From Staff Reports

A program on “The Alternative to Capitalism: Socialism 101” — calling for a revolution in the United States with a radical change in the economic system from capitalism to pure Marxist socialism — was presented Oct. 25 in UNC Asheville’s Highsmith University Union.
“Reforms are not enough,” meeting co-leader Michael “Trey” Kindlinger told the gathering. “It will take a revolution ... a socialist revolution!”

With a note of sadness, he said there only have been “glimpses” of pure socialism in history, citing the Paris Commune of 1871 — and “the first few years of the Russian Revolution before (dictator Joseph) Stalin destroyed it.”

To that end, Kindlinger said, “We need a revolutionary organization to combat racism, sexism and homophobia ... We cannot wait to start at building the socialist alternative.”

About 15 men of varying ages, including a number of UNCA students, attended the 90-minute program. Among the attendees were several local libertarians, who argued the case for free-market capitalism, claiming that the “capitalism” to which the socialists at the meeting were objecting, is, instead, more of a mix of socialism, fascism and other “isms.”

A few of the libertarians, proponents of the Austrian School of Economics championed by Ludwig von Mises, claimed that unfettered capitalism offers the maximum individual freedom and the greatest opportunity for prosperity. The discussion between the socialists and the libertarians was lively, but generally respectful.