Worth reading: Albert Einstein on socialism, 1949

Some excerpts:

"...nowhere have we really overcome what Thorstein Veblen called 'the predatory phase' of human development. ... Since the real purpose of socialism is precisely to overcome and advance beyond the predatory phase of human development, economic science in its present state can throw little light on the socialist society of the future. ...

"Man is, at one and the same time, a solitary being and a social being. ... As a social being, he seeks to gain the recognition and affection of his fellow human beings, to share in their pleasures, to comfort them in their sorrows, and to improve their conditions of life. ...

"I have now reached the point where I may indicate briefly what to me constitutes the essence of the crisis of our time. It concerns the relationship of the individual to society. ... Man can find meaning in life, short and perilous as it is, only through devoting himself to society.

"The economic anarchy of capitalist society as it exists today is, in my opinion, the real source of the evil. We see before us a huge community of producers the members of which are unceasingly striving to deprive each other of the fruits of their collective labor—not by force, but on the whole in faithful compliance with legally established rules."

Little has changed since 1949.  The near collapse of Western market-based economies in the last year is evidence of that. 

That leaves me to wonder how the libertarians, objectivists and "teabaggers" would respond to Einstein's carefully crafted defense of what he terms socialism, and his harsh critique of the predatory nature of capitalism.

(Also worth reading is this Monthly Review article, "Albert Einstein, Radical: A Political Profile.")

Comments

[Steve Buckstein]

Since you asked for a response, I will quote Albert Einstein’s younger cousin, Norbert, who looked just like the great scientist and lived in Seattle in the late 1970s when I met him on an airplane.

When I asked him what he thought of Albert’s socialist political views, Norbert smiled and told me that he and other family members often responded with this statement: “Albert couldn’t play the violin very well, either.”

[James Connolly Hall]

OK. I'm sure Albert Einstein's avanteguard style of violin playing went over Norbert's head. We have one opinion of another Einstein - - - perhaps the slow one in the family? I appreciate the sharing of your experience, however a relatively sizable body of Albert Einstein's political views (not Norbert, Herbert, Chad, Biff, of Bubba Einstein) are available to support his socialist critique of the abuses of capitalism .

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