Realities of Socialism

In partnership with The Fraser Institute, The Institute of Economic Affairs, and The Fund for American Studies, The Institute Of Public Affairs presents The Realities of Socialism, a multimedia project that provides information on socialism’s history.

Over 50 per cent of young Australians believe... socialism is the ideal economic system

A new study polling surveying perceptions of and support for capitalism and socialism has found that half of young Australians identify socialism as is the ideal economic system for their country.

While support for socialism is high across the Anglosphere, more young Australians are in favour of socialism than their counterparts in Canada, the US, and the UK.

But what is socialism?

These young Australians shy away from the traditional definition of socialism as ‘state owning the means of production’ preferring socialism as ‘the government providing more services to people’.

In the first full length publication from the Realties of Socialism project, The Road to Socialism and Back: An Economic History of Poland, 1939-2019 we find that there was a wide chasm between the lofty goals of socialist ideology and the realities of socialism as experienced by the Polish people.

The Road to Socialism and Back available to read here explains in easy-to-understand terms how the three great challenges of socialist planning—the control problem, the knowledge problem, and the incentive problem played out in the day to day lives of Polish people.

But what was it really like to live under socialism?

And how well did the government do when it came to providing more services to people?

How did the economy really work?

What was day to day life like?

How central planning and socialist economics caused:

These young Australians shy away from the traditional definition of socialism as ‘state owning the means of production’ preferring socialism as ‘the government providing more services to people’.

Often the lack of real-world experience of genuine socialism skews Western views. This study fills in the gaps with an accessible discussion of the economics behind the political regimes.

The Road to Socialism and Back then assesses Poland’s transition to a mixed economy charting both the good: living standards rose, and the bad: unemployment remained high for decades. While the transition back from a socialist to a mixed economy was not without its own pain, it did unleash the extraordinary productive power of the Polish people and Poland has continued to advance market reforms, to deregulate the economy.

Importantly The Road to Socialism and Back finishes with an accessible discussion of the three services identified as most important for Australians and typically provided in both socialist and mixed regimes:

The study contrasts the provision of these services under the socialist and mixed-economy regimes.

This first study from The Fraser Institute in The Reality of Socialism project is essential reading for Australians – get to know the facts, the economics, and what life was really like under socialism.