On The Wonders Of A Marxist Utopia

A HEALTHY debate is always a good thing when done in a civil manner, so I would like to thank Aluteni, Kozonguizi and Basson for their reply posted in The Namibian on November 20 2009 to my reader’s letter. They are obviously well-read in Marxist ideology, and as I am a firm believer in freedom of speech and the rights granted under any democratic society to voice opinions, even wrongheaded ones, I welcome their rebuttal.

My appeal in this letter is not to Aluteni, Kozonguizi and Basson, who clearly have bought the Marxist lie ‘hook, line and sinker,’ but rather to careful readers of The Namibian who might be fooled by their arguments. In their rather lengthy letter, there is so much that is off base that it is difficult to write a rebuttal. However, I do share their desire to see the Namibian economy move forward. Still, I side with the historical perspective which has proven that a capitalist, democratic society will trump a Marxist one every time. In the words of Winston Churchill, ‘Democracy is the worst form of government, except for all the others that have been tried.’ A capitalist democracy does have ills that need to be addressed, and yet, those ills pale in comparison to the economic train wreck that Aluteni, Kozonguizi and Basson propose with their Marxist utopian society.I would like to note the methodology normally employed by Marxist apologists. First, it involves scare tactics. For example, in their diatribe against the clean and efficient use of nuclear power (which, by the way, is quite eco-friendly), they say: ‘Perhaps we should ask the people of Nagasaki and Hiroshima what they think about nuclear power before we go in that direction in this country.’Okay, let’s do precisely that. Japan is currently the third-largest user of nuclear power in the world with 53 nuclear reactors in the country. I guess the Japanese are big fans of nuclear power, despite what Aluteni, Kozonguizi and Basson want uninformed readers to think. I also note that Japan is the second largest economy in the world, and it is decidedly capitalist.Second, it involves the demonisation of successful capitalist societies. According to the World Bank, the United States has the largest economy in the world. In fact, it is three times as large as the next biggest economy and is even larger than the entire Eurozone combined. And it has stood as the single greatest opponent of Marxist ideology in the world. And yet, while trumpeting their desire for Namibia to become economically successful, Aluteni, Kozonguizi and Basson bash the greatest economic success story of the past century.Third, note how a Marxist talks about religion in the subtle jab the authors take in their letter. Marx believed that religion was a cancer that needed to be eradicated in order for his Marxist utopian world to materialise. In fact, true freedom of religion and Marxist ideology cannot co-exist. Just keep that in mind when you read Marxists like Aluteni, Kozonguizi and Basson. Don’t forget that they hate religion, and it is their type of society that has people knocking down your door and arresting you because you are, heaven forbid, religious.Fourth, Marxist apologists use selective data while ignoring the rest. For example, Aluteni, Kozonguizi and Basson say: ‘Capitalism only survives because of constant military intervention’ and ‘Capitalism only survives through violence.’On its face, these are incredible statements. Especially when one considers that the Marxist Soviet Union was incredibly militaristic and aggressive, invaded numerous nations around the globe in its quest for ‘utopia’ and ‘progress,’ and that Marxist regimes in the 20th century accounted for the genocide of at least 120 million people, even using modest estimates.The authors suffer from historical amnesia. However, in fairness, having a family live through the horrors of a Marxist society provides me with perspective that, perhaps, Aluteni, Kozonguizi and Basson lack.This is why historical perspective is so important in these discussions. Does it not occur to them that while they praise Marxism, the single largest experiment in it, the Soviet Union, no longer exists? In fact, it lasted a modest 70 years before it collapsed. And why did it collapse? Because a Marxist economy will eventually implode.Aluteni, Kozonguizi and Basson challenge me on the ‘facts,’ so my response to them will be full of facts. If anyone is not convinced by my argument that, all things being equal, a capitalist society is far better than a Marxist one, consider the example of Korea. In the past 56 years since the Korean War, we have had a perfect experiment in how Marxism and capitalism compare. Is there anyone in their right mind who would choose North Korea over South Korea? Would Aluteni, Kozonguizi and Basson honestly answer that they would prefer to live in North Korea? Somehow I doubt they’d opt for three-hour bread lines and the dark, dingy confines of a repressive regime over the open freedoms enjoyed by South Koreans under their capitalist structure. But perhaps I am wrong and they would gladly move to North Korea. If so, please don’t expect to write any letters to the editor there about how bad the government is, because you would have given up that freedom (along with dozens more) in submitting to a Marxist utopia like North Korea.If Namibia wants to become the next North Korea, just adopt the proposals of Aluteni, Kozonguizi and Basson. If they truly want economic growth in Namibia, their Marxism is the exact opposite direction we should take. South Korea ranks 15th in the world in gross domestic product (GDP), while North Korea is 89th. North Korea’s GDP is less than 3 per cent that of South Korea (7 per cent per capita). Marxism is just working wonders in North Korea, and evil capitalism is horrible for the living conditions of South Koreans. Yeah, right.As for using Cuba as a wonderful example, tell that to the countless Cubans who risk death (and many do die) fleeing that oppressive regime to get to, you guessed it, that evil capitalist country called America. (And by the way, there aren’t very many Cuban Americans who are looking to move back to Cuba anytime soon). It is due to a complete lack of historical perspective that the authors can use countries like Cuba, Venezuela and the Soviet Union as positive examples of economic prosperity and growth, while any list of best performing economies in the world reads like a capitalist Who’s Who. Per capita GDP for Venezuela ranks it 43rd in the world (Cuba is 91; their other example, Argentina, is ranked 55). Every single country on the list before Venezuela is a capitalist democracy, save for two oil-rich Arab nations. In other words, there is not a single Marxist country that ranks in the top 42 of the world’s strongest economies.Take the example of Germany after the Second World War. Where would you have rather lived, in the rebuilt and robust West Germany, or in the dirty, rundown confines of Marxist East Germany? Whenever a country has to build a wall to keep its citizens from running away, you know there is a problem. When the communist wall came down, it wasn’t the capitalist Germans scampering to get into the Marxist side of Germany. It was quite the other way around.The historical naïveté of people like Aluteni, Kozonguizi and Basson boils down to this: ‘Yes, Marxism has failed in other places, but that is because it wasn’t instituted properly. Yes, we see the countless examples of the failure of Marxism to create the utopian society promised by Marx, but that is only because the people before us weren’t smart enough to institute it properly. But we know better and can do better with it.’ Or, oddly enough, the rather lame argument they used in their last letter, Marxism failed because capitalism didn’t let it succeed. Can you imagine a more pathetic excuse for failure? I’m siding with the winning system, how about you?Marxism, simply put, does not work, full stop. And incredibly, after failure upon failure upon miserable failure, people like Aluteni, Kozonguizi and Basson still think it is a good system to use, just so long as we do it their way. I warn the careful reader to not fall for such arguments. Marxism fails because it is a faulty economic and political ideology. While capitalism continues to thrive in the world and its citizens enjoy the highest standards of living, as every meaningful statistic supports.Marxists promise that everything will be free, then they turn around and take away our freedoms. And this they call progress. Beware of someone trying to sell you a Marxist utopian society. Such commodities don’t exist. Victor KuliginWindhoekNote: It has been an interesting debate between Kozonguizi, Aluteni et. al, and Kuligin but the contributions are lengthy and space must be allowed for other contributions. I would suggest that the parties meet and take their discussion further, and I would happily provide both with contact details of the other if they’d like to pursue the contact. The argument has been mature on both sides and mirrors what our democracy should be about! Please let me know if I should facilitate an e-mail address exchange. – Ed