First Impression
Right off the bat, you could tell that the lecture was going to be interesting based on the name of the presentation: Socialism Sucks. Dr. Powell had a great upbeat attitude that turned what could have been a boring lecture about different kinds of economies and how they relate to socialism, and instead turned it into an engaging, and at times pretty funny, presentation that included rankings of all the alcohol that he and his partner consumed while traveling. It felt as if I was watching a Ted Talk that was not nearly as dreary and drab, while still giving the same amount of quality information on the subject that was really insightful and not something that I had previously known about.
What Socialism Means
In his presentation, Dr. Powell gave us the dictionary definition of socialism: “the abolishing of private property in the major factors of production and replacing it with some form of collective ownership and/or control.” In the context of his presentation, this meant the abolishment of entrepreneurs and their markets. In a socialist society, there are no free markets, which is what most of us are accustomed to growing up in the United States. The people who reside in socialist countries cannot own any form of private business or property for that matter; everything is government owned and regulated. Dr. Powell gave examples of a few famous socialist countries: Venezuela, Cuba, North Korea, Russia/Ukraine, and one success story of a transition from socialist to capitalist Georgia.
Socialism Effects on Daily Lives
In all of the countries listed above, the one common factor that they shared, besides being a part of a socialist society, is that all of their economies are in ruins. Powell called Venezuela the “starving socialist;” in one year, most people lost on average 17-20 pounds simply because there is not enough food, and if there is, most people cannot afford it so they eat what they can grow, which in a socialist society, is not much given that they don’t actually own any land. In fact, since Venezuela is technically socialist democrats, the elected officials rigged the polls so that if you voted for the right person, you were given extra food to take home. In North Korea, the staple of socialist countries, the communities are not allowed internet access, travel, or lights at night, and no one is allowed in or out of the country. They are under full lock and key, and if they are found escaping, it could be fatal.
Socialism Effects on Businesses
Socialism also affected public businesses like hotels, restaurants, and convenience stores. Any government-owned commercial business was run down, broken, and clearly not cared for because it didn’t affect any of the workers since it wasn’t their building or their responsibility, they were only there to get paid. Dr. Powell mentioned this when he was talking about how there are no signs on the streets because they don’t want you visiting their business. It’s more of an inconvenience to them to help you out since the profits don’t matter to them at all. However, this does prompt a new form of business: necessity entrepreneurship. As the name implies, it is people creating business opportunities for themselves as means to survive. Powell gave the example of women cutting and selling their hair on the bridges between Venezuela and Columbia because real hair extensions could bring back a couple months’ worth of food for their families. He also mentions how the incentives to work and maintain the businesses are different because the government doesn’t care enough to really maintain any of their businesses, yet there are people who are willing to chop off their hair and create the best quality makeshift business they can just in order to feed themselves and their families.
Closing Statements
As I mentioned in the beginning, this presentation was different from most presentations students will hear during their time on campus. Most of us have at least a basic understanding of what socialism means and how detrimental it can be to a society, but to have picture proof and anecdotes of what it was like when he traveled to the different countries, it gives us a deeper understanding and connection to what socialism really is. The fact that there are no signs on any businesses because they don’t want to or care to serve you is a complete 180 to what we know and see in every business that owns a fluorescent blinking “open” sign that’s hanging in the front window. Or, how government-owned hotels have missing ceiling tiles, broken toilet seats, and unsanitary bathrooms goes against every building code that we have in America. It’s baffling to think that that’s how those people live every day and still some people want to turn our society into a socialist one, and when asked why they want to, they don’t even name economic reasons for doing so, or say that there’s would be different when every socialist society in history has ended the same way: complete dictatorship with a failed economy and starving helpless people.
Image Citation
Gonzalez, Sarah, and Robert Smith. “Socialism 101.” NPR, NPR, 26 Mar. 2021, www.npr.org/2021/03/26/981686254/socialism-101.
