Interested In A Swap Chile?

Gabriel Boric is set to become Chile’s youngest ever president which usually wouldn't cause too many waves this side of the Atlantic but the left are getting excited that they will have one of their own in power very much along the lines of the brilliant and successful Hugo Chavez in Venezuela.
In a country that had America's and the UK's favourite dictator and human rights violator, General Augusto Pinochet, the 35 year old self declared Socialist is looking to make some big changes in the nation that has been raped and pillaged by the West in the name of Capitalism.
In his success, Boric has the raised the ghost of Chavez in saying that he will deliver a programme that focuses on social justice, human rights, the environment support for LGBT rights and feminism while diminishing private participation in critical sectors including the highly lucrative lithium extraction, with a view to nationalising them and establish a universal publicly funded health care system along the lines of the British NHS, increase the minimum wage.
He is a firm believer in Palestinian rights, arguing that Israels actions are 'genocidal and murderous' and will look to ban the import of products made in Israeli settlements.
He could do far worse than look to emulate the magnificent success of Hugo Chavez in Venezuela, a look around the mess of things that the current crop of right wing world leaders are making shows that, but i have yet to hear of anything that i don't like about him so i wonder if Chile is interested in doing a swap for our own terminally awful Prime Minister. Nah, thought not.

Generation Snowflake

Students are by nature generally left wing, they care about the environment, equality, fairness, society and human rights and are on the whole more clued up on all of them then previous generations and who can blame them because what they are seeing is society run by the older generation in a bloody mess.      
They are labelled Generation Snowflake by older Generations who like to repeat the mantra that 'they never had it so good' but that is false because even to the most blinkered, what they have is a lot worse then the generation who were only to happy to pull up the ladder behind them.
The world that the young are inheriting from us is far worse off then the one that we inherited from our parents with tuition fees, rising prices, wage stagnation, competition for jobs, austerity cuts and extortionate house and rent prices.
Quite rightly, they look at society, Capitalism and the Conservative Government and ask how we are the fifth richest nation but have abundant food banks, in work poverty and the homeless filling our town centres and ask how did it get like this?
Despite Brexit ruining things and severe austerity measures still in full flow, the Government are promising further tax cuts for the richest so is it any surprise that voting patterns and political opinion show a sharp swing amongst the younger voters towards the left and away from the ideology which has caused them so much pain and will continue to do so for decades.
The Socialism doctrine appears to be chiming with them, the idea of a more equal society as proposed by the likes of Jeremy Corbyn which would rein in rampant Capitalism and rebalance power away from the wealthy who have an unfair advantage in today's Society.
It is to our shame that the planet we are leaving them is filthy and polluted and the opportunities, debt and inequality that we are handing to them is far worse then when it was passed down to us.

What America Will Get Under Socialism

Capitalism has traditionally ranked alongside apple pie, shooting guns at each other and chlorinated chicken in the hearts of Americans but the youth are casting an eye away from the dog eat dog world with a poll showing that 61% of Americans aged 18 to 24 have a favourable attitude towards Communism's younger brother, Socialism.
Battered by constant recessions, the rich getting richer and facing a trip to Mexico or Canada to receive affordable healthcare, 39% of Americans of all ages say that they are 'well-disposed toward socialism'.
Perhaps the real reason Trump wants to build a wall on the Mexican border is to keep Americans away from cheaper foreign medical treatment but it shows that the issue of Socialism in America being equated with Communism is no longer an issue so as a proud Socialist allow me to explain what America can expect as the newest Socialist nation.

