ADSactly World - Continuing the discussion about Venezuela and socialism
Introduction
In the previous article about this topic, I explained some of the misconceptions about the actual meaning of the word socialism, and we also discussed whether or not this term could be used to describe the different systems that were implemented in several countries, I specifically mentioned Venezuela and the Scandinavian countries due to their relevance in current political discussions regarding socialism.
As a short summary of the arguments shared in the previous article, we can say that based on the actual meaning of the term, socialism has always been about having control over the means of production, this means that any country where private property is protected by law (like the Scandinavians countries) shouldn’t be considered a proper example of a socialist model, but rather a social democracy or a welfare state in a capitalist economy.
The same cannot be said about other countries such as Cuba or Venezuela, where private property is not protected by law, and the governments are known for doing a lot of expropriations which in simple words, consists in stealing land, businesses or factories and leave them under the totalitarian control of the socialist regime.
It was also mentioned in the previous article, the fact that well known socialists such as Bernie Sanders or Michael Moore in The United States did indeed praise the wonders of the Venezuelan revolution, but once it collapsed they seem to have forgotten about Venezuela, with other people sometimes even denying it was a socialist country in the first place.
Therefore, today we are going to continue exploring the different measures that Karl Marx wrote in one of his books, and see if they were applied in Venezuela. The first measure was already discussed and it was about the absence of private property protected by law, this is why in the following paragraph I am going to start with the second measure.
Karl Marx measures
A heavy progressive or graduated income tax Source: this measure is indeed not only applied in Venezuela but in virtually every country there is on the planet. In today’s world, it is seen as absolutely normal that the more an individual or a company earns, the higher the percentage they need to pay in taxes.
Abolition of all rights of inheritance Source: as we can see, socialists really hate everything about private property and the creation of wealth. Abolishing inheritances is the same thing as being willing to use force to destroy the wealth created by a person throughout his entire lifetime.
Surprisingly to many people that aren’t Venezuelans, this measure wasn’t applied in this country. People can receive their inheritances peacefully but there is a tax they have to pay for it. If you wonder why this measure wasn’t applied in Venezuela, it might be because the government elite is multimillionaire thanks to the money they stole, with some estimations saying they looted more than 400 billion dollars mainly thanks to the oil boom, and there is certainly a great part of that stolen money that is in Venezuela. Abolishing the inheritance rights would prevent their family members, and especially their children from enjoying all of this stolen money.
I personally think that is the reason why this measure wasn’t applied, they have proved time and time again they don't have any respect for other people’s property, so I could bet they would love to make inheritances illegal and having all this wealth going under the control of the government, but as I just mentioned, I think they see this as a potential complication for their own family and simply decided to not apply this measure.
- Confiscation of the properties of all emigrants and rebels Source: this measure was half applied in Venezuela. There was a program that was called “plan ubica tu casa” which in English would mean “locate your own home plan” that was meant to take away the homes of the people that no longer lived in the country. This is similar to a criminal underground movement in Spain known as “okupas” that are always looking for empty properties to use them as their unpaid home, the difference is that in Venezuela the property owners aren’t protected by law. Reports about this in Spanish can be found here and here.
There were also cases of property owners that rented houses being forced by the government to sell their properties with an extremely low price, effectively making these people lose a big percentage of their wealth. This allows the government to gain some popularity and support from the people purchasing the cheap properties, whether this is moral or not is of no importance for the government supporters.
It is clear the war of socialists against private properties is always one of their most important strategies to take control over an entire country and its economy.
Conclusion
In today’s article, we continue to explore more of the measures written by Karl Marx in his popular book “The Communist Manifesto”. I have the feeling that most people would be surprised realizing the progressive income tax which exists in the majority of the countries is a marxist measure, luckily this measure isn’t capable of destroying economies and as we can see, even the most free and prosperous countries on the planet can apply this measure without anything bad happening.
The measure that has the most destructive impact in people’s lives and in entire countries, are those with the goal of destroying the private control over properties and over the means of production, this is why every country that has decided to apply these measures has ended up with a total economic collapse.
