Essay Introduction

Earl Browder, former leader of the Communist Party in the United States, argues in this 1950 text that the U.S. has effectively adopted "state capitalism," which he views as a stepping stone to socialism. By listing 22 specific government policies—from deficit financing and price controls to social security and public housing—Browder contends that the concentration of economic power in governmental hands in America has confirmed Marxist theory, making socialism inevitable without the need for violent revolution.

The Communist Idea

Part II

Earl Browder, former leader of the Communist party in America, discusses the American trend toward communism in a recent pamphlet:

"State capitalism leaped forward to a new high point in America in the decade 1939-1949. . . . State capitalism, in substance if not in formal aspects, has progressed farther in America than in Great Britain under the Labor Government, despite its nationalization of certain industries, which is a formal stage not yet reached in America; the actual, substantial concentration of the guiding reins of national economy in governmental hands is probably on a higher level in the U. S. A."

In appraising a list of 22 specific items of American governmental policy, Mr. Browder states:

"They have the single feature in common that . . . they express the growth of state capitalism. . . . [This is] an essential feature of the confirmation of the Marxist theory. . . . It represents the maturing of the objective (material) prerequisites for socialism, the basic factor which makes socialism inevitable. . . .

1. Government deficit financing.
2. Manipulation of bank reserves requirements.
3. Insurance of bank deposits.
4. Guarantee of mortgages.
5. Control of bank credits.
6. Tinkering with the currency system.
7. Regulation of installment buying.
8. Price controls.
9. Price support for farm products.
10. Agricultural credits.
11. R.F.C. loans to business corporations.
12. Social security systems for workers.
13. Various benefits for veterans.
14. Government housing.
15. Public works to provide employment.
16. Many projects for conservation of natural resources.
17. Juggling of the tax structure.
18. New tariff regulations.
19. Government-organized foreign loans.
20. The Employment Act.
21. The President's economic committee.
22. Last but by no means least, stimulated war armaments production on a large scale."

About the Author

Earl Browder is the former head of the Communist party in the United States. "The Communist Idea (Part II)" is extracted from his booklet, Keynes, Foster and Marx; State Capitalism and Progress, published by him in 1950.

Attribution

Browder, Earl. "The Communist Idea, Part II." In Essays on Liberty, Vol. 1, 97-99. Irvington-on-Hudson, NY: The Foundation for Economic Education, Inc., 1952.