C-SPAN: BookTV- Noam Chomsky on Socialism in 2003

Source:CSPAN- MIT Professor Noam Chomsky, talking about socialism in 2003.

"Noam Chomsky responds to a caller's request for his thoughts on socialism, during a 2003 interview by Brian Lamb, for C-SPAN's "In Depth" program. He describes how socialism was equated with the Leninist model of the Soviet Union by both the USA and its allies on the one hand, and the USSR and its allies on the other." 

From CSPAN 

"Noam Chomsky, professor of Linguistics at MIT University in Cambridge, MA, talked about his life and career as a political activist and critic of U.S. foreign policy. Among the topics he addressed were efforts to combat terrorism, war with Iraq, and Bush administration economic and foreign policy. He also responded to questions from viewers on the telephone and submitted by fax and electronic mail." 

Source:CSPAN- MIT Professor Noam Chomsky, talking about socialism in 2003.

From CSPAN 

I partially disagree with Professor Noam Chomky here. What he would call socialism, is where the people have a stake in their economic and personal lives and ability to make their own decisions and not be dominated by their employers or government. That's basically what social democracy is and is the dominant political and governmental philosophy in the developed world, outside of America. 

But there's also an authoritarian aspect of socialism where you essentially put the state (meaning the national government and party in power) in charge of everything in society, especially the people. And at best in a Communist state like this the people sacrifice their personal and economic freedom to the government, in exchange for their well-being. And at worst which is how communism is generally practiced, the people are essentially slaves to their own government.  

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