Mr. Higgs' premise and definitions are slightly skewed. (Try to follow me here.....)
The "legendary" definition of socialism: * "Date: 1837. From Latin socialis for "friend" or "companion" or "associate". Any of various economic and political theories advocating collective or governmental ownership and administration of the means of production and distribution of goods; usually there is no private property; in Marxist theory this is also considered just a transitional stage between capitalism and communism and it is distinguished by unequal distribution of goods and pay according to work done."* The above definition is by Mr. John Spargo, from his work titled: "*Socialism, A Summary And Interpretation Of Socialist Principles*" (McMillan & Co. 1913). Below is the Wiki definition, which is quite similar. * "Any of various economic and political theories advocating collective or governmental ownership and administration of the means of production and distribution of goods. A stage of society in Marxist theory transitional between capitalism and communism and distinguished by unequal distribution of goods and pay according to work done"* ============= The definition of fascism is the proverbial "mixed bag"; with numerous entities and individuals attempting to define the political theory and concept. In general, most I believe, including Higgs, woudl agree that: *"Fascism advocates a state-controlled and regulated mixed economy; the principal economic goal of fascism is to achieve national self-sufficiency and independence, sometimes through protectionist and interventionist economic policies. Fascism promotes regulated private enterprise and private property contingent whenever beneficial to the nation and state enterprise and state property whenever necessary to protect its interests"* *See* Blamires, Cyprian, *World Fascism: a Historical Encyclopedia, Volume 1 * (Santa Barbara, California: ABC-CLIO, Inc., 2006) p. 188-189. Therefore, when Higgs says: *"Socialism is a system in which all the major means of production are owned and operated by the state. Except perhaps for small firms or farms, all productive enterprises are state enterprises. All natural resources belong to the state. All resources are allocated and employed as the state dictates, insofar as its dictates can actually be carried out in practice (all such systems display much slack between orders given and actual conduct on the ground, owing to corruption and attempts to “fix”flaws embedded in the state’s overall plan)."* Mr. Higgs is not defining and describing "Socialism" or "Facisim", Higgs, even by his own reluctant admission, is defning "Communism" under Marxist theorem. Therefore, the premise of Mr. Higgs' whole article is flawed, and baseless. -- Thanks for being part of "PoliticalForum" at Google Groups. For options & help see http://groups.google.com/group/PoliticalForum * Visit our other community at http://www.PoliticalForum.com/ * It's active and moderated. Register and vote in our polls. * Read the latest breaking news, and more.
