Socialism

https://www.facebook.com/groups/105682839875837/?multi_permalinks=652408135203302&notif_id=1556206175532337&notif_t=group_activity&ref=notif The article above is dishonest, no matter what is your definition of "real socialism" (I'll give mine below). If the author does not disapprove of the CURRENT Scandinavian system or consider it "socialist "  - then  why  attack  the reforms proposed by American "socialists" like Sanders -  which  follow   the CURRENT Scandinavian standards. Here is a guy from Finland describing these standards:

(https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2016/03/bernie-sanders-nordic-countries/473385/)

"... here are some of the things I personally got in return for my taxes: nearly a full year of paid parental leave for each child (plus a smaller monthly payment for an additional two years, were I or the father of my child to choose to stay at home with our child longer), affordable high-quality day care for my kids, one of the world’s best public K-12 education systems, free college, free graduate school, nearly free world-class health care delivered through a pretty decent universal network, and a full year of partially paid disability leave. As far as I was concerned, it was a great deal. And it was equally beneficial for others. From a Nordic perspective, nothing Bernie Sanders is proposing is the least bit crazy—pretty much all Nordic countries have had policies like these in place for years." 

……….

Now the definitions: real   socialism  (redistribution of wealth by state in the interest of the needy) is a nuance of capitalism -  and  a matter of degree.  It exists - and has *always* existed - in all capitalist countries. For example, free public education  at taxpayer expense: "The first free taxpayer-supported public school in North America, the Mather School, was opened in Dorchester, Massachusetts, in 1639". Scandinavian countries went further in the socialist direction than some others, especially the USA - went too far, as they discovered: so they introduced a *correction* -  and now  they are among the best countries to live in, and  to do business in, while being  still much  more socialist  than the USA (see quote above). Our "socialists" suggest following *this* model.

Whoever approves of it should  not disapprove of them.

……….……….

As for  Soviet "socialism" (and that of other Communist countries), it  was a misnomer - false propaganda.  The USSR had, for example, no unemployment benefits; its industry did not even produce wheelchairs for its cripples. Free trade unions were banned, strikes were crimes and severely punished; even a collective petition was a crime.   Means of production were owned monopolistically by a small group  - the Nomenklatura - and the people, the workers   were owned by them, too;  and treated like *cattle*.  The Nomenklatura  spent what they squeezed out of the population mostly on means to  increase and preserve their power: means  of aggression and means of repression.  If Sanders ever found words of praise for that inhuman  system -   he was 100% wrong.  *Now* he says this: “ I think that countries like Denmark and Sweden do very well. I think it depends on what we mean by socialism. If we mean socialism is what the old Soviet Union was, that’s not my thing”