This may confuse many HN folks but everyone being their own boss is what socialism is really about. Getting away from wage labor was always a goal. But if you follow the media, they will tell you it's about big government. I suggest people read about Democracy at Work and Richard Wolf's work.
In what country has this enlightened socialism been proven to work? In my opinion socialism cares more about who's winning at class struggle than people themselves, putting ideas/ideology over real life and long term economic growth. We all know it's bullshit because of the high level of government corruption and general impoverishment of population, they talk big ideals while suppressing dissent. When you're hungry and turn on the TV and it says you're living the golden age you kind of develop a sense for bs.
> The Nordic model comprises the economic and social policies as well as typical cultural practices common to the Nordic countries (Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden).[1] This includes a comprehensive welfare state and multi-level collective bargaining[2] based on the economic foundations of social corporatism,[3][4] with a high percentage of the workforce unionized and a sizable percentage of the population employed by the public sector (roughly 30% of the work force in areas such as healthcare, education, and government).[5] Although it was developed in the 1930s under the leadership of social democrats,[6] the Nordic model began to gain attention after World War II.
> As of 2020, all of the Nordic countries rank highly on the inequality-adjusted HDI and the Global Peace Index as well as being ranked in the top 10 on the World Happiness Report.[12]
If you mean something closer to communism, then I agree with you, but I think socialism is wider than that.
Less successful than the Nordic model but still much better than Soviet Russia, was Tito's Yugoslavia. I'm not an expert on it, but I believe it was big on cooperative ownership by the workers, rather than the state.
But I don't think there's ever been a country where everybody was either self-employed or co-owner of their workplace. And maybe it's not even feasible to get there, but that doesn't mean it's a bad idea to try to move at least somewhat in that direction. Everybody being completely dependent on massive corporations certainly isn't great either.
> Less successful than the Nordic model but still much better than Soviet Russia, was Tito's Yugoslavia.
It was a brutal dictatorship, and while indeed better than Soviet Russia (which was not that hard given that Soviet leadership mostly was a bunch of incompetent drunkards), it didn't even come close in success to Germany, much less the Nordic states.
> And maybe it's not even feasible to get there
There is a feasible way - cooperatives ("Genossenschaft" in German). Almost everything can be organized that way, with the notable exception of public infrastructure like trains, roads and electricity/phone/gas/water grids. These best belong in government hands.
I didn't mean to claim Tito was a great guy, but from what little I know, his approach to economy was more effective than that of Lenin/Stalin (not to mention Mao).
Coops of some form in a democratic system would of course be vastly preferable.
