The fires of capitalism

Critics of socialism often ignore examples like Cuba, which provides adequate housing and free health care to every person living on the island—despite the U.S. blockade that has cost its economy so much.

However, an example of what can happen to the people of a country where socialist planning and institutions have been destroyed by a counter-revolution can be gleaned from a Nov. 7 New York Times article, originally entitled “Deadly fires reveal flaws in Russia’s resurgence,” but later renamed “Deadly fires expose disorder in [Russian President] Putin’s Russia.”

Describing one of many recent tragedies, the article reports: “The fast-moving fire on Oct. 2, and the grotesque panorama of desperation, injury and death that accompanied it, underscored the enduring disorder beneath Russia’s partial revival.”

In that fire, at the private Moscow Institute of Government and Corporate Management, many students and workers jumped out of windows after finding that the doors to the fire exits were locked. Both fire trucks and medical vehicles arrived late. Eleven people have died, while 30 remain hospitalized.

Fires caused the deaths of more than 17,000 people in Russia in 2006. Adjusting for population, that puts its fire death rate at more than 10 times the rates of Western Europe and the United States. This year, the number of dead hover around 40 a day.

Factors cited by the Times in the death toll include “aging electrical and heating systems in public housing and rural homes; dilapidated firefighting equipment; and widespread violations of safety codes. ... Traffic-clogged roads—caused by soaring rates of automobile ownership and uneven urban planning—have slowed fire engine response times.”

Later, the article admits: “Effective fire prevention and firefighting have been problems in Russia since the Soviet Union’s collapse.” That collapse was a boon for would-be capitalists in Russia and for the transnational corporations that quickly moved in to exploit its resources. The number of wealthy has soared. But it was a disaster for the working people, the ones who live in public housing and rural homes.

The example of Russia only highlights the dangers that capitalism—an economic and social system that has profit as its ultimate goal—can bestow on working and oppressed people.

Meanwhile, an economy and social system that is planned with the goal of human well-being in mind—a socialist system—can prevent unnecessary suffering and harm. Cuba proves this every hurricane season, when it manages to evacuate almost everyone to safety while, in neighboring countries, the death toll soars. It’s why so many are looking now to socialism as the solution to capitalist oppression and chaos.