Why
Young People Should Embrace Socialism
An
Interview with Wolf Larsen
from the book Capitalism Sucks!
Question:
So why should young people embrace
socialism?
Answer:
Why not?
Socialists believe that everyone should be entitled to a free college
education. Socialists believe that young
people should be entitled to free job training.
We also fight for the rights of veterans. We believe that all veterans should receive
the medical care and benefits they need without too much bureaucratic red
tape. The same politicians that blabber
about supporting our troops and send young people into war are the same
politicians that abandon many of our young people when they come back from the
war with injuries and other medical problems.
Q.
But wouldn't providing all young people
with a free college education and free job training be expensive?
A. Giving our young people a free college
education and free job training would be a lot less expensive than sending them
into war. We are against war. We fight for peace. If there's peace then there's money for all
kinds of things.
Q.
What else does socialism offer young people?
A. More freedom!
Today if a young person lights up of marijuana joint he runs the risk of
being thrown in jail, where he might get raped.
And if someone gets raped in jail they might get AIDS. Imagine that – getting AIDS for smoking a
marijuana joint! It's ridiculous! The politicians talk endlessly about our
freedom and democracy but yet they are the same ones that take away our
freedoms. Nobody should be thrown into
jail because of drugs. Young people
can't even have a drink! The drinking
age is 21. At 18 you can sign up and go
to war and decide to put your life at risk, but you can't even have a
drink! So you're free to go off to war
to die, but you don't even have the freedom to order a beer at a bar! What kind of freedom is that?!
Q. But doesn't the Armed Forces offer
opportunities for people who might otherwise be unemployed?
A. The reason that so many young people are
unemployed and don't have any opportunities is because of capitalism. The capitalists benefit from a lot of
unemployment because it makes the people who are working willing to work for
less money – if they complain about their miserly wages it's easy to replace
them with someone else who's desperate and unemployed. Under socialism everyone will have the right
to a job. Minimum wage will be
doubled. So young people will benefit
enormously from having a right to a job, a right to a free college education,
the right to free job training, and the right to a minimum wage that's double
what it is today. And young people have
historically made lower wages, so a higher minimum wage will be very beneficial
to young people.
Q.
But wouldn't a higher minimum wage hurt many young people – because then there
would be less jobs?
A. No.
Because under socialism everyone will have the right to a job.
Q.
But socialism seems so stifling! I don't think young people are ready for
something like that!
A. It's capitalism that's stifling! Look at AIDS.
If a young person has sex without a condom they can die! I can't think of anything more stifling then
the fact that if I don't wear condom I might die. Instead of putting endless money into war
like under capitalism a socialist government would put lots and lots of money
into a cure for things like AIDS. It's
very important that people be able to have as much sex as they want without
worrying about getting some deadly disease.
There should also be endless free birth control options for everyone of
reproductive age. That way, everyone can
have as much sex as they want to with whoever they want and not worry about
dying or unwanted pregnancies. Under
capitalism you can die for having sex.
Now that's stifling!
Q.
But what many young people may like about capitalism is the idea that they can
rise to the top and become a millionaire or even President of the United
States! Capitalism provides opportunity
for young people – isn't that true?
A. The chance that any one person will become a
millionaire or President of the United States is very slim! Capitalism dooms lots of young people to
unemployment and miserly wages. You can
dream all you want but the reality for many young people is that the only opportunities
capitalism offers them is McDonald's or Wal-Mart. And in the capitalist third world it's even
worse – far worse! In the third world there
are literally masses of young people who have few choices and few opportunities
in life. Capitalism stifles the vast
majority of young people! It may provide
limitless opportunities for a very small number of privileged youth, but the
reality under capitalism for the vast majority of young people is one of
suffering, a lack of opportunities, endless war, and the stifling of individual
freedoms. Under capitalism young people
can't even have a drink!
Q.
Young people are more idealistic than older people. Perhaps many of them have more on their mind
than just being able to order a drink in a bar?
A. Well, when I was 18 they raised the drinking
age to 21 and they grandfathered in everybody the year before me. So I was the first generation of people in
that particular state who couldn't legally have a drink till I was 21 – and
that made me mad! But you're right young
people do think more about what direction society should take, possibly because
young people have a lot longer to live. Perhaps
some older people are more conservative because many of them are just trying to
get by until they die. Younger people – at
least some of them – want to change the world.
Many younger people see a world of poverty, war, injustice, and the
stifling of freedom – just to name a few of the world's problems. Capitalism has nothing to offer future
generations except more war, more poverty, more suffering, more racial hatred,
more homophobia etc. Eventually,
capitalism may bring about World War III and a nuclear holocaust and the
extinction of the human race. The
hypocrites in Washington, DC talk about rogue states acquiring nuclear weapons
while the biggest warmongering rogue state in the world is the one in
Washington, DC. The nuclear nuts in the
White House have the biggest arsenal of nuclear weapons in the world! And that is a huge threat to the future of
humanity. The only way to stop all these
endless wars and bloodshed and possibly an eventual nuclear war is to throw
this system of capitalism in the garbage can. Capitalism produces nothing but war. That's why we need socialism. So that humanity will not face nuclear
extinction. When the entire world is
socialist we will destroy nuclear weapons.
And children will read about the dark ages of the human race when people
couldn't get medical care because they couldn't afford it, when huge numbers of
people suffered in poverty, when huge numbers of people suffered unemployment,
and when the nuclear race lived under the shadow of nuclear weapons. When socialism is established in the entire
world then the dark ages of humanity we are living under today will be
history. It will be no more. And that's why young people should embrace
socialism. So that the human race can
live a decent life with decent wages, the right to a job, the right to decent
affordable housing, etc.
Q.
Okay. Now I thinking you're sounding too
idealistic. You're talking about some
workers paradise.
A. What workers paradise? Workers must rule – because working-class
people built this country – working-class people built the world! It's the labor of workers that makes
everything possible – and that's why workers must rule. The rich people have been running the show up
till now and look at the horrible state the world is in! I'm not talking about a workers
paradise. I'm talking about socialism – a
society where everyone has the right to a job, and where young people are not
burdened by huge amounts of college debt.
There will not be any college debt because college will be free. Job training will be free. Under socialism it will be easier for the
vast majority of ambitious young people to advance towards their goal of living
a better life. Because they will have
the tools to do so, like a free college education and free job training. Plus you'll be able to have a beer, smoke a
joint without worrying about going to jail, and be able to have sex without
worrying about dying because a socialist government will do everything it can
to find a cure for AIDS. Capitalism
offers the human race nothing but endless suffering. Socialism will provide a decent standard of
living for all.
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