Albert Einstein on Socialism

[Anonymous No.1633478]

This crippling of individuals I consider the worst evil of capitalism. Our whole educational system suffers from this evil. An exaggerated competitive attitude is inculcated into the student, who is trained to worship acquisitive success as a preparation for his future career.

I am convinced there is only one way to eliminate these grave evils, namely through the establishment of a socialist economy, accompanied by an educational system which would be oriented toward social goals. In such an economy, the means of production are owned by society itself and are utilized in a planned fashion. A planned economy, which adjusts production to the needs of the community, would distribute the work to be done among all those able to work and would guarantee a livelihood to every man, woman, and child. The education of the individual, in addition to promoting his own innate abilities, would attempt to develop in him a sense of responsibility for his fellow men in place of the glorification of power and success in our present society.

[Anonymous No.1633485]

Einstein was thinking of implanting socialism when our world becomes controlled by machines.

[Anonymous No.1633510]

>>1633478
Greed happens in Communism, Socialism any ISM because there is one common factor: GREEDY MEN AND WOMEN.

I don't know what the solution is because most humans are fools at best.

[Anonymous No.1633534]

this thread has the potential

[Anonymous No.1633536]

>>1633510
thank god that we live in capitalism which doesn't harbor greed

[Anonymous No.1633554]

> namely through the establishment of a socialist economy
so far so good
>In such an economy, the means of production are owned by society itself and are utilized in a planned fashion
aaaaaaand that's when I walked away

[Anonymous No.1633565]

>implying that because he invented some shit in physics this guy can speak incisively on government

[Anonymous No.1633572]

Hey Chileanfag here
My country was the first country to elect a communist president democratically.
Lets just say it sucked ass. People had to make huge lines in order to get food and the government sucked at running the companies. It was such a massive failure that all the military branches went against the president and we had a military dictator run the country for like 20 years.

[Anonymous No.1633573]

> "Who owns my polio vaccine? The people! Could you patent the sun?"

[Anonymous No.1633599]

Einstein was just venting his frustration because he did so badly in school.

[Anonymous No.1633657]

>>1633599
He did fantastic in school. The only problem he had with school was dealing with teachers' authority.

[Anonymous No.1633665]

Experts in physics are not experts in politics.

[Anonymous No.1633676]

>>1633573
This makes me sad considering what biology has since turned to. We've gone from "lulz, patent a vaccine? You must be joking, it's a natural agent, you can't patent nature" to "hurr durr, I just discovered what a particular sequence of DNA found in every human does. I'm going to patent it now!"

[Anonymous No.1633684]

>>1633510

Remove greed via removing the shit in our DNA that makes us horde things.

Or something.

[Anonymous No.1633695]

I live in Sweden, and I think we got it right here. Government got enough backbone to tell big companies to fuck of, they provide the small percentage of unsuccessful people with enough means to live a decent life, but still promotes competition and hard work amongst the people.

[Anonymous No.1633799]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fascist_Manifesto

The early Fascist actually had a lot of good ideas. Too bad they were so quickly corrupted.

[Anonymous No.1633913]

>>1633799
There were some not so good ideas tho...

... in particular, forcing people like Einstein to flee their beloved homeland turned out to be a very bad idea.

[Anonymous No.1634628]

>>1633913
That was Totalitarian Fascism, not the same.

Read it.
------------------------------------------
The Manifesto (published in "Il Popolo d'Italia" on June 6, 1919) is divided into four sections, describing Fascist objectives in political, social, military and financial fields.

Politically, the Manifesto calls for:

* Universal suffrage polled on a regional basis, with proportional representation and voting and electoral office eligibility for women;
* Proportional representation on a regional basis;
* Voting for women (which was opposed by most other European nations);
* Representation at government level of newly created National Councils by economic sector;
* The abolition of the Italian Senate (at the time, the Senate, as the upper house of parliament, was by process elected by the wealthier citizens, but were in reality direct appointments by the King. It has been described as a sort of extended council of the Crown);
* The formation of a National Council of experts for labor, for industry, for transportation, for the public health, for communications, etc. Selections to be made of professionals or of tradesmen with legislative powers, and elected directly to a General Commission with ministerial powers (this concept was rooted in corporatist ideology and derived in part from Catholic social doctrine).

In labour and social policy, the Manifesto calls for:

* The quick enactment of a law of the State that sanctions an eight-hour workday for all workers;
* A minimum wage;
* The participation of workers' representatives in the functions of industry commissions;
* To show the same confidence in the labor unions (that prove to be technically and morally worthy) as is given to industry executives or public servants;
* Reorganisation of the railways and the transport sector;
* Revision of the draft law on invalidity insurance;
* Reduction of the retirement age from 65 to 55.

[Anonymous No.1634632]

>>1634628
In military affairs, the Manifesto advocates:

* Creation of a short-service national militia with specifically defensive responsibilities;
* Armaments factories are to be nationalised;
* A peaceful but competitive foreign policy.

In finance, the Manifesto advocates:

* A strong progressive tax on capital (envisaging a “partial expropriation” of concentrated wealth);
* The seizure of all the possessions of the religious congregations and the abolition of all the bishoprics, which constitute an enormous liability on the Nation and on the privileges of the poor;
* Revision of all contracts for military provisions;
* The revision of all military contracts and the seizure of 85 percent of the profits therein.

[Anonymous No.1634670]

While I mostly agree with Einstein, I really think that you shouldn't trust his opinion on anything that isn't science (economics is not a science).

In my opinion the US should have a mixed economy. A strong social safety net and infrastructure for everyone, sensible regulations that stop businesses from screwing the environment and innocent people over, and a competitive market that anyone can enter.

[Anonymous No.1634728]

The Fascist accepts life and loves it, knowing nothing of and despising suicide; he rather conceives of life as duty and struggle and conquest, life, which should be high and full, lived for oneself, but not, above all, for others — those who are at hand, and those who are far distant, contemporaries, and those who will come after.

—Benito Mussolini, The Doctrine of Fascism, 1933