Letters: Socialism isn’t what’s ruining Venezuela

I keep hearing from the capitalist media that socialism in Venezuela is failing. This, in fact, is not true. Under Hugo Chavez, Venezuela had become a dictatorship, an authoritarian government.

Socialism in that country was abolished when democracy and freedom were forfeited when Chavez inserted himself as supreme leader. Neither socialism nor democracy can exist under the oppression of an authoritarian rule. In a dictatorship, oligarchy or plutocracy, as in the United States, democratic societies cannot sustain as power congregates to one, or a few.

People need to educate themselves about what true socialism is. It is cooperative control, by the working class, of the means of production and distribution. Not state ownership. It is earning what one produces and using what is produced for the betterment of society. Not for the profits of greedy capitalists. What is happening is a lesson in the adverse effects of centralized power on society and civilization.

When democracy is erased, this is what happens. It’s a warning for the United States and her corporate masters.