After watching this tell me who we are to believe
https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=378840977012753
The correct answer is, not whom ever produced this disinformation video.
This video confuses or misrepresents the terms democratic socialism , socialism, communism
and Marxism to make anti Adern and anti socialism/communism points that simply are not true. This stops a good debate about socialisms viability and its good and bad points as an alternative economic system which appears to be the videos goal.
As activist Joe Trinder , who is not a socialist says "Many New Zealanders believe wholeheartedly the Prime minister is a Bolshevik style Communist hell bent on creating a soviet style workers’ paradise yet in reality she is neo liberal and has refused to nationalise a single company."
Dispelling the lies and confirming any facts in this video by timeline;
Or in the case of both Mussolini and Hitler , before forming authoritarian fascist states (which are about as far from socialism as you can get) they were in socialist parties, in general because both didn’t think socialism would get the job down quick/good enough.
In fact the founders of most right wing and liberal party in NZ , The Act Party , came from out of Labour Party.
0.30m The video points out adern lies/changed her mind about meeting people or about mandated vaccinations, but thats all politicians for you.
2.30m Adern may have contradicted herself in her 2017 campaign when she confirmed
she hadn’t changed . But we do not know what she was before as this wasn’t a
specific question on being a socialist , it was a question on using the word comrade, which she answered straight after the interviewer said she had mentioned
comrade 4 times, once upon a time at a 2009 conference and asked if she changed . Fairly vague
question not specifically about socialism.
3.02m Video again makes a big deal of her using the word comrade,
it defines comrade as one of
the 3 meanings of comrade saying it’s a marxist term .
Not only is Jacindas definately not a marxist. (refer below) , comrade is a term used by other people in organisations in battle ie army , unions as well as socialists.
Words are cheap , especially
politicians words mean nothing as politicians rarely speak the truth. Its their deeds that matter more - Labour is
not a socialist party , neither by deed or in their constitution , thou it may have been once when first formed. Neither is Adern even if she was president of International Union of Socialist Youth an umbrella organisation of progressive youth movements once in the past in 2009.
While right wing parties under Thatcher in UK and Reagan in USA brought in neo-liberalism.
4m Claims made of Khrushchevs speech is falsely made up
disinformation (bs)
https://www.reuters.com/article/uk-factcheck-khrushchev-1959-quote-idUSKBN22N25D
5m 9 rules how do you create a socialist state of control
This is so wrong its ludicrous and laughable like its put together by a 5 yo.
This equates socialism with state control. This is incorrect see below. Any way this applies to all governments in varying degrees as they operate by control and are capitalist governments – more made up disinformation. Read here
Never the less going thru the points
1 Healthcare – the argument put forward is if poor rely on government for healthcare government control them . For a start its not true in my case . But yes health care is a leftwing idea , introduced by Labour Parties both in UK and NZ , those parties could once be described as democratic socialist then but not now . Government healthcare is to provide healthcare to those that cant afford it under capitalism, which would let them die otherwise . Healthcare is run under both main political parties, National and Labour and any coalition partners. Or Tories and Labour in UK. Only the poor use free healthcare , the wealthy use private healthcare. But to have significant control most people would have to be poor. But then you would have to admit capitalisms a failure as an economic system for the people
2 Poverty – is a function of capitalism not the government directly - poverty has increased under the industrial revolution (there are more people in poverty today than were even alive before the start of the industrial revolution) and in particular neo liberalism economics was introduced , since early 1980s, by both main political parties.
3 Debt – again , increased under neo liberalism under both
main political parties by both government and private sector . It increased under Keys National government massively reaching $110
billion . It reduced but increased again
under Aderns Labours government due to covid19 , back to $100 billion . But the video implies
its welfare for the poor , but its welfare for the capitalists as hue part of government borrowing was spent on the wage
subsidy was paid to capitalists (businesses) yet NZ government debt is a still
much smaller ratio to GDP than most western countries including the most
(incorrectly named) capitalist country
in the world , USA. This also ignores .
The government effectively printed $50 billion under covid19 but as business wernt operating it went to investors becoming one of the big drivers of house prices.
Taxes don’t cause poverty – capitalism causes poverty . ie Having no job or not earning enough from low wages causes poverty . - Taxes on the rich redistribute wealth downwards to the poor as services . It’s the ONLY way to redistribute wealth under capitalism. GST a tax that gives a higher burden on poor was introduced by neo-liberal Labour Party and was increased under Keys National party government.
Labour squashed introducing a capital gains tax prior to 2017 election and promised fiscal neutral budget, ie no new taxes. As far as i know taxes havent gone up.
These points 2 & 3 are covered in the book Greenspans Fraud by Ravi Batar . Read here.
