The Collapse of the USSR »
Posted By Striker101 3 months, 3 weeks ago in Political Opinion
The integration of the economies of the Republics under a common plan was beneficial to
all the peoples of the USSR. The advantages were particularly evident in the formerly
backward Republics of Central Asia. A Western journalist commented on the remarkable
transformation in this area: " Certainly Central Asia has seen a stupendous economic
and social transformation in the past 70 years. In 1917 these steppes and mountains were
inhabited by a virtually illiterate population, living in romantic but often abject
poverty. Today, in Tashkent (population two million) the old silk route is transected by a
Moscow-style metro, and a 200-acre botanical garden miraculously evokes, in what was once
semi-desert, the illusion of a Buckinghamshire woodland." ( The Observer ,
30/3/86.)
Read Full Story at socialistappeal.org »
149 Views Share Story 28 Comments Report
Submitted By:
Striker101
Lifetime self-employed designer/builder/solar, realtor, retired and busier than ever writing about the moral foundation for Life and Liberty. Ongoing collapse is the critical ...
Who Also Submitted: All »
RSS Join the Discussion
+ Add CommentComments So Far: 28 (view all)
-
67%
Striker1013 months, 3 weeks ago
This comment is below the standard viewing threshold View It »
Researching today about the collapse of the USSR, came across this sorry-ass website for the Workers International League based in St Paul, MN. Of course they are unhappy and still dreaming that communism will come back for them. Not seeking props, just passing around for those who might be curious.
Reply -
-
70%
mesodude3 months, 2 weeks ago
This comment is below the standard viewing threshold View It »
"They do ramble on and on, and I think that is their problem - living in the past and unable to adapt to the present."
Reply
--Wait...This from people who want our health care system to stay stuck in time to protect the profits of extremely wealthy insurance executives? Mmm-kayyyyy -
-
-
-
100%
chuck-the-canuck3 months, 2 weeks ago
This comment is below the standard viewing threshold View It »
It's so easy to fear what you don't understand. In the fifties it was communism. Now it appears to be socialism. Karl Marx's communism wasn't a political philosophy. It was an economic philosophy. The idea was to share the wealth. Sharing the wealth wasn't a bad idea in principle, unfortunately in practice it turned out to be not too practical.
Reply
The Americans like to pat themselves on the back and look back on the fall of the Berlin wall with a great sense of national pride. All across America eyes tear up. The vision of Ronnie admonishing the godless, rat bastard communists to "tear down that wall". Well guess what? America had nothing to do with the fall of communism.
One of the major reasons it failed in Russia was, as a system, it didn't encourage competition and innovation, the life blood of our free market system. Because the state owned everything there was no need for competition and because there was no need to compete there was no need to innovate. Russia soon found itself unable to compete with more technologically advanced trading nations. The problem compounded itself at home with falling production. There was no incentive for workers expend extra effort. They each got essentially the same share of the pie no matter how much they contributed. That led to lower production and thus to less of a pie to share. It was a system that was doomed to fail
The capitalist system is also a good idea in principle. But just like communism, it is also doomed to failure. If left to proceed unfettered it will eventually lead to something akin to Social Darwinism. The survival of the fittest. And while this might sound only fair and just on the surface, I think that if left to its own devices, it will lead to an even larger gap between the haves and the have nots.
While at one time the classic American Dream was alive and well, it has unfortunately become just another anachronism. Once it was possible for just about anybody, if they tried hard enough and worked hard enough to achieve material success. It isn't quite so easy nowadays. Technology has been a two edged sword. On one hand it has brought us convenience , productivity and efficiency , on the other hand it has helped to reduce the number of workers required to provide the services. Unemployment is on the rise and it will continue to rise as corporate America tries to increase the bottom line. There will be enough goods but fewer people will be able to afford them. The number of well educated, experienced, unemployed workers goes up everyday.-
100%
chuck-the-canuck3 months, 2 weeks ago
This comment is below the standard viewing threshold View It »
(cont)
Reply
Corporate America is exporting its future to the lowest bidder. It truly has become a global village. The suburbs have moved. Now they're in Bombay. Outsourcing. The bottom line.
All's fair in love, war and business. The problem is who gets to decide what's fair? Is it fair that some 20 year old athlete gets 15 million dollars a year to play ball and a 40 year old factory worker can't make enough to feed his family? Is it fair that the richest country on earth can't provide basic health care for all its citizens. Is it fair that the richest people keep getting richer and the poor just keep getting poorer?
Democracy. Is it a good thing? You bet. Does America really have it? For the people? Of the people? Which people are those? The rich? I wish it was that simple. Corporate America, does it really have a conscience? Only if it doesn't interfere with profits.
It’s corporate clout that runs America, not the individual. In Russia the state owned everything. In America it’s the large corporations. Sure communism failed but at least in principle it started out with the good of the majority at heart. The only thing that concerns corporate America is profits. So instead of having one government at the helm, you have many greedy corporate entities all vying for control, and they have no ones best interests at heart except their own.
Too bad America has been brain washed by the greedy. Socialism isn't all that bad. You'd be surprised how many civilized countries lean a little to the left. Guess what? Nobody forced it on them. They voted for it. Some countries have a social conscience.
I'm a Canadian and I live in the province that introduced universal health care to North America. Nobody tells us what to think or do, our government just taxes us a little more. So what. In Canada we try to behave like a family. Americans behave like family too. The difference is we try to share the wealth with our family, not starve them out. Also, we've always used the same bathrooms and let all our citizens pick what ever seats they wanted on the bus.
-
-
80%
miklkit3 months, 2 weeks ago
This comment is below the standard viewing threshold View It »
Good clear thinking there Chuck.
Reply
Unfettered socialism will eventually lead to communism.
Unfettered capitalism will eventually lead to fascism.
The United States is very close to fascism right now. A dose of socialism is really needed right about now. -
Add a Comment
Sign In With Your Propeller Account
Please keep your comments relevant to this story.
To create a live link, simply type the URL (including http://) or email address and we will make it a live link for you. You can put up to 3 URLs in your comments. Line breaks and paragraphs are automatically converted — no need to use <p> or <br /> tags.