We continue our journey through Engels’ “Principle of Communism” with the application of a core tenet of Communism: collectivism. To wit, measure (v):
An equal obligation on all members of society to work until such time as private property has been completely abolished. Formation of industrial armies, especially for agriculture.
Engels, “Principles of Communism:
Now this one is going to be another stretch, but I believe I can show the link. In astronomy, observations of distant objects or phenomena are often made not by direct observation, but by looking for the effect of the object on surrounding space. This is the tack I will take here: while we won’t be able to see this spelled out in the Democrat platform, we can certainly see its effect on policies within the document. For example:
“Federal contractors should be required to develop and disclose plans to recruit and promote people of color, women, LGBTQ+ people, people with disabilities, and veterans—and be held accountable for delivering.”
“Democrats will make major investments in quality, affordable child care…by boosting funding for grants to states to help low-income and middle-class families afford child care.”
“[Democrats] will improve compensation and benefits for child care providers and enact universal, high-quality pre-K programs for three- and four-year-olds.”
“Democrats will increase wages and benefits for paid caregivers in all settings, which will improve working conditions and quality of care while enabling family members to rejoin the workforce.”
“We will make it easier for new and beginning farmers, aquaculture farmers, ranchers, and foresters, including returning veterans, to start and grow their operations by expanding U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) ownership and operating loan programs.”
All of these policies mention or are influenced by the idea that everyone needs to work. While that might seem like a good thing on the surface (universal employment is a dream on both sides of the political aisle), look at the measures used to implement that dream: instead of letting market forces dictate employment, Democrats intend to rig the system in an attempt to create jobs: force farmers into collective bargaining arrangements with their workers, pouring funding into grants and loans, artificially forcing wages upward (presumably through a federal minimum wage), getting themselves involved in Human Resource decisions with “diversity” mandates, and so forth.
The Soviets tried this numerous times between 1920 and 1991: unemployment was illegal. In fact, in some Socialist-leaning former Soviet countries (particularly Belarus), it’s actually still illegal to be unemployed. Entire state-run industries and businesses were created out of thin air solely to give people somewhere to work; what they were employed to do was a secondary concern. Construction was a frequent well for the Soviets to visit, as well as mining and agriculture (Stalin’s collective farm experiments spring immediately to mind). None of them succeeded in employing every worker who was able to work, and the vast majority of them actually cost the state money; they rarely, if ever, produced more than they took in. Even in a command economy there are market forces at work, and not one single Communist regime in history has managed to grasp and master that concept. China has perhaps been the most successful at not failing outright, but at the cost of accepting and implementing at least some free market principles; periodic crackdowns hamper the success of even that concession as market segments take off and endanger state control.
So, Democrats will continue to press for universal employment, but not for the reason that more Capitalist-minded people think, and not with the methods that have been proven throughout history to work better at employing the majority of people at the highest wages the market can support. The Democrats are motivated by increasing their control over the economy with the ultimate goal of implementing their Marxist utopia and forcing Capitalism off the world stage.
Until next time.