Konzervatívny inštitút M. R. Štefánika organizoval ďalšiu z cyklu prednášok Conservative Economic Quarterly Lecture Series /CEQLS/.

1. SOCIALISM
THE FAILED IDEA THAT NEVER
DIES
DR KRISTIAN NIEMIETZ
HEAD OF POLITICAL ECONOMY, IEA

4. “COMMUNISM COULD HAVE WORKED IF
IT HAD BEEN BETTER EXECUTED.”
-Number Crunch
Politics (2018)
0
10
20
30
40
50
18-24 25-34 35-44
Agree Disagree Neither/Don't know

5. “DO YOU HAVE A FAVOURABLE OR AN
UNFAVOURABLE OPINION OF SOCIALISM?”
0
10
20
30
40
50
18-24 25-49 50-65
Favourable Unfavourable Not sure
-YouGov (2016)

6. % WITH A FAVOURABLE OPINION OF
SOCIALISM/COMMUNISM/MARXISM
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
50
Generation Z Millennials Generation X Boomers
Socialism Communism -Victims of Communism Foundation
&

7. % WHO ARE LIKELY TO VOTE FOR A
CANDIDATE WHO SELF-IDENTIFIES AS A
SOCIALIST
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
Generation Z Millennials Generation X Boomers
-Victims of Communism
Foundation &

8. SOCIALISM SELLS

9. THE MEDIA HYPE AROUND SOCIALISM

11. SOCIALISM ≠ SOCIAL DEMOCRACY
• “[S]ocial democracy […] left capital structurally dominant. […]
[C]apitalists were able to hold democratic governments hostage
[…] Social democracy is a step in the right direction, then, but
ultimately not enough”
• Bhaskar Sunkara (DSA & Jacobin), ‘The Socialist Manifesto’
• “Today, the radical left […] is calling not for social democracy
but for democratic socialism. […] [T]he former means the
taxation and regulation of private enterprise, while the latter
means the democratic ownership of most large corporations
and financial institutions.”

12. NEVER BEEN TRIED?
• “There hasn’t been a shred of socialism in the Soviet
Union.”
• Noam Chomsky
• “A socialist society […] doesn’t exist yet”
• Owen Jones
• “While it is true that a number of political projects
have labelled themselves communist […] the
aspiration was [not] accurate”
• Aaron Bastani

13. THE SOVIET UNION

14. “We may perhaps sum up the
Constitution of the U.S.S.R. by
emphasizing its reliance on the
widest possible participation of the
whole adult population in the
public business, which includes
the planned control of the
whole social environment [...]

15. “[E]veryone acted as though the
general good was his personal
good […]
[I]n America, […] the worker […]
had no real voice in the
management of the national
economy […] Here the “average
man” felt himself master of

16. “[F]or the first time in history
the common man feels that the
country belongs to him and not
the privileged class that are his
masters. […] [T]he Marxian ideal
of a classless society […] has
been realized”

17. “Those workers up there,
carelessly dressed, coatless and
collarless […] those workers,
and men like them are running
the new Russia”
Corliss Lamont, American philosopher

18. “…talking and laughing as they
worked, evidently enjoying
themselves. […]
It was difficult to believe that this
was indeed a prison”
-Mary Callcott Stevenson,
American author

19. “In England a delinquent enters
[prison] as an ordinary man and
comes out a ‘criminal type’,
whereas in Russia he enters […] as
a criminal type and would come out
an ordinary man but for the
difficulty of inducing them to come
out at all.”

20. MAOIST CHINA

21. “The people seem healthy, well fed and
articulate about their role as citizens of
Chairman Mao’s new China […]
The Maoist revolution is on the whole
the best thing that happened to the
Chinese people in centuries.”
-John Fairbank, American historian

22. “[T]hey are not free to change
residence or job, but in spite of that
[…] the Chinese masses seem to enjoy
a greater measure of control over
those agencies that directly affect their
daily lives than do most Western city
workers”
-Arthur Galston, American scientist and bioethicist

23. “[The certainty of success […]
dominates the Chinese mood today.
Their accomplishments assume
dreamlike proportions in the cold light
of an American day. They virtually have
eliminated many […] social problems”
-Carol Tavris, American social psychologist

24. “There is no trace of alienation in
China, nor of those neuroses or that
inner disintegration of the individual
found in the parts of the world
dominated by consumerism. The
Chinese world is compact, integrated,
an absolute whole.”
-Maria Macciocchi, Italian journalist & politician

25. “[The regime is] authoritarian only
towards a minority – a minority
who are not workers or peasants.
[…]
China’s successes are being
achieved […] by the voluntary and
even enthusiastic effort of most of
the people”

26. “It was not hard […] to
understand the deep affection
men feel for this man […] All
men – intellectuals, peasants,
merchants – regard Mao as the
symbol of their deliverance, the
man who […] raised their
burdens”

27. •“[L]ife in China today is
exceptionally pleasant. […]
Plenty of fond dreams are
authorized by the idea of a
country […] where generals and
statesmen are scholars and
poets”

28. “A revolutionary regime must get rid of
a certain number of individuals that
threaten it and I see no other means
for this than death; it is always
possible to get out of a prison”
-Jean Paul Sartre

30. NORTH KOREA

31. “All the economic miracles of the
postwar world are put in the shade by
these achievements […]
The outward signs of a "cult" are very
marked […] But Prime Minister Kim II
Sung seems to function as a messiah
rather than a dictator”

32. “Here in Korea we have found a people
who have laid the foundations of
communism and who are now rushing […]
to transform their society into an earthly
paradise […]
[W]e will tell the American people of the
glorious victories of […] socialist
revolution”

