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Pocket Guide to Postmodernism
Socialism’s Response to Failure—A Change in Ethical Standard The only way for the collectivist Left to proceed was to take a more radical approach. First, socialist intellectuals distanced themselves from the eyesores: National Socialism in Germany under Hitler was not socialism, and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics under Stalin was not socialism. Neither were Castro’s Cuba, Pol Pot’s Cambodia, nor Mao’s China. Socialism had never really been practiced correctly anywhere in the world. “On paper,” it was argued, socialism works; it is nice, friendly, and based on kindergarten ethics—all we ask of people is to share or be sent to the naughty chair. Having absolved socialism of any wrongdoing through the actions of careless nations, the Left began a new strategy of increased criticism of capitalism. Previously, the main critique was that capitalism does not provide for the needs of its people. However, by the 1950s not only were socialist nations having that exact problem, capitalist nations provided for citizen’s needs so well that they became overweight, hedonistic, and too comfortable to be interested in a revolution. Thus, the target of criticism needed to change, and it did: from need to equality. The German social democrats took the lead in developing a new strategy. They would no longer criticize all business as exploitive and greedy. Instead, using their new ideal of equality, they would only criticize what they now called “big” business, corporations. Alongside this, socialists began applauding and seeking support of what was now called “small” business. These businesses were small and local,