You get a song and it's sung to the tune of the Christmas Carol 'O' Christmas Tree' and while it's not quite Sweet Child 'O Mine, it's catchy enough and that Star Spangled Banner thing about rockets and things is outdated now anyway.
Socialism comes in any colour you want as long as it's red because for some reason everything Socialist is red including the flag, the badges, the posters and for the gents, especially the neck wear.
For the 39% of your poor fellow yankees who argue that staying with the current failed system is the way to go you have a long list of Socialists to name check such as Albert Einstein and if the brainiest man who has ever lived decides that Socialism is the way to go you know you have backed the right horse, or German physicist.
Finally Socialism is already working in the United States so if someone assaults you a police officer arrives, and without payment, resolves the situation. If America is invaded the military won't show up and ask for your bank details, they will chase them away for free and the Fire Dept. won't stand and watch your house burn down as you can't afford to pay them to unroll their hose, they will put the fire out without charge and your child gets educated for free and the rubbish collectors will take away your eighteen bin liners full of rubbish for nothing and do it on the roads maintained for free.

It's a no brainer really, under Socialism you get a neat song, everything coloured red and it comes with the endorsement of the biggest brain ever so cast off the chains of oppression under Capitalism and join me and my chums in a Socialist paradise singing a song to the tune of a Christmas Carol. What's not to like?

A Socialist Government For Christmas

My ultra-Left Wing friend has a sticker in the window of his van that reads 'If you are not a Socialist by the time you are 25 you have no brain, if you are not a Socialist by the time you are 40 you have no heart' and if things go to plan we may all be Socialists by Christmas because Comrade Corbyn is riding to the rescue and he is carrying a copy of Das Kapital.
In a country of huge inequality with haves and have nots, a massive dollop of Socialism should rebalance things to haves and haves as Jeremy Corbyn redresses the awful policies of the Conservatives but first he has to get his hands to Number 10 and that could be before Santa drops down his chimney.
The Conservatives EU war has broken it and if the cards fall right, we could be singing the Red Flag and clinking our Che Guevara mugs together with glee due to the Fixed Term Parliaments Act of 2011 which the Conservatives introduced.
Thanks to the act, if a government loses a vote of confidence, that administration does indeed fall but then there is a two week grace period where another government can be formed before there's an early election.
So if as expected Theresa May loses her Brexit vote on the 11th December and as also expected, Labour then table a motion of no confidence, the Conservatives have first crack at trying to form a new government with a new leader but they have to be sharp about it as Jeremy Corbyn will have a strong claim to be summoned by the Queen to try and form an administration until the next election.
Won't happen you say? Already did in 1974 when the Queen had to call for Labour's Harold Wilson after the Conservative's Ted Heath failed to form a government after a no confidence vote.
Socialism could be back and very, very soon so as the song goes 'The people's flag is deepest red, It shrouded oft our martyred dead' and as it is sung to the tune of O' Christmas Tree, very timely indeed.

American Youth Turning To Socialism

The problem with Socialism in America was that people who were against it equated it with Communism so it was easy to dismiss but slowly the American public appear to be realising that it isn't the same thing at all and have started to read a bit more about it.
It was excellent to see Bernie Sanders speak of his enthusiasm for Socialism and a new Gallup Poll suggests that he has touched the minds of the youth of America with 51% aged 18-29 now viewing Socialism positively while only 45% thought Capitalism was the way ahead, down 12% from 2016.
Capitalism has a nasty habit of frequently collapsing in on itself and when it does it takes down everything with it and the youngsters have noticed it and realise that they don't have to just plough on with the faulty system and Socialism is a viable alternative.    
Possibly the drop in support for Capitalism is the beginning of the end with more Americans feeling left behind as the rich get richer and 40 million US citizens still live in poverty, and five million of these live in third world conditions according to a UN report released this June.
The Socialists now need to capitalise on what Sanders began and embrace the public’s demand for a more radical left with progressive ideas and not allow the right wing to portray Socialism as the Communist Soviet Union or North Korea and instead point to the places that have implemented successful Socialism such as the Scandinavian nations who top almost every top 10 list for education, healthcare and general welfare of its citizens that you care to pull up.
Capitalism is a failed experiment and the next generation of Americans are now seeing just how toxic it is but whether they do anything about it or if the Socialists can take advantage of it or even if there is a younger, more dynamic Bernie Sanders to take up the cudgel remains to be seen.

