.
.+-
Description
Why You Should Be a Socialist answers many basic questions regarding the nature of the present capitalist society, from the point of view of Britain in 1938. Plainly, it begs the question: why do we continue with this moribund state of affairs whereby nine-tenths of the population are deprived of private property, deprived of their own democracy, while the one-tenth own private property, have their own democracy through which we are controlled (the facade of parliament)? Why do we let them dictate to us our society? Why do we let them loot other countries with their imperialism? Why do we allow the exploitative relations between bourgeoisie and proletariat? It lays out specifically why the new, a socialist society, would be beneficial to the masses of people even in a relatively privileged society such as Britain during that time. And finally, it explains, in brief, the experience of the Soviet Union and how dearly all workers would wish for such a socialist society if they knew what it was really like.
Note: The author, John Strachey, was a one-time prominent British communist theoretician who, fleeing during the time of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Non-Aggression Pact, eventually defected to Keynesianism and Labourism, becoming a postwar Labour government minister.