1. Proletarian dictatorship was achieved. Stalin just didn't trust the result, but after his death it was a proletarian dictatorship. If you had the right class background you could join the Party, and the Party was more participatory than a lot of people in the West would like to believe. If you look at Russian non-criminals, the numbers get up into the high 30%s. It's not democracy, but they were never aiming for that. "Democratic centralism" was the watchword.
2. Collectivization was achieved. Stalin didn't own tractors and really didn't give a shit about owning them. Peasants had an allotment to give to the state and the remainder was for them. Stalin wasn't about owning anything - he owned virtually nothing. He just controlled the State that owned everything. But he sure didn't walk around with jewels and nice clothes and fancy cars and live in mansions - he had a modest dacha and dressed in a military outfit all the time.
2. Collectivization was achieved. Stalin didn't own tractors and really didn't give a shit about owning them. Peasants had an allotment to give to the state and the remainder was for them. Stalin wasn't about owning anything - he owned virtually nothing. He just controlled the State that owned everything. But he sure didn't walk around with jewels and nice clothes and fancy cars and live in mansions - he had a modest dacha and dressed in a military outfit all the time.
Political correctness is the pettiest form of casuistry.
ἡ δὲ κἀκ τριῶν τρυπημάτων ἐργαζομένη ἐνεκάλει τῇ φύσει, δυσφορουμένη, ὅτι δὴ μὴ καὶ τοὺς τιτθοὺς αὐτῇ εὐρύτερον ἢ νῦν εἰσι τρυπώη, ὅπως καὶ ἄλλην ἐνταῦθα μίξιν ἐπιτεχνᾶσθαι δυνατὴ εἴη. – Procopius
Ummaka qinnassa nīk!
*MySmiley*
ἡ δὲ κἀκ τριῶν τρυπημάτων ἐργαζομένη ἐνεκάλει τῇ φύσει, δυσφορουμένη, ὅτι δὴ μὴ καὶ τοὺς τιτθοὺς αὐτῇ εὐρύτερον ἢ νῦν εἰσι τρυπώη, ὅπως καὶ ἄλλην ἐνταῦθα μίξιν ἐπιτεχνᾶσθαι δυνατὴ εἴη. – Procopius
Ummaka qinnassa nīk!
*MySmiley*
Is communism the true economy of democracies?
- 10/10/2011 01:35:24 AM
775 Views
Sorry, not following this.....
- 10/10/2011 03:33:11 AM
596 Views
Um, a LOT of places have mixed "free" market and state rule.
- 10/10/2011 05:43:49 AM
619 Views
WTF? Canada, Western Europe, and Japan are democracies, not state-rule like China - 
*NM*
- 10/10/2011 05:53:17 PM
227 Views
*NM*
- 10/10/2011 05:53:17 PM
227 Views
They are not similar.
- 10/10/2011 04:01:59 AM
468 Views
That's why Lenin came up with the soviets, though that was pretty naïve, too.
- 10/10/2011 05:54:37 AM
417 Views
Lenin died in 1924. The Civil War was over in 1920. He died after several strokes. *NM*
- 10/10/2011 05:30:58 PM
197 Views
Sorry, did not realize he survived it that long.
- 11/10/2011 04:21:05 AM
523 Views
There is no evidence that Lenin was poisoned.
- 11/10/2011 04:50:28 AM
451 Views
That is hardly the only way to kill; in Lenins condition, neglect would have sufficed.
- 11/10/2011 06:28:31 AM
482 Views
Let's see...you're asking if property theft by the state is compatible with freedom? No.
- 10/10/2011 04:58:14 AM
461 Views
I'm curious how you distinguish "full socialism" from "full communism."
- 10/10/2011 05:32:53 AM
434 Views
You obviously don't understand the definitions of socialism and communism.
- 10/10/2011 02:41:39 PM
517 Views
In theory, but economics is not politics, making social contracts a bit more dubious.
- 10/10/2011 05:18:39 AM
600 Views
No. A thousand times no.
- 10/10/2011 07:46:22 AM
604 Views
Guess I count myself among those fools, though I pretty much agree with Danny.
- 10/10/2011 10:52:11 AM
510 Views
I don't usually answer your scattershot rants, Joel, but you have overextended yourself.
- 10/10/2011 05:28:07 PM
549 Views
That still looks like Stalin and Mao rationalizing away the impossibility of their stated goals.
- 11/10/2011 05:59:06 AM
563 Views
No time to today, but you're very wrong.
- 11/10/2011 02:32:38 PM
445 Views
OK.
- 11/10/2011 03:08:17 PM
432 Views
You really should read more about the Soviet Union.
- 11/10/2011 03:19:32 PM
513 Views
Nope, because free-market democracy totally permits communism already
- 12/10/2011 12:50:36 AM
507 Views