Backing Labour's Re-Nationalisation Plans

As we stand, Britain is heading towards a big dollop of Socialism in the very near future with Jeremy Corbyn and his brand of Labour Party poised to pick up the pieces the Conservative Party leave behind.
First on the Labour Parties agenda is thankfully the end of the disaster that was privatisation and a fresh round of re-nationalisation starting with water, energy and rail.
The privatisation programme become part of the British political landscape over the last 40 years and has been a disaster, nobody can argue that the promised efficiency, investment, lowered costs or saved jobs ever arrived, rather there was large scale redundancies, sky-rocketing prices and the previous British companies in the hands of a small group of international investors who pay themselves billions in dividends.
With water being first in the re-nationalisation firing line, the National Audit Office have said that water bills had risen 40% since privatisation in 1989 and water companies paid out a total £1.6bn to their shareholders in 2017, money that under Labour would go back into the pot for everyone and there is the rub.
The privatisation experiment has failed spectacularly because it is impossible for the private sector to deliver the same service for less than a service run by the Government and still make a profit and making a profit is the bottom line for businesses and that profit goes into personal bank accounts when it could be going into the Governments bank account for the benefit of all of us.

Labour Nationalisation Policy

If the leaking of the Labour Party manifesto was supposed to embarrass the Labour Party, it spectacularly backfired as the plans to renationalise the rail, water and utility companies went down surprisingly well with the public. 
During the 80s and 90s, the Conservative Party went on a privatisation spree with the mantra that market competition in the private sector was a more efficient way to provide services provided by the Government and allows for a better price and service for us.
In practise, however, it increased costs, lowered the quality of services and led to rising unemployment because the simple logic tells us that it is impossible for the private sector to deliver the same service for less and still make a profit.
Private companies exist to make a profit for their investors even if they are providing a service to the public, and the only way to increase profit is to reduce the money they pay out (wages) or increase the money they bring in (prices), both of which comes at a huge cost, financial and personal, to the public.
A recent example was the great sell off of the Royal Mail which made a profit of £403 million for the Government in 2013, while in 2014 the profit went directly into someones bank account instead.
A week after the privatisation went through, the new owners announced the price of stamps would rise as 'the price didn't go up last year' proving they couldn't do the same job with the same number of people at the same price.
The mantra remains that Privatisation will bring down price and increase service but in reality the service falls through the floor and the price goes up. Take a look at your next electric, water, gas, phone bill or train ticket and that will testify that it doesn't bring greater efficiency, benefits to the customer,  bring the best prices for the consumer nor improve the service.  
Essentially, it denies the Government much needed tens of billions in tough times so there you go, that's why Labour's nationalisation plans have struck a chord with the country.

Those Trotsky Marxist Socialist Commie Types

Those not inclined towards Jeremy Corbyn have got themselves into a bit of a quandary over what to call those who support the current Labour leader, labeling them Communist, Socialist, Marxist or Trotskyists but even those on the left are unsure which box they fall into.
Many of the new recruits to the left's cause from the younger generation seem to like the term 'communist' which is shunned by anyone over 40 as it reeks of the USSR and leads to uncomfortable conversations about Stalin and Chairman Mao in the same way that being far right sets you up alongside Hitler.
Whereas Socialism and Communists have many of the same goals and sprang from the same ideal, they have very different ideas of how to get there, the Communist Correspondence Committee in 1846 sought a purge of Socialists from their party such was the differences between them.
For me the definitions from the early 20th century are now mostly redundant in the modern world, Communists, Socialists, Marxists and Trotskyists are in most cases no longer the same thing in a choice of different flavors although there are some who will argue otherwise but in general left and right will suffice.
The question should be then are you left or right and that is easy to determine with my handy guide which breaks it down as you wear a beret, you hold your fist in the air occasionally, you call everyone brother or sister, you have had at some point owned something with a picture of a guy named Che on it, you have sympathy for strikers or you drink latte.
If you have said yes to any of the above then welcome brother/sister, hang up your beret and grab your Che mug and let's share a latte and discuss the junior doctor strike.
If you said no to all the above then you are probably a selfish right wing capitalist pig dog who had pictures of Margaret Thatcher on your wall and own a book of Hitler quotes.

