riday, December 2, [960

, SCARLET AND BLACK

 

Notes from the Underground

Tushnet Surveys

Future

Of Democratic Socialism:

“An Alternative To A Systeﬂhatpidn't Work"

by Naiﬂa Tushnel

We iioiv exist under the cool
oinie system oi capitalism Oil
purse, this capitalism is very
itfcrcnt from what the old
aissez-faire picture held it to
e. We have inodiiied the sy5r
cm and changed it to fit the
eeds of a changing world what
Ve have done is "make capitals
sm work.” If this is true, why
hen should anyone turn to so-
aalism?
First of all, one sees socialismi
s an alternative to a system
vhich has not worked. As 1
iew the American economy tar
.ay I see an immense public
~ector which consists of the
uilding and inaintainance of
he tools of destruction. This,
hile there are inadcquatcl
cliools, hospitals, houses and
iealth services for many.
Secondly, it is basic to a
emocratic concept that there
hould be popular checks on
very inaior facet of the citizen‘s
ife. To insist that the people
ontrol the group which makes
raffic laws while allowing the
tcel and oil .industries to re—
ain in the hands of a,few
eems to me inconsistent andl
lloeicai. i
Of course, under socialism the
.eople would not be in direct
oiitrol of production and dis-
ribution ._ there are technical
obiems involved which need
xperts to work them out. But
he people would be in a posi—
ion to lay down the broad prin-
iples of allocation of resources
n terms of‘ preference and need.
lhen there’wouldnlt have to be
pressure to buv a new car:
verv year “for the economy’s
ake" while drugs cost 10 times
do much.
The biggest problem with I
democratic socialism is the,
means b'y which government
take-over of industries (these, i
ot coursé, would be key in.
dustricsl would be implement-
ed, Redistribution or wealth
can come partly through wel— i
fare services. partly through ‘
a higher minimum wage and
partly through tax changes. i
But how should government
lurk out a policy of national-
zation of industry? Should this
.e through direct buying of a
ajority of shares in the com-
.anies?
Or should compensation take
e form of government bonds»,
think it is clear. at any rate,
hat some form of compensation
s necessary in order to achievcl
emocratic socialism. ‘
This; to m is the basic
ion; Once it 's"answered,

 

ues~ ‘
‘thé

tin our world, but it seems that

against sucluiisl‘n? The XHON‘ cx-cannot be dcmcd, we must in-

treme oncs assume that social-l

ism implies totalitarianism, and‘ccntral planning board wouldlt:
lsee that

is far from the case. Dem-

ic socialism is an extension
of the political democracy wc
now have, It goes further than
politics because it seems that
there are economic factors which
stand in the way or freedom
and liberty and that which frees
dom and liberty are supposed
to bring.

A man whose total existence
is centered around the activity
of earning a living, keeping a
job, is not free to think about
the basic problems of human
life. He is not free to develop
his mental powers to their tulle
est. He is not free to enjoy a

l

l

 

“productive” leisure _ produc-
tive, that is, either in terms
of the society or of his own
inner strengthening prefer»
ably the latter.

The question or bureaucracy
can be dealt with by a quo-
tation from .the 196i) Socialist
party platform (for the elec.
tion, the Socialist party did
not run a presidential candi» l
date but did work out a plat» l
form): , l
“Contrary to popular myth,l
socialists do not favor ‘big gOVrl
ernment.’ However. where' the]
federal government is the on'lyl
institution capable of fairly Andi
efficiently administering a social
program, we do not dogmaticai.
lv shy away from using it. But
we oppose all unnecessary gov»
ernment bureaucracy and scale
always to find alternative ways
to do things, ways based on
direct participation oi the cit-
izcnry.

“We believe bureaucracy is
the result less of carefully con—
sidered planning, than oi hasty.
improvised methods of mectingi

emergencies which arise preA'
crsely because of lack of pian—
ning, Wherever possible, we ad-
vocate a maximum of decentraie
ized controls under national
standards."

A socialist state would be bet-
ter able to allocate resources to
the place in the economy where
they would do the most good for
all involved. A central plane
ning board, is not the solutionl
to all the problems which exist

the existence of such a board
would eliminate those which
arise from periodical recessions,
unemployment, etc, l

Since our “struggle” with tea
talitarian regimes must now eni-
phasize its economic aspect and

 

l
l

crease our rate of growth. A
t s would be done
not by increasing sales of cuss
metics and television sets, but
by increasing the building and

other nECdEd “Commodities.”

