On Fri, 26 Jul 1996, Andrew W. Austin wrote:
>
> A socialist society, if structured correctly, would have no centralized
> state. Socialist democracy is decentralized, stateless, and classless. If
> the world was comprised of autonomous socialist communities then the need
> for one world government would be rather absent, I think. At least I hope.
>
> Andy
>
Dear Andy,
This is one vision of socialism, the vision of William Morris in "News
from Nowhere." It may well be the telos of socialist evolution, although
I see no reason why a socialist society need be decentralized, if the
people choose otherwise. But meanwhile there simply has to be a
transitional regime of global governance, to clean up the planet,
redistribute wealth, dismantle national armed forces, and dispossess the
old ruling and profiting elites. Will that regime be a lovely idyllic
commonwealth of handsome lads and winsome maids, a la Morris? No. Will
it make mistakes? Yes. Will it go wrong, and maybe horribly wrong, from
time to time? Yes. I am not talking about utopia here, but a world in
which we confront real dragons and really slay them. In the process we
will frequently screw up, because we are human, all too human. Does the
"example" of the Soviet Union mean we will make a complete mess of almost
everything? Well, in history there are no examples. Nothing ever happens
exactly the same way twice. All we can do is grit our teeth and do our
best. Signing off for the week,
Warren