Ethical Socialism



Ethical Socialism is a variant of socialism practiced by the Socialist Party of Kalistan. Its primary features are ethical organization of economy and society, nationalism, focus on National Service, radical civil libertarianism and a strong commitment for democratic institutionalism. Ethical Socialism is based on the philosophy of Socialist author and theorist Edward Bennots.

Differences with Metzism
Ethical Socialism focuses primarily on the ethical arrangement of the society. According to Bennots, there is nothing inherently wrong with the concepts of the Market or with free enterprise. Said Bennots in 2567, "Capitalism's problem involves what it considers ethical. An ideology itself cannot be wicked: it is what people do with it.  Capitalism produces wickedness because its ethic is based on prioritizing private gain over public need.  If we were to find a way to flip that formulation around, to prioritize public need first, there could be plenty of room for the normal activity of the private sector.  We think nobody should ever take seconds before everyone has firsts.  But once everyone has eaten and everyone is full, then the leftovers can be divvied up among those who really want them."

Property
The implication of this position is that Ethical Socialism differs dramatically from Metzism. Where Metzism and Communism work to abolish private property, the Ethical Socialist will argue that private property and even some degree of profit is not really the problem and can continue to exist even in a fully socialist society. It is the inequality that is generated by unbridled pursuit of profit. "Getting rid of inequality and hierarchy should be our goal: that is what is immoral and obscene in a society of plenty. If we take steps to eliminate that inequality, both of material conditions, as well as in the metaphysical sense of power that is derived from the inequality, we solve the problem itself. Property then can be used to make people's lives better and easier."

Revolution
Ethical Socialism only calls for revolution in defense of the People's Rights and Freedom. Bennots stated, "It would be unethical to engage in fruitless revolution. You would merely be dooming a generation of men and women to either death or disunion. A Revolution which is guaranteed to lose is immoral."

Consequently, Ethical Socialists strongly oppose violating the law or creating civil disorder, unless obtaining one's goals is a real possibility, and has a decent probability of success.

Ethical Socialists also do not place their hope for revolution on a Workers' Movement. "The workers are just as parochial as the rulers, and they will produce precisely the same type of government and society. The only way to ensure peace following a revolution is to include significant portions of all segments of the Population in not only the execution of the Revolution, but also the planning of it. And then the Revolutionaries, those who committed the social vandalism that we call Revolution, need to be retired to a place where they can do no more damage to the fragile fabric of society."

Dialectics
Bennots rejected Metz' Dialectical materialism as a "... false choice. It is not, nay, it has never been a situation where you either support the one side or you are automatically on the side of the opponent. There are never only two alternatives. Just like Morality, there is only more or less good, more or less evil, more or less noble, more or less base. There is something good in everything, but it only takes a bit of imagination to find it and bring it forth."

Consequently, Bennots rejected Metz' notion that within every system is the contradiction which will cause that system to collapse and bring forth a new system. "The system itself must be changed, because in every new system there is always something left of the old. Complete replacement is not possible. The goal therefore must be to constantly focus on improvement, rather than destruction."

Differences with Liberalism
Bennots held that liberal ideology prioritizes the individual over the group. While the result may be preferable for certain individuals, not all benefit, or will ever benefit from this arrangement. Bennots responded, "Like a school of fish, a society must work together or the marginal risk to any one of us is maximized. You see- Fish school to protect them from being eaten. If you are a fish in a group of 1000 and a shark with an appetite for 10 fish comes along, the marginal risk to you individually is 1%. If you are in a group of 10 fish and the same shark comes along with the same tastes, the marginal risk to you is 100%, assuming you will not be able to outswim the shark. You might be, but if you are in the shark's menu, the probability of that is also negligible. We school, as humans as well, to share the marginal risk. Some of us will get eaten, this is certain. We have to, as rational beings then figure out how to limit the possibility that this 'some' equals 'me'. If I can take steps to reduce the risk of that outcome as much as humanly possible, I would be acting far more rational than if I simply took my chances on my own."

