To the editor:
I have been learning much over these past couple years about both how capitalism and to a degree how socialism work. There are many sources that my newly acquired info comes from, most notably from Prof. Richard Wolff. You can find him online at www.democracyatwork.info.
In short, both systems can be defined and differentiated by the relationship workers have with their bosses. In a capitalistic society, there are fewer bosses/owners of companies/corporations than the workers who work for them. The bosses set the guidelines, hire and fire and tell the workers what to do more or less. They also decide what gets done with the products and surplus that the workers produce. In a socialistic society, the worker’s relationship with their boss is different.
A worker in this system has more of a say in how the company operates and what gets done with the surplus produced. A worker co-op is a fine example of this kind of system. Yes, there are still “bosses” in this system but the relationship between them and the workers is slightly different. Workers have more of a say in this system as to how the company runs etc. What happened in the old Soviet Union for example was not pure socialism. It was more attuned to what can be called “state-run capitalism”.
Instead of the owners being private citizens, the state stepped in to assume that role. This did not change the worker to boss relationship, it merely replaced one kind of boss for another. It seems many who speak of socialism nowadays do so in a way that isn’t quite as accurate as it could be.
Gene Jonas
Wilton