Lots of little (and not so little:wink: ) words for Gadget:hug:
Quote:
Originally Posted by Gadget
So socialism is just a path towards communism, or socialism [b]is[/i] communism, just with a poorer economy. ?:confused:
I still don't get the statement - can you use little words please? :blush:
"From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs."
The first bit is obvious. We contribute to the society to the best of our ability - basically under a socialist regime we each work to the best of our ability. The difference between a socialist and a capitalist approach is that in the former we only get our 'needs' met under a capitalist regime we get rewarded depending on market forces, in other words, what the market thinks our work/ability is worth.
For this second bit it is much less clear. What are "his needs". We all have many needs and they range from basic needs to quite sophisticated needs. When I consider needs I usually refer to Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs. I've pasted them at the bottom of this post with some useful notes (do a google search if you'd like to know more).
When Marx was talking about needs I think we should consider the times. It was 1875, at this time a significant proportion of the population were not having their most basic of physiological needs met, they were starving, freezing, had a short life expectancy and infant mortality was so high it must have broken many people's hearts. In this environment the promise that all you had to do was your best and your needs would be met must have seemed like an invitation to a promised land where you would never go hungry or be cold, and where you and your children would live longer - it would have won me over and I would have been scrambling over those palace walls along with everyone else.
Don't ask me where the great socialist experiment went wrong. I don't know. But, as we all know, it was not the great success that Marx envisaged.
Nowadays, in this country, there is no need for anyone to starve, or be cold or have their lives shortened by deprivation (but, from my time as a Councillor I know it still happens from time-to-time - from those real-life cases I've been involved with I think the cause is ignorance and the long-term answer is education). I think that the fact that the population are comfortable makes Marx's argument much less seductive to the UK population: that and the fact that our observation is that Communism doesn't seem to work as well as Capitalism - at least from the point of view of someone living in the democratic and capitalist West like we are fortunate enough to do.
Me? Despite my score on the test I started this thread with, I'm a capitalist through and through. I don't have the faith/belief in human nature that Marx had. I don't want the state to look after me, I want to look after myself. And that is what I see as the major difference between the Political Parties of today. And even then it is only the difference is in shades of the same colour or where you draw the line.
There are many other, less theoretical, areas of politics I think could be discussed too. I'd like to just prime the pump and get the debate going rather than lead it in any way - especilly as my brand of Politics doesn't even exist in Scotland:tears:
Appendix 1
Maslow has set up a hierarchy of five levels of basic needs. Beyond these needs, higher levels of needs exist. These include needs for understanding, esthetic appreciation and purely spiritual needs. In the levels of the five basic needs, the person does not feel the second need until the demands of the first have been satisfied, nor the third until the second has been satisfied, and so on. Maslow's basic needs are as follows:
Physiological Needs
These are biological needs. They consist of needs for oxygen, food, water, and a relatively constant body temperature. They are the strongest needs because if a person were deprived of all needs, the physiological ones would come first in the person's search for satisfaction.
Safety Needs
When all physiological needs are satisfied and are no longer controlling thoughts and behaviors, the needs for security can become active. Adults have little awareness of their security needs except in times of emergency or periods of disorganization in the social structure (such as widespread rioting). Children often display the signs of insecurity and the need to be safe.
Needs of Love, Affection and Belongingness
When the needs for safety and for physiological well-being are satisfied, the next class of needs for love, affection and belongingness can emerge. Maslow states that people seek to overcome feelings of loneliness and alienation. This involves both giving and receiving love, affection and the sense of belonging.
Needs for Esteem
When the first three classes of needs are satisfied, the needs for esteem can become dominant. These involve needs for both self-esteem and for the esteem a person gets from others. Humans have a need for a stable, firmly based, high level of self-respect, and respect from others. When these needs are satisfied, the person feels self-confident and valuable as a person in the world. When these needs are frustrated, the person feels inferior, weak, helpless and worthless.
Needs for Self-Actualization
When all of the foregoing needs are satisfied, then and only then are the needs for self-actualization activated. Maslow describes self-actualization as a person's need to be and do that which the person was "born to do." "A musician must make music, an artist must paint, and a poet must write." These needs make themselves felt in signs of restlessness. The person feels on edge, tense, lacking something, in short, restless. If a person is hungry, unsafe, not loved or accepted, or lacking self-esteem, it is very easy to know what the person is restless about. It is not always clear what a person wants when there is a need for self-actualization.