Cuban Doctors, Communism Versus Socialism, And North Korea Versus India

To be fair, socialism is not without its attractions. Otherwise, an economic system as inefficient, dehumanizing, and morally bankrupt as socialism could not last for decades and enslave a good share of humanity. For sure, the secret police — for example, the infamous Stasi of East Germany, which spied on the entire population, primarily through a vast network of ordinary citizens turned informants — and a general political climate of fear and intimidation — for political prisoners, being sent to Siberian gulags or forced labor camps was a relatively mild form of punishment — played a major role in stifling dissent and sustaining the system. But even so, one has to admit there were some material benefits to living in a socialist country, as paradoxical as this sounds. More specifically, a sense of economic security — the universal provision of housing, health care, education, pension, and other basic social services — was largely responsible for the puzzlingly long survival of socialism…