33. “…a decent society in which equality of
goods, services and opportunities
prevails. […] [E]veryone enjoys a
certain richness of life. […]
a society which is democratic in the
ultimate meaning of the word –
economic and social democracy which
can only emanate from the end of

34. “The realisation that
everything belongs to
everyone is truly
overwhelming; and the
experience that money really
plays no role puts the

35. CAMBODIA UNDER THE
KHMER ROUGE

36. “[T]he people rose, freed themselves,
threw out the intruders […] and began
to clear up the mess. […] Then
crocodile tears poured forth in the
West. The brothel has been emptied
and the clean-up is in progress. Only
pimps can regret what is happening.”
-Per Olov Enquist, Swedish author and journalist
-

37. “City dwellers who once lived in villas
with servants do find the food a bit
meager. But the co-operative
guarantees food for all. […]
[T]he new society […] turn the dreams
of a poor peasant into reality”
-Jan Myrdal, Swedish author

38. “We had learned already about all
these achievements […] but it was
even more illuminating to see [them]
with our own eyes […]
[A] people who rely on their own
strength and means can score
wonderful feats.”
-Gunnar Bergström, Swedish activist

39. “[A]nalyses by highly qualified
specialists who have studied the full
range of evidence available […]
concluded that executions have
numbered at most in the thousands
[…]
These reports also emphasize […]
repeated discoveries that massacre

40. “[A]part from the execution of high-
ranking army officers and officials, the
killing […] was instigated by untrained
and vengeful local Khmer Rouge
soldiers, despite orders to the contrary
from Phnom Penh. […] Most of the
brutality shown by local Khmer Rouge
soldiers is attributable to lack of
training”

41. “[O]nly the most serious
criminals were executed”
-Malcolm Caldwell, lecturer at the
School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS)

42. VENEZUELA

43. •“Venezuela is an inspiration to the
world, it really does show that there is
an alternative.”
•“Under Chávez, the poor have become
a political power that cannot be
ignored […] [H]e has proved it is
possible to […] [break] with neo-
liberal dogma.”

44. “Venezuela and its Latin
American allies have
demonstrated that it’s no longer
necessary to accept a failed
economic model, as many social
democrats in Europe still do.”
-Seumas Milne

45. “Chavez […] showed us
that there is a different,
and a better way of doing
things. It’s called
socialism”
-Jeremy Corbyn

46. “Venezuela is seriously conquering
poverty by emphatically rejecting
[…] Neo Liberal policies […]
As with Cuba the threat to the USA
by Venezuela is […] a threat by
example of what social justice can
achieve.”
-Jeremy Corbyn

47. “[W]hat’s so exciting about
[…] Venezuela is that I can
see how a better world is
being created […]
The transformations that
Venezuela is making
toward the creation of
another socio-economic
model could have a global
impact.”
-Noam Chomsky (2007)
“I never described
Chávez’s state
capitalist government
as ‘socialist’ or even
hinted at such an
absurdity. It was quite
remote from
socialism.”
-Noam Chomsky
(2017)

48. “[Chávez] lit a spark
that really started a
firebrand […]
Venezuela and the
Bolivarian Revolution
became an item on the
agenda for all socialists
[…] [H]ere you had the
contrast between
capitalism in crisis, and
socialism in action”
“I don’t think
[Venezuela] is a
socialist country. […] I
don’t think they have
been following […]
socialist policies […]
And as a result of that
they’re experiencing
problems.”
-John McDonnell (2018)

49. THE THREE STAGES OF SOCIALISM
The honeymoon
period
The denial-and-
whataboutery
period
The not-REAL-
socialism period

50. WHY SOCIALISM FAILS IN THE ECONOMIC
SPHERE
• Market prices collect and disseminate dispersed knowledge
• Competition = trial and error
• Exit > voice

51. WHY SOCIALISM LEADS TO
AUTHORITARIANISM
• Conflict between central planning and local autonomy
• No exit option
• Everything is everyone else’s business

52. WHY SOCIALISM IS INCOMPATIBLE WITH
DEMOCRACY
• Socialist planners handle colossal amounts of highly technical
information
• Even today: limits to democratic engagement
• Even today: limits to democratic accountability

53. WHY SOCIALISM NONETHELESS REFUSES TO
DIE
• Socialism makes intuitive sense
• Socialism is trendy and high-status
• Socialist define ‘real’ socialism in terms of outcomes, not
inputs
• Socialists treat unpleasant outcomes of socialism as merely a
matter of choice

54. WHO SAID
IT?
• "[C]ontrol by society [...] over [...] labor and
[...] consumption [...] must be exercised not
by a state of bureaucrats, but by a state of
armed workers.“
• "Instead of the special institutions of a
privileged officialdom [...], the majority
itself can directly fulfil all [the functions of
state power], and the more [these
functions] are performed by the people as a
whole, the less need there is for the
existence of this power.“
• "[I]t is quite possible, after the overthrow of
the capitalists and the bureaucrats, to
proceed immediately, overnight, to replace
them in the control over production and
distribution [...] by the armed workers, by

55. WHO SAID
IT?
• "[C]ontrol by society [...] over [...] labor and
[...] consumption [...] must be exercised not
by a state of bureaucrats, but by a state of
armed workers.“
• "Instead of the special institutions of a
privileged officialdom [...], the majority
itself can directly fulfil all [the functions of
state power], and the more [these
functions] are performed by the people as a
whole, the less need there is for the
existence of this power.“
• "[I]t is quite possible, after the overthrow of
the capitalists and the bureaucrats, to
proceed immediately, overnight, to replace
them in the control over production and
distribution [...] by the armed workers, by