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- From: rich@pencil.cs.missouri.edu (Rich Winkel)
- Subject: Today's Quote...
- Message-ID: <1992Nov21.093516.22284@mont.cs.missouri.edu>
- Followup-To: alt.activism.d
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- Date: Sat, 21 Nov 1992 09:35:16 GMT
- Approved: map@pencil.cs.missouri.edu
- Lines: 58
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-
- More on "Socialism" from the DSA pamphlet mentioned two Quotes ago,
- "12 Myths:"
-
- "4. Isn't Socialism what they have in the Soviet Union?
-
- Socialism means democracy. And that means elections, free speech and
- press, free political parties and labor unions -- things the Soviet
- people don't have.
-
- In the Soviet Union, power has been centralized in the hands of a
- bureaucratic elite. Not only doesn't the Soviet Union deliver
- democracy to the Soviet people, but a highly centralized bureaucratic
- economy cannot meet even many of their basic economic needs. Just
- because the Soviet elites call their system "socialist" doesn't make
- it so. After all, they call it "democratic" too [e.g. "German
- Democratic Republic" = (former) East Germany --HB]
-
- [For a copy of the DSA's [Democratic Socialists of America]
- pamphlet, _12 Myths About Democratic Socialism_, use the GET command
- with the file name 12-MYTHS SOCIALSM]
-
- [Note: DSA is ok (a DSA rep was once the only other person in
- the audience besides myself who was both (1)leftist and
- (2)giving the Cuban speaker a "hard time" for brushing the
- undemocratic & human rights aspects of Cuba under the rug
- while focusing only on the [quite real and significant] social
- achievements (among other things) in Cuba (universal medical
- care, educadtion, housing, etc. Even Cuba's human rights
- record is made to look like a paradise if we compare it to
- U.S.-backed horror chambers like El Salvador and Guatemala.
- Washington's hatred of Cuba was reason not expressed in our
- Free Press -- but I digress :-) -- sort of like the
- State Department and our Free Press, only backwards). However,
- for a more cutting-edge analysis, I suggest Z magazine,
- especially quite a few of Michael Albert's "Venting Spleen" on
- Participatory Economics issues. Hope to have some of these
- typed in by our typing/scanning gang by Fall '92 -- Harel,
- summer '92]
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