Socialism

Marc Coleman, writing in today's "The Irish Times", makes a few comments about socialism which have raised my hackles.

It seems to me that the word has become almost impossible to use any more because its meaning is so difficult to define. In the mouths of many - and I suspect Coleman is probably one of them - it is simply a catch-all phrase to attach to someone who does not share the economic/value assumptions of the capitalist class.

Hence, these dogmatic assertions, with each of which I disagree:

• ...two former enemies - socialism and the church
• Socialism requires the direction by the state of the means of production ...
• Socialism is a doctrine of power ...