Michael, This is really excellent!! It accords with my own sense that socialism is a mixed economy that excludes capitalism. All investments are public, priorities debated in elections. Ownership a mix of cooperatives, nationalization, municipal, state , some family farms and restaurants, with strict limits on employment of non family members for the latter sector.
In answer then to Mark, if we can get the ear of today's activists and pro-socialist public, I would say that we need to see socialism as a series of steps - first yes, Medicare for all, then public health care. Strengthening of unions by repeal of Taft-Hartley. Organize around a Constitutional amendment for delegation - voters can vote regularly on issues and Representativs must abide by their wishes, recall vote, and lowering salaries of public officials to what decently paid professionals make and no more. A second amendment democratizes how corporations run. Public banking, with priority to finance workers cooperatives. Training available through newly funded community colleges for those cooperatives. Municipal ownership of sports teams (thank you Michael for mentioning that!), and other services. Making internet search engines and platforms public utilities. A federal job guarantee , a green new deal for reviving manufacturing, and no firing without just cause, and later by a two-thirds vote of colleagues. A guaranteed income for all, with requirements to work a minimum equivalent to 20 hours a week 48 weeks per year, using online public platforms for job seekers to meet now public or cooperative employers. So we fight for first things first, what can be won now - Medicare for all, Mamdani's supermarkets, etc. But we keep in everyone's mind the other things we want down the road, and not way down the road either. And we frame workers control and ownership as the modern means to realize Jeffersonian democracy's ideal of a republic in which everyone had a livelihood not dependent on the goodwill of another, as republicanism calls for. -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Groups.io Links: You receive all messages sent to this group. View/Reply Online (#39477): https://groups.io/g/marxmail/message/39477 Mute This Topic: https://groups.io/mt/116410536/21656 -=-=- POSTING RULES & NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly & permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. #4 Do not exceed five posts a day. -=-=- Group Owner: [email protected] Unsubscribe: https://groups.io/g/marxmail/leave/13617172/21656/1316126222/xyzzy [[email protected]] -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