In this way, Ethical Socialism focused on how best to build the Society, rather than to prioritize the interests or the good of any segment of this society. "Sure, the Society provides a more favorable environment for the pursuit of our own good. When we have security ensured, imagine what we can accomplish that we cannot when we are uncertain about where our next meal will come from. In Liberal society, only a few enjoy that sort of security. In a socialist society, that certainty is spread as far as possible, to cover as many people as possible, regardless of their individual merits or skills. Not doing things that deny others the same privileges you enjoy is the least Ethical Act a person could commit."

Property and Civil Liberties
For Bennots, Property, and all other civil liberties, were to be used not for the enhancement of individual life but for the betterment of society. Therefore, liberty was as protected from regulation and incursion by an oppressive state as possible. "There is no such thing as individual rights and liberties. We acknowledge that I am free to scream at the top of my lungs whatever anti-social nonsense I can imagine when I am alone in my house, or alone in a cave. I need no rights protected there:  The practice of my rights do not affect anyone else.  It is when I enter the public space and attempt to exercise my rights that I run the risk of encroachment, and therefore, certainly need my liberties protected from someone else who could even rationally seek to limit my rights so their rights may be enhanced.  The price of protection of my freedom in the public space is adherence to law and the acceptance of social responsibility.  If I shirk my responsibilities to my society, the ones which keep my society running so that I can have a space where I do not fear to exercise my liberties, I must contribute my efforts toward that society's maintenance."

Mandatory Civil Service
For Bennots, this responsibility included mandatory Civil Service for all people. {quote|Your society is the one built and maintained with your own hands. If you contribute nothing to the health and well being of your society, both in a political sense and also in a very physical sense-- for our community requires upkeep and we do not seek a maternalist Government who will take care of everything for us-- you do not deserve to call the society yours. It is someone else's, and if you leave it up to the Government, it is theirs. But at any rate, you have not paid for the benefits of the society you enjoy, and are little better than so many leeches which inhabit some of our more tropical rivers.}}

But civil service served another major function for Bennots, besides living ethically. It served to soak up the excess labor force in society. "Besides our metaphysical objectives, by which I mean, making a better society and making better citizens who actually have a stake in the health and wealth of their society, National Service takes youths, in the prime of their lives out of the Work force, where they work for the benefit of someone else. National Service spends the best, most productive years of these young people's work lives in the service of the Republic, where they work for themselves, to maintain the structures they will later use, to build the structures their children and grandchildren will someday use. It also ensures an artificial labor shortage, which increases market pressure toward higher wages and more power in the hands of the worker.  With National Service, it would only be a short time before we would achieve parity between Worker power and Employer power.  And no Boss would ever be allowed to underpay a worker for an hour of their ever again."

The Dual Economy
Bennots was a strong advocate for the Dual Economy, but his preference was for a parallel economy. For every business in the Private Sector, there would be an equivalent business in the Public Sector. Bennots envisioned this method as a way to ensure wages and fair treatment for workers. "Workers should never have to choose between eating and paying rent. If employers know that a worker can just as easily get the same job in the public sector, rational calculation of capitalist will drive them to give workers adequate and fair compensation just to keep them. Naturally this will depress the profit margin for the investors, but the need of the many must outweigh the parochial wants of the few.  And it is the workers who create the wealth in any economy through their labor:  Never has it been said that wealth and general prosperity is created by a good manager!"

The Dual economy endorsed by later Ethical Socialists envisioned a different sort of Dual Economy, one where the Public Sector was used to ensure a Minimum basic Income to all citizens, a living wage for all workers across the Republic, and national monopolies in certain key sectors of the economy, such as strategic minerals production, banking, energy and shipping. The Bennotsian style Dual Economy still exists to some degree in all "Public Option" enterprises throughout Kalistan, but is expressed most when basic need, like Primary Health Care and the National Food Bank, is met by the public sector, while elective wants, such as elective surgery, personally owned vehicles and televisions, and anything else which may be described as a "consumer good" are manufactured by the Private Sector. In this new type of Dual Economy, Citizens are freed from want and may spend their time how they like, but still must work to get the things they enjoy.

Notable Ethical Socialist Institutions in Kalistan

 * The National Food Bank- Established in