In the US, Albert Einstein isn’t well known for his views on socialism. But in 1949, he wrote a salient essay for the inaugural issue of the Monthly Review called “Why Socialism.” Today’s guest, John Bellamy Foster, tells host Allen Ruff about Einstein’s essay and his legacy as a socialist.

Einstein’s essay was written in defiance of the McCarthy era. And Foster says that’s timely to return to this article on its 75th anniversary in the context of the MAGA movement and neofascism in the US that is causing many people to feel a similar sense of despair as at the time Monthly Review’s beginning.

Foster describes Einstein’s commitment to socialism as something that went hand in hand with his commitment to science. He adds that Einstein was committed to many progressive causes including opposition nuclear weapons and critiquing Zionism. Foster says that Einstein believed we need socialism because we can only develop as “social individuals.”

John Bellamy Foster is a Professor of Sociology at the University of Oregon. He has published numerous critiques of capitalism, written about ecosocialism and Marxist theory, and is the editor of the independent socialist magazine, Monthly Review. 

Featured image of a photo of Albert Einstein via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0 DE).

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