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Running Head: THE PROBLEM WITH SOCIALISM

Negative Views On socialism: A Review of Literature


Jacobo Villegas
The University of Texas at El Paso

Running Head: THE PROBLEM WITH SOCIALISM

Abstract
Socialism has been seen as a plague to some, while a beacon of hope to others. From its mass
popularity in the early twentieth century with the November revolution in Russia and its forceful
takeover in the mid to late twentieth century during the Stalinist period socialism has been feared
by many pro-capitalist governments and their people. Socialisms aim is not to harm the people
practicing it, it is to help them. There may be the issue of people commonly associating socialism
with communism, which is a totalitarian form of government. Recently the topic of socialism has
come to light with the involvement of former presidential candidate Bernie Sanders this past
year. With certain people possessing the ideology that socialism is a legitimate evil to be feared
this topics importance is coming back into the light. The purpose of this literary review is to
clarify the stigmatized view of socialism, with evidence from the past and from contemporary
era, understand that true socialism has not really taken hold in any country on a federal scale and
that its growth has been hindered due to false pretenses.

Running Head: THE PROBLEM WITH SOCIALISM

Negative Views on Socialism: A Literary Review


Throughout the years Socialism has faced supposed trial and error in various countries in
Asia, Europe, and even Latin America. Socialism has been in practice or better yet philosophized
since the French Revolution. As commonly believed it did not begin in the mid-nineteenth
century when Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, a couple of German philosophers wrote the
Communist Manifesto. Although the communist manifesto did become a very important
document and source of knowledge and ideology for future revolutionaries in Russia. Since the
radical takeover of the Bolshevik party during the November revolution in Russia people in
America began to fear the thought of such a socialist uprising in their own land (First Red
Scare, para. 1-3,). As the years went by the fear grew again after the second world war when
Joseph Stalin decided to annex neighboring states to the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics
(Second Red Scare, para. 1-10). Over the course of a few decades, these totalitarian regimes
going under the guise of socialist nations collapsed in on themselves and spread a bad reputation
to the word socialism.
People have been particularly interested in this topic the past few months due to the
preliminary measures that were taken before the presidential elections occurring. With
popularity circling the former independent then former Democratic candidate Bernie sanders,
that long forgotten word came back into the spotlight. With all of these historical and
contemporary issues in mind, one must ask themselves if socialism is truly the right way to go
for this long time capitalist country based on evidence of other socialist states in the world from
decades ago and in current play. To get the desired answer for such an inquiry there are a handful
of questions that need to be considered first:

Running Head: THE PROBLEM WITH SOCIALISM

1. When did the negative connotation associated with socialism arise to the stereotypical
popularity with which it is seen today?
2. What are the main differences between good socialism and bad socialism?
3. Why is the United States still practicing a Capitalist form of economics rather than a
socialist form of economics?
4. Have there been true socialist countries or are there currently any true socialist
countries around the globe?
The former questions will provide some background to further understand the popular belief that
socialism is a hegemony and debunk it by providing data from economists and other authors and
will also resolve contemporary issues.
When did the negative connotation associated with socialism arise to the stereotypical popularity
with which it is seen today?
It is without a doubt that the word Socialism has had a bad ring to it in the United
States since it was first put into action in Russia. This word makes some citizens cringe and
others jeer at the thought of having a dictatorship that evolves into a failing government in the
land of the free. Economic socialism was adopted in Russia after Tsar Nicholas the second gave
up his throne or better yet was overthrown by revolutionary fighters. While the disheveled
country was trying to reorganize itself a provisional government was formed that was in the
process of granting power to the people. In this system, national elections were held to choose a
constituent assembly to represent the people of the land. This body of government promised to
secure civil liberties, release political prisoners, and redirect power to local officials (Addison,
para. 4). The other bodies of government in Russia were local soviet councils that were elected
by workers and soldiers, claiming to be the true representatives of the people (Addison, para.
4). Leon Trotsky, the voice of the soviet councils professed himself the true voice of the Russian

