#+title: How should socialists measure success?
- tags :: [[file:20200707204913-organizing.org][organizing]] [[file:20210204095739-socialism.org][socialism]] [[file:20200707205056-communism.org][communism]] [[file:20200713095640-politics.org][politics]] [[file:20200713100151-revolution.org][revolution]]

Much of this note was inspired by [[https://pca.st/episode/87483881-a378-4360-878c-f1d1f0ea96bc][this episode]] of Red Library.

Socialists of all stripes seem to have different measures of success.

- Some would say that success is [[file:20210204100341-the_communist_horizon.org][the horizon]] that we are always striving
  towards. That we can never reach a perfect society but we can always work to
  build it better
- Some would say that success amounts to how much popular will is considered in
  society, and in this regard [[file:20200707205547-cuba.org][Cuba]] and the [[file:20210204100302-cuban_revolution.org][Cuban Revolution]] should be considered
  successful
- Some would say that success is just a measure of survival. [[file:20200707205547-cuba.org][Cuba]] and [[file:20200607220504-china.org][China]] are
  successes simply because they weathered the storm that was [[file:20210204100241-the_collapse_of_the_soviet_union.org][the collapse of the
  Soviet Union]].
- Conversely, one could say that the [[file:20210204100833-american_revolution.org][American Revolution]] was a success because
  of [[file:20210204100918-the_civil_rights_act.org][The Civil Rights Act]], [[file:20210204100931-women_s_sufferage_in_the_united_states.org][Women's Sufferage]], [[file:20210204101000-abolition_of_slavery_in_the_untied_states.org][abolition of slavery]], and so
  forth, but do any of these things move us closer to the communist horizon?
  + The US is no longer revolutionary, so perhaps it's no longer worth defending