Is this the "Little Surprise" of 47 and the Speaker?

[TedG]

7 hours ago, WDSmart said:

I believe everything you say above is true. What you haven't said is what type of government it is that owns the means of production. Most people believe a socialist government has to be authoritarian. What I've been saying is that socialism, just as you've described above, can exist under a variety of forms of government including a democracy and a representative democracy. 

What you've left out is that the government, whatever type it is, then provides for the needs of all the people in the society.

I was always taught and continue to repeat this short phrase, which is a simple description of socialism: "From each according to their abilities. To each according to their needs."

 

Name a socialist government that was not authoritarian. 

[BigStar]

22 minutes ago, TedG said:

 

Name a socialist government that was not authoritarian. 

 

Bernie grabs a bagel:

 

[WDSmart]

1 hour ago, TedG said:

 

Name a socialist government that was not authoritarian. 

There have been several that were classified as "democratic socialism."

"The most notable historical examples are the Paris Commune, the various soviet republics established in the post-World War I period, early Soviet Russia before the abolition of soviet councils by the Bolsheviks, Revolutionary Catalonia as noted by George Orwell, and the Federation of Rojava in Northern Syria. Other examples include the kibbutz communities in modern-day Israel, Marinaleda in Spain, the Zapatistas of EZLN in the region of Chiapas, and to some extent, the workers' self-management policies within the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and Cuba. However, the best-known example is Chile under President Salvador Allende, who was overthrown in a military coup funded and backed by the CIA in 1973." Democratic socialism - Wikipedia

Thanks for asking...