BY ALEXANDER DOLITSKY
Explaining Socialism vs. Social Programs
Nikita Khrushchev was first secretary of the Communist Party (Politburo) of the Soviet Union from 1953 to 1964; and chairman of the Council of Ministers from 1958 to 1964.
In the early 1960s, on various occasions, he formally proclaimed that in 20 years, by the early 1980s, the Soviet Union would transition from Socialist socio-economic formation toward a better life under Communist socio-economic formation. In fact, there was a “hope in the air” in the former Soviet Union for a better life under communism; but it ended up being only the “totalitarian socialist regime in the air.”
Socio-economic formation is a theory that describes how social development is driven by material life and social being, rather than human consciousness and moral values. It is a Marxist concept that is considered a cornerstone of the materialist conception of history — historical materialism. The theory is based on the idea that the structure of a society is made up of three fundamental socio-economic factors: productive forces, relations of production, and superstructure.
Karl Marx used the term “socio-economic formation” in his analysis of society’s economic and political development. He used it as an alternative to “mode of production” to describe the totality of social relations that define a society at a given historic time.
Although Marx did not formulate a complete theory of socio-economic formations, Soviet historians and political scientists generalized his statements to conclude that he distinguished five socio-economic formations, namely: Prehistory—hunter-gatherers society; Slavery—slaves and masters; Feudalism—peasants and landlords; Capitalism—proletariat (workers) and capitalists; and Communism—all groups of people are socially equal and free from exploitation.
Vladimir Lenin, a Russian revolutionary and political theorist, was the founder and first head of government of Soviet Russia from 1917 until 1922, and of the Soviet Union from 1922 until his death in 1924. Lenin was a loyal student and committed follower of Marxist teaching.
According to classical Marxism-Leninism, socialism is a transitional social state between the overthrow of capitalism and the realization of communism as the last and victorious socio-economic stage of mankind. In short, theoretically, socialism is the first stage of the worldwide transition to communism.
Marxist-Leninist doctrine stipulates that Socialism is an economic and political philosophy, encompassing diverse economic and social systems characterized by social ownership of the means of production, as opposed to private ownership. It describes the economic, political, and social theories and movements associated with the implementation of such systems.
In short, Socialism is an economic system in which major industries are owned by workers rather than by private businesses. It is different from capitalism, where private actors, like business owners and shareholders, can own the means of production.
After graduating from high school at the age of 17, I worked as a layout in the ship-building yard in Kiev for two years, and then for five years in education and academic systems prior to my departure from the Soviet Union to the West in 1977.
Frankly, I don’t recall owning anything in the Soviet Union except for my books and personal possessions. But I do recall a remarkable inefficiency of the Soviet Socialist economic system, including food shortages, long waiting lines to acquire material goods and services, intellectual censorship, ideological indoctrination in the education system, isolation from the West, only one legitimate political party—Communist Party, rejection of world religions, including Judeo-Christian teaching and values, extreme antisemitism, and a remarkable bureaucratic corruption.
It is imperative to clearly distinguish socialism, as a socio-economic stage, from social programs that are intended to provide essential assistance to the public. The United States has many major social programs, including:
- Social Security: Pays benefits to retired people and others who are unable to work due to disability
- Unemployment: Helps replace lost wages for eligible workers who are unemployed
- Medicare: Provides health insurance coverage to people over 65 and eligible individuals with disabilities
- Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP): Also known as food stamps
- Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC): Helps with food
- Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF): A welfare program
- Medicaid: A health insurance program for underemployed
- Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC): A refundable tax credit that subsidizes pretax income for low-earning households
- Housing assistance: Includes rental and buyer assistance programs, emergency housing, and eviction prevention
- Utility bills: Helps with phone, internet, and energy bills
- Old-Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance (OASDI)
- Workers’ Compensation
- Temporary Disability Insurance
- Veterans’ Benefits
- Government Employee Retirement Systems
- Railroad Retirement
- Supplemental Security Income (SSI)
- General Assistance (GA)
Considering the short history of our nation, these social programs were developed and refined in a relatively short time, compared to other world civilizations.
In my view, today’s Marxist-Leninist teaching of Socialism is no longer an ideological threat to our society; it must be interpreted in the historic context of the 19th and 20th centuries. In fact, Marxism-Leninism outlived its purpose and validity. However, the far-left neo-Marxism-Leninism of white privilege doctrine, critical race theory, DEI, systemic racism notion, Black Lives Matter, wokeism and ANTIFA are indeed a grave danger to the fabric and ultimate existence of our Constitutional Republic.
True, our American nation is not perfect. Today, there are many far-left neo-Marxist-Leninist flaws and diversions contaminating our democracy and traditional Judeo-Christian lifestyle. Nevertheless, Americans always determine to find the right course in protecting and perfecting Judeo-Christian values of our Constitutional Republic.