Running Head: THE PROBLEM WITH SOCIALISM

people, he believed that the war against Germany was ruining the state so he wanted to pull out
of that conflict, he also wanted social reform and redistribution of the land to the people. All of
these issues were ignored, primarily the thought of leaving the side of the Allies in the war, this
was a bad idea considering war was unpopular with the people and heavily unsupported, to the
point where military desertion was a common thing. After high tensions within the state, the
provisional government eventually crumbled and this schism finally seemed to have a victor. The
Bolsheviks came to power under the command of Vladimir Lenin after storming the winter
palace on October 25th, 1917 (Addison, para. 9,) and would stay in power in a one party
totalitarian system.
After this political revolution something began to grow, a particular feeling deep inside
Americans. This feeling was fear, fear towards communism, socialism, anarchy, and other leftist
ideologies. This fear is known as the red scare and it emerged in the United States for the first
time in 1919 (Burnett, para. 1). The beginnings to this epidemic occurred when The Great War
came to an end and with it the growth of the industrial war jobs. The labor unions of the
Northwest United States just like the workers in Russia highly objected to the war going on
before its ceasefire. The opinion of getting out of the war was very unpopular and it came with a
price to possess such a thought. Other citizens would claim the union laborers unpatriotic and
very suspicious, this made them susceptible to attacks. The Red Scare was an epidemic that all
sorts of people were prone to contracting it, even the government body of the United States. An
intelligence group division of the FBI was formed on August 1st, 1919 with J. Edgar Hoover
leading it to uncover Bolshevik sympathizers and put an end to their group activities. After
200,000 cards of data were collected over 1000 people suspected of being radical liberals were
either incarcerated in prisons or deported out of the country (Burnett, para. 9).

Running Head: THE PROBLEM WITH SOCIALISM

Mass hysteria in the 1910s over socialist uprising definitely took a toll on the United
States. After this event had occurred the country was at ease for a moment, but the citizens of
America were not aware that this was not going to be the only time that they would experience it.
The Red Scare took hold of the United States once again after the second world war. In this
context Americans did not fear the Reds aka the Russians (known as the Union of Soviet
Socialist Republics after the Bolshevik revolution) because they thought the ideology of
revolution would spread to this capitalist country, instead they feared them because they believed
that the Soviet Union was trying to force communism/socialism on the rest of the world with the
aid of its satellite states (Second Red Scare). Multiple events occurred in the time frame
between 1945 and the early 1950s that helped perpetuate this state of panic. One of the first
events that occurred was the victory of Mao Zedong and the communist party against Chiang
Kai-shek and his nationalist forces in the Chinese civil war. Another issue that was raging on in
Asia was the Korean war, in which Northern citizens opposed Southern citizens due to their
opposing political beliefs. How this happened may have to do with the Soviet-Japanese war and
the liberation of Korea from Japan by the Americans. Somewhere in these two processes, the
cold war became an influence in ideologies, with capitalism in South Korea and Communism in
North Korea. Back home the Rosenberg trial was a pretty important scandal which fueled the red
scare even more. Sure, Americans were aware of the iron curtain that separated the second world
from the first world, but now the enemy was on their soil. Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were
found guilty of espionage in the United States on behalf of the Soviet Union in this landmark
court case, they were both executed via electric chair. (Rosenberg Case Overview).
With these historical influences on the United States populous for the rise of Bernie
Sanders in the Democratic Primaries earlier this year, there have been mixed feeling on this man.

Running Head: THE PROBLEM WITH SOCIALISM

According to an interview conducted on associate professor of political science at the University


of Texas at El Paso, there is a misleading guise being worn by the Senator from Vermont. Dr.
Villalobos states that the term socialist was applied to Bernie Sanders in the presidential
elections, but Sanders clarified that he is not a socialist in former negative context, he is a
socialist and this is the way that he defines himself. Bernie Sanders distanced himself from any
of the negative definitions that the term had, but he still stood with the term itself because he was
working in the name of that term to potentially help society. In reality, Bernie Sanders is a social
democrat, this is different from a democratic socialist in the fact that a social democracy uses
some capitalist elements in its economic system, but there are provisions given to the majority of
society. In democratic socialism the economic system completely shifts to where privatized
ownership is not so common, the working force controls the means of production for the working
force (Villalobos, J. 2016).
What are the main differences between good socialism and bad socialism?
In socialism, there are different policies, just like in any government they may have
negative or positive appeal and may have different consequences. As host of secular talk radio,
Kyle Kulinski has brought up the theme of good ways of implementing socialism and bad ways
of implementing it as well. In a video where he takes a look at a conversation between Bill
Maher and Rick Santorum on Mahers talk show Kulinski lists the beneficial services provided
by socialism, these include the common defense, meaning a United States taxpayer-funded
military, the postal service, police departments, fire departments, infrastructure such as roads.
Kulinski also states some of the poor kinds of socialist services, these include corporate welfare
in which money is collected from the working middle class and given to the wealthy owners of
corporations. Another form of bad socialism that Kulinski lists is the bailout system where