Socialism Making Inroads In USA

If the Bernie Sanders presidential bid has shown anything, it is that America is suddenly awash with Socialists, millions of them in fact.
In a nation that has long been resistant to Socialism’s call, deliberately or ignorantly confusing it with its bigger brother Communism, it seems a bit strange that suddenly they are loud and proud about their beliefs but where did they come from and what do they mean by socialism?
Polls show that the vast majority of people who call themselves 'Socialist' are under the age of 30 which may go some way to explain it.
It was the same age group of Americans who said that they looked positively upon the message of Occupy Wall Street, that the 1% has flourished at the expense of the 99%. The collapse of Capitalism in America with the record levels of inequality, scant economic opportunities and a $19 trillion debt has not gone unnoticed and it was the youth who took up the stand and in looking for a fairer way of running society discovered Socialism.
The largest factor though was the length of time since the collapse of Soviet Communism which has allowed younger Americans to identify Socialism with the social democratic nations of Western Europe, all of which suffer from less economic inequality and its attendant woes than the United States.
With Socialism and Communism interchangeable above the more ignorant over 30s (and still very much ignorant about it today it appears) the minds of the under 30s are not muddied by such things as Stalin, Lenin or Castro and see content Socialist nations such as the Scandinavians in Western Europe and say they want some of that.   
They see the declining economic conditions in America, where only the rich are rewarded and that appears to be the key to why today there are now Socialists by the millions in America.
For many of them Capitalism was tried and failed horrendously and the under 30s are looking for a new way and though late to the party, young Americans seem immune to the tales of the USSR bogeyman which was used as a stick to beat Socialism and have discovered that Socialism is the place to go.
Even if Bernie doesn't make his way in this time around, in 4 years time, if those tens of millions can collect around a central figure like they have Bernie Sanders and the Socialist ideal can continue to be forced onto the agenda (and Capitalism continues to mess with so many young lives), European style Socialism could be coming soon to America soon enough. 

Sanders Journey Ending?

For a moment there it looked as though America was about to cast out the failed concept of Capitalism ($19 trillion in debt, how's that working for you?) and join us in a European Socialist paradise but Bernie appears to be falling behind Bill Clinton's wife and the dream ending today with expected heavy losses on Super Tuesday.
While a surprising amount of voters have rallied behind his message of tackling financial corruption and reducing inequality, Team Clinton has gathered itself after a slow start and is widely expected to zip things today and go on to face the strangely orange faced Trump.   
The last odds i saw had Clinton 16-1 on for the nomination and odds on for the Presidency so they think Sanders is effectively out of the race.
Oh well, it was a nice dream that America would become the new Sweden but it seems it will stay the same old America.
That said, if Donald Trump somehow gets to be President America could very well become the international equivalent of Bill Cosby as he isn't get so many invites to places these days.

European Socialists

The Bernie Sanders Socialist bandwagon continues to gather pace and people are starting to talk seriously about President Sanders, the thinking being that Bernie will win the Democrat nomination, Trump will win the Republican and being as Trump is a racist nutter who would sink America into the sea within a week of being handed power, Sanders will win and usher in a new Socialist utopia across the Atlantic.
As Bernie is a self declared fan of European Socialism, and considering i am not only a European but also a Socialist, i am doubly well placed to let Americans now what they can expect under the four or possibly eight years of a Sanders administration.