I have even heard some people joke about the fact that socialism is even more destructive than an atomic bomb, so I have a question for all the Venezuelan steemians reading this. What do you think is more destructive, the socialist revolution from the chavistas or an atomic bomb? Because in my case, by looking at Japan, I think the answer is very clear.
Authored by @dedicatedguy
Click on the coin to join our Discord Chat
Witness proposal is here:
Go To Steem Witness Page
In the bottom of the page type: adsactly-witness and press vote.
Use small letters and no "@" sign. Or, click here to vote directly!
Thank you!
First, I want to thank you for taking advantage of the @adsactly tribune to play such a sensitive theme for Venezuelans, and so vital, literally.
I've read your text, well supported, and of course, the closing question that, it seems to me, doesn't summarize the complexity of your arguments, because, as you understand it well in your arguments, we're not facing a binary problem (although if this nightmare ended with a level of progress like the Japanese, I wouldn't complain).
The pretended socialism of the chavista state is rather an organized, historical assault of a criminal gang that seized power structures using democratic means (and that became more sophisticated over time, with the help of the deceitful manipulation of its mechanisms in a state already weakened by corruption and an extended moral crisis). Socialism in this state of things is a parapet, a jargon, an instrument that allowed it to play at the political level inwards (to cohere its movement) and outwards (to mask its criminal activity with a political veneer when the centre of the whole thing was another). The chavismo turned government adopted the political masks of a totalitarianism without the ideological and ethical background (those horrors exist, yes). In Chavismo there is no ideological background sustained by any ethics or any socialist or revolutionary morals, and that is why it was so easy to hand over the country to the Cubans, the Russians, the Chinese and the Iranians, and to as many other lesser pimps with stomachs as appeared.
Explaining myself better could be longer and I don't want to abuse, so I conclude. I can't give a simple answer to your question, because I don't think it's one thing or another but many things in a perversely intertwined complexity.
Shall we go out? That is the question which torments me.
A big hug and a big thank you for bringing this discussion here.
Really, thank you, @dedicatedguy
Excelente tu comentario, estimada @adncabrera. Independiente de la discusión de fondo, es decir, las diferencias entre Capitalismo y Socialismo, en el caso de Venezuela al referirnos al chavismo solo podemos hablar de un pragmatismo sin escrúpulos que asumió la bandera del socialismo simplemente porque le convenía a sus fines de control social.
Es la misma diferencia entre el éxito y el fracaso, entre la riqueza y la pobreza, y entre construir y destruir.
La historia siempre se repite con las revoluciones socialistas, siempre es lo mismo.
Thank you for your comment.
I have a doubt, don't you agree that this government is a good example of socialism? If not, could you name a good example of socialism being applied according to your opinion?
I believe that the Venezuelan government, what we understand as chavismo in government (or chavismo-madurismo) is not an example of socialism or communism, or even classical totalitarianism. We have an atypical government, exercised by a criminal gang that used the mechanisms of the state and democracy to appropriate the structures that allow the exercise of power and thus be able to exercise criminal activity in an armored way, as well as serving as a base for criminal activities of some allies.
The structures of power (legislative, executive and judicial) have been dismantled and placed at the service of corruption, drug trafficking and terrorism. The ideology and certain practices that could be associated with the exercise of a socialist (Cuban-style, by the way) government, such as the formation of Communal Councils, the CLAPS or the ANC itself, are nothing but the shell that allows for a simulacrum of statehood, just as rigged elections allow for a simulacrum of democracy. They proceed like a criminal gang: they have their prans and their soldiers. That's why I don't think the Venezuelan is an example of socialism.
Now, there are many socialisms and they have been practiced in different parts of the world with different signs. I don't think that something like socialism is a good thing, but what we know as democratic socialism, which is a tendency more in the centre than on the left, seems to me to be very convenient for societies. A socialism like that of the nodic countries (Sweden, Finland, Denmark or Norway) is not bad at all, if we turn away the climate, of course!
Thank you for the opportunity of this little debate, @dedicatedguy.
Could you mention an example of socialism or communism?
I agree with what you say about the government being rotten in corruption, that is what happens when socialism is applied.
