Socialist Citizen

Professor Emeritus Michael Walzer paraphrased Marx’s description of the socialist citizen (from The German Ideology): “Imagine the day in the life of a socialist citizen. He hunts in the morning, fishes in the afternoon, rears cattle in the evening, and plays the critic after dinner. Yet he is neither hunter, nor fisherman, nor shepherd, nor critic; tomorrow he may select another set of activities, just as he pleases.” The envisioned socialist citizen in America will engage in “participatory democracy.” In theory, a participatory democracy’s citizens would have individual participation in political decisions and would make policies that would affect their lives directly and there would be no elected representatives making such decisions. The socialist republic I grew up in had this type of participatory democracy in place. People in good standing with the Communist Party could make pre-determined suggestions during union meetings but the Party had the ultimate decision-making power. The rest of the population, who were not members of the Communist Party had no input in the decision-making process. The Party tried to keep membership selective to about ten percent of the population.

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