I know from experience that trying to explain socialism to people who are convinced by some means or other, that the current world order is the only way to go, will not be swayed by me, so save yourself an apoplectic fit, and skip this post.
I was born in 1950. I survived childhood illnesses, and a brain injury, because of that great socialist achievement in the U.K: the National Healtn Service, paid for by the contributions of every working adult through National Insurance. I had a decent home to live in, at a rent my parents could afford, because of a massive post-war housing programme, initiated by a Labour Government. I was educated for free to University level, thanks to the socialist principle that education is a right, not a privilege, so, yeah, I'm a socialist, because if nobody had been, I wouldn't be here. Reason enough?
Sometimes I am asked to defend Communism, being called to account for Stalin's purges. I am easy with that, because calling a Socialist, a Stalinist, is like equating a mild-mannered member of the Conservative Party with a member of the SS in Nazi Germany. I could do it at a push, but there would be no truth to it.
I could list those things that are anathema to we socialists, who are internationalists by default: empire-building, war-mongering , asset-stripping, despotic regimes. vulture capitalism, environmental destruction and climate-change- denial ... and that's just a beginning. These are problems that free-market capitalism and neoliberal dogma will exacerbate not solve. But here's a guy who can better explain why socialism will save a world that is otherwise hurtling towards destruction. Take a bow, Jeremy Corbyn:
