Leftist professor rejects Marxism/socialism

An interesting article about a leftist professor that has seen the light.

www.thecollegefix.com/post/27861/

From the article:

“I gradually became disenchanted with Marxism by visiting many of the countries that had tried to shape their societies to conform to its doctrines. I was disillusioned by the realities I saw in … socialist countries – the USSR, Eastern Europe, China, Cuba, etc,” Stauder told The College Fix via email.

“I came to recognize that socialism doesn’t work, and that its ‘revolutionary’ imposition inevitably leads to cruelty, injustice and the loss of freedom,” the professor continued.

“I could see the same pattern in the many failed left-wing revolutions of Latin America and elsewhere. By combining actual travel with the historical study of socialism and revolution, I succeeded in disabusing myself of the utopian notions that fatally attract people to leftist ideas.”


Academic institutions are breeding grounds for leftist ideals, according to Stauder, as “academics in general are intellectuals, and hence susceptible to ideologies.”

“People seem to feel the need to believe in something, and when intellectuals abandon traditional religion, as most have done, they tend to seek substitutes,”


“Academia has developed its own culture, a subset of the wider elite culture of the ‘new upper class’ (see Charles Murray, Coming Apart). As in all cultures, pressures exist to conform one’s thoughts and actions, and those who do not conform tend to be marginalized or suppressed,” Stauder said.

Though it may be challenging, Stauder encourages professors simply to “be individuals. Seek the truth, and stand by it.”

Hmmmm....a professor changes his mind on an issue and this is big news? That's laughable. Even more laughable is that you found this newsworthy enough to post it on this board! I've changed my mind on various scientific issues, but it never occurred to me that it was newsworthy. The "College Fix" should have asked the good professor what the hell took him so long to realize communism is a failed economic policy. Most reasonable people reached this decision decades ago.

Professor Stauder has a very restricted definition of "socialism;" socialism comes in a variety of flavors. He is apparently unaware that socialist countries like Sweden, Norway, and Denmark provide their citizens with the highest quality of life on the planet -- and are not dictatorships. Of course, this doesn't play to the right wing agenda of the "College Fix."