The object of this essay is to discuss how the
faults of socialism as presently practiced and proposed
and how they might be remedied.  I am open minded about
whether the remedies would be sufficient to make socialism
a desirable economic system.  I also have doubts about
whether the remedied socialism would be attractive in
prospect to present socialists, because some of the faults
are what attracts them to socialism.

	The further discussion is based on the following
propositions.

1. No matter what disasters real socialism inflicts on the
populations of other countries, the idea of socialism will
continue to attract adherents.  The {\it Communist Manifesto}
of Marx and Engels will continue to seem to be a revelation
to many people who read it for the first time.  Only actual
unpleasant experience with real socialism can immunize many
people.

2. The faults of capitalism attacked by the early socialists
are still present but are greatly attenuated.  There is far
greater equality and equality of opportunity.  The working
class is prosperous, and the equality-minded concentrate their
attention on groups with weak participation in the labor
force.  Socialists sometimes claim
some credit for this, but it isn't obvious that the claim is
justified.

3. The main force making possible greater prosperity and
equality has been the advance of technology.  While the labor
movement attempts to take credit for increases in wages, only
technology has made possible productivity increases.  The
actual sharing of the GNP among the different income levels
has changed rather little.

4. The advance of technology can continue for a long time to
come (at least for hundreds of years and most likely for
millions) and will make possible
world-wide standards of living higher than those of today's
most advanced countries.  This point is controversial, but
I am prepared to support it by concrete scientific and
technological arguments.

5. Socialism has been an unmitigated disaster in the places
where it has been installed most vigorously.  It has been a
minor disaster in most other places where socialist governmental
measures have been installed.  In a few places, e.g. Sweden and
the Israeli kibbutzim, it has had a limited success.

6. Arguments about socialism still take about the same forms
that they did a hundred years ago.  The only difference is
that the opponents have more bad examples to cite and the
proponents' predictions of capitalist collapse or the ``increasing
immiseration of the working class'' are less plausible.

7. The pro-socialists rarely analyze the faults that real
socialism has shown an suggest remedies.  It is more usual
to deny or ignore the faults or ascribe them to something
other than the socialist doctrines under which socialist
political groups have won power.

8. My opinion is that socialism as presently proposed is
almost always worse than capitalism.  However, many of the
faults of socialism can be repaired.  Then it might be a
more worthy competitor for capitalism.

9. The slogan by many socialists that ``peoples power''
without blueprints is needed must be rejected.  Power
without blueprints has invariably been disastrous.  Socialism's
partial successes have always involved small groups or
small steps.

10. Here are some of socialism's problems and some possible
remedies.

	a. Lack of scope for initiative.

	b. Politicization of distribution.

	c. Bureaucratization.

11. Communism has additional faults.