• Move to lemm.ee
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    1 year ago

    That’s a pretty big switcheroo there. Communism isn’t socialism, and the socialism as described in the link is called democratic socialism. I.e. democracy with redistribution. Which all Western countries practise. Your link reinforces my premise.

    This is ideological illiteracy. Socialism is the transitionary stage between capitalism and communism. All communist states have been socialist states because no society has progressed far enough to reach communism.

    Nobody claimed that. You keep making up straw men. We’d have a more productive discussion if you just replied to what I wrote.

    The implication was that it is worse in communist countries.

    That the rate of hunger has dropped precipitously while population has exploded in the most impoverished regions is testament to the incredible achievement of capitalism. Child mortality is at an all time low. You’re arguing that because things aren’t perfect, capitalism is bad. Clearly the world isn’t so black and white. No system of resource allocation is perfect, least of all communism.

    Take China out of that data and it practically flatlines. It has not improved in capitalist countries, China is responsible for almost all of it.

    But really this isn’t about capitalism. It’s about politics. We can choose to tax people more and redistribute locally and abroad. We choose that when we vote. Capitalism just ensures we have lots of resources and products and services.

    If that were fucking possible under capitalism it would ALREADY BE HAPPENING. The parties presented to you under BOURGEOISE DEMOCRACY are BOURGEOISE parties. They are not parties of the people, they are parties of the bourgeoisie and the entire system is designed to maintain that. When your only options are parties of the bourgeoisie the outcome is that the winner represents the bourgeoisie.

    The only solution to this problem is to overthrow the existing bourgeoise democracy and install a proletarian democracy instead, the result of which being that all the parties under the proletarian democracy represent the proletariat. This is what a socialist state is institutionally. The antithesis of a capitalist state institutionally.

    • JasSmith
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      11 year ago

      This is ideological illiteracy. Socialism is the transitionary stage between capitalism and communism. All communist states have been socialist states because no society has progressed far enough to reach communism.

      You claim me to be “ideologically illiterate,” then go on to agree with me that socialism isn’t communism. That doesn’t speak well of your reading comprehension or intentions.

      The implication was that it is worse in communist countries.

      I didn’t make any claims about corruption. My claims are with outcomes, which I maintain are worse under communism.

      Take China out of that data and it practically flatlines. It has not improved in capitalist countries, China is responsible for almost all of it.

      Child mortality has trended down over the last century in almost every capitalist nation, not just China. Even the really corrupt African nations.

      If that were fucking possible under capitalism it would ALREADY BE HAPPENING.

      No, and this is the central argumentative failure under this dogma. Maybe people just don’t want mass redistribution? Maybe what you want isn’t what everyone else wants? Is that really so hard to accept as a possible reality? The Frankfurt School accepted this in the 1930s under the premise that “people’s lives are just too good under capitalism to ever want to move to communism.”

      • Move to lemm.ee
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        1 year ago

        You claim me to be “ideologically illiterate,” then go on to agree with me that socialism isn’t communism. That doesn’t speak well of your reading comprehension or intentions.

        Two sides of the same coin. Socialists all understand that socialism is the transitionary stage between capitalism and communism.

        I didn’t make any claims about corruption. My claims are with outcomes, which I maintain are worse under communism.

        Prove it. I cited research that shows you are wrong, you’re simply ignoring the facts.

        Child mortality has trended down over the last century in almost every capitalist nation, not just China. Even the really corrupt African nations.

        Wow one data point! Incredible. Now do deaths from starvation, lack of clean water and curable disease. 20million die per year.

        No, and this is the central argumentative failure under this dogma. Maybe people just don’t want mass redistribution? Maybe what you want isn’t what everyone else wants? Is that really so hard to accept as a possible reality? The Frankfurt School accepted this in the 1930s under the premise that “people’s lives are just too good under capitalism to ever want to move to communism.”

        Holy shit your argument is “I don’t want these people to live so it’s ok”. Colonial brained monster.

        • JasSmith
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          1 year ago

          Two sides of the same coin. Socialists all understand that socialism is the transitionary stage between capitalism and communism.

          We continue to agree: they are not the same. Particularly democratic socialism.

          Prove it. I cited research that shows you are wrong, you’re simply ignoring the facts.

          The cited research relied on national reported statistics in its methodology. North Korea just isn’t a reliable source. Neither is China; which, by the way, is also classified as a socialist country. Further, the researchers normalised income, which radically altered the conclusion. Without doing that, the capitalist countries win by a country mile. You would have known that had you actually read the study you cited.

          To defend my premise, I would like like to cite all former and current communist countries, including:

          Korea, Democratic Peoples Rep. (North Korea)
          Armenia
          Azerbaijan
          China
          Georgia
          Kazakhstan
          Kyrgyzstan
          Laos, Peoples Democratic Republic
          Mongolia
          Nepal
          Tajikistan
          Tibet
          Uzbekistan
          Vietnam
          Armenia
          Azerbaijan
          China
          Georgia
          Kazakhstan
          Kyrgyzstan
          Laos, Peoples Democratic Republic
          Mongolia
          Nepal
          Russia
          Tajikistan
          Tibet
          Turkmenistan
          Uzbekistan
          Vietnam
          Europe
          Albania
          Belarus
          Bosnia & Herzegovina (Yugoslavia)
          Bulgaria
          Croatia (Yugoslavia)
          Czech Republic (Czechoslovakia)
          Estonia
          Finland
          Germany (German Democratic Republic)
          Greece
          Hungary
          Latvia
          Lithuania
          Macedonia, FYR (Yugoslavia)
          Moldova
          Montenegro (Yugoslavia)
          Poland
          Romania
          Serbia (Yugoslavia)
          Slovakia (Czechoslovakia)
          Slovenia (Yugoslavia)
          Spain
          Ukraine
          Angola
          Ethiopia
          Mozambique
          Colombia
          Cuba
          Nicaragua
          Peru

          Most of these countries are doing much better since eliminating communism. The data is irrefutable.

          Wow one data point! Incredible. Now do deaths from starvation, lack of clean water and curable disease. 20million die per year.

          I literally cited global hunger rates. I encourage you to read my comments above to refresh your memory.

          Global access to clean water has been trending up for more than a century.

          Child deaths from pneumonia.

          Diarrheal deaths in children.

          Disease burden from communicable, maternal, neonatal & nutritional diseases.

          I could do this all day, but you made the claim. Let’s see some evidence that capitalist nations do worse than communist nations.

          Holy shit your argument is “I don’t want these people to live so it’s ok”. Colonial brained monster.

          Once again, creating straw men. No one argued for killing anyone. Do you do his because your argument is weak? Does that normally work for you?