I’ve always had changing political beliefs but over the last two years I think I’ve firmed up to something I can really get behind. Which is, market socialism.
Capitalism, I think has worked out okay, but mainly from the perspective of the people who have benefited from it. Worldwide, there is too much inequality, too many people living in severe conditions, and too many ethical issues. I feel like, when you can own the means of production and not be a worker, that’s okay on a small business scale, but it leads to accumulation, where people just don’t own a business, they own a holding company that has access to global capital markets, that buys and owns so many other things, that the original owners are so removed from the everyday business, and have such incredible access to capital, that it becomes a plutocracy. The access the people with capital then have to control politics and the media means the system becomes weighted for them, it’s a cycle.
Actually I wonder if that cycle is breakable at all. It doesn’t seem like it is right now. But I also think, with the environment collapsing, large scale political upheaval is almost unnecessary. When the resources become scarce, the plutocracy will do everything to try to maintain themselves - that probably means starting wars and sending us to die for them, leaving people hungry, leaving people without their daily bread. They might keep control through this - with their control of the media, politics, and public opinion, but I think it will be tight. And maybe, there’s a chance people will wake up and realise, to get through these times ahead we’ll need to support each other, help and share resources - all the things the capitalists are deadly afraid of. It was about two years ago, I decided, I won’t support capitalism anymore for all these reasons.
In the short term I support things like a universal income, national healthcare etc - but these feel like sticking plasters to me. The ultimate solution, I think, would be for every individual to feel empowered and motivated to work, and for the benefits of that work to be plentiful and rewarding - and I think only socialism can offer that because as long as people are working in places where they are not the owners of that place.
So - alternatives. Communism is a nice idea, but it’s too distant. Even Marx knew that - which is why he proposed the ‘dictatorship of the proletariat’ as the stepping stone. I feel like history has showed - as a stepping stone, that doesn’t work, it doesn’t lead to communism but to other things - see China, Russia, Cuba.So I’m not anti communist but I am anti-marxist, maybe communism is the final aim (maybe) but I think we need a better ‘next step’.
One of my problems with most forms of socialism is that I’m a libertarian. Bad things happen when governments gain more power, I can only support models that put power into people’s hands. So command economies and nationalisation models are out.
I also support the concept of a free market. That was the big change for me this year. I used to think, a market economy leads to greed and inequality. Actually I still think that’s true to an extent, competition will cause that, but also I’ve come to believe that the market also produces good things. It lets individuals have control, and also the economy is just so dammed complex and governments are slow and politicised, the market is just better at regulating supply and prices than any interventionist system could be. And - maybe an element of greed and inequality is inevitable, but I have come to see it’s capitalism that is responsible for enabling the worst of that.
So - market socialism it is. I’ve done some reading, but I wouldn’t say I’ve figured everything out yet. But vaguely, it would be a model where we still have companies, profit etc but all companies are owned by their employees: I’m thinking models like the Co-Op and John Lewis. Socialist enterprises, if you will. I’m not sure how capital markets work in such a situation either (I’m not nearly clever enough to figure that out), but I feel there’s a way it can happen. Obviously you wouldn’t have stock exchanges and labour would no longer be a commodity. I even think things like healthcare could work on this model. Other than these things, society might look similar to how it is now - private businesses and people going to work in them.
What really attracts me to this is - think about how much more motivating going to work would be for almost everyone if they were shareholders, and getting a return of profits. I think productivity would skyrocket, there’d be less long term unemployment, and fewer mental health problems (which I believe - supported by some research - are often caused by a lack of control).
The other thing is, how we would get there. I think you can maybe edge into it. Starting with, say, laws that mean all employees have to be given share options or even just shares - however small - where they work. Or you could take the plunge and initiate government funded employee buyouts of all companies (this would be a massive transfer of wealth to the already rich capitalists - a downside for sure - but it might also make transition possible). Or you could ban the formation of new companies unless they work on a cooperative model. Or something like that.
So that’s where I am today.