[Noumenon]

To be sure, Marxism contained no gods or angels, yet it had its own mystical elements. It claimed that human behavior was determined by abstract, exterior forces: people do what they do not for the reasons they think, but because of the mode and the means of production and the class structure. To compound the mystery, Marx and Engels did not believe that the forces they described governed their own actions, but they did not explain why they were exempt.

Being a liberal/socialist/fascist means never having to say you're sorry.

Before Marx, Robert Owen always characterized his activities as scientific (as did Saint Simon, Fourier and the other utopian socialists), and the claim was valid. Owen hit upon the idea of socialism and then set about to test it by creating experimental communities. Such experimentation is the very essence of the scientific method. Owen strayed from science only at he point that he chose to ignore his results rather than reconsider his hypothesis.

Being a liberal/socialist/fascist means never having to say you're wrong.

These two items alone tell you that there's no accommodation, no compromise, no 'can't we all just get along' possible with these monsters.

[betty boop]

Before Marx, Robert Owen always characterized his activities as scientific (as did Saint Simon, Fourier and the other utopian socialists), and the claim was valid. Owen hit upon the idea of socialism and then set about to test it by creating experimental communities. Such experimentation is the very essence of the scientific method. Owen strayed from science only at he point that he chose to ignore his results rather than reconsider his hypothesis.

And thereby he demonstrated how relentlessly unscientific socialism really is. Owen’s experimental communities – like those of John Humphrey Noyes in upstate New York (the Oneida Colony) and certain experiments in Massachusetts, such as Fruitlands – simply did not work: Because there was no disadvantage to any member of the community who simply chose not to work, but simply to live off the labor of others. Pretty soon the supply of labor inexorably diminished, and along with it, the production of necessary goods.

Socialism relentlessly drills down to consumption, the distribution of goods. Absent coercion (i.e., forced labor, aka slavery), it does not appear to have any particular rational plan with regard to how those goods get produced, the supply side. By destroying incentives to production, socialism winds up with rising demand for “free” goods that are not “free” to produce in the first place. The result is a declining supply of goods.

Owen’s hypothesis left out one indispensable dynamic: human nature. And that is the reason that socialism does not work. JMHO FWIW

Great post, Noumenon. Thank you!