At the same time as this
was happening, under social-
ism there would bc a. mum
equitable distribution of
wealth. The increased growth
rate could help the poor to
raise their standard of living
to a “camt‘inrtuhle” level be-
fore the entire society moved
forward in gaining luxuries

As I hzlvc said, I do

envisage socialism as the ullirl

inatc cood in itself It is for the
humanitarian services a social-
ized state can perform for its
citizens and that which the cite
izen can better do for himselt
under socialism that I desire
this system,

That there would be problems,
both economic and social, unr
dcr socialism 1 do not deny, but
it seems to me that many of
these problems would occur un-
der capitalism (and perhaps to

a greater cxtent)’ and also that
so many favorable

there are
aspects which seem to over-
weigh any problems,

For example, the race probe
lem is more than just an econ
nomic question, but it is to a
large degree iounded in a fear
of the whites being replaced on
the job. Under socialism iobs
would go to the best qualified
regardless of color, and there
would be enough iobs [or every-
one (most of our industries are
not now working up to cap-‘10
ity). Also, thc fact that a bidet

ted white man might be working ‘

next to a Negro and find that
they are both men would tend
to alleviate the problem.

will the United states eve
become a countrv of democratic
socialism? 1 don’t really knew,
but I do know that social secure
itv, minimum wage laws, uncm.
ployment insurance, etc. were
advocated by the socialists first
while people stood in horror,
and now such things are part
of our daily lives. Perhaps this
will be the fate of today’s so-

‘ciaiist suggestions,

‘A socialist democracy also
would emphasize free and con—
tinuing participation of all cit-
izens on all levels _ political
economic and social. All this
towards the goal oi man masr
tcring socioty‘ instead of bcing

'orid.’ ’while it probably will the “efficienCY” of such systemS'mastcred by it.

be be a Utopian .déiight, will
-e albetter place for most 'of‘us
it live ,in.’

What about the .

All Kinds o
MAGAZINES

—Schoiol Supplies

l

arguments

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Available

at.

LAROS
NEWS STAN‘lD

 

 

 

 

For Delicious

These Cold
Nights Come

RIMARILY
PlZZA

MARK and MARY PEDERSEN
717 FIFTH

Pizza On

To

 

 

Page Five

leiord‘ Studenis WillvDeba‘te

l Alan Jupp and Antony Newton
laf Oxford university will debate

ilhe admission of Communist Chis

ROTC Men Tour ’
dill; “vil‘ESAGE Installation

iliams, Grinnell sophomores, Monri

day morning at ll in Horrickl Five AFROTC cadets—William
chapel. ' '

‘c. Henry, Michael P. Schulhot.
VCharles P. Turner, Richard ‘
Wall and 'Stephan A. Wasnol
recently visited Waverly Air
iFm‘ce station, Iowa. They were
lbricfcd by the installation comr
,mander on the Semi-Automatic
Jupp, a student of t)hllosopliy,icraund Environment syst
politics and economics at MagdwthGFD and toured the m
lcn college, is ,sccrem‘y andﬁand computer units at the SAGE
chairman of the Labour party and installation
is a member of the executive
committee of the Labour club, Hisl
athletic interests include tennis,

squash, soccer and rowing,

The Oxford students will take
the affirmative side while Hoff.
man and Williams will give the
negative viewpoint.

SAGE is the nation's vasl‘ new
electronic radar and digital come
puter system used in the air 66-
fcnse of the North American cons
Politics, debating and "dwi- tinent. It is capable of electron»
lyoursew' “03°C“ 9” Ncwmn’Siically computing and recording
pastimes. A student of phiIOSO- instantaneous answers to co‘
phy, politics and economics at plex air defense problems invo
Trinity college, he plans to enteriing the detection, identiiicaticn.
‘the research department in Merlinterception and destruction el
nomics oi the Conservative party. highrspeed cncmy aircraft

 

 

 

my dear Watson! From the happy look
on your pitysiog, from the cheertul lift
you seem to be enjoying, l deduce

you are imbibing CochoIa, No mystery
about why Colts is the world's favorite

. . . such taste, such sparkle! Yes, my
favorite case is always a case of Cohel

BE REALLY REFRESHEE

Bottled under authority oi The Coca-Cola Company by

MARSHALLTO‘VN COCA-COLA BOTTLING CO.
Marshalltown. 10W:

 

 

