Rhetorical question and a rather silly one at that.
Leftism is a new term to me. Does it imply being supportive of socialism in a free society?
Or, are you suggesting this term implies card carrying Communist?
You’re kidding! The right routinely calls Democrats “leftists”. ([Edit:] OH!!! I see now you’re from Australia!) When they say it they mean anyone who is not politically as far right as they are. To them, a centrist like Biden is a “leftist” and sometimes “a communist”!
East Germany under Communism was not free. The wall was to keep people in, not to prevent people from entering the country. It was an impoverished economy before the wall came down so why would anyone want to travel there after that unless it was to buy property cheaply and seek economic opportunities.
I would guess that some West Germans may have grabbed any economic opportunities that freedom delivered.
However, I maintain that communism and socialism are not the same thing at all.
You’re right. But here’s something to be clear on and a trap to avoid: Many unaware, uninformed people use the word “communism” to mean either of two very, . . . . in fact, ENTIRELY, different things. First, someone will use it to refer to communist theory, policies, strategies, and ideology, usually of a communist party, or of a society over which a “communist party” rules with their policies, ideology, etc.
That’s one. Ideology. Politics. Strategies.
The other one that people sometimes refer to is
communist society. And that is a society that emerges naturally from a couple of centuries of socialist society (theoretically) and it is characterized by utilizing and having no money/currency, having no classes, and having no state “machine” to enforce or regulate anything. It only would have a skeleton of a state dedicated mostly to clerical duties of record-keeping and publishing of useful data like production statistics. So when you hear someone refer to a “communist state” you know they don’t know the first thing about which they speak.
Thing is, in any conversation of the uninformed, you will often be able to detect a mindless switching back and forth from use of “communism” to first mean one, and then the other, and they have no idea what they’re doing. That kind of mindlessness is a good indication that you’re seeing or hearing propaganda being mindlessly spread.
I do not understand why the word 'socialism' puts the fear of the Almighty into so many people's minds. It does not mean that people lose personal freedom but it does require everyone to shoulder some responsibility for their less well off fellow citizens, depending on our ability to do so.
Good point indeed! You could say that socialism is just the end of greed by owners of the larger corporations, too!
Here’s what motivates socialist: You could list our top dozen major national problems and a socialist can tell you how capitalism caused the problem and why capitalism cannot and does not solve the problem even after decades and decades. Only the end of private profit can make it possible to solve them.
