"We Are All Socialists Now"

Today on the Rachel Maddow Show on MSNBC Rachel and Paul Krugman were somewhat gleefully proclaiming that "we are all Socialists now!!" The Left is definitely on the march and feeling its oats. My admonishment is, "be careful what you wish for."

Capitalism and Communism are not opposites. As Marxian philosophical constructs, they are necessities of one another. The initial error of the Communists in 1917 is that they tried to move Russia into Communism before it had ever experienced Capitalism. Therefore, Communism was imposed over an inherently weak semi-feudal system. Commuinism in China in 1949 suffered under similar circumstances.

Communism is not an economic system. It is a system that is anti-economical that can be imposed upon an economy. It is anti-economical in that it attempts to defy all the laws of economics. Embedded within the ideas of Communism are ideas regarding desirable economic outcomes, but it is not systemical in how those outcomes might be reached. Communism allows for many strategies and tactics to achieve itself over the long term. Communism is about the manipulation of human behavior, human culture, and human politics in order to reach economic ends that cannot possibly be reached by a faithfulness to basic economic laws. Capitalism is one such manipulation, or the USE of Capitalism. We cannot understand the age we are living in until we understand this paradox of Communism. Communism is strongest in its pre-economic manifestation, either before it has been implemented or when it is declared "dead". It begins to weaken as soon as it is attempted to be imposed upon an economy.

When understanding the above ideas, it puts what is happening in China, Russia and the US into a clarified perspective. Americans think that the Beijing regime simply pays lip service to Communism but is actually Capitalist. This is incorrect. Capitalism and Communism are not opposites. Capitalism is a specifiic type of economic system. Communism is a much broader idea than an economical one. Capitalism can be used to achieve Communist ends. Through the hard currency generated by controlled Capitalism, the Beijing regime has launched a massive military build-up started in 1987 that dwarfs that seen in Europe pre-World War I.

Understanding events in Russia today is also made more clear when understanding the interconnectedness of Communism and Capitalism. The introduction of "Capitalism" in Russia did not only occur in 1989. Lenin understood the concept with his New Economic Policy or NEP that unleashed controlled Capitalism. This generated much wealth allowing Lenin to consolidate his power over a hostile Russia.

Just as in Russia and China, in the US Capitalism and Communism are not opposites either. A hyper-Capitalist system designed to maximize consumer demand and stimulate consumption above all else can easily lead to Communism or as we like to call it "socialism". This is the way I understand the present idea to socialize the banking sector in the US. In order to stimulate maximum consumption of housing a hybrid quasi governmental system was rigged up called Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to send home ownership and demand for homes to unprecedented heights. It was thought that ownership(Capitalism) could be turned to maximal public good by greasing the wheels with a small amount of government involvement. Capitalism is now metastisizing into socialism/Communism.

None of these domestic issues in China, Russia or the US are isolated from the geopolitical situation that is growing more tense by the hour. Today a "Capitalist Russia" has exported its organized criminals to the United States, and the West in general. Most, if not all, of these criminal structures are controlled by "former" KGB men. When considering that these Russian mafiyas are involved in drug-running, gun running, immigrant smuggling, bank fraud and theft and computer hacking it becomes reminiscent of pre-Revolutionary Russia, in which Lenin's party, the Bolshevik's, used terrorism, bank robbery, and extortion to destabilize the Czarist regime and gain access to enormous amounts of cash.

Today's events resemble a revolution on a global scale, a World Revolution. Terrorism and organized crime were the same tactics used to promote national revolution in the 20th century and today in the 21st they are being used to promote global revolution.

Marx's belief was that only when Capitalism had become global would a global revolution become possible through economic collapse. Lenin devised an accelerated strategy to by-pass the Capitalist stage of Marxian evolution and go right to the Communist stage. He used terrorism and organized crime to push the Revolution forward. Today we see a blending of this Marxist/Leninist strategy across the entire globe. We see a world where global Capitalism is collapsing of its own weight and destabilizing terrorism and geopolitical tensions are expanding at an exponential rate. The collapse has begun. What will rise from the rubble is unknown.

Somehow I think Marx and Lenin would feel right at home in the world today.

John.