A Short Thought on Socialism and Human Nature

by Rick Gunderman

Socialism is 100% compatible with human nature – “human nature”, if any interpretation of the term is actually a real thing, is to band together in groups for mutual aid to ensure survival. This is a characteristic of absolutely every living creature on the planet, and only industrial capitalism has forced us to consider our own needs before the needs of our friends, family and neighbours.

Once capitalism collapses – and it surely will, by one cause or another – it will be up to the people through democratic, mass organizations to seize the means of production from private hands. The workers will proceed to run their workplaces democratically, electing management and voting on major decisions, and the economy will be centrally planned by a democratic constitutent assembly.

Capitalism, for the time being, has the majority convinced that it is a system capable of guaranteeing every individual a livelihood. We should ask the millions of recently laid-off North Americans if they think this is the case. Especially when corporations plead that they cannot afford to keep the workers on while the market bulls still pull in multi-million dollar bonuses.