1. The Song. Socialism has it's own song and it's sung to the tune of the Christmas Carol 'O' Christmas Tree' and is all about peace, human rights and human gains while hauling down the rich man. It's not quite Stairway o Heaven but it's catchy. 
2. Red. For some reason everything Socialist is red, the flag, the badges, the posters, the ties. Every Bernie Sanders badge i have seen has been blue but that's a Democrat thing because the Republicans are red and it may get confusing if he changed it now.
3. Famous Socialists. If you look at the great and the good through history, you can bet your Che Guevera mug that they were a Socialist. The list includes George Orwell, Betrand Russell, Charlie Chaplin, John Steinbeck, Pablo Picasso, Martin Luther King, Mark Twain, Malcolm X, Oscar Wilde, Joe Strummer, Nelson Mandela and Albert Einstein and if the brainiest man who has ever lived decides that Socialism is the way to go you know you have backed the right horse, or German physicist.
4. Scandinavia. To an outsider, Scandinavia can seem like a group of small, difficult-to-tell-apart Nordic countries but the Scandinavian countries are, in fact, some of the richest, most successful societies on Earth, with exceptionally high levels of education, health care, and safety and to a man run by Socialists. Vote Sanders and and you to could be Sweden or Norway only with less fish and blonde haired people knocking around. 
5. Socialism is already working. Someone assaulting you? The police arrive, and without payment, resolve the situation. America is invaded by Iceland? The military show up and chase them away for free. Your house on fire? The fire department comes and puts the fire out without payment. Your child can't write yet? The school will educate them for free. Got seven bin liners full of rubbish? The rubbish collectors will take it away and charge you nothing. Need to drive to Florida to get some oranges for your Vitamin C Deficiency? Travel there on the roads maintained for free.

It's a no brainer really, under Socialism you get a neat song, everything coloured red, get to live in a Scandinavian knock off, while driving around with the hood down, feeling the wind in your hair and listening to The Clash. What's not to like about being a European Socialist?

Socialism Is The Devils Work

While some see left-wing ideology as a reflection of the teachings of Jesus, some right-wing Christians believe that socialism has its roots in Satan Worship, right wingers like the hard-right website Canada Free Press who tell it's readers that the foundations of socialism lie in the heresy of a fallen and bitter priest named Joachim of Flora who in the late 12th Century claimed that the church would wither away and leave a beautiful utopia.
The Christians see a link between the Joachim of Flora view and Karl Marx's who centuries later picked up the thread for his Communist Manifesto where the State would fade away and all people live in harmony, sharing everything and fighting over nothing, in a anti-religious, godless Communist paradise.
The loonies then state that Satan is a perfect symbol for socialism as it sets out to remake the world of
mankind without any reference to God.
After a lot of waffling the website deduces that Socialism was invented by Satan in an attempt to seize control of the Earth and Socialists are doing the work of the Devil when they push their satanic views on to others.
Blimey, i must have missed that memo but it is always nice when right wing religious nutters bring me up to speed.

Websters Dictionary Most Searched Word 2015

American dictionary publisher have announced the most looked up word on their website in 2015 and after having been near the top of the list for several years, 'Socialism' has made it to the top.
The simple Webster Definition is: 'a way of organising a society in which major industries are owned and controlled by the government rather than by individual people and companies'.
The surge in all things Socialism in America is attributed to US presidential candidate Bernie Sanders, who describes himself as 'democratic socialist'. 
For a long time there seemed to be confusion between Communism and Socialism in America, the two being mistakenly interchangable (sometimes not so mistakenly by right wing propaganda) but as the American youth of today did not grow up in the shadow of the Cold War, the vilification of socialist ideas by the right wing does not resonate anymore and especially in the face of the devastation bought by Capitalism all around them.
Maybe in the home of Capitalism people are hungry for political alternatives that will serve their interests for a change instead of the interests of the few at the top of the pile and Socialism are where the eyes are turning.
Bernie Sanders being one of the main contenders for the Democratic nomination shows that things could be on the change and people are curious about what Socialism is and what it means.
After decades of the constant failing of Capitalism, people are searching for alternatives to the dead-end of a system where someone always has to have the short end of the stick.
Socialism is where we are all equal members of our society run by an elected government to organise that society for the maximum benefit of all its members and only the most swivel eyed right winger or those profiting from Capitalism and wish to keep the status quo which seems them at the top and the vast majority at the bottom could have an argument against that.

