I believe we have discussed related topics before Henryk, and we are of quite different minds on this. Your perspective has been shaped by a background from growing up in a dictatorship which sold itself as a socialist paradise going towards communism.
I grew up in a democracy, where utopian rethoric was toned done by those advocating socialism in favor of practical workable solutions.
Everybody gets colored by their experiences. You have seen the dark side when socialist policies are pursued within the context of an oppressive dictatorship. Naturally you will think about this differently from me. I have grown up with a much more positive experience because socialist policies have always evolved within a democratic framework.
I think the problem with many people who grew up in the East block is that you have come to conflate the problems with dictatorship with the problems of socialism. And humans have a tendency to overreact to negative experiences. The bad experiences of communist regimes have made many who comes from these socities extremely pro capitalism. Look at people like Ayan Rand, which I believe ended hating everything about socialism so much that the pendulum swung and max velocity to the other and leading her to take an extremist individualist viewpoint on society and life itself.
Of course from your perspective I am naive because I didn't grow up with what you would perceive as "the real thing." But the systems of both the USSR and former East block Poland was not the "real thing."
They were systems created by dictators for whom socialism always had to play second fiddle to their desire to hold onto power and crush dissent.
It is not any more "real" socialism than Nordic social democracy. Quite the contrary I would claim that social democracy represent the closest approximation of the ideals of socialism. No, it isn't socialism, but it contain may important parts of it:
- A good amount of equality.
- Power and influence for workers through strong unions, workers representation on corporate boards, plethora of laws giving workers influence and ability to be heard.
- State owned enterprises controlled by democratic government rather than capitalists or an unaccountable dictatorship.
- Covering the basic needs of all citizens for housing, food, health care, education, safety and security.
Obviously it is not quite the same a socialist originally imagined it because there are still capitalists who own and run a lot of the enterprises. Workers may have more say that in a pure capitalist system, but they are not in full charge of corporations.
In my view we should care less about what ideological label we put on things and care more about what works.