4 Gun control – Two lies – 1) Most western states have some form of gun control USA is the outlier equating gun control to a
police state and to socialism is not correct – USA the western country with least
gun controls is one of the most heavy policed states 2) this incorrectly conflates
and alleges socialism is about state control . Refer to socialism explained below.
5 Welfare – take control of the food , housing , income by government
Not sure wat they are trying to say. Government does not control food but it does provide housing when the private sector cant and it provides income benefit to unemployed and pension to retired so they can live.
Yes most state housing was built by Labour Party between in 1935 and 1949 - but his was to provide housing for the existing poor during one of capitalisms crises ( the great depression) and returned soldiers after WW2 . The state has been selling off state houses ever since over time , mostly National Party.
Labour while promised to build housing meant social housing not state housing . Off course its failed in this task to build a fraction of what it promised
Unempoyment is kept between 5 and 8% on average and yes it is true that government policy has a hand in this, it is capitalism that requires unemployment not government. It helps keep wages lower. Right now unemployent is just over 3% and its being talked about increasing as a by product by altering interest rates and money supply to lower inflation which is reserve banks goal.
6 Education – "take control of what children learn" – While theres no facts behind this statement it is true to the extent the government chooses the curriculum so has control over what children learn at school. And many choose upon leaving school not to educate themselves further on what government does not tell you so from this it controls children and trains them to learn enough to get a job but not enough to questions the system. Its also true of both main political parties . Labour even has to "teach about the democratic
socialism " as its 5th goal in constitution yet it hasn’t , its
so bloody useless.
Again government provides schools because otherwise society as a whole suffers when poor cannot afford to pay for private healthcare. Its unlikely private schools would teach anything much different either.
7 Religion – this ones badly written but its hard to work out its argument - but assuming it meant to mean - removing teaching religion in schools educes morals . Since ending of feudalism in which the church ran the monarchy/state its been decided that separation of church and state is the best policy for society. This isnt just government policy , its been decided by almost everyone in society . Given theres 1,000 gods and hundreds of religions which one would you choose to teach , you would have to teach all to be fair and that would take a huge amount of time.
On researching it seems there seems to be some taught in primary schools and thats an issue. Given that schools dont tech about how to critique information it would be akin to brainwashing especially when its not fact . I mean teaching about religion is akin to teaching about the tooth fairy - neither would help children make better decisions. Read here
I mean there is a place for some of the ten commandments like dont steal and dont kill if parents havent taught their children morals but the problem is some of those are wrong like only one god and monogamy and you cannot really pick and chose.
8 Class warfare – ignorance or lies – video argues falsely government somehow divides humans into wealthy and poor by class warfare in order to tax the wealthy with support from the poor . For a start the economic system capitalism does that , not government , thou government writes the legislation and provides police to protect private property. 2) tax on wealthy was at its height just after WW@ when capitalism had its golden period and everybody did well. Tax has been decreasing ever since . And tax is is the only method of wealth redistribution under capitalism. Both Helen Clarks Labour party and John Keys National arty decreased corporate tax 2% while in office. Jucinda Adern has failed to introduce a capital gins tax but merely extended John Keys National party bright line test on house capital gains . 3) Class warfare is actually a Marxist idea from the labour theory of value Marx took from Adam Smith (who right wingers use to support capitalism ) that explains how capitalism produces the wealth inequality and poverty so its a critique of whats wrong with capitalism and why its so wrong and class warfare is the term given by Marx to workers as a means to fight it not a means of control. Marx explained further that governments jo in capitalism is to manage the 2 sides of the class war the capitalists and the workers for smooth running of capitalism
9 Media - No facts but a snapshot of an article on the gifting of $55 million to journalism inferring government control - it might or might not be true but this ignores the fact some of the best media are fully or mostly state funded - RNZ o Maori TV or PBS in USA because it stops the profit model that bastardises media.
Lets be clear
1) I don’t like the Labour party or any politician and don’t vote for them as thats the whole point of reating "voteofnoonfidence" and are not defending them .
But this video is like fox news - pure rubbish - you know more by not watching it.
2)
All politicians lie – I haven’t heard of one
that doesn’t, so its nothing new. Theres a reason they are at the bottom of the
readers digest list of 50 jobs along with lawyers and car salesman
for top trusted 50 jobs because they are always selling you something and
naturally economical with the truth.
This post is about stopping disinformation (intentional
lies) in order to understand the actual problem
SOCIALISM
This is covered in Idiots Guide but briefly theres basically 2 types of socialism and then theres a version thats a mix of both and a bastardisation of one of them.
