# How should socialists measure success?

tags
: [[organizing]] [[socialism]] [[communism]] [[politics]] [[revolution]]

Much of this note was inspired by [this episode](https://pca.st/episode/87483881-a378-4360-878c-f1d1f0ea96bc) of Red Library.

Socialists of all stripes seem to have different measures of success.

-   Some would say that success is [[the horizon]] that we are always striving towards. That we can never reach a perfect society but we can always work to build it better
-   Some would say that success amounts to how much popular will is considered in society, and in this regard [[Cuba]] and the [[Cuban Revolution]] should be considered successful
-   Some would say that success is just a measure of survival. [[Cuba]] and [[China]] are successes simply because they weathered the storm that was [[the collapse of the Soviet Union]].
-   Conversely, one could say that the [[American Revolution]] was a success because of [[The Civil Rights Act]], [[Women’s Sufferage]], [[abolition of slavery]], and so forth, but do any of these things move us closer to the communist horizon?
    -   The US is no longer revolutionary, so perhaps it’s no longer worth defending