Explaining Postmodernism: Skepticism and Socialism from Rousseau to Foucault (Expanded Edition)

by Stephen R.C. Hicks

Classical Marxist socialism made four major claims: 1. Capitalism is exploitative: The rich enslave the poor; it is brutally competitive domestically and imperialistic internationally. 2. Socialism, by contrast, is humane and peaceful: People share, are equal, and cooperative. 3. Capitalism is ultimately less productive than socialism: The rich get richer, the poor get poorer; and the ensuing class conflict will cause capitalism’s collapse in the end. 4. Socialist economies, by contrast, will be more productive and usher in a new era of prosperity. These propositions were first enunciated by socialists in the nineteenth century, and repeated often into the twentieth before disaster struck. The disaster was that all four of socialism’s claims were refuted both in theory and in practice.