Winston Churchill
said, “Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it.” With the rising
popularity of socialist/communist ideology, Americans would do well to
learn from history and not have to learn the hard way, by experience, the
destructive fruit of socialism.
Wherever socialism
has been tried, it has miserably failed, including right here on American soil.
The Pilgrims, who established the first English settlement in New England in 1620, at
first attempted a socialist/communist style of living in which everyone was
equal. They disbanded it, however, when starvation overtook them and it became
obvious that their community could not survive with such a system.
I have delineated
below four hard lessons the Pilgrims learned from their experience with
socialism.
They Learned the
Hard Way that Socialism Doesn’t Work
In the New World,
members of the Pilgrim community owned no private property. They worked and
farmed land owned by the community. Everything earned from farming, fishing and
hunting went into a common fund from which each family received an allotment for
their sustenance. They were all equal.
They were a socialist
commune, and any excess funds were used to pay off the debt they had incurred
for the rental of the Mayflower and supplies for the journey.
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 Drawn from
Bradford’s own account, here are four important lessons that the contemporary
Democratic Socialists would do well to learn.
Under this
socialist system, everyone received the same compensation for their work. This
meant that 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. This socialist system destroyed
initiative, innovation, and entrepreneurship, and almost destroyed the Pilgrim
community.
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 be slack since
they knew they would receive the same no matter how hard they worked.
For the same
reason, the women often refused go to the fields to work, complaining of
sickness and headaches. With no individual reward tied to their labor, everyone
gave their least effort. Irresponsibility became obvious throughout the community.
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, which led to very serious
complications and lack throughout the community.
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/socialism had obviously extinguished the fires
of creativity and innovation.
They Experience
the Blessing of Free Enterprise
When it became
obvious their community could not survive, Bradford and the leaders of the
colony decided to dispense with their communistic system, and in its place they
implemented a free entrepreneurial system that included private ownership of
property. They divided the land giving each family their own plot to work and
farm (Hyatt, 1726: The Year that
Defined America, 23-26).
Bradford said
there was an immediate change. Everyone now began giving it their best because
they now knew they would personally benefit according to their own labors. Even
the women were now seen going into the fields to work, taking the children with
them, because they knew they and their family would personally benefit.
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. And they were able to quickly pay their creditors.
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 (Hyatt,
1726: The Year that Defined America,
23-26).
The Lessons are
Clear
The lessons from
history about socialism/communism are clear. If we desire the best for the
greatest number of people, then we must reject this current naïve fascination
with socialism and contend for the free entrepreneurial system that has given
America the most powerful economy in the history of the world.
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 America’s Reawakening.
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