Alexander B. Dolitsky was born and raised in Kiev in the former Soviet Union. He received an M.A. in history from Kiev Pedagogical Institute, Ukraine, in 1976; an M.A. in anthropology and archaeology from Brown University in 1983; and was enroled in the Ph.D. program in Anthropology at Bryn Mawr College from 1983 to 1985, where he was also a lecturer in the Russian Center. In the U.S.S.R., he was a social studies teacher for three years, and an archaeologist for five years for the Ukranian Academy of Sciences. In 1978, he settled in the United States. Dolitsky visited Alaska for the first time in 1981, while conducting field research for graduate school at Brown. He lived first in Sitka in 1985 and then settled in Juneau in 1986. From 1985 to 1987, he was a U.S. Forest Service archaeologist and social scientist. He was an Adjunct Assistant Professor of Russian Studies at the University of Alaska Southeast from 1985 to 1999; Social Studies Instructor at the Alyeska Central School, Alaska Department of Education from 1988 to 2006; and has been the Director of the Alaska-Siberia Research Center (see www.aksrc.homestead.com) from 1990 to present. He has conducted about 30 field studies in various areas of the former Soviet Union (including Siberia), Central Asia, South America, Eastern Europe and the United States (including Alaska). Dolitsky has been a lecturer on the World Discoverer, Spirit of Oceanus, and Clipper Odyssey vessels in the Arctic and sub-Arctic regions. He was the Project Manager for the WWII Alaska-Siberia Lend Lease Memorial, which was erected in Fairbanks in 2006. He has published extensively in the fields of anthropology, history, archaeology, and ethnography. His more recent publications include Fairy Tales and Myths of the Bering Strait Chukchi, Ancient Tales of Kamchatka; Tales and Legends of the Yupik Eskimos of Siberia; Old Russia in Modern America: Russian Old Believers in Alaska; Allies in Wartime: The Alaska-Siberia Airway During WWII; Spirit of the Siberian Tiger: Folktales of the Russian Far East; Living Wisdom of the Far North: Tales and Legends from Chukotka and Alaska; Pipeline to Russia; The Alaska-Siberia Air Route in WWII; and Old Russia in Modern America: Living Traditions of the Russian Old Believers; Ancient Tales of Chukotka, and Ancient Tales of Kamchatka.
“Far-left neo-Marxism-Leninism of white privilege doctrine, critical race theory, DEI, systemic racism notion, Black Lives Matter, wokeism and ANTIFA”
Add the biased and hysterical press, and you have a pretty good description of the “enemies within”
Social programs in the USA are not Socialism as the author states, but what happens when we provide these things to those who need them? -they eventually become dependent on them. Dependency on the government is the forunner to complete Socialism .
As for social security, we work hard all our lives, contribute to the program as well as do our employers. That sum of money at 65, or now 67 years of age, if properly invested would for many people be over a million dollars , of which we only obtain a fraction of before we leave this planet. This fact , if known and believed by the working population would result in a loud clamour for improving the program.
As has been said before, Social Security is a ponzi scheme.
I’ll say that I believe the author was very perceptive at an early age in Kiev and decided to make the most of those inquisitive and intellectual energies which motivated his education and the paths he took to achieve his education. Here we are, reading about his understandings he lived through. Enjoyed this article.
Alex,
The relatively short 70 year period, in a nation state with a 1,200+ year history, of the Russian revolutionary experiment to achieve a pure, communist state, socialism was only supposed to be a transitionary process in achieving the mythical, soulless and materialistic utopia of pure communism.
The crude and rudimentary theories published by Karl Marx, proven by the multiple, and all failed, extremely violent revolutionary variants across the world, is that Marxist/communist theory is a failure.
Communism cannot ever succeed simply due to the fact that mankind is fallen, and greed, arrogance and an irresistible drive for the elite class in every nation to dominate, enslave and exploit the masses is irresistible.
The anomoly is that after the period of violent spiritual darkness, terror and the loss of millions of Russian lives in pursuit of “communism”, that nation has rapidly recovered since 1991 into the 4th largest and rapidly growing economy, strongest and best led military, along with a national acknowledgement of Orthodox Christianity.
In contrast to America, whose historically recent revolution against a totalitarian royal, imperialist government was Judeo-Christian based, with the theory and expectation that free enterprise would raise the standard of living of the mass of common subjects into sovereign citizens.
Although both revolutions were resolved by violent force, the American version led to a unique situation where the common man experienced a brief condition of personal autonomy of conscience and material luxury unparalleled in human existence.
In America we squandered the historically incomparable spiritual and materialistically wealthy inheritance left to us, and surrendered our individual sovereignity to the corrupt, athiestic and utterly incompetent ruling class, for financially insolvent, socialistic, pseudo Marxist “programs”.
Marx himself could not have envisioned that anyone would accept and believe there was any validity in the idiotic doctrines our universities and think tanks promote, if he could have seen them.
Or consider that the public would accept the policies our modern federal and state governments are promoting on behalf of the managerial bureaucratic governing classes in what was previously the wealthiest and most powerful nation state in history.
This is What Are uneducated people want. Frank and dog and fake Alaskan all want their socialism Ideas to take place here. It would be far easier to relocate them to China or Russia or they could go to North Korea too. That’s a great country.
Does not matter how you slice it, human nature makes socialism and communism unworkable at any level.
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Let’s say a nation goes socialist. At first, fantastic. Everyone works for the benefit of society as a whole. Then people realize they do not have to put in any effort, and still reap the benefits. Downward spiral ensues, and the nation turns into a third world hell hole.
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Why? Human nature. Humans are inherently lazy. Given the choice between working hard and laying on the beach in the sun, they majority will pick the tan. But, we also want stuff. Which motivates us to work, instead of lounge about.
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Then socialism comes along, and provides stuff without you putting in effort. What happens? (Rhetorical question, we all know.)
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The other thing that socialism/communism does is change how wealth is achieved from how hard you work, to how highly ranked in the party you are. The party controls all. The more highly ranked people you have political influence over, the better your standard of living. Money/wealth is not a finite item any more. An individual can have a net worth that exceeds the entirety of printed/minted money available on the planet.
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But, political influence. Only so much of that to go around. Which results in what? The political elites living in luxury, in walled communities, with pools, servants, and massive estates. While the average person lives in tin shacks, struggling to get enough to eat. And, having no way of improving their situation.
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Human nature is key here. Unless humans change, collectivism is a non-starter.