Running Head: THE PROBLEM WITH SOCIALISM

investment banks, Wal street firms, and other businesses of the similar nature collapse due to a
lack of good decisions and are helped by the government fiscally as a returned favor for the
banks and firms contributions to the government campaigns. Kulinski further criticizes the
government by re-stating the decision that the government took in bailing out those that were
politically connected during the crash instead of all of the smaller businesses who did not have
political ties. (Kulinski , 2015)
It is generally agreed upon that one of the popular definitions of socialism is the step that
a capitalist country takes to become communist. So in a sense, communism is a higher stage of
socialism (Huberman and Sweezy) Where communism goes the extra mile is in the basic system
of the distribution. Socialist principle of distribution dictates that it should happen according to
deeds, on the other side communist principle states that distribution occurs according to needs,
which is not immediately possible and neither is it practical. Communists want to topple the
capitalist form of government right off the bat and build a new machine, thus capitalist
dictatorship is replaced by working class dictatorship. This seems like a very impractical and
poor form of socialism, compared to the practical and efficient form of socialism, because the
people demanding for a political change instead of destroying the capitalist machine they take it
over and march to socialism step by step within the framework of the democratic forms of the
capitalist state (Huberman and Sweezy, para.9-10).
Why is the United States still practicing a Capitalist form of economics rather than a socialist
form of economics?
Popular polling reveals that socialism although believed to be a good system by some is
not truly favored by the majority of people in the United States of America. A great number of
people from different sources both proclaim that socialism is inherently a bad choice for America

Running Head: THE PROBLEM WITH SOCIALISM

and its people. In a debate website, the very statement used in the former sentence was used in
the form of a question. Out of all the people that participated in this poll/debate hybrid website
the total numbers at the end amounted to 62% of them saying that yes, socialism is inherently
bad for America and 38% of them said no, it is not bad for the United States. The first people on
either end of the spectrum, that is to say the ones that disagree with the question and those that
agree with the question had these things to say, Socialism is not bad, the application of it is this
anonymous person states that socialism is just ideal, a utopian society that can only be dreamt of,
realistically not everyone in society will contribute to improving society and that is what this
user says. On the other hand, the user Mtalal stated that Capitalism is the solution (s)he
states that the government has a few purposes and those are to protect the people, to protect their
rights/liberties, and to protect society, i.e. make sure everyone is following the law. The United
States government should not dabble in any socialist programs that are federally available to the
public. This is suggested by the user because all the examples provided by the user healthcare,
entitlements, social security can be provided by private companies. (various. Is Socialism
Inherently Bad for America?)

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It is evident in the polls demonstrated above conducted by Gallup


that

the views on socialism are not very positive. With a majority of

Americans having a
negative view on socialism that definitely hinders the potential growth for it.
Having read the points explaining the support and the opposition towards socialism by a
pair of people looking at the polls can surely present some sort of a correlation to the answers on
the debate site. (Newport, 2010). Typically one would associate socialism and its family
members of different ideology as left wing or liberal ideology compared to conservative right
wing ideology and this is where that belief comes into play. Out of the three ideology groups that
were polled, conservatives, liberals, and moderates, only the liberals had a higher number of
people that had a positive view of socialism than the number of the negative views. One would
stereotypically denounce all democrats as liberals and that is incorrect, but in these polls funny
enough the number of democrats that have a negative view on socialism is actually fairly close to
the number of those with a positive view on it. Another number that is somewhat surprising is the
percentage number of moderates who have positive views on socialism is to the percentage
number of moderates who have negative views on socialism. Although the total number of
conservatives, liberals, and moderates against socialism is at 163 the number of those three
groups in support of socialism is not entirely far off with a joint number of 120. With the number

