An integral part of Karl Marx’s theory of communism is that the supposedly poor workers (proletariat) are being oppressed by the supposedly rich capitalist employers. Collectivists say that the proletariat is in a very bad condition. They insist that they are much worse off than the capitalists. However, these are comparative terms that communists are using.
The question is: “What are they comparing present conditions with?” It is certainly not the past. The working population is better off and richer than ever before. Capitalism got the proletariat out of serfdom to feudal lords in the Middle Ages. As far as I can see that’s a change for the better, not worse.
So if they’re not comparing it with the past, they must be comparing it with the future. This is obviously the case. Utopians have given us a picture of a glorious, peaceful world that can be brought about by instituting socialistic programs. Novels like Looking Backward, by Edward Bellamy gave this impression, and urged us to move civilization forward by their ideas.
Now, I’ll admit, the present can look very gloomy compared with an imaginary paradise. However, that hardly means that the imaginary future will come about by the programs that socialists propose. It hardly proves their theory. Nor does it prove that things are horribly bad now.
Besides, those utopias have not come about. Looking Backward was supposed to be fulfilled in 2000. It’s 2006, and we still don’t have a paradise, even though many of Marx’s ideas have been put into law. There have even been some groups that have followed Marx’s instructions to the letter, but all attempts have failed.
Socialists need to get into reality, and look at where we are compared to where we have been, not what someone wishes we were.
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