DEAR EDITOR:

Socialism is much in the news; accusations leveled at some Democrats that their proposals are socialistic (i.e. Medicare for All, Free College, Student Debt Relief and the Green New Deal). There is fear we might tumble into the socialistic pit. That’s silly, so let me say something constructive about socialism.

In political context, socialism is collective ownership of production and distribution, operating for us, not for profit. There is utopian expectation in the idea.

The history of socialism is indistinct — families, clans and tribes were socialistic. Some Christians believe Jesus was a socialist. The early Christians lived that way; the practice was adopted by monasteries and religious orders.

As trade and capitalism developed, socialism became a campaign of reformers. Welshman Robert Owen, 1771, was a founder of utopian socialism. Frenchman Charles Fourier was another founder. They established socialist communities in America and Europe known as utopias. Owen founded utopias at New Harmony, Indiana, and Utopia, Ohio. The most famous Fourier utopia was Brook Farm in Massachusetts.

The terms socialism and anarchy have been confused. Anarchy involves lack of leadership. Socialism maintains that if people work together, leadership is not necessary.

Critics argue that lack of leadership leads to disorder, or anarchy. This is a semiotic trap. Utopian and modern socialist communities show that people can live together communally. Observers agree that life in such communities is well-ordered and contented.

I identify nine varieties of socialism. First, religious socialists. Then Utopias; Next, Fabian socialism emerged in the 19th Century, holding that society would “gradually” become socialistic. Now we have the Socialist Party of America, Democratic Socialists of America, labor socialists, communism, Libertarianism, and eco-socialism. Eco-socialists include Sierra Club, Green Party US, and the youth-led Sunrise Movement.

Promoters of socialism included Cincinnati inventor Josiah Warren; transcendentalist Ralph Waldo Emerson; women’s rights advocate Elizabeth Cady Stanton; Karl Marx; Russians Leroy Tolstoy and Vladimir Lenin; elsewhere, Mao Zedong in China and Paola Freire in South America. Some countries and many socialist communities continue to populate worldwide, survivalist camps and group homes.

JIM VILLANI