“Each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring, those ripples build a current which can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance.” – Robert F. Kennedy I am inspired by Robert F Kennedy. His “Ripple of Hope” Speech in South Africa was truly a masterpiece, delivered with passion and genuine belief. As Attorney General, he made great progress in fighting organized crime. He was very involved in the Civil Rights Movement as well. He was a key member in the presidency of John F. Kennedy and was often joked about as co-president. He played a very important role in ending the Cuban Missile Crisis and averting a possible third Word War at the height of the Cold War. After the assassination of President Kennedy, he became more involved in fighting for the poor and the disenfranchised. He worked on improving conditions for migratory labor along with Cesar Chavez. As a NY senator, he worked on the renewal of Bedford-Stuyvesant (a Brooklyn neighborhood). He took a stance against the Vietnam War, even though his brother’s administration had played a part in starting it. He went against the sitting president of his own party, Lyndon B. Johnson, for supporting the Vietnam War. I think Robert F. Kennedy would have made a fantastic president, but unfortunately his life was cut short when he was assassinated in California. Co-President “I don’t care if anyone likes me, so long as they like Jack.” As JFK’s campaign manager, RFK played a key role in getting him elected as President. JFK was a great President too, but RFK was very committed to his brother’s success. He was made one of the youngest Attorney Generals, and he was also involved in all major decisions to help his brother. When the Cuban Missile Crisis occurred, RFK played a crucial role in de-escalating the situation and preventing a possible World War III. During the height of the Cold War, the Soviet Union began to store nuclear weapons in Cuba, a communist island country within striking range of the United States. This was clearly not acceptable as it was a threat to America’s National Security. Over the next thirteen days, while there was tremendous pressure on the brothers from the military and the cabinet for an all-out strike against Cuba and the Soviet Union, they resisted the pressure and stopped a war that could’ve had horrible consequences. Organized Crime “To see people sit in front of us and lie and evade makes me boil inside.” As one of the youngest Attorney Generals of the United States, RFK took on organized crime and mobsters. He saw the “Mafia” as a criminal organization that operated on a national level, and for the first time, the Department of Justice (DOJ) would take on an entire criminal organization instead of seemingly unrelated crimes. Civil Rights Movement “We must recognize the full human equality of all of our people before God, before the law, and in the councils of government. We must do this, not because it is economically advantageous, although it is; not because of the laws of God command it, although they do; not because people in other lands wish it so. We must do it for the single and fundamental reason that it is the right thing to do.” “We will not stand by or be aloof. We will move. I believe that the 1954 (Supreme Court School Desegregation) decision was right. But my belief doesn’t matter. It is the law. Some of you may believe the decision was wrong. That does not matter. It is the law.” As Attorney General, RFK campaigned for equal rights and desegregation. He supported the Freedom Riders and threatened to deploy U.S. Marshalls when they were threatened. When a black student got admitted into the University of Mississippi, RFK sent the National Guard to ensure his registration even though there were horrible riots with hundreds dead and injured. He did the same thing for the University of Alabama the next year. In 1963, on RFK’s insistence, President Kennedy called civil rights “a moral issue.” He also made huge contributions to the Civil Rights Bill. Robert Kennedy saw voting as the key to racial justice and collaborated with President Kennedy when he proposed the most far-reaching civil rights statute since Reconstruction, the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which was passed after President Kennedy was slain on November 22, 1963. Poverty “I believe that, as long as there is plenty, poverty is evil.” RFK visited in various impoverished areas of the country, including Mississippi Delta and urban slums, and was startled by their conditions. He tried to bring national attention to this issue and tried to influence government law-makers to help reduce the divisions of income and opportunity, and thereby reduce poverty. He believed the best way to tackle poverty was not to provide welfare, but to help people not rely on the government and to rely on themselves. He started the Bedford-Stuyvesant Restoration Project to rebuild businesses within the community and provide more opportunity for its residents. Migratory Labor “Why is a New York Senator dragging himself all the way out to California?” RFK was already tackling multiple issues including racism, poverty and the Vietnam war, and so he didn’t want to also get involved in issues of migratory labor related to the plight of farm workers in California. But when he flew down to California and met Cesar Chavez, and heard all the details, he became angered with the situation and quickly changed his mind. RFK served on a senate subcommittee to improve conditions of migratory labor and became good friends with Cesar Chavez during this time. He displayed great responsibility by asking “How can I help?” rather than just doing what he thought was right. Vietnam War
essay
Socialism Reexplained: Age of Reason to Cold War
