On Sat, 17 May 1997, Michael Coghlan wrote:

> I would have thought that it was abundantly clear - and again this is not
> from a theoretical standpoint - that socialism has failed in practice and
> that capitalist societies have shown themselves to be remarkably resilient
> in providing comparatively better lives for their citizens. People can
> debate the advantages of one against the other on a theoretical level, but
> in practice the answer is clear. Socialism has failed.

What went on in Russia for 70 years wasn't real socialism! It was really
state capitalism. In a competitive world state capitalism will always
fail. That is all that has been demonstrated.

Capitalism tends to measure "success" according to external
criteria, ie. the failure of OTHERS. Capitalist communities have difficulty
confronting and admitting internal failure.


Socialism, as a philosophy, is just the right of the worker, to
have some say in the decision making over his choosen vocation. Contrary
to popular belief, socialism can be intertwined with capitalism without
canceling capitalism.

That is the challenge facing today's unionism.

Harry