Communism's lesser known history

[Vinayaka]

In fairness, socialism takes root in third world countries and socialist states do not get the international trade capitalist nation gets. When judging economic systems which exist entirely within one country to a country which is merely a segment in a global economic system can be misleading.

Thanks for sharing your insight, I enjoyed reading it much more than the typical anti-communist posts thrown around on RF without much merit.


I actually have to write a report on a documentary this week so I might look into this, thanks.

Probably too long for a week. Pretty hefty book.

 

[psychoslice]

Sorry there is nothing good about communism, it has never worked and it will never work, history shows that.

 

[Vinayaka]

Always ready to pop up with the academic analysis.

It's conditioning. My cousin in Grade 7 did the same. He knew only one thing about communism, and that was 'It's bad." Reminds me of children who 'hate' food they've never tasted.

 

[psychoslice]

Always ready to pop up with the academic analysis.

No, with the truth.

 

[Laika]

I actually really really really want to hear criticism of communism. I have a hard time finding anyone who can say much beyond the extent of "Human nature" and clearly don't have much of a grasp of theory.

It gets boring doesn't it?

No, with the truth.

Below is an example of where communism suceeded. It doesn't mean communism was a 100% success as a socio-economic and political system. Only that the story is more complicated than "there is nothing good about communism, it has never worked and it will never work". it be nice just to debate it with a willingness to accept some level of complexity as something worth invesigating or discussing.

The Soviets got the first man in space and the americans got the first man on the moon- they both had their share of achievements as countries representing different systems. How we weigh them and why we do so is the really intresting part because it says alot about who we think we are as people.

 

[psychoslice]

When you feel like saying anything regarding policies we support, government we support or critiquing our philosophy I will take your "truth" seriously. You're just repeating Mcarthy's buzzwords.

Well please tell me what is good about communism, and why is all communist countries are poor and dictated by whoever ?.

 

[Vinayaka]

What I learned from my uncle, (a communist) and from reading Fanshen, and from having a Marxist anthropology teacher in university, is that nothing in this world is simple. Imperialist China had a wealth distribution of 1% owning 99% while the remaining 99% owned 1%. (Many would put it even worse) At the grassroots level, with Mao, that all changed. It got somewhat more balanced out, so the Chinese peasant wasn't dying of starvation, and could at least eat without his labour turning into opulence for the emperor and his henchmen. Some theorists would say that that level of wealth distribution is what capitalism ends up at at its destination. I personally don't believe that because I do also believe that man does have a social conscience, and has difficulty watching other men starve. The oft repeated motto presented in Fanshen was "Who should benefit from our labour?" (I think the answer, for most, is obvious.

OTOH, my uncle was accused of laziness because the Canadian state would take care of him, certain people take advantage of socialist states, any government, capitalist or communist alike can be corrupt, and there are downfalls to all things. In many ways man is still a selfish uncaring creature and until that basic stuff changes, we are stuck with complexity in all things political.

But I reminded my cousin with his 'Communism is bad" simplistic motto, that the root word of communism and community is the same word. We are all on the RF community, a version of communism, albeit a simplified one.

A decent method for comparing countries for wealth distribution is the gini coeffiecient. Gini coefficient - Wikipedia