Socialism In America

Socialism is all about collecting taxes from every paying citizen and providing programs that benefit all but hang on, you want the government to get the hell out of the way out and let you live your lives. Hell yeah!
In a 'It's a Wonderful Life' type scenario, let's go to an America where Socialism doesn't exist, where the services owned and controlled by the government for the benefit was abolished and let's have a peek at what's going on.

For a start, America who? Oh that place, it was laid waste years ago because there wasn't a military, the people decided having a military funded and run by the Government from their taxes was Socialist and disbanded it along with the Customs and Border Patrols and six months later it was over-run by Costa Rican's armed with tree branches.

The history books in this alternative America where evil Socialist Government run programs funded by the taxpayer doesn't exist show that the Americans escaping the marauding Costa Rican's armed with big twigs were hampered in their escape by a lack of proper roads. Turns out the roads and highways were funded by Socialist means so they stopped maintaining them and they spent so long digging themselves out of potholes that the Costa Rican's caught them.
Those that did manage to navigate the roads were caught at the rivers because when they disbanded the road maintenance services, they also stopped the Bridge maintenance teams which were also funded by their taxes.

In the build up to the Costa Rican invasion, some people did try to find out where they had gone wrong by reading history books or visiting a museum but as public libraries and Museums were funded by the Government, they had been closed down a long time ago.
Many burnt down as no taxpayer-funded evil Socialist Fire Department existed and the arsonists were never caught due to the taxpayer funded socialist program called the Police wasn't there to serve and protect.

There was no CIA and FBI to help catch the criminals and even if they did, there were not any Courts to process them or Prison System to hold them as they were all closed down in the great Socialism purge.

Some had the idea of sending letters to ask for help but as the Postal Service was a Government run system, all the post boxes had long been removed, along with the taxpayer funded street lights and bus stops.

The Costa Rican's soon found that America was a filthy place thanks to the lack of rubbish collection, public landfills, and sewer systems which being Socialist programs had all been stopped. 
The Zoo's only contained the bleached bones of the former animals after they become the victims of the Socialist programs ceasure and the Public Parks gates were locked, the public beaches polluted and Mount Rushmore and The Lincoln Memorial, all formerly maintained with tax dollars, now in disrepair.

As the IRS had been disbanded (evil Socialists and all that), America was also financially broke so soon after the evil that was Socialism was expunged for all time, they quickly found out they had no money to fund anything else and it was the lack of funds to pay the Coasta Rican's the 300 colones they owed them that led to the invasion. Europe did consider helping them but the hotline to the White House had been disconnected as the publicly paid for White House had been turned into a car park and the President was working as a travelling weatherman, a job much in demand since the National Weather Service had been closed by anti-Socialists demanding their tax dollars not be used to warn them of Force 5 hurricanes about to slam into them.

Deciding that to put America right would cost more than the 300 Colones they now had, the Costa Rican's threw down their tree branches and went back home leaving the few remaining Americans to sit and watch the tumbleweed blow across the public school playgrounds, deserted long ago on account of public schools being part of a Socialist conspiracy.

So back to this dimension where you can drive on maintained roads, be protected by the police, have your house fire put out, visit a library, museum, park, zoo, clean beach or Mount Rushmore. Where the rubbish is collected and the sewers work or you can catch a bus even at night thanks to working street lights.

Thank you very much Socialist Government programs. You are very welcome.

Socialism Prevailing

In the most Capitalist country in the World, the recent Pew Research paper must have come as quite a shock as it showed that voters under the age of 30 viewed Socialism (49%) more favourably than Capitalism (46%).
The facts seem to be borne out by the popularity of Bernie Sanders who describes himself as a Socialist and talks up his Socialist principles of fairness, cooperation and anti-poverty.
It was John Smith himself, the father of Capitalism, who warned that in his system: 'the new unemployed would either starve, or be driven to seek a subsistence either by begging or by perpetration perhaps of the greatest enormities and want, famine and mortality would immediately prevail'.
It appears that for many young people, modern American capitalism simply isn’t working as the effects of the downturn in 2008 continue today and they see the bank accounts of the top end continue to grow while it empties those at the bottom. 
The IMF and the World Bank are already talking up the next recession while we haven't even escaped the last one so to the majority this is the way Capitalism works, a rolling cycle of growth followed by a devastating collapse every decade.
The far left Jeremy Corben has been voted the leader of the opposition in the UK and Bernie Sanders is being taken very seriously now in America and it could be because the older generation is being depleted and the upcoming generation can see Capitalism for what it is, a corrupt and devastating system that benefits the few and continually dumps the many in the gutter.