General socialism has been around for thousands of years where we refer to society working together to look after each other/the less fortunate . Think of root words social (as in school social) or society. This comes in various forms and is easier to explain as left wing policies so it does not confuse the issue . Social welfare, pension, labour protection, anti pollution, gun legislation and civil are examples of this. Some examples are explained in the bible , which is 1700 years old (while some writings in it go back further)
Marxism or workers socialism - Came into being as a response to the horrors of capitalism and to rebut utopian socialism. While initial use of socialism was claimed by Pierre Leroux, who alleged he first used the term in the Parisian journal Le Globe in 1832. Leroux was a follower of Henri de Saint-Simon, one of the founders of what would later be labelled utopian socialism. Karl Marx was able to expand and improve on these earlier thoughts and redefine it , in the mid 1800s with various writings but most notably the Communist Manifesto in 1848 thru to Das Kapital part 1 in 1867. Marx himself did not distinguish between communism and socialism . Marx called socialism the end of alienation (read here). He concluded it could only be brought in by revolution. While the term scientific socialism was used before Marx it has also been attributed to him after his death . Marx essentially said that when workers get a/realise their class consciousness and act as a class they can realise socialism. This can be called workers socialism (also referred to as Marxism or Marxist socialism . This gave rise to the modern technical definition of the economic system known as socialism which is " The social ownership of the means of production, distribution and exchange ". That is it intends to do away with the capitalist ruling class by eradicating private property . It is not about equality, it is about power and democracy in workplace and the economic system which the workers must have for workers socialism to exist. It is expected that need for government will "wither away and die.
Socialism, the social and economic doctrine that calls for public (social) rather than private ownership or control of property and natural resources. According to the socialist view, individuals do not live or work in isolation but live in cooperation with one another. Furthermore, everything that people produce is in some sense a social product, and everyone who contributes to the production of a good is entitled to a share in it. Society as a whole, therefore, should own or at least control property for the benefit of all its members. This is the opposite of capitalism. (2)
State socialism - when people talk about socialism brought in through parliament by any political party they are talking about Democratic Socialism.. That is socialism brought through parliament and the vote . A political party would need to pass socialist legislation until the means of production are socially owned by workers . The main piece being banning or severely hamstringing the private ownership of the means of production . . For that party to be socialist it must have as its goal "the social ownership of the means of production distribution and exchange", by workers, and intend to bring it about. Democratic socialism is commonly mistaken for the state owning some of the means of production . While this is a socialist concept it is not socialism as the economy is still capitalist and intends to stay that way. The state owning critical parts of the means of production (school, universities , roads, healthcare, parks, military) is to enable the poor to access these services otherwise poverty would make them miss out or in the case of courts and prisons profit would need create more of that negative outcome society does not want like happens in USA read here . Ownership of the means of production in capitalist economy by the state is corrupted workers socialism and is better known as state capitalism as the people /workers do not have control of the state . . We know theres no true democracy in the west so it can not be true socialism by the state. People opt for this because they are scared of revolution or scared of workers taking control and think they should be.
The Labour party in NZ and the UK was put together by socialists (marxists) and unions and was considered socialist but they are not longer their 100 year experiment has proved a failure . They degraded first t becoming democratic socialists then to social democrates who intend to make workes lives slightly bettter by reforms than other right wing parties.. which is what they are currently.
As described here
"The founders of scientific socialism made no attempt to proclaim in advance how a socialist society is to be developed. From the days of the Communist Manifesto (1848) Marx and Engels proclaimed on the contrary that the makers of a socialist society will be the workers (proletarians) and that it is the task of revolutionaries (or Communists) to help the workers to power but not to decide for them what a classless society is to be like. Shortly thereafter (1850) Marx added the necessity of a period of proletarian dictatorship, and stressed this very strongly after the experience of the Paris Commune.
To use the word “socialism” for anything but working people’s power is to misuse the term. Nationalisation of mines, railways, steel, etc. in a capitalist class society is not socialism, nor does this constitutes “the socialist sector of a mixed economy”. Such nationalisation in a capitalist society is simply a degree of state capitalism, with no relation to socialism.
Nor is the “Welfare State” socialist. A socialist state (the working people in power) will certainly give high priority to health, education, art, science, and the social wellbeing of all its members. That is why it exists, that is the purpose of its economy. But “welfare” in a capitalist state, to improve the efficiency of that state as a profit-maker, is not socialism but a form of state capitalism. It can be an improvement on capitalism with no welfare, just as a 40-hour week is an improvement on a 60-hour week. But it is not socialism. " (1)
The point of this short essay is to explain socialism , so no one says and thinks stupid thoughts like socialism is about control or socialism is authoritarian, not to explain why it has not come about. That is covered in "Idiots Guide to Politics"
malcolm -daniel
6 mar 2022
I have attached some links to relevant quotes but take the whole article with a grain of salt as there is no accurate description of socialism outside socialist groups and even then some like Maoist groups (as below) blur the truth to support their view.
(1) https://www.marxists.org/history/erol/uk.hightide/csp.htm
(2) https://www.britannica.com/topic/socialism
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