Socialism is the only way out: not Fukuyama, Marx is right

Socialism is the only way out: not Fukuyama, Marx is right

Jose T Abraham writes.

Yoshihiro Francis Fukuyama wrote The End of History and the Last Man after the collapse of the Soviet Union. In it he argued that the free market and capitalism are the final stage in the evolution of social systems and will not change any further. The economic crash of 2008, Trump's election victory in America and the setbacks to the free market around the world forced Fukuyama to think again.

Now the Covid-19 pandemic is spreading across the world. It has already blazed into 195 countries. About thirty thousand people have died and about four and a half lakh have been infected (March 27).

Let us look at some reports that have come amid this pandemic.

Italy nationalised the airline Alitalia. The British government took over the railways, which were in the private sector. All hospitals in Spain were nationalised. France decided to nationalise big industries that were collapsing. Cuban doctors arrived in Italy to help Covid patients. When countries including America refused to let the British ship Braemar dock as it sailed the seas with 700 passengers, five of them with Covid, Cuba brought them ashore, and they reached Britain on several flights. China brought Covid under control and built a huge hospital for Covid treatment. Countries such as Italy, France, Spain and America have still not been able to control Covid, or even to treat Covid patients.

One fact that emerges from these reports is that the capitalist system cannot deal with any of the problems humanity faces today, such as pandemics and the environmental crisis, and that Marx, not Fukuyama, is right. Socialism is the only way forward for humanity.