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As someone earlier had pointed out, the totality of Socialism is not Marxist-Leninism. If you read the article, Einstein also warned that a planned economy did
by yzhengyu 16y ago
As someone earlier had pointed out, the totality of Socialism is not Marxist-Leninism. If you read the article, Einstein also warned that a planned economy did not preclude the enslavement of the individual.
Living is essentially a contradiction - each human being is an individual and as a creature of nature, possesses instincts which guards against others who seek to deprive him/her of his individuality and his chance to live. Yet he/she benefits from cooperating with others to achieve a greater goal larger than the sum of his/her parts.
This is a never ending struggle and it has dominated political discussion for twentieth century. It disappoints me that most people would take an extreme position - i.e. capitalism is good/evil or socialism is good/evil - leaves us no room to negotiate solutions which will work out for the individual and society.
- webXL 16y agoGood points. I didn't really understand Einstein's points about the individual being so dependent on society, though. Therefore what? We shouldn't be so selfish? When I see government workers protesting cuts, while regular workers are losing their jobs quietly, and going back to work somewhere else, I think those protestors are selfish for thinking that their paycheck is a right - at my expense. There are two other issues that I have with the piece: Economic: what the owner sells is the not the product of labor, but rather the product of all inputs (investment) that went into the production of the good or service. Historical: nuclear war (or WWIII) was not prevented by a supra-national organization, but rather the collapse of a (inneficiently) planned economy. But how could he see that coming?