Who Is Bernie Sanders?

To the outsider the race for the White House can appear a ridiculously long and drawn out process as they have to go through the respective parties nominations and then the whole business of electing one of them as the President.
The two most likely eventual nominees are Clinton and Bush which may lead some of the electorate to enter the voting booth, see the names, think to themselves: "I'm sure i did this already' and leave.
This time around though its Hilary and Jeb although Jeb's name does confuse me because his name is John Ellis Bush so he should be called Je Bush otherwise you are saying John Ellis Bush Bush.
Anyway, the Bush/Clinton showdown is looking in peril because neither are leading the polls of their respective parties with the ridiculous Donald Trump topping the Republican Party and Bernie Sanders the top banana for the Democrats.
Donald Trump is well known, mostly for being an idiot of biblical proportions with a hairstyle to match, but who the hell is Bernie Sanders?  
Wikipedia shows that he is Senator from Vermont and a socialist! A socialist with a particular liking for the European style of Socialism at that!
Of course, for many people, especially us Europeans, there's nothing unusual about a Socialist but in the US, Socialism is viewed the same as Communism with all the hammer, sickles and mustachioed Soviet leaders trying to overthrow Capitalism which is something Sanders agrees with, saying: 'I’ve stayed away from calling myself a socialist because I did not want to spend half my life explaining that I did not believe in the Soviet Union or in concentration camps'.
His other soundbites include such gems as: “What being a socialist means is a vision of society where poverty is unnecessary, where international relations are not based on greed but on cooperation, where human beings can work together rather than having to work as semi-slaves to other people who can hire and fire'.
I imagine as the contest hots up the spotlight on him will grow stronger and the word 'Communist' will be spat at him with more conviction to muddy the waters but it might be worth keeping an eye on him and as America is over $17 trillion in the hole, the pro-Capitalists who they have elected previously obviously haven't been that good.

Evo Morales Again

Anyone would be overshadowed by such an immense figure as Hugo Chavez, but Evo Morales has been quietly following the same left wing trail in Chile that Chavez blazed in continental neighbour Venezuela and is today up for his third election as President.  
Opinion polls suggest that Morales remains immensely popular and with a lead of more than 40% in the latest polls, his closest rival is facing an uphill struggle to stay with the current President.
When you look at his performance in power, you can see why Morales is so successful, tripling his country's gross domestic product since he took office in 2006, according to World Bank figures.
One of his first acts was to nationalise the oil, mines, gas and communications industry and used the new found wealth to introduce social programs to reduce the 60% poverty in Chile.
The introduction of old-age pensions, controlling the price of fuel, gas and subsiding the cost of the staple foodstuffs saw poverty reduced to 45% in 2011.
Literacy programs reduced illiteracy from 16% in 2006 to UNESCO declaring Bolivia free of illiteracy.
Morales calls his Government 'Communitarian Socialism' and his country has not got the spending power that Hugo Chavez used so successfully to turn around his country after decades of neglect, but Morales has been slowly turning things around by taking the wealth that previously went to fund company directors yachts and mansions and spending it on the people that he was voted into office to represent and that is why he is a stone cold certainty to be re-elected to office today and also the reason why the defenders of the creaking Capitalism system will continue to try and discredit him and his successful version of Socialism.

