People and societies who have put socialism into practice don’t have successful records to which they can point.
Many young Americans “judge capitalism by its operations and socialism by its hopes and aspirations; capitalism by its works and socialism by its literature. To this day, this error and its disastrous consequences are observable in the judgment and behavior of some impassioned individuals, mostly young”, writes Sidney Hook (1902-1989) was a philosopher at New York University who started out as a Marxist but later became a leading critic of communism.
Many young Americans perceive capitalism as failing to deliver economic security and upward mobility, especially compared to their parents’ generation. They often cite stagnant wages, rising costs of healthcare and education, and growing inequality as central issues.
Sidney Hook’s observation highlights a recurring tendency among young Americans to evaluate capitalism based on its real-world outcomes and observable operations, while judging socialism by its idealistic literature and aspirations.
He argues that such idealization leads to overlooking the practical problems and real world failings of socialism, while being unduly harsh on capitalism’s imperfections.
References:
- https://www.wsj.com/opinion/why-socialism-wins-in-new-york-66193c43
- https://news.gallup.com/poll/268766/socialism-popular-capitalism-among-young-adults.aspx