Arguments, a Christmas Gift – Folha de S. Paulo, December 24, 1972
by Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira
For those in the know, it has never been a mystery that the communist regime is a source of impoverishment. However, the general public in the Western world had not been properly alerted to this point, which led to a serious inconvenience. In significant sectors of the free world, verbose demagogues found a certain audience as they touted the myth that abolishing private property was a sure means of eliminating poverty.
Fortunately, this myth burst in the year that is coming to an end. In fact, the first sign of this “bursting” appeared before 1972, when the international press reported on Castro’s failed attempt to increase sugar production in Cuba.
Such was the failure of the bearded dictator that there was no choice but to report it, even in many “toadish” newspapers whose readership delights the submissive and foolish wing of the Western bourgeoisie. Yet Cuba is like a drop of international communism, separated by endless distances from the red world beyond the Iron Curtain. Was the failure of the communist economy in the “Pearl of the Antilles” really the result of the regime, or merely due to local circumstances?
This is what the “toads” wondered, always inclined to interpret with benevolence everything related to the great red enemy that both frightens and seduces them.
However, the veil that covered many eyes fell in 1972. Wheat “purchases” by Russia and China from the US indicated the complete impotence of the communist regime in preventing the progressive impoverishment of the immense populations under its iron claws. I wrote “purchases” in quotation marks because I refuse to consider genuine purchases the fabulous supplies of the precious cereal the US sent to its former enemies – and great today’s friends – under payment terms poorly explained by the daily press. These terms will presumably remain a dead letter. For example, what will the US do if Russia refuses to pay a significant portion of the agreed-upon price? Will it promote a world war to collect the debt? They who are on the verge of bowing down to little Cuba to get it to cease its aircraft-hijacking practices?
Closer to home, the example of Chile is also highly conclusive. I have dealt with it so much that it seems superfluous to recall the tragic details here.
What is certain, indisputable, and crystal clear is that the communist regime, instead of reducing the number of poor people, turns entire populations of entire nations into poor people. That this fact has become evident to the general public is a positive aspect of this grim and tumultuous year of 1972, which has had many negative aspects. For anyone can point out to the advocates of communism the inconsistency of the goal they have adopted.
* * *
However, one “toadish” myth remains: the Swedish myth. There is no shortage of bourgeois who delight in pointing to Sweden as an earthly paradise. According to them, it is a “highly evolved” country that combines the practices of the most complete political liberalism with a highly socialized and egalitarian social system, yet still falls short of communism.
How the “toads” delight in saying that their myth of a politically liberal and socio-economically authoritarian democracy is thus realized somewhere on Earth!
If one were to object to the authenticity of this paradise by arguing that immorality has reached scandalous levels there—for example, same-sex marriage is allowed—many “toads” would brush off the objection unimpressed. This is because, deep down, their mentality harbors the conviction that moral problems are irrelevant. If the economy is well organized, the world will be a paradise. As for morality, many “toads” think it can serve more as a killjoy than as a mainstay of the great demo-socialist feast of their dreams.
This reveals the radically atheistic subconscious of the “toaddom,” for no proper, stable, or happy human order can exist without God’s Providence.
Now, homosexuality was precisely the cause of the punishment of the cursed cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. God made both of them clear examples to warn all nations at all times and in all places of His wrath when this sin becomes a habit accepted by all. Indeed, according to the Church, this sin “cries out to Heaven for vengeance.”
But the “toads” are not very concerned with Providence. They have their own providence, with a lowercase “p”: the socialist state. As a result, moral arguments have little effect on the “toads.”
This leads me to share some data with my readers that will enable them to argue with the “toads” in their own stronghold, the socioeconomic field. This is my Christmas gift. For those who love the kingdom of God and his righteousness above all else, a conclusive argument is incomparably more valuable than gingerbread or a fragrant panettone.
Through my readers, I extend this gift to the “toads,” for the truth is the best gift for all men, including those who ignore it or even turn their backs on it.
* * *
And so let’s get to the facts.
From The Review of the News of September 13, 1972, a well-known American publication, I gather a whole bouquet of illustrative data about the Swedish paradise as a Christmas souvenir for my readers and the “toads.”
First, it should be noted that corporate taxes are low, but personal income tax, along with other direct and indirect taxes, is so high that the State absorbs 44% of the Gross National Product. Because these taxes become proportionally heavier in higher brackets, it becomes pointless for anyone to work beyond a certain limit.
The result is a gradual decline in Gross National Product.
Mr. William Frye, the author of the article from which I draw these data, illustrates this situation with a few examples. If a freelance writer earns about $24,000 a year, in the tenth month he stops working to determine whether his income for the next two months will exceed the limit that would place him in the next higher tax bracket. If it does, he will have to pay the government 75% of his excess earnings. In that case, he will be working for a pittance, so it would be better for him to enjoy some leisure time.
A secretary who earns $8,000 a year will receive $4,665 after taxes. Additionally, she will be required to pay a 17% consumption tax on almost all the goods she purchases. As she increases her income by working harder and better, she will pay higher taxes. This reduces her to a discouraging routine that undermines her best productive capacity.
It is clear that capital flees this “paradise” in terror. If the country’s annual growth rate was 1% in the 1960s, it fell to zero by 1970. Although 1972 saw a 3.5% increase in this rate, the significance of this fact is flawed because inflationary pressure has penetrated the “Scandinavian paradise,” and prices are rising across the board.
* * *
Thus, Sweden’s amoral and “evolved” socialism is gradually dragging that much-vaunted “paradise” into poverty.
This is natural. If communism produces misery, any socio-economic regime will be all the more impoverishing the more it resembles communism.
Socialism is nothing more than a dilution of communism on the march toward the progressive replacement of all non-communist characteristics with radically communist ones.
Therefore, if socialism does not lead directly to misery, it leads to poverty along the path to misery.
Dear reader, please explain this to your “toadish” friends, and you will give them a splendid Christmas present.
It is highly unlikely they will respond with a “thank you.”
But God, who loves all men and even the “toads,” will reward you. The Bible says that a man who saves his brother, or at least does his best to do so, will save his own soul and shine in heaven like the sun for all eternity.