Anirudh Parthasarathy, 13 (San Jose, CA) Socialism Reexplained: Age of Reason to Cold War Anirudh Parthasarathy, 13 History of Socialism In order to understand socialism as a whole, we have to understand how nineteenth century capitalism worked, the critiques of uncontrolled capitalism, and the reasoning behind the call for a more equitable economic system that eventually led to the birth of both socialism and communism. In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, feudalism and absolute monarchism were abolished with people wanting more liberty, self-determination, democracy, and individualism. These ideals started becoming popular during the Enlightenment of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, which in turn led to the Age of Reason, French Absolutism, and English Constitutionalism. In England, eventually, people were tired of being subjugated by an authoritarian government. Whether the oppressors were a monarch, members of an aristocracy, or even the parliament and government officials, the British people wanted true liberty, eventually leading to a revolution that destroyed the feudal system. England became the first democratic/republican and capitalist country the world had seen since antiquity. Many people probably hoped this new system of governance would be better than the anti-humanistic authoritarian feudal system. They were wrong. England practiced a form of uncontrolled libertarian capitalism in which there was no government intervention. Because of this, nineteenth century England had a small, extremely wealthy capitalist class who owned all the organizations and economic resources—such as land and capital—while the majority were an extremely poor working class who worked very low-paying jobs with terrible conditions. The workers often worked in monotonous jobs for long hours and with wages so low they lived in extreme poverty, while the capitalist class got all the profits and luxury derived from the hard work of the workers! First Socialists This extreme inequality frustrated many people including many intellectuals/philosophers, who became the first socialists. Some of the very first socialists were known as utopian socialists. Such socialists advocated for things like collective ownership of the means of production and enterprises, government intervention (or sometimes even central planning of the economy and of production), solidarity among the working class, a more equitable distribution of wealth, and general empowerment of workers. Another group called the chartists advocated for universal male suffrage (not nearly as impressive as universal suffrage in which females also have a vote). Utopian socialism started with Henri de Saint Simon and then continued with Charles Fourier, Pierre Joseph Proudhon (one of the first anarchists and one who declared “property is theft”), Pierre Leroux, and Robert Owen. Another more far-left brand of socialism called revolutionary socialism believed that rather than creating a socialist system through the cooperation of the workforce, government, and the wealthy, it was up to the workers to launch a revolution in order to completely overthrow the capitalist government and replace it with a socialist system. Communism is a type of revolutionary socialism, but communism and revolutionary socialism aren’t the same because there are other types of revolutionary socialism, some of which have anarchist ideals. A prominent socialist community was the Paris Commune created in 1871. The Paris Commune was designed to benefit the poor and working class over the wealthy. The Paris Commune secularized politics and education, provided subsidized food and housing, created a minimum wage, required private firms to have a delegation elected by the workers, recognized freedom of the press, and made all people legally equal. However, the Paris Commune only lasted for two months and ten days before it was crushed. Despite all the confusion and varying ideas on how to implement socialism, all those socialists were opposed to capitalism and believed the economic system was fundamentally doomed. One problem they believed capitalism had is its competitive nature which led to the continual driving down of profits. For example, suppose one business sells yogurt at $10 while a different business is willing to sell yogurt with the same or perhaps better quality at the much cheaper price of $7. Most people would buy from the cheaper business. The Socialists believed that eventually competition would lead to a decrease in profits to a level that businesses could barely eke out a profit. They also argued that businesses competed to sell their products at the same time workers competed to sell their labor. Socialists argued that this competition among workers was what caused workers to be paid only what they needed in order to afford the most basic food and housing and nothing more. They pointed out that as businesses started making less profits, they’d compensate by paying the workers even less wages until eventually only the most essential workers would be kept with the rest being laid off. Eventually, businesses that weren’t able to keep up would go out of business, causing even more unemployment among both the working and capitalist classes. At this point, socialists believed that either serious reforms or an outright revolution were needed to end capitalism and usher in an era of socialism. Among other reasons, this hasn’t happened in practice in the west because capitalism has been reformed to include elements of welfare and regulation, which has helped reduce inequality. But socialism is unsustainable over time. Drawbacks of Socialism Overall, proponents of socialism argue that it leads to equality, economic security, production for use rather than profit, and the kind of system in which people selflessly contribute to society according to their ability and receive all their needs. As a famous socialist slogan says, “From each according to their ability, to each according to their needs”. However, critics of socialism argue that the system is based on faulty principles and is too utopian to actually happen, and that ultimately the inherent inefficiencies of socialism will lead to major economic problems, with socialism suffering mainly from the motivation and knowledge problem. First, we must understand the motivation problem. One major problem with socialism is that it doesn’t truly reward people with tangible rewards for going beyond the minimum. For example, most people aren’t JUST working in their jobs
