My title probably sounds a little snarky and, to be fair, when I first asked it to a friend, I meant the snark. That’s no longer the case. I’ve been thinking about this for the past couple of weeks, and I’m now genuinely curious. For people who are hardcore, ardent socialism advocates, I want to know, what will we have to give up for socialism?
I understand that there are almost as many definitions of socialism as there are socialists and anti-socialists combined. For this question, I’m going to stipulate a few things, but the details can be left open. First, since many socialists, and the ones who sparked the question, position themselves as anti-capitalist, I want to include that. Second, there has to be some kind of collective control or ownership of the means of production. Third, society (the government) must provide for its people. Without these three things at a minimum, socialism is nothing more than a market economy with robust social safety nets and a not insignificant chunk of the world already lives under socialism. Without these, America was a borderline socialist nation from the 1930s to the 1960s.
What are we looking at? Will people still have unnecessary/unimportant things? How will they get them? Who will make them? How niche can a pleasurable activity be? I want to know.