Reflections on a Failure; D. Smith

602 THE FREEMAN • OCTOBER 1997 When I first started learning your language in 1970, the Soviet communist power was very strong, and it was just incredible to imagine that some day one would be able to corre spond with Americans and, all the more, to receive boxes, packages, or parcels from America!" In another recent letter, he revealed that he was planning to use his enthusiasm and abil ities with English to improve his economic situation. "I've decided that I should do what I can do best-teach your language to those who would want to learn it. I'm going to insert an ad on local TV, the so-called 'running line,' which will say something like this: 'ENGLISH LESSONS. SPECIAL METHOD AND PROGRAM. SPEAK, READ, AND WRITE ENGLISH. EXPERI ENCED TEACHER.'" Somehow, I believed, he would succeed as an educational entrepreneur. My faith in him and the free market was not misplaced. In the most recent letter from Russia, Greg reported with pride that as the result of running his TV ad, he had garnered three students for his private language lessons. When his next dis ability check arrives, he plans to run the ad again. Meanwhile, his kung-fu classes are opening for a new season. And he's planning to write an article for The Freeman.

Who knows how many more fellows like Grigory there are in the former Soviet coun tries, just waiting for a continuing contact with someone in the West who will help them learn and apply the freedom philosophy. An entire generation suffered under totalitarianism; now we have the opportunity to help the new generation make the most of their fledgling freedoms. Perhaps they will be the ones who will develop Russia into an example of free dom in action from whom even Americans can learn some valuable lessons. 0 Reflectionson a Failure by Donald G. Smith T he waning days of the twentieth century will undoubtedly bring a spate of books and articles on the people and events that shaped the era. Certainly the two world wars will be high on the list for examination, along with radio and television, air travel, transcon tinental highways, and motion pictures. There will be new biographies on such century molders as Churchill, Roosevelt, Marconi, Lindbergh, Einstein, Edison, Ben-Gurion, and Hemingway.

I would submit as an entry one that probMr. Smith is a freelance writer residing in Santa Maria, California. ably outshines them all: the failure of social ism. Had socialism merely been tried in some remote commune and allowed to die a quiet death, the significance would not have been so great. But socialism failed on center stage before a packed house. It was undeniable, it was conclusive, and it was probably the biggest flop in recorded history. Socialism had a run that lasted from 1920 until 1991. The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics had an opportunity to succeed unmatched by any social or economic move ment. For nearly 70 years, the Soviets had absolute control over a landmass greater than that of the United States and Canada combined. They had no political opposition, offering a clear shot at effecting any plan that they wanted to put into action. The Soviets possessed immense national resources, including the largest forested area in the world. No single continent could begin to match the standing timber re sources that lay within the boundaries of the U.S.S.R. Yet, they were forced to import lumber from Sweden. Our own State of Washington turned out more board feet of lumber in any year of the Soviet Union's life span than the entire socialist operation could get to the sawmills.

In minerals, an enormous potential was again largely untapped. The Soviet Union contained copious supplies of virtually every important mineral within its borders. Despite possessing 53 percent of the world's supply of iron ore, the U.S.S.R. lived with a chronic shortage of iron and steel products. The Soviets also led the world in crude oil and natural gas reserves-again, resources that remained largely in the ground. Other riches included an estimated 800 million tons of manganese, aswell as generous deposits of gold, silver, tungsten, mica, cop per, nickel, and molybdenum. Within Soviet borders lay more than 60 percent of the earth's phosphatic rock resources, but little was put to use. Soviet agricultural potential staggered the imagination, but the country could not feed itself. Its citizens suffered constant shortages because farmers were unable to grow enough food and could not bring what they did grow to the consumer.

The underlying cause of this colossal failure can be described in one word: socialism. Because of a top-heavy and strangulating bureaucracy, minerals remained in the ground, trees stayed in the forests, and crop yields were always below expectations. Man ufactured goods were shoddy, behind sched ule, and forever in short supply. Elevators REFLECTIONS ON A FAILURE 603 didn't work, buses and trucks broke down constantly, and the telephone system was about on a par with that of Bolivia. Much has been written about the perennial hous ing shortage and there wasn't the slightest hope of improvement at the time of the Soviet breakup. Two, sometimes three, fam ilies shared a bathroom in 1991, a rate unchanged since 1920. Socialist apologists like to offer the "Great Patriotic War" as an excuse for the lack of economic development. Mter all, they argue, the nation was largely destroyed by the Ger man invader and therefore no one can rea sonably expect an economy to bounce back from such an onslaught. We might ask, how ever, why the Soviet Union couldn't defend itself against a much smaller nation that was fighting a two-front war. The Soviets had a great advantage over the Germans in natural resources and most certainly in manpower and yet they were soundly beaten on their own home ground for the first twoyears of fighting; or until the Germans simply ran out of gas.

They had been in power for 20 years, the German invader for only seven. What had they been doing since 1920? When we read the story of the Soviet Union, we usually see the terror of Joseph Stalin highlighted and, of course, the great red menace that spread its shadow across the landscape. The whole sorry operation would certainly receive the lowest marks on anyscale of humanity and common decency. More important in the long run, however, is the failure of socialism. The one time that it was given a green light, the chance to show what it could do without a shred of opposition, it fell flat on its face. The 70-year span of the U.S.S.R. proved conclusivelythat socialism is an idea whose time will never come because it doesn't offer the slightest incentive for anyone to make it work. Common sense tells us that this is true. The increasingly distant memory of the Soviet Union proves it. 0 Potomac Prinicples Medicine for the Sick by Doug Bandow T he Drug War: seldom has so much harm been done to so many for so little pur..