Einstein's One Problem with Socialism
Albert Einstein wrote an article called 'Why Socialism?' in 1949. It initially seems odd. In the 1930s Einstein had escaped the National Socialist German Workers' Party. The Cold War had started in the 1940s, primarily between the US and the Soviet Union. The Communist Party of the Soviet Union grew from the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party. So it seems odd that one of the smartest men in the world would think positively of socialism. Why would he agree with the philosophical foundations of the Nazis and Soviets? But, he makes some good points. For instance, he notes that science can't decide on ends, only on means, and that the goal of socialism is to change human nature for a futuristic society. "For these reasons, we should be on our guard not to overestimate science and scientific methods when it is a question of human problems; and we should not assume that experts are the only ones who have a right to express themselves on questions affecting the organi...