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of democrats and republicans totaled up for the positive view on socialism the number is
dwindled to 70, while the number of both political party support members added up equals 120,
this is a much larger gap than the one presented for the previous categories. With these five
separate groups added up the number of opposition is almost twice the size of those in favor of
positive beliefs, this poll by Gallup clearly demonstrates that socialism although popular in some
areas of society is, for the most part, an unsupported ideology by the general populous.
Have there been true socialist countries or are there currently any socialist countries around the
globe?
There has always been a great critique in these modern times about socialism and how it
has devastated countries economically and just made them evil in general. There is one thing that
people miss when contemplating if socialism is good or bad and that is that no country in history
has been a socialist country. These countries like the Soviet Union, China, Cuba, Sweden, etc.
have only been masquerading under the guise of socialism. Real working class socialism has not
been tried, but other variations have been (Sanders & Sitar, 1993, para. 3). The Soviet Union and
similar countries of the Eastern bloc/Warsaw pact had state monopoly capitalism in which the
government undemocratically control all of the society beneath them for personal reasons.
According to an Article by Eric Rudder countries that people would generally consider to
be socialist, e.g. France, Sweden, Norway, Denmark etc. are not socialist. These countries are
believed to be social democracies, which albeit sounds similar to democratic socialism it is a
whole different plan in action. In these social democracies, the workers have very little control of
society (Ruder, 2010, para. 5) as opposed to in a true socialist system where the government is
for the workers and by the workers. In this form of utopian government, the workers take
ownership of the economy by taking control over production and they also have a democratic say

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in the government, because since they are the producers of societys wealth they get to decide
how to use resources for all of the society.
Conclusion
To conclude, this literary review has taken a look at certain questions on the negative
views towards socialism and answered them with amounts of data gathered from the past and
from the present. With the popularity of the presidential preliminaries that occurred recently
socialism has become a hot topic in the United States. Many believe that socialism is a selfdestructive form of government, but this stigmatized view of the economic/political system has
been derived from certain historical events and from other countries who have practiced a
mutated version of socialism while declaring that they are pure socialists. Statistical data has
given enough data to provide answers on the general opinion of socialism as a positive or
negative ideology and majority count states that socialism is a negative unsupportable practice.
With many people fearing socialism many people also value it and wish to put it into practice in
America like it plays in other successful countries. The reality here is that many people in the
United States have a really respectful view and supportive attitude towards capitalism and an
incorrect view of the so-called socialist countries of today. It is important that people not be
influenced by something due to their lack of knowledge, but rather they decide to do research in
order to better inform themselves.

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References
Addison, K. (n.d.). Russian Revolution of 1917, Communism, Cold War. Retrieved October 11,
2016, from http://www.csun.edu/~kaddison/kraus.htm
Burnett, P. (n.d.). The Red Scare. Retrieved October 11, 2016, from
http://law2.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/SaccoV/redscare.html
First Red Scare. (n.d.). Retrieved October 11, 2016, from
http://www.ohiohistorycentral.org/w/First_Red_Scare
Is Socialism inherently bad for America? (n.d.). Retrieved October 02, 2016, from
http://www.debate.org/opinions/is-socialism-inherently-bad-for-america
Kulinski, K. (2015, September 30). Bill Maher & Rick Santorum Debate Socialism. Retrieved
October 11, 2016, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xdTbknU-L74
Newport, F. (2010, February 04). Socialism Viewed Positively by 36% of Americans. Retrieved
October 11, 2016, from http://www.gallup.com/poll/125645/socialism-viewed-positivelyamericans.aspx
Rosenberg Case Overview. (n.d.). Retrieved October 11, 2016, from
http://www.rfc.org/caseoverview
Ruder, E. (2010, November 22). Does socialism exist in the world today? Retrieved October 02,
2016, from https://socialistworker.org/2010/11/22/does-socialism-exist
Sanders, P., & Sitar, D. (1993, December). Socialism Hasn't Failed; It Hasn't Been Tried - Yet!
Retrieved October 02, 2016, from http://www.deleonism.org/text/nu931201.htm
Second Red Scare. (n.d.). Retrieved October 01, 2016, from
http://www.ohiohistorycentral.org/w/Second_Red_Scare

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Sweezy, P., & Huberman, L. (n.d.). Socialism and communism are alike in that both are systems
of production for use based on public ownership of the means of production. Retrieved
September 30, 2016, from http://www.marxmail.org/faq/socialism_and_communism.htm
The Chinese Revolution of 1949. (n.d.). Retrieved October 11, 2016, from
https://history.state.gov/milestones/1945-1952/chinese-rev
Villalobos, J. (2016, October 12). Personal Communication.

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