Question

After the end of the Cold War there has been a rising belief that Socialism is a dead ideology. Explain why (2 p) and argue either for or against this claim. Is socialism a dead or a dying ideology in 2020? Support your argument with at least two examples

Answer 1

No, I personally do not agree that socialism is dead or even close to dying in 2020. Let me explain why.

It is true that socialism was considered done and dusted post the fall of the soviet union in 1991. It is also true that there was no doubt that Capitalism had triumphed over socialism as an ideology. In fact, Capitalism is still the main economic ideology across the world (even including China, which is a in fact a mostly capitalist economy under the garb of communism). It is also true that almost all of the socialism experiments, especially the ones which go to the extreme (such as Venezuela) have failed miserably.

But that still doesn’t mean that socialism is dead in 2020. In fact, as an idea, it has increased its appeal again recently in the western world. The younger generation, dismayed by the decline in opportunities and looking at what they consider an increasingly unequal society, once again looks towards socialism as an ideology that can alleviate these problems. A demographic which is more heterogeneous but feels (correctly or incorrectly) that wealth is concentrated in the hands of one section of society- blames this on capitalism and sees socialism as obvious solution to that.

Two examples, as asked, that would prove this beyond doubt are the following-

· Bernie Sanders, a self declared socialist, almost clinched the nomination of the Democratic party Presidential Candidate. And he did that twice (2016 and 2020). In fact, he carried more states in 2020. So it shows that the idea of socialism is definitely not dead and many people support it. This was unimaginable just 10-15 years back that a socialist could sway so many voters in the US.

· There are a few countries in western Europe which are avowedly socialist in their policies. These include countries such as Netherlands and Sweden etc. They have high tax rates which keep increasing as one goes higher in earning and also have free healthcare and subsidized public transport etc.

So from the above two examples we can see that socialism is definitely not dying in 2020.