Private capital tends to become concentrated in few hands, partly because of competition among the capitalists, and partly because technological development and the increasing division of labor encourage the formation of larger units of production at the expense of smaller ones. The result of these developments is an oligarchy of private capital the enormous power of which cannot be effectively checked even by a democratically organized political society. This is true since the members of legislative bodies are selected by political parties, largely financed or otherwise influenced by private capitalists who, for all practical purposes, separate the electorate from the legislature. The consequence is that the representatives of the people do not in fact sufficiently protect the interests of the underprivileged sections of the population. Moreover, under existing conditions, private capitalists inevitably control, directly or indirectly, the main sources of information (press, radio, education). It is thus extremely difficult, and indeed in most cases quite impossible, for the individual citizen to come to objective conclusions and to make intelligent use of his political rights.

I like Einstein and Socialism! But Einstein’s opinion on politics, while interesting, carries no special weight. On matters of mathematics and physics Einstein carries the authority of his knowledge. On matters of politics he’s just another dude.

Cool I didn’t know he wrote a whole book about socialism. Irony alert- at that link they’re selling his 104 page essay / ebook for a capitalist-savory price of $15, wtf.

Ooh, an opportunity to share a video from one of my favourite science communicators, the inimitable Dr Fatima (an ex-astrophysicist): “Einstein Was a Socialist; Should We Care?” (Duration: 1h16)