Socialism can best be understood in the way that Karl Marx conceptualized it 150 years ago. Most American's confuse a mixed economy with socialism. Genuine socialism can be best understood as a situation where the mass of the working class who are the producers in society actually collectively own the means of production from which that wealth is created. Under the capitalist system however, the means of production remains under the control of the ruling class minority who are motivated purely by their need to make profit.

It is hardly surprising given the myths that surround socialism that people condemn it largely as a result of the fact that they don't know what it is. The truth is the world is dominated by the capitalist mode of production and the crumbs the capitalists throw from their tables is effectively the various forms of welfare programmes that people on this site describe as "socialism" or "communism" But as the revolutionary Rosa Luxemburg famously said: "It is not possible for an island of socialism to exist within a sea of capitalism". Never has a truer phrase ever been spoken.

Now, whilst it is true that most capitalist societies in existence today contain elements of a socialized economy, this in truth is underscored by the capitalist mode of production. As I said in my previous post, capitalism is the necessary stepping stone in the development of socialism. In pre-capitalist societies productive capacity was insufficient to overcome scarcity. But under capitalism the system is far more dynamic, productive forces and the technological advances that underpin them, are now so advanced that we are in a position to thereotically feed the entire world. But the problem is the productive process is necessarily anarchic under capitalism where profit motivation over-rides the necessity for social well-being.

Unlike in pre-capitalist societies, food production under capitalism far exceeds human reproduction, but because the system is motivated by the need to make profit, the very poor go hungry. In pre-capitalist societies the poor went hungry because there wasn't enough food to go round, now there is abundance but people still go hungry. So in essence socialism really means the re-organization of the productive forces of the economy so as to satisfy in the first instance basic human need.

Marx understood that the dynamism of capitalism is the precursor to its own downfall. This is because as capitalism matures the workplaces of the world correspondingly intensify in terms of the numbers of workers working cooperatively together in unison. So the growth and concentration of the working class opens up new possibilities. Workplaces like supermarkets and call centres represent the concentrated power of the capitalist system which for socialists is both a blessing and a curse. Its a curse for the people who have to work in them in the sense that they are effectively treated like machines, but on the other hand a collectivised and highly organised and unionised workforce represents a threat to the capitalists and ultimately their system.