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Liked It “Joshua Muravchik, a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, was raised a socialist, but unlike his parents he moved away from this faith in his 30s. He points out that no idea has ever spread faster. Christianity took 300 years to get 10% of the world's population, which climbed to...” see full review » see other reviews » |
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“Joshua Muravchik, a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, was raised a socialist, but unlike his parents he moved away from this faith in his 30s. He points out that no idea has ever spread faster. Christianity took 300 years to get 10% of the world's population, which climbed to 33% after two millennia. In contrast, within 150 years of “socialism––a term coined by Robert Owen in the late 1820s––60% of the earth’s population found itself under its repressive thumb. It was the most ambitious attempt to supplant religion with a supposed scientific idea. One of the reasons the idea failed in America was the labor movement, led by Samuel Gompers and George Meany, which the author explains in an interesting chapter.
Ron B wrote this review Thursday, March 26 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
The book starts with a history of Francois-Noel Babuef, who claimed he borrowed the idea of socialism from others, but who was the one who transformed the idea into a fighting creed. Robert Owen’s failed attempt to create a model utopia community, named New Harmony, the USA in 1825. Owen was a firm believer in the discredited labor theory of value, despite his success as an owner of a cotton mill in Scotland.
The book has chapters on the history of Friedrich Engels and Karl Marx. Marx was the scion of two distinguished rabbis, but became an anti-Semite. Engels really deserves the credited for marketing “Marxism,” a term he coined. This history of Lenin is covered, Mussolini, Clement Attlee, Prime Minister of Great Britain who launched the National Health Service, as well as a chapter on socialism in Africa. Another chapter explores the repeal of communism by Deng in China and Gorbachev in the USSR. Tony Blair’s political career is examined, a self-proclaimed socialist who reinvented the Labour Party.
The last chapter examines the kibbutz movement in Israel. Gorbachev visited the Ein Gedi kibbutz six months after the collapse of the USSR and remarked: “This is what we meant by socialism.” The problem, of course, was the kibbutz became a “paradise for parasites,” and was rejected democratically by Israel.
Muravchik applies this epitaph to socialism: “If you build it, they will leave.” Given the empirical evidence of this failed idea, which has never succeeded anywhere it has been tried, it’s hard to argue with this analysis. This is not a light book, but a scholarly look at an idea that has died, but still attracts the naïve. If you have an interest in how ideas rule man, this is a worthwhile read.
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