the ultimate Authority and Creator of inequalities, God.
Thus, when people say that socialism does not work, they really mean it does not produce the same results as a market economy and society. And they are right. However, true socialists do not share the goals of a free-market economy and society.
When Socialism Works
Socialism works when it creates an egalitarian society. It works when it destroys the structures and hierarchies that allowed the West to prosper. It works when it destroys the standards of excellence that favor human flourishing. It works when it suppresses what it considers excessive wealth by taxation, regulation, legislation and even confiscation. It works when it favors vulgarity, drabness and all that is ordinary.
Socialism attracts rebellious (and even intelligent) souls who hate authority and any restraint upon disordered passions. It creates resentments, entitlement and class struggle. Socialists aren’t stupid; they pursue an egalitarian, atheistic society with cunning and purpose as a means of achieving this end that favors their most deep-rooted vices.
Making Sense of the Alley of Despair
Thus, Krakow’s gray alley of despair makes sense. Why would a man work to maintain or beautify a building when it makes him stand out and therefore trigger socialist persecution? Why would he use refined language, better clothes and polite manners that reinforce charm, courtesy, and hierarchical structures? The socialist tendency is not to stand out and attract attention. Everything must be gray. Socialism is the constant race to the bottom.
Indeed, in Poland, socialism worked beyond Marx’s wildest dreams. Socialism works when it produces gray alleys of despair, identical blocks of apartments, godless societies and depraved morals.
We can say that socialism works wherever it is true to itself, be it in Cuba, Venezuela or other places.
We are not threatened by the socialism that does not work according to Western standards. We are threatened when socialism works, radiating its egalitarian and gray presence everywhere.
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