Posted by: Anonymous Coward
on April 27, 2007 09:38 AM
OK, it's technically true that communism never killed anyone, just as capitalism never killed anyone, religious extremism never killed anyone, and planes, tanks, bombs, guns, and atomic weapons never killed anyone.
But that's lawyer-style hair-splitting and utter intellectual dishonesty.
In other words, you're a liar.
Communism and socialism both concentrate all power in the hands of the state, the individual is subservient to that, and both subscribe to the notion that the ends of achieving socialism and communism justify any means. For Lenin, Stalin, Mao, Pol Pot, that meant killing anyone who opposed you, either outright with a bullet or via labor camp. the death toll is, indeed, in the millions. Stalin made Hitler look like a rank amateur when it came to mass murder.
To be sure, communist dictators hardly have a monopoly on state mass murder, but with the sole exception of Hitler, all the worst have been communists. Coincidence? I doubt it.
As far as communism's merits as an economic system go (it's also a political system, whether you say so or not, and a thoroughly evil one), how can a system that is such an utter failure be called ideal? How can a system that denies the individual the fruits of his/her labor be called ideal?
Here's a good example of why it's not:
- Capitalism: I get some land, plant some wheat, harvest 10 times as much as I need to feed my family, and sell the rest to others who can't or won't farm, so they can feed their families too
- Communism: if I have any land (the state would usually have taken it from me already), I plant some wheat and grow 10 times as much as I need to feed my family. The state comes around, they take 90% of it (or maybe all of it, and I buy some back at the state store). Half of it goes to corrupt officials to is exported for hard currency, half the rest goes to waste because of the inefficiencies of the system, and what's left can be purchased at the state store. Next planting season, I either plant just enough to feed my family, or maybe none at all, figuring I'll just get it at the state store like everyone else. There's certainly no reason for me to plant any more than I need. The government has no wheat and buys it for hard currency on the world market and eventually collapses because communism doesn't work.
That, boys, and girls, is a one-paragraph history of the USSR. Communism has no need of external enemies; it's its own worst enemy to a degree sufficient to bring it down.
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Re:You can't accuse someone of being a commie
Posted by: Anonymous Coward on April 27, 2007 09:38 AMBut that's lawyer-style hair-splitting and utter intellectual dishonesty.
In other words, you're a liar.
Communism and socialism both concentrate all power in the hands of the state, the individual is subservient to that, and both subscribe to the notion that the ends of achieving socialism and communism justify any means. For Lenin, Stalin, Mao, Pol Pot, that meant killing anyone who opposed you, either outright with a bullet or via labor camp. the death toll is, indeed, in the millions. Stalin made Hitler look like a rank amateur when it came to mass murder.
To be sure, communist dictators hardly have a monopoly on state mass murder, but with the sole exception of Hitler, all the worst have been communists. Coincidence? I doubt it.
As far as communism's merits as an economic system go (it's also a political system, whether you say so or not, and a thoroughly evil one), how can a system that is such an utter failure be called ideal? How can a system that denies the individual the fruits of his/her labor be called ideal?
Here's a good example of why it's not:
- Capitalism: I get some land, plant some wheat, harvest 10 times as much as I need to feed my family, and sell the rest to others who can't or won't farm, so they can feed their families too
- Communism: if I have any land (the state would usually have taken it from me already), I plant some wheat and grow 10 times as much as I need to feed my family. The state comes around, they take 90% of it (or maybe all of it, and I buy some back at the state store). Half of it goes to corrupt officials to is exported for hard currency, half the rest goes to waste because of the inefficiencies of the system, and what's left can be purchased at the state store. Next planting season, I either plant just enough to feed my family, or maybe none at all, figuring I'll just get it at the state store like everyone else. There's certainly no reason for me to plant any more than I need. The government has no wheat and buys it for hard currency on the world market and eventually collapses because communism doesn't work.
That, boys, and girls, is a one-paragraph history of the USSR. Communism has no need of external enemies; it's its own worst enemy to a degree sufficient to bring it down.
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