General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Mayor abruptly slashes wages to minimum for Scranton City Workers [View all]coalition_unwilling
(14,180 posts)to prove itself (using the scientific method), so in that we are in full accord.
You are also correct that socialism has been rent by many factional disputes over the years and there are many here on DU far better versed than I in the minutiae of said disputes.
I think at its core though, every definition of socialism deriving from Marx and Engels has as a core concept the idea that the means of production (specifically, factories and farms) are owned collectively by workers (the so-called 'proletariat') and not owned privately by the bourgeoisie..
Another core concept, I would say, is the notion of a planned economy based around satisfying people's needs vs. the so-called 'invisible hand' of the so-called 'free market'. Imagine that, instead of the latter, an economy were actually built around satisfying people's needs. What might such an economy look like?
Well, before anyone got an I-Phone, a BMW or a car elevator, everyone would need to have a secure place to live, adequate nutrition and healthcare (and ideally education).
As for Scranton's particular difficulties, situated as it is within a larger capitalist-imperialist economy and political landscape, I could see workers' cooperatives forming volunteer fire, police and health care brigades, but also other cooperatives as well, such as nutritional, educational and even arts. This would need to be coupled with expropriation of any assets belonging to the 1% that were required under eminent domain for the common welfare and maintenance of the commons. To get around any legal barriers poised by the state or federal governments, the city of Scranton could call its expropriations a 'tax.' That seems to suffice for the ACA with the SCOTUS and there's no reason to think such confiscatory taxes on the obscenely wealthy could not also pass muster.
My proposed remedies for Scranton are tentative -- and, per your words, need to be examined and forced to prove themselves. But my words are the mere sketch of a socialist program situated within a larger capitalist-imperialist context and I would hope they would be so examined and put through the crucible.