Where socialism failed, solidarism will succeed: “The economy, stupid, and freedom”. We do not fear competition from capitalist companies. Provided they are well-managed in accordance with solidarist principles, any ESOP’ company can out-compete its capitalist competitors. We were inclined to add “hands down”, but will reserve that claim for when solidarist companies can compete with their capitalist competitors on equal terms, i.e. when at least 70-80% of solidarist infrastructure is in place. It is rather easy for a horse to compete with a donkey. Let two horses compete. The solidarist horse will out-run the capitalist one hands down, even when hampered by a 20-30% handicap.
And precisely because we do not fear competition from capitalism, even less from socialism, we dare both to implement at least 70-80% of solidarist infrastructure as a parallel system, i.e. side by side with the existing system, either capitalist or socialist. 100% would be better, of course, but we take you on with less. In 25 years, solidarism will take over as the preferred system freely chosen by the people.
It is because of the inherent superiority of the solidarist system that we insist we do not need any revolution, nor any other act of brutality, nor any massive Robin Hood style robbery - not even by means of taxation; in fact in a solidarist society taxes go down! -, nor any propagandist lies to maintain a faulty system. The only things needed are reason and goodwill, i.e. the desire to serve justice and thereby avoid war. In solidarism there is enough for all. It will materialize abundance, moving away from scarcity-based economics, either capitalist or socialist.
Sharing profit is nice; but how about sharing risk?
It is also because of solidarism´s inherent superiority that we insist that full-fledged democracy with all civil and political rights should stay in place. In fact, solidarism deepens and strengthens democracy by adding an economic element. Free and fair elections, political parties, freedom of speech and association etc. form an integral part of solidarism. Indeed, if Cuba should choose the solidarist path, these freedoms and rights should be restored (the same goes for capitalist countries, by the way; they are not free anymore). Having been subjected to a dictatorial system for so long, a transitional period in Cuba to introduce these freedoms might be required, but freedom of speech at least can and should be restored immediately. Solidarism without freedom is like a horse without legs. It won´t move. A superior system does not need any state coercion to maintain itself (apart from a proper and fair system of justice to control crime).
This takes us to a critical question by one of our readers, asking if the workers in a solidarist society would also share in the risk? The short answer is that, yes, solidarist workers (e.g. in ESOP-companies) do indeed also share in the risk. Don´t forget that they are workers but at the same time partners. If their company goes bankrupt, they too lose their shares. But a more elaborate answer is called for. We will dedicate a separate article to the question. Just for now, we remind the questioner that the US taxpayer at this very moment is also sharing in the risk of the mess caused by mostly American banksters, resulting in a public bail-out of gigantic proportions. And the people in third world countries are sharing in this risk with even more starvation than they are used to. Neither profits, nor risks should be considered in isolation. In the final analysis we are all responsible for both and should therefore all share in both profits and risks. The biosphere is an interdependent system.