"Liquidations" or "exterminations" must not be part of the plan. — Bitter Crank

Historically that has been the plan, really.

But of course we can learn from the past if we want to.

I've actually come to the conclusion that the best place for socialism is in a liberal democracy that is a justice state with strong institutions. Should the socialists somehow gain majority power, they cannot take away the liberal (in the classic sense) freedoms of the individual and start their obsession with central planning by the government. The affluence of the society tones down socialist fervour and put's their focus likely on social issues. The socialists can also far better deal with the other side of the political spectrum. And that is vice versa. Once something that has been on the socialist agenda is universally accepted (for example social security etc), the idealist right-wingers have a difficult time in getting people to believe in their anarcho-capitalist dreams. If the economy doesn't work, if there are huge inequalities in the society and lack of social cohesion, the socialists (and the right) can go on a collision path where there is no return (like Venezuela).

Socialism or leftism will not die even if the country is the most succesful most libertarian country their is, just as righ-wing conservatism will never go away if there is political freedom. Distribution of wealth has been a political issue since antiquity, so nothing new under the sun.

Daniel De Leon, 1852 - 1914, American socialist newspaper editor, politician, Marxist theoretician, and trade union organizer, advocated revolutionary industrial unionism utilizing democratic institutions. He led the Socialist Labor Party for 24 years. The SLP still exists in sort of petrified form.

The SLP and it's like-minded socialists did not advocate any sort of a violent revolution, violent reorganization of society, or violent suppression. DeLeon et al backed the dissolution of the state once workers had, through democratic means, gained power. There is some anarchy-syndicalism in the SLP approach which is more explicit in the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW).

That's the socialist tradition I find most attractive. But whether this socialism produces a great society or a dismal failure will depend on the how the people implement the new society. The approach I like involves NO revolutionary vanguard, no concentration of power, no dictatorship.