Great Moments In Socialism

[PoliticalChic]

May 14th, 1771
Robert Owen, a manufacturer-turned-reformer who was one of the most-influential utopian socialists of the early 19th century, was born in Newtown, Wales.
Britannica.com

Among those who propound collectivism….Liberalism, Communism, Socialism, are, were, sorely misguided, some had honorable reasons.
While many banged the drum for ‘income equality,’ simply to enrich themselves….the Clintons, Michael Moore, Elizabeth Warren, Democrats…..there were those who spent their fortunes for the belief.

Enter, Robert Owen.


Firmly believing that better economic conditions would alter human nature for the better….the central view of every Leftist political dream,…..Robert Owen was a wealthy adherent who wrote, in the early 19th century, what has become the modern Liberal/ Democrat platform:

The abolition of private property, religion, and marriage.

Yes…..if you vote Democrat, you support that view.

If you deny it, you are clueless about what you claim to support.



Here, the best example of a wealthy individual who squanders his fortune in the interests of workers.



“Robert Owen (/ˈoʊən/; 14 May 1771 – 17 November 1858… philanthropic social reformer, and one of the founders of utopian socialism and the cooperative movement. Owen is best known for his efforts to improve the working conditions of his factory workers and his promotion of experimental socialistic communities. ….In 1824 Owen travelled to America, where he invested the bulk of his fortune in an experimental socialistic community at New Harmony, Indiana, the preliminary model for Owen's utopian society. The experiment was short-lived, lasting about two years. Other Owenite utopian communities met a similar fate.” Robert Owen - Wikipedia



A good man, sorely misguided. He wrote: we must “merge all individualism in the social.”
"Robert Marcus Owen(/ˈoʊən/; 14 May 1771 – 17 November 1858) was a Welsh social reformer and one of the founders of utopian socialism and the cooperative movement. In 1824, Owen came to America to invest the bulk of his fortune in an experimental 1,000-member colony on the banks of Indiana's Wabash River, called New Harmony. New Harmony was to be a utopian, or ideal/perfect, society."
Ibid.

a. Owen's view was pretty much the same as Liberalism, communism, and all the rest: Living together with nature, and sharing, would "remove all causes for contest between individuals" and "cleanse human society of evil." "Heavens on Earth : Utopian Communities in America 1680 - 1880," Mark Holloway, p. 80.

b. New Harmony, Indiana began in 1826....and fell apart by 1830.

 

[two_iron]

Another shining example is Venezuela. I worked down there, a lot in the early 90's (oilfield). Beautiful women, charming people, laid back. I was going to retire there and live on the beach in Puerta La Cruz. Chavez took over and now they're eating each other's carcasses in the street.

Another success story.

 

[PoliticalChic]

Robert Owen was a socialist with the very best of intentions.

“In July 1799 Owen and his partners bought the New Lanark mill from David Dale, and Owen became the New Lanark mill's manager in January 1800.[11][12]Encouraged by his success in the management of cotton mills in Manchester, Owen hoped to conduct the New Lanark mill on higher principles than purely commercial ones. …. About 2,000 individuals were associations with the mill; 500 of them were children who were brought to the mill at the age of five or six from the poorhouses and charities of Edinburgh and Glasgow.” Robert Owen - Wikipedia



The experiment failed miserably, as has every other commune.



How about trying it on a much larger scale?

Owen’s “system of public property…was put into place in the Soviet Union in 1917, and the experiment lasted for the average human lifespan. The Soviet regime believed, as ardently as Owen, that human nature was malleable, and could be changed by nature, education, and indoctrination. But far from bringing about savings of labor and capital, public property brought with it tyranny, injustice, stagnation and ruin.”
Bethell, “The Noblest Triumph,” p. 124



a.“The Soviet Union attempted to create the New Soviet Man with gulags, psychiatric hospitals, and firing squads for seventy years and succeeded only in producing a more corrupt culture.”
Bork, “Slouching Toward Gomorrah,” p. 198




Did you vote Democrat?

Then, you voted for this failure, as Hillary was in agreement with the Soviet experiment:

In 1969, Hillary Rodham gave the student commencement address at Wellesley in which she said that “ for too long our leaders have used politics as the art of making what appears to be impossible, possible….We’re not interested in social reconstruction; it’s human reconstruction.”
-http://www.wellesley.edu/PublicAffairs/Commencement/1969/053169hillary.html



Democrat votes are clueless about what they support.

