"When a Marxist or a socialist who is confronted with the humanitarian record of the Soviet Union says, “Well, that wasn’t real socialism,” what they’re really saying is, “Well, if I had been in charge instead of Stalin, then I would have ushered in the socialist utopia because I truly know what socialism is and how it should be implemented.”
When I hear this, I don’t listen as someone who is already convinced of the errors of socialism. Instead, I try to imagine myself again as that earnest young socialist. And what I hear isn’t a knockdown argument, but rather, a question-begging and bad-faith piece of rhetoric.
I think to myself:
Well, that’s a terrible argument, because the whole point is that socialism precludes there even being a Stalin in the first place! I wouldn’t want to be “in charge” of the revolution instead of Stalin or Mao or whoever. And no socialist worthy of the attribution would! The whole point is that no one person should be in charge, as all political and economic decision-making is to be devolved to the majoritarian verdict of the proletariat, to the workers who democratically control all industries. Any representatives who preside over centralized councils are to be held immediately accountable to their industrial constituents. So no. When I say, "That wasn’t real socialism," I’m not saying I would want to be a benign Stalin. I’m saying the very fact that there was a Stalin in the first place is sufficient proof that it wasn’t real socialism!"
https://fee.org/articles/that-wasnt-real-socialism-a-better-way-to-respond-to-the-claim/
When I hear this, I don’t listen as someone who is already convinced of the errors of socialism. Instead, I try to imagine myself again as that earnest young socialist. And what I hear isn’t a knockdown argument, but rather, a question-begging and bad-faith piece of rhetoric.
I think to myself:
Well, that’s a terrible argument, because the whole point is that socialism precludes there even being a Stalin in the first place! I wouldn’t want to be “in charge” of the revolution instead of Stalin or Mao or whoever. And no socialist worthy of the attribution would! The whole point is that no one person should be in charge, as all political and economic decision-making is to be devolved to the majoritarian verdict of the proletariat, to the workers who democratically control all industries. Any representatives who preside over centralized councils are to be held immediately accountable to their industrial constituents. So no. When I say, "That wasn’t real socialism," I’m not saying I would want to be a benign Stalin. I’m saying the very fact that there was a Stalin in the first place is sufficient proof that it wasn’t real socialism!"
https://fee.org/articles/that-wasnt-real-socialism-a-better-way-to-respond-to-the-claim/