Executive Committee Of The Exploiting Class

Almost consistently since i wrote it in 2008, the Marxism in A Nutshell post has been in the most viewed list.
Obviously there is a lot of interest in what the German had to say way back in the mid 19th Century and that has to be a good thing but before we celebrate the downfall of Evil Capitalism (boo) and cheer the arrival of Socialism (huzzah), there are a few more steps we need to take, mostly ridding ourselves of the parties that Marx described as 'the executive committee of the exploiting class' which translates in the 21st Century as politicians in the pocket of those with deep enough pockets to influence the political decision making process.
The bottom line is big companies don't make multi-million pound donations out of any political fervour or love of the political party, they expect something in return.
With that in mind, the Conservative Party held a fund raising Party with an invited list of about 570 of the country’s wealthiest people who paid £1,000 each to gain access to David Cameron and senior Conservative cabinet members and seated with ministers whose portfolios were relevant to the diners financial interests.
According to the seating list leaked to the Guardian newspaper, Iain Duncan Smith who is overseeing welfare cuts, was seated with directors of payday loan company CLC Finance, the housing minister, Kris Hopkins, was seated with two of London’s top property executives and Michael Fallon, the energy minister, dined with directors of a offshore renewable energy firm.
Politicians raising funds by mixing with tycoons with a vested interest in certain areas cannot be healthy, we all remember how the tobacco advertising ban was suddenly put back a couple of years following the Formula One million pound donation to Tony Blair and the Labour Party a few years ago.  
The politicians will always claim to represent the masses but will always carry on like this with  those who can afford it buying influence and you can bet your last tin of beans from the food bank that the influence they are buying will not be beneficial to anyone but themselves. 
Marx was obviously right, the few do hold influence over the many, but we can't throw off our chains just yet because Capitalism has a few more recessions to go yet before enough people realise Capitalism is no friend of the poor and the people who prop it up do not give a rats about anyone or anything except profit making and their bank balance.
I suggest digging out a copy of the Marx book so you are up to speed when the whole house of cards comes fluttering down.

Aug 17 1946 - George Orwell Publishes Animal Farm

A post taking real life incidents from this day in history and my view of them as if they were happening today and what my honest view would have been then on that day ignoring hindsight or knowledge of how it ended.

Of all the political ideologies bandied around, it's Socialism that sounds the most attractive. Everyone equal and 'from each according to his ability, to each according to his need' as Karl Marx put it. 
The problem is with any ideology, it can become corrupted by having a power crazy megalomaniac at the top and George Orwell has come up with an amazing book that warns how even the best ideology can become corrupted and he has surprisingly used the setting of a farm.
Based on the Russian revolution and following through to the modern day Stalin era, he cleverly uses the farm animals and the farm itself as the staging for the uprising against Farmer Jones and the pigs' rise to pre-eminence which mirrors the rise of Stalin.
If you know the story of the Bolsheviks and the overthrow of the monarchy, the idea that 'all animals are equal' which slowly becomes corrupted into 'all animals are equal, but some are more equal than others' parallelling the perverting of the Marxist theory which the revolution was based upon.
Powerful writing and undoubtedly it will not see light of day in the Soviet Union but Orwell beautifully weaves real life events into a fantasy setting and warns in large letters that any ideology, even one as appealing as Socialism where everyone is supposedly equal, can be twisted and corrupted in the wrong hands.  

Was Jesus A Champagne Socialist?

Indiana Jones and the Monty Python team went looking but failed to find it but the Holy Grail has turned up in a Spanish Church.
Curators have now been were forced to remove the cup from display after crowds swarmed there after historians claimed it was the gold and onyx cup encrusted with precious stones was the real thing.
The only time i have ever reached out to the Bible was to squash a damsel fly but unless i am very much mistaken, Jesus was an out of work carpenter (no mention of him ever knocking up a dovetail joint) and had given up all his possessions as explained in rich men and the eye of the needle speech Why then would he or his friends have a cup made of gold and encrusted with jewels? Surely a chipped mug with 'Jesus's Tea, Hands Off' on it would be more in keeping with his station.
If Jesus and his chums did have a cup like this then they were obviously worth a bob or two. I'm beginning to have some serious doubts about the authenticity of this Bible you know.