Split Thread Is communism a viable alternative economic system these days?

[Undesired Walrus]

Bad Lieutenant, do you think full employment is only attainable under a communist system?

 

[Bad Lieutenant]

Bad Lieutenant, do you think full employment is only attainable under a communist system?

If everybody only did paid work for 16 hours a week would you classify that as being full employment? That type of full employment only seems possible with a planned economy - call it communism or socialism; I understand the words are equally dirty in the states at least.

 

[Bad Lieutenant]

Protests are not a guide the popular opinion. The only thing protests show is who shout the loudest.

How many in Western democracies vote for parties who want to abolish capitalism?

So the Arab Spring was a mistake then because it's just a load of people shouting? Maybe.

There aren't any mainstream parties which want to abolish capitalism. The labour party is called a socialist party but they just advocate capitalism really it seems.

 

[timhau]

Bad Lieutenant, do you think full employment is only attainable under a communist system?

Based on my one and only visit to the former USSR (in 1982 or 1983), they seemed to do full employment by making three guys dig a hole in the ground using one shovel and one wheelbarrow.

And no, I'm not kidding. According to the old Soviet-era joke, communist economy is based on pretending -- people pretend to work, and the government pretends to pay them.

 

[trustbutverify]

It's not an appeal to authority - a lot of people are annoyed about the wealth inequality and unemployment, as evinced by the occupy wallstreet and copy cat protests around the world. People are pissed off with capitalism in a big way. How is that an appeal to authority?

I sympathize with your predicament. Do you speak Spanish? Is relocating and possibly changing citizenship possible for you? Such a plan might provide you with an escape to a more appropriate society.

 

[WildCat]

At least there isn't a pathological drive to create unnecessary economic activities in order to solve unemployment/poverty.

Errr, that's kind of what communism is all about, it's what keeps that unemployment rate low. Never mind that no one is buying what the factory produces, production will continue!

 

[JihadJane]

Protests are not a guide the popular opinion. The only thing protests show is who shout the loudest.

No, they generally represent a broader currents in society. The loud shouting is a symptom.

Silence protest can work well, too:

'UC Davis Chancellor Katehi walks to her car'

 

[Virus]

There's also no unemployment under communism.

Because the commies used slave labour.

 

[Virus]

The labour party is called a socialist party but they just advocate capitalism really it seems.

Thatcher kicked their ass so hard they turned around and purged the party of extremists and Commies.

 

[angrysoba]

No.

 

[angrysoba]

One of the problems Communists have is that their ideas are extremely unpopular. So, to get around this little inconvenience they have to assume that people just don't know what's good for them. They make up some psychological state called "false consciousness" which is what capitalists have induced in the "masses" (a term which gives an insight into the contempt Communists have for people) and which is manifested by things such as popular music, fashion, food when if they lost their "false consciousness" the masses would be far more satisfied with Mao shirts and Victory gin and scratchy underwear produced by an all-knowing command economy.

Only a "vanguard" of intellectuals free of "false consciousness" can see through the capitalist trick and so it is necessary that they rule over the rest of society and make decisions while the masses can slowly undertake some kind of re-education. Of course, there will probably be some recalcitrant types led astray by capitalist stooges who will need to be elimated. Elimination may seem not exactly concommitant to universal norms of human rights yet this is a false consciousness created through bourgeois morality that the vanguard knows to ignore.

Once the necessary weeding out of reactionary elements is complete then obvious we will live in a world of rainbows, unicorns and abundance.

 

[Gazpacho]

One of the problems Communists have is that their ideas are extremely unpopular. So, to get around this little inconvenience they have to assume that people just don't know what's good for them. They make up some psychological state called "false consciousness" which is what capitalists have induced in the "masses" (a term which gives an insight into the contempt Communists have for people) and which is manifested by things such as popular music, fashion, food when if they lost their "false consciousness" the masses would be far more satisfied with Mao shirts and Victory gin and scratchy underwear produced by an all-knowing command economy.

The capitalist media present viewers with a completely objective reality that is demand-driven and that has no class agenda whatsoever

 

[angrysoba]

The capitalist media present viewers with a completely objective reality that is demand-driven and that has no class agenda whatsoever

So do you think Communism is really the option that would be freely chosen even after all its repeated failures to live up to people's aspirations?

 

[trustbutverify]

The capitalist media present viewers with a completely objective reality that is demand-driven and that has no class agenda whatsoever

At least the brainwashed masses can tune into the Alex Jones show to get the real truth.

 

[Pardalis]

I like the "these days" of the thread title. As if a whole century of oppression and outrageously flawed policies never happened.

 

[Gazpacho]

So do you think Communism is really the option that would be freely chosen even after all its repeated failures to live up to people's aspirations?

I think the defects of communist governments are an extremely feeble basis on which to argue that capitalists do not induce false consciousness in the population.

 

[angrysoba]

I think the defects of communist governments are an extremely feeble basis on which to argue that capitalists do not induce false consciousness in the population.

No. I think it (false consciousness) is a very poor excuse for implementing a system so palpably at odds with the will of the people.

 

[timhau]

I like the "these days" of the thread title. As if a whole century of oppression and outrageously flawed policies never happened.

It's always a good idea to try the same thing over and over until there's a different outcome, isn't it?

 

[Virus]

Communism is the sister ideology of Fascism. Nobody asks if Fascism is a viable economic system.

 

[JihadJane]

Do you love shopping?