 

[Sunsettommy]

I left the Democrat party in the early 1990's, when I realized the moderates, classical liberals had dwindled to the point that leftists, socialists had taken over the party. Now they are mostly Socialists and stupid.

Since I long knew Utopian Socialism was a long known failure, I never fell for their Socialist bullshit, the way some of my brothers did, some who don't even seem to realize they went from being a Kennedy Classical Liberal to a leftist socialist over 3 decades time. They don't acknowledge their big slide to the far left into Socialism/Communism thinking at all, but espouse the Banning of all guns, universal health care and other nationalized stupidities.

It never seems to be understood that HISTORY are filled with government examples who went tyrannical on the people over time, decay as people vie for power, corruption greatly increased as long lived bureaucrats fill up the spaces in a government, thus stultifying the proper flow of governing principles.

Now I watch as a freethinking, independent from the sidelines, seeing both political parties having problems aligning with the Founding Fathers Republic form of government. They are corrupt, untrustworthy, vindictive and now increasingly hostile partisanship, with mostly bogus investigations on the increase in recent years, another sign of internal rot.

America has been dying for over 50 years now, but most of its people are blissfully unaware of the internal structural rot. It will fail as ALL past governments have failed, often from the inside that leads to collapse.

 

[PoliticalChic]

I left the Democrat party in the early 1990's, when I realized the moderates, classical liberals had dwindled to the point that leftists, socialists had taken over the party. Now they are mostly Socialists and stupid.

Since I long knew Utopian Socialism was a long known failure, I never fell for their Socialist bullshit, the way some of my brothers did, some who don't even seem to realize they went from being a Kennedy Classical Liberal to a leftist socialist over 3 decades time. They don't acknowledge their big slide to the far left into Socialism/Communism thinking at all, but espouse the Banning of all guns, universal health care and other nationalized stupidities.

It never seems to be understood that HISTORY are filled with government examples who went tyrannical on the people over time, decay as people vie for power, corruption greatly increased as long lived bureaucrats fill up the spaces in a government, thus stultifying the proper flow of governing principles.

Now I watch as a freethinking, independent from the sidelines, seeing both political parties having problems aligning with the Founding Fathers Republic form of government. They are corrupt, untrustworthy, vindictive and now increasingly hostile partisanship, with mostly bogus investigations on the increase in recent years, another sign of internal rot.

America has been dying for over 50 years now, but most of its people are blissfully unaware of the internal structural rot. It will fail as ALL past governments have failed, often from the inside that leads to collapse.

Well-composed post!

Kudos!

 

[PoliticalChic]

The Communist Manifesto was a war on private property, and, since Liberalism/Progressivism mirror so very many of Marx’s views and endeavors, the current political elites….read ‘Democrats’…view property in the very same way.



“…there are four great blessings that cannot easily be realized in a society that lacks the secure, decentralized, private ownership: liberty, justice, peace, and prosperity….Leon Trotsky long ago pointed out that where there is no private ownership, individuals can be bent to the will of the state”
Bethell, “The Noblest Triumph,” p.9



“Private property…the only arrangement that encouraged people to work hard. Communal living had been tried, but did not seem to work. Communards would start out amicably enough, happy to share and share alike, but within a year of two would end in bitter arguments….they would divide up or ‘privatize’ the commune…”
Op. Cit., p. 15



“Robert Owen … philanthropic social reformer, and one of the founders of utopian socialism and the cooperative movement. … his promotion of experimental socialistic communities. …In 1824 Owen travelled to America, where he invested the bulk of his fortune in an experimental socialistic community at New Harmony, Indiana, the preliminary model for Owen's utopian society. The experiment was short-lived, lasting about two years. Other Owenite utopian communities met a similar fate.”
Robert Owen - Wikipedia



What was missing?



Private ownership.

 

[Regent23]

It seems as if the pure economic systems have the most trouble. America has never had a pure system and to this day does not. We use a variety of economic types depending on the need and application. Even Social Security that was to turn our nation into a Communistic state only does the job intended. We began altering Capitalism pretty early in the game. I wonder if we have a smattering of all economic systems in our portfolio?