Just what is 21st-Century socialism?

[Say_What]

<clips>

As a result of President Chávez's resounding triumph in the recent election, many people have become seriously interested in the proposal he made in his speech of Feb. 25, 2005, at the inauguration of the Fourth Summit of Social Indebtedness.

In it, Chávez expressed his belief that the revolution should be socialist, otherwise it would not be a revolution. Later, when discussing that speech, he explained that it should be a 21st-Century type of socialism, giving a name to a new concept. But exactly what is 21st-Century socialism?

A concept in the making

The first thing that needs to be said is that the definition of 21st-Century socialism is not yet completed. When the president first broached the subject, he invited the Venezuelan people to participate in a discussion on the subject. Many of us have participated in forums and have written articles that permit an in-depth analysis. Nevertheless, it is vital to read Chávez's speeches to understand with greater clarity where this process leads, all the more so when the president was backed by almost 63 percent of the voters in the recent election.

Socialism was born in Latin America

Lamentably, people who make simplistic analyses of events always confuse the concept of socialism with that of Marxism, whereas Marxist socialism is only one of the models of socialism that have been applied worldwide, although it certainly is the most famous.

When Marx spoke about his vision of socialism, he went back to an older concept that arose in the early 16th Century from the mind of Sir Thomas Moore (a saint, not a politician) in his famous work “Utopia.” Moore was fascinated by Vespuccio's descriptions of the Archipelago of Fernando de Oroña in Brazil and in his work imagined a perfect society, which he called socialist.

Of course, the first people who applied this model dreamed up by Moore were not the Russians but the Jesuits, in their “reducciones” (communes) of Guaraní Indians in Paraguay. This fact is interesting, because it is not coincidental that the concept of socialism apparently emerged in some Brazilian islands and was later applied in Paraguay. In other words, the first socialists were not the Europeans but the Latin Americans.

http://www.progresoweekly.com/index.php?progreso=Mary_Hernandez&otherweek=1169100000


CHAVEZ, Ecuador’s RAFAEL CORREA (middle) and Bolivia’s EVO MORALES (right) in Quito.

[eallen]

1. Proof that some dumb ideas never die. Astrology. Religion. Socialism.

I suspect they will have adherents in the 22nd century, and 23rd, and 24th. And not a whit more reasonable foundation than they did in the 20th. I still view socialism as being to the Democratic Party what creationism is to the GOP, with the difference being that our wingnuts are on the fringe, and will remain there, while theirs have taken over the party.

:hippie: