Predictably, Doris Wrench Eisler has proposed socialism as the answer to society’s ills (St. Albert Gazette, Your Views, April 6).
Like her hero Marx, she makes the mistake of contrasting capitalist practice against socialist theory. I wonder what conclusion she would reach if she compared socialist practice with capitalist theory?
There is little, perhaps nothing at all, wrong with socialist theory, as far as it goes. It is the practical application of that theory that has caused untold suffering around the world.
To the extent that it succeeds, socialism requires central planning and regulation of behaviour, meanwhile overlooking or suppressing individual preferences and differences. Ironically, were it not for the same individual initiative that socialism tries to deny and suppress, a socialist economy would not advance but would gradually grind to a halt.
There are problems with our current system, but it works. Let’s fix the problems instead of adopting a system that does not and cannot work.
Dominic Willott, St. Albert