Except those countries aren't socialists. I explained that in the previous article
https://steemit.com/world/@adsactly/adsactly-world-is-venezuela-a-socialist-country-what-about-scandivanian-countries
There is no doubt: chavismo is worse than a bomb! It is a plague. The bomb falls and destroys, and then comes the reconstruction. Chavism is not: Chavism is a disease that spreads, multiplies and kills little by little. There is no end to it. With regard to property, in this phase of Chavism, the government has ordered that the houses of all those who have left the country be seized. In the past, the invasion of houses, of companies, of unoccupied land but with owners, was a form they used to campaign politically, to gain followers: you are poor, because the rich are taking what you have. That's the case of Franklin Brito. His death is the work of Chavismo. This malandro government promotes delinquency, crime. When they say they can steal out of hunger, take away the one they have, they promote anarchy. It is easier for them to invade or expropriate than to build houses, high schools, universities, businesses. As a Venezuelan, I thank you for bringing these issues about the situation in our country, @dedicatedguy. A hug for you
Your statements are very interesting, @nancybriti.
Can you support them with facts and data?
Or are them ideas that can be considered populist?
Which specific statement do you want to see supported with facts and data? Everything she mentioned was accurate. Don't you agree?
I'm not here to disagree or to discuss, but to observe what it is.
To do it, I need data and facts.
"Facts" not supported by data are OPINIONS and as such questionable.
Again, which facts do you want to see supported by data? Everything she mentioned was accurate.
I lived in Venezuela a few months, not as a tourist but together with Venezuelans, at the time of one of Chavez's many re-elections. (I have maintained close (family) contacts both before and after this experience in Venezuela.)
There were rumors of electoral fraud, of "loans" of Colombian voters taking the place of Venezuelans, a bipolar climate at 50-50 between pros and cons Chavez.
I was neither pro nor against. My impression was of propaganda from both sides.
To conclude, the absolute "truth" about these events does not exist. Are there so many truths depending on the point of observation?
A warm hug!
Socialism and communism are the most effective ways to win elections but the worse government systems ever. They play with poeple's needs and hopes, sale ideas that are not fulfilled and destroy production, private property, services quality, basically every thing they touch. The worse part? they've done it every single time. So why don't we learn? Why, even today, there are people who defend this ideas? This is a delicate subject, especially for those who live in Venezuela, because we keep facing people from other countries who are convinced they know more about our own situation than ourselves. Aren't twenty years of life experience enough to make a valid statement? Great post. Thanks for sharing.
Once again I thank you for your series, @dedicatedguy, on this subject, which touches us Venezuelans directly, but which should matter to many others.
As I said in your previous post, I think you treat the subject with a lot of propriety and substantiation.
I said in my previous post that I believe there is no such thing as "authentic socialism" or "true", according to which what exists in Venezuela would be a farce. I don't share that criterion, which is not yours, of course. I believe that what exists in my country is the concretion, in the Venezuelan way (but that doesn't have great differences with other historical cases), of what socialism has been and is: the "really existing socialism".
In all the experiences of socialist countries (whether they have disappeared as such or barely survive), cliques that have enriched themselves and have maintained the ideological discourse that justifies them in power have taken power. In the USSR they received the name nomenklatura, which also existed or exist in China, North Korea, Cuba, Nicaragua, and in Venezuela, with the addition of drug trafficking and other blatant forms of corruption.
I wouldn't pose the problem in terms of socialism or atomic bomb, since both are almost destructive to the root. The first is perhaps more terrible because it is the result of a slow, comprehensive and cynical destructive process.
Thank you for your reflections, @dedicatedguy.
Hola adsactly,
Tu post ha sido seleccionado por el bot de @provenezuela, te hemos dado un voto en apoyo a los autores venezolanos!
Gracias por ser parte de nuestra comunidad!
As a Venezuelan I can say that is a shame the situation so chaotic that we Venezuelans live every day i do not think the world understands the magnitude of the problem and the number of issues that more than 30 million people suffer every day I hope someday we get the justice that We deserve and this government of evil people leave the power and my population in peace.
WE WANT FREEDOM! :)