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Path: utzoo!linus!decvax!harpo!eagle!allegra!don
From: don@allegra.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.politics
Subject: What is Socialism
Message-ID: <1823@allegra.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 14-Sep-83 12:16:28 EDT
Article-I.D.: allegra.1823
Posted: Wed Sep 14 12:16:28 1983
Date-Received: Wed, 14-Sep-83 20:52:02 EDT
Organization: Bell Labs, Murray Hill
Lines: 21

I am not anxious to flame about socialism, but Bill Pfeifer's comments
are simply too ignorant to let pass.  Whether you are left wing or
right wing, if you consider yourself any kind of intellectual you
should know the basic principles of socialism and capitalism.

No socialist, including Marx, ever advocated taking away the hard
earned property of individuals.  Anything you produce belongs to you.
The basis of socialism; however, is that commodities produced by groups
of people belong to that group!  Thus socialism does not allow a
factory owner to profit from other people's labor.  That is the
fundamental principle of socialism.  If you would like to read a fairly
clear explanation in more detail, I recommend "Socialism:  Scientific
and Utopian" by Frederick Engels.

Mr. Pfeifer's condemnation of socialized medicine is also totally
without factual basis.  In fact, the Unitied States lags behind in some
basic health statistics (e.g. infant mortality rate) compared to many
western European countries.  It's a reasonable issue to debate, but
let's gather some facts together instead of saying socialist doctors
are "drunken quacks".  (There is a considerable problem of drug abuse
among doctors here after all.)