Sovietcomrade232
14th April 2011, 03:15
(Apologies for this being so long)
General Analysis of Communist Theory and the Reassessment of Traditional Ideas
It all began in 1848 with the publishing of the Communist Manifesto. Karl Marx theorized society was progressing into a new phase, one of which would surpass capitalism, ending institutionalized inequality and poverty.
It has come a long way since then. Truly taking off with the October Revolution in Imperial Russia, it lead to the establishment of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and the arrival of communism to the world stage. Eventually is spread out from the Soviet Union to into Eastern Europe, East and South East Asia, parts of Africa and Cuba. Challenge at every point by the capitalist west, communism persevered until the late 1980’s when most of the communist nations where overthrown in counter revolution, reinstating capitalism and tarnishing communism image more harshly then any capitalist propaganda. Even the remaining communist nations have adopted capitalist elements just to keep themselves from collapsing, the only exception being North Korea, who instead heads more and more into instability.
What happened to world wide communism? Why has virtually every communist nation failed? Is it because of capitalist pressure? Why capitalism stronger then ever? Was it because Marx was wrong?
To answer these questions we must first look at how communism progressed throughout the world and then at what exactly world wide communism was at the time, in particular the Soviet Union.
As mentioned earlier, communism came to the world stage after the October Revolution in the Russia. Culminating into the Soviet Union by 1922, the worlds first communist nation begin to implement polices establishing socialism with the intent of reforming human society into the next phase predicted by Karl Marx.
From the very beginning, the west responded poorly. Although no significant pressure from the west occurred at this time, the culture disdain for communism began to manifest into a noticeable opposition that would be the foundation for the western side of the cold war.
Lenin lead the Soviet Union until he death in 1924. During his brief time in power, he launched the New Economic Policy, a combination of small scale free enterprise and socialist economics, The USSR began to develop the foundations of a modern economy that could then be built upon to achieve a stable, prosperous society.
Unfortunately, this is when communism begins it horrible track down a path completely distanced from its original intent.
A power struggle begin, of which Joseph Stalin was the victor. In 1928 he replaced the NEP with the command economy that would become the image of communism in the west.
The Soviet Union began to industrialize quickly. Industry boomed and the economy prospered even as the west entered the great depression. Buffered from the depression’s effects from being cut off from other economies, the Soviets continued to increase in economic ability. The standard of living in the Soviet Union reach new heights that would not end until the mid 1960’s (excluding the Great Patriotic War of course).
However the political situation was not nearly as bright. Constant power struggles and political maneuvering wrecked havoc on the Soviet Union. The purges in the late 30’s robbed the Soviet Union of much leadership. Although the west claims millions of people lost their lives to it and is likely exaggerated, the purges were indeed significant in size and in effect. The ruling class that would characterize the Soviet Union until Gorbachev emerged from these purges.
The Great Patriotic War (or in the west World War II) began in 1941 with Operation Barbarossa. The Fascist war machine launched itself into the Soviet’s territory, eventually reaching the outskirts of Moscow. During this offensive the Soviet made the intelligent move of packing up whole factories and moving then to the other side of the Ural Mountains whenever possible, as such the Soviet’s war economy did not diminish as much as the Nazi’s had thought. The economic progress the Soviet’s had made over the previous decades put itself to much use, out producing and propelling its own forces eventually into Berlin, ending WWII in Europe.
The next stage in Communist history was the Cold War. The culture disdain felt early in the West finally manifested itself. Propelled by the fear that their long held beliefs are being threatened, the west coalesced into NATO, an alliance against aggression despite being quite aggressive itself.
This ‘cold’ war would force the Soviet Union into a pseudo-imperialistic nation, ruled by a class that was heavily pro Russian, and exacerbate the economic problems with the system Stalin implemented.
Stalin began to forcefully export communism in the eastern bloc nations. Although you could argue his motives were pure, this forced nature gave the peoples of these nations a bitter taste that would trouble them for years.
Communism took over in 1949 in China independent of Soviet actions. Mao Zedong began transforming the Chinese economy in a command economy like the USSR.
In 1950, the Korean War broke out. The first truly significant conflict between the west and the east, it marked the beginning of heated hostilities that would be characteristic of the Cold War.
After Stalin died in 1953, another power struggle erupted. This one much less deadly, Nikita Khrushchev emerged victorious. He began the policy of De-Stalinization that would end many of the major drains on intelligent manpower.
Khrushchev would put into effect economic policies that push the Soviet Union to the forefront of science, sending first satellite and then the first man in to space.
In 1956, the Hungarian’s began to become openly upset with the status quo. Leading to the Soviets marching into Hungary, this marked place where the Soviet began to use imperialist style policies to achieve goals. The subjugation of the Eastern bloc nations would turn Eastern Europe into a production bloc for Soviet uses.
The Soviet Union and the Chinese began to butt head in the latter 50’s. Mao saw himself as the leader of the communist revolution because of his seniority, the Soviets and Chinese went there separate ways. The Soviets want domination, and so did the Chinese. Imperialistic ambitions formed in both nations, each trying to influence the wider world.
Cuba during this time had its revolution, leading to a communist nation in Central America, something the US certainly did not appreciate. The events of the Cuban Missile Crisis occurred here. The crisis marked the height of the cold war. The west continued to try and preserve its imperialistic empires, but they were slowly crumbling. They began to develop a new style of imperialism, based on a global economy, where economic domination was key, not political. The Soviets would enter this game in their own way, mostly throughout Africa and the Middle East. Their domination was through economic aid rather then economic dominance. They became proxies used to the fight the west.
Vietnam became important in the Cold War during the mid 60’s when the US intervene on behalf of South Vietnam. Contrary to popular belief (among us Communists) this was not to help preserve French holdings. This was to allow the US to further enclose the main communist nations in a series of alliances. A geopolitical move no less. It ended in 1973 for the US with their withdraw. The war itself ended in 1975 with the fall of Saigon.
Vietnam was the height of the West’s direct action against communism. From then on it’ll be small scale, quick battles or subversion from behind the scenes. The Soviet gained an ally with Vietnam. It gave then sea ports in Southeast Asia, hurting US dominance of the region and giving a geopolitical position against the Chinese.
In 1979 the Soviets enter Afghanistan. This would be the beginning of the end for the Soviet Union. Now under Brezhnev, the Brezhnev stagnation plagued the Soviet economy. Unlike in a capitalist nation, war does not allow much benefit for the economy if its state controlled. The ten year war strained the