By Cliff Reece
For the past several decades, students in many western democracies have been taught a whitewashed version of socialism. That is why so many young people have a positive view of socialism and are more likely for example in Australia to vote for the socialist-left ALP or Marxist Greens.
This is a dire threat to the future of our country and to the West generally when you consider that these young people will soon become the political, business, and societal leaders of their countries and, in many cases, the largest voting bloc for years to come.
The reason that most young people have a distorted view of socialism is because our schools and universities have been derelict in their duty of properly educating students about the truth regarding socialism.
A vast number of school and university teachers and lecturers have a positive disposition towards socialism. That’s because they were inundated with socialist rhetoric during their own education and while they attended teacher training programs.
The overwhelming majority of higher education courses and programs designed for teachers are full of socialist propaganda.
Many future teachers have been appalled at the blatant socialist indoctrination. However, they were often afraid to speak out lest they incur the wrath of the socialist hierarchy who ultimately determined whether or not they graduated.
There is a giant void in classroom materials and resources that present socialism in an honest light.
To help fill this void, a new book Socialism at a Glance, by the Heartland Institute’s Socialism Research Center will soon be available in Australia either directly via The Heartland Institute website (
https://heartland.org
) or from Amazon.
This book provides a broad overview of socialism. It covers the relationship between socialism and human nature; analyses The Communist Manifesto; discusses the rise of ‘democratic socialism’ in the late 20th century; and takes readers on an epic journey through socialist regimes beginning with the Soviet Union, which was the first and longest experiment with socialism on a grand scale.
Readers will also learn what daily life is like under a variety of socialist governments, from the USSR to modern-day China.
The objective in writing this book was to present the truth about socialism. That is why the authors rely upon original sources including speeches by prominent socialist leaders and various policy documents produced by socialist governments.
These explicitly outline the absence of freedom and private property rights that has been part and parcel of practically every socialist government that has ever existed.
For too long, millions of students in western democracies have been brainwashed into believing that socialism is a preferable way of organizing society and distributing resources.
But, as history shows, this is not true. In fact, history shows that socialism, even when implemented with the best of intentions, inevitably devolves into political persecution, abject poverty, mass murder, and general misery.
In late 1945, after World War II had ended and socialist Nazi Germany was defeated, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill stated, “The inherent vice of capitalism is the unequal sharing of blessings. The inherent virtue of socialism is the equal sharing of miseries.”
Three years later, while appearing before the House of Commons, Churchill stated, “Those that fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it.” History has certainly proven him to be right time and time again.
If we learned anything from the socialist experiments of the 20th and 21st centuries, it is that socialism has failed to deliver the utopian dreams promised by socialist leaders in countries throughout eastern Europe, Asia, and South America.
Given this track record of failure and wretchedness, we must ensure that socialism is not allowed to ruin more people’s lives now and in the future.
To prevent this from occurring, it is absolutely necessary that we ensure that future generations of students receive a sound education concerning socialism.
To do this, we must not rely on the public or even some private schools to deliver this message. We must take it upon ourselves to educate our family members and friends about the truth when it comes to socialism.
This is a revised and edited version of an article written by Chris Talgo (ctalgo@heartland.org), Editorial Director at The Heartland Institute.
Thomas Sowell is an American economist, social philosopher, and political commentator. He is a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution.
The cartoon depicting Karl Marx was designed by Gary Brown. Thanks also to cartoonist Johannes Leak for his contribution.
Love your articles.
My parents always voted Labor and so did I until I woke up... never again! They are all the same!