I tried to buy The ABCs of Socialism one time. I messed up and bought The ABCs of Capitalism instead. Doing the best I could with the situation, I read the pamphlets and wrote an overview. As it turned out, they’re a – decent, not great – socialist overview of capitalism.
This time I bought the real thing: The ABCs of Socialism, from Bhaskar Sunkara‘s Jacobin crew. Like much of what’s going on in the Jacobin world, it’s influential among many people in the social democratic-to-socialist left. And I think it has much to offer people in that camp.
From Liberalism to Progressivism to Socialism
The ABCs of Socialism starts with a distinction between socialism and ‘the government doing stuff.’ They’re two things conflated surprisingly often in U.S. political discourse. And this little book often sticks to the role of clearing up confusions. That’s much of why it’s more successful than The ABCs of Capitalism at reaching broad audiences without misstating socialism.
Michael A. McCarthy‘s discussion of taxation stands out as especially successful. He chronicles how even progressives tacitly accept libertarian assumptions about taxation – about how people earn their income and have an individual right to their pre-tax earnings. To counter this view, McCarthy argues that the very system of capitalism depends on the state. It needs the state to pass and enforce laws, build infrastructure, et al. Consequently, tax payments are payments for services rendered and not merely subsidies of other people.
Several other authors hit the theme of individual and collective freedom under socialism – something less often explored in introductory socialist texts. As they point out, socialism is a much freer system than capitalism. Many socialists know this, but we don’t show it often enough.
Marxism and The ABCs of Socialism
The ABCs of Socialism does – in places – have one problem in common with The ABCs of Capitalism. It’s good at explaining complicated ideas in uncomplicated ways, but it’s bad at explaining Marxist ideas in uncomplicated ways. For one example, some of the essays, e.g., Sunkara’s essay, use Marxist terms, e.g., ‘exploitation’, incorrectly. Both books conflate surplus value and profit.
In the end, it’s not a huge issue. Most people don’t need a technical understanding of Marxist terms to participate in socialist movements. But if one can’t use the terms correctly, one should find different terms.
One thing Marxism brings to the table – and books like this miss – is that people remain exploited in the capitalist system even when the boss pays them the full value of their labor power. It’s this part of capitalism – for Marx – that makes it especially insidious and explains why many people find capitalism fair. Surplus value, in Marx’s view, is the difference between the value of one’s labor power and the value of the actual labor produced. Our labor power is worth, perhaps, $15/hour in the capitalist system, but it produces $20/hour worth of labor. Capitalists pay workers the full value of their labor power, and then they extract a larger amount of value from that labor power than its socially determined worth.
And there’s the sleight of hand. Overcoming it is a key entry point to socialism.
