The election of Zohran Mamdani as the Democrat nominee for mayor of New York City, has set off a firestorm of controversy. Although he calls himself a “Social Democrat,” his statements carry a ring of Marxism. For example, he has called for eliminating private property ownership, and in its place, implementing government-run housing for everyone. He has also called for a government-run chain of grocery stores. These and other statements have led to many, including Donald Trump, to warn that he is a communist.
Winston Churchill
said, “Those who do not learned from history are doomed to repeat it.” If he is
to push forward with his proposals, Mamdani and his supporters will have to
ignore the long history of socialism’s failures. In fact, everywhere
socialism/communism has been tried, it has utterly failed, including right here
on American soil.
Before the old
Soviet Union, Cuba, and Venezuela, the Pilgrims, who established Plymouth
Colony in New England in the fall of 1620, at first attempted a socialist/communist
style of living. They disbanded it, however, when it became obvious that their
community could not survive with such a system.
Socialism
Forced on Them
The Pilgrim’s
journey to America was funded by a group of venture capitalists who provided
the ship and supplies for their journey to the New World. In return, the
Pilgrims agreed to live communally with no private property until the debt was
paid. Everyone would receive the same compensation for their work, with
everything above their basic necessities going into a common fund to be used to
pay their creditors.
In other words,
there was no inequality. Income produced by farming, fishing, and fur trading
would be spread around and evenly divided among members of the community. There
was only one economic class of people in this system.
William Bradford,
who served as governor of Plymouth for many years, told of the challenges of
this socialist system and how it almost destroyed their community (Hyatt, 1726:The Year that Defined America,
23-26). Drawn from Bradford’s account, here are four important lessons that
Mamdani would do well to learn.
Lesson
#1
Socialism Destroys Initiative and Innovation
Under this
socialist system, everyone received the same compensation for their work. No
matter how hard or how little they worked, all received the same income. With
no reward tied to their labor, initiative was destroyed, and everyone put forth
their least effort.
Why work and dream
when you are trapped in a socialist system that mandates equality of outcome
for everyone? This socialist system destroyed initiative, innovation, and entrepreneurship,
and almost destroyed the Pilgrim community.
Lesson
#2
Socialism Fosters Irresponsibility
Young men,
Bradford said, resented getting paid the same as older men when they did so
much more of the work. As a result, they tended to slouch and slack since they
knew they would receive the same no matter how hard they worked.
Knowing they would
receive the same no matter how hard or how little they worked, the women often
refused go to the fields to work, complaining of sickness and headaches. To
have compelled them to go, Bradford said, would have been considered tyranny
and oppression.
With no individual
reward tied to their labor, everyone gave their least effort. Irresponsibility
became obvious throughout the community, and many became gripped with a sense
of hopelessness.
Lesson
#3
Socialism Extinguishes Hope and Generates Strife
This socialist
system led to a widespread sense of hopelessness. With everyone locked into a
closed economic system, there was nothing individuals or families could do to
improve their personal lot. Feeling caught in a trap, bickering and strife
began to emerge.
The older men,
Bradford said, felt they deserved more honor and recompense because of their
age and resented getting paid the same as the youngsters in their midst. The
young men, on the other hand, resented getting paid the same as the older men
when they often did more of the work.
This sense of
hopelessness and the ensuing strife drained energy and discouraged innovative
thinking and led to very serious complications for the community.
Lesson
#4
Socialism is Incompatible with Human Nature
Bradford believed
that socialism did not work because it runs counter to human nature as created
by God. In Scripture, God rewards individuals for their labor and good works.
Capitalism works because it is compatible with the reality of human nature and the
world in which we live.
I will never
forget visiting eastern Europe shortly after the fall of the Soviet Empire. I
was struck by the grey, drab environment. Even the buildings seemed so plain,
flat and lackluster. Communism had obviously extinguished the fires of creativity
and innovation.
To
Survive, They Had to Change
When it became
obvious that lack and perhaps starvation would be their lot, Bradford and the
leaders of the colony decided to make a change. After much prayer and
discussion, they dispensed with that part of the agreement with their creditors
that required them to live communally until their debt was paid. In its place,
they implemented a free entrepreneurial system that included private ownership
of property (Hyatt, 1726:
The Year that Defined America, 23-26).
They
Experience the Blessing of Free Enterprise
According to
Bradford, they divided the land around them, allotting to each family a certain
portion that would be theirs to work and use for their own needs. Bradford said
there was an immediate change. The young men began to work much harder because
they now knew they would eat the fruit of their own labors.
There were no more
complaints from the older men for the same reason. And now the women were seen
going into the fields to work, taking the children with them, because they knew
they and their family would personally benefit.
Instead of lacking
food, each family now grew more food than they needed, and they began to trade
with one another for furnishings, clothes and other goods. They also had enough
excess to trade with the Natives for furs and other items. In short, the colony
began to prosper when they got rid of their socialist form of government and
implemented a free, entrepreneurial system. Of their experience with socialism,
Bradford wrote,
This
community [socialism] was found to breed much confusion and discontent and
retard much employment that would have been to their benefit and comfort . . .
and showed the vanity of that conceit of Plato’s, and applauded by some of
later times, that the taking away of property and bringing in community into a
commonwealth would make them happy and flourishing; as if they were wiser than
God (Hyatt, 1726: The Year
that Defined America, 23-26).
Compassionate
Capitalism
Once they embraced
a free entrepreneurial system, the Pilgrims had no poor in their midst because
they were both an innovative and a compassionate people. As
Christians of the Reformation, they sought to live out the words of Jesus to
“love your neighbor as yourself” and they generously assisted those who
suffered loss through sickness or death.
Theirs was a voluntary
charity rooted in the teachings of Jesus, not something imposed by a
centralized, authoritarian government. Capitalism, undergirded by a vibrant
Christianity, is what made America the most powerful and prosperous nation in
human history and is the key to her future prosperity.
The lessons from
history are clear about socialism. They serve as a flashing red light warning anyone moving in that direction to STOP now! If, therefore, we desire the best for the greatest number
of people, then we must reject Mamdani’s vision of a government-mandated
socialist system for New York City and America.
This article was
derived from Dr. Eddie Hyatt’s books, 1726: The Year that Defined America and The Pilgrims,
both available from Amazon and his website at www.eddiehyatt.com.
His latest book, just released, is entitled The Book that Made America Great.
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