Socialist candidates winning in Washington shouldn’t be celebrated | Opinion

An evening of rain was replaced by morning sun illuminating the room at my Moscow hotel. It was early morning of my first day in Soviet Russia. I stumbled out of bed, crossed the room, pulled back the window curtain. My view was dominated by a huge hammer and sickle hanging on the side of the building across from my hotel.

Growing up during the Cold War, I had heard nothing positive about socialism. When I decided to take a young man’s tour to Europe in the summer of 1977, I was determined to make visiting the Soviet Union a priority to see for myself socialism in action.

To gain entry into Russia, I posed as a socialist and joined a group of socialists from England traveling to Russia under the guidance of a university professor. The itinerary was very specific and clearly to be closely orchestrated by the professor and a Russian guide. However, I was determined to see Russia from a more close-up perspective. At every opportunity, I separated from the group and set off on my own to see Soviet socialism in its raw reality. This caused much consternation among my hosts, but I persisted and for the next two weeks, I traveled from Leningrad (now St. Petersburg) in the north to Stalingrad (now Volgograd) in the south.

I went into shops and eateries of all varieties and talked with many Russians — a great many of whom could speak English and were very pleased to meet and talk with an American. At the conclusion of my two weeks traveling through Russia and getting an up close and personal view of the Soviet economic system, I formed several conclusions about the efficacy of socialism.

Socialism was a sham. It had not resulted in a prosperous society. The Soviet Russia of my eyes was plagued by economic inefficiencies, constant shortages of common consumer goods, rationing of foodstuffs and long lines in stores, all of which created the conditions for a thriving black market economy.

Socialism created a population living in a false reality: While the government and Communist Party created a public image of a society building toward the realization of a communist society of perfect equality and plenty for all, in reality the population was forced to meet their needs through an underground economy.

The most destructive characteristic of socialism is it destroys individual initiative and robs the individual of the ability to create, to work to better themselves. This is so because benefits are socialized in the name of creating equality.

The Russian people themselves understood this reality. It was obvious to me there were two Russias: what the average Russian person called “Kitchen talk” Russia and Soviet Russia — the party members, who actually made up of a minority of the population, who hung the banners, controlled the press and promoted the doctrine of “socialist realism” which ensured the promotion of socialist doctrine and worldview in all expressions of life. “Kitchen talk” Russia, made up of the vast majority of the population, realized that socialism was a scam. The party, the press and all official party institutions were suspect.

In 1991, reality finally prevailed, and the Russian people threw off their socialist yoke.

Now, 33 years later, socialism once again is making a comeback as an answer to political and economic issues in the United States. New York has elected a so-called democratic socialist to be mayor. Seattle has done the same.

The fact they call themselves democratic socialists is not relevant. Aristotle got it right with his negative classification of democracy as a less desirable form of government.

There is good news. A socialist fever swept over the United States in the first part of the 20th Century — Eugene Debs and W.E.B. DuBois were prominent members, among others. Numerous socialists were elected to public office in different regions of the country.

But the common sense of the American people prevailed, and the socialist fever was broken. I am confident the Zohran Mamdanis and Katie Wilsons of the world will meet the same fate, and will eventually be swept into the dustbin of history.

Mike Jankanish of Tacoma is a retired teacher of 46 years, former chair of the history department at Wilson High School and an occasional op-ed contributor on education issues for The News Tribune.