Why You Should Be a Socialist
By Nathan J Robinson
All Points Books, St. Martin’s Publishing Group, 2019
$14.99
By Jack C
The question I returned to constantly throughout my reading of Nathan J. Robinson’s excellent new book (spoiler alert), Why You Should Be a Socialist was: “Can I give this book to my mom?” My mom is a good person, but despite working with poor people for most of her counseling career, she voted (votes?) Republican and is deeply skeptical when I bring up things like universal housing and childcare, Medicare for All, and worker control of businesses. Could Robinson succeed where I, her perfect boy, has thus-far failed?
The answer is…maybe?
The book is divided into three main sections: why capitalism is bad, an intro to the different flavors of socialism and a rundown of the ways in which a socialist future could (and will!) be better than what we have now, and it ends with “the other political ideologies and why they are bad.”
First off, capitalism: Capitalism, am I right folks? Robinson and his contributors at Current Affairs have spilled tons of ink (print and digital) explaining the myriad ways in which capitalism exploits and devalues us all, as well as the ways in which it destroys communities and the earth and, in its latest and most all-consuming form, keeps us all in a constant state of fear and precarity for the benefit of the wealthiest and most powerful. This all may not come as a shock to you, dear reader, but the book’s target demographic likely has not seen the entire capitalist world around them so neatly disassembled and systematically explained in simple language that connects immense, inscrutable, centuries-old systems of exploitation and oppression to people’s daily lives and material conditions (no mean feat).
And it works! Robinson takes his time making his case, even stopping periodically to apologize for how unremittingly grim this whole part of the book is. Some of these asides, presupposing that the reader may be stammering objections, don’t quite land and could even be a bit counterproductive. However, it’s clear he appreciates that the reader might not be fully on board with the argument, and genuinely tries to reach the skeptic. In a world where the extremely online among us constantly hear about the right’s ability to “destroy” the “left” with “facts” and “logic,” it’s heartening to see a skilled writer and thinker serve up a greatest hits of capitalism’s innumerable crimes.
On to the fun stuff, part two: “socialism as a collection of principles.” If Robinson has a master stroke in this book, it comes in employing an idea he’s used in prior works, framing “democratic socialism” as a collection of principles or ideas, rather than claiming that socialism is ONE THING or that there’s only one way to “do socialism.” One can see where this perspective could work with readers who are skeptical of overarching power systems or who think that socialism means “whenever the government does anything” (and of course, the more the government does, the more socialist it is, etc.). It’s a clever tactic, basically explaining that, far from wanting to press every member of society into a mold that none can deviate from, democratic socialism seeks to give each person a baseline level of what they need (food, clothing, shelter, resources, etc.) to live a decent life, the time they want to develop themselves as people, and, vitally, a voice in how their world is disposed.
The final section breaks down competing political ideologies in a way that’s easy to understand and is sorely needed in the modern online world of competing political alignments. It includes some words about conservatism — which has more or less been soundly drubbed by this point in the book — as well as the inadequacy of liberalism and the utter rebuke of Clintonism/Third Wayism that was the 2016 election. There’s also a handy section dealing with common criticisms of socialism, like: a socialist society will be boring, and the ever-popular “…but Venezuela!”
While Why You Should Be a Socialist may be a bit spicy for your hard-right uncle (or aunt, or whomever), it may be just perfect for that liberal friend of yours who’s been liking your Bernie posts. Your mileage will vary, but it’s definitely an awesome book to read on public transit and then make eye contact with people when you know they’ve seen the cover. And yes, I’ll be lending a copy to my mom. Fingers crossed!
