Forum Post: Why Socialism? by Albert Einstein

A little while ago, when Bernie Sanders stood on the floor of the Senate and bravely filibustered the attempts by the Republicans to reinstate the Bush tax cuts, I had no idea that there was any alternative to capitalism. But Mr. Sanders, who describes himself as a democratic socialist (yes there is such a thing), inspired me to do a little research on socialism. I always thought that the collapse of the Soviet Union discredited socialism, but I had never really looked at decentralized and democratic forms of socialism that were swept under the rug after the Bolsheviks took over in 1918. As I browsed Google for a clear defense of socialism I came across, to my surprise, an article written by Albert Einstein called "Why Socialism?" that he wrote for the Monthly Review. This article caused me to change my view of socialism and caused me to believe that perhaps there is a future for socialism in the 21st century. Below is the link to "Why Socialism?" from the Monthly Review. I also suggest that you take a look at some of the essays for the Monthly Review and do a little searching around on their site. Maybe there is an alternative, I don't know for sure, but I encourage everyone to expand their horizons a bit. Thanks. http://monthlyreview.org/2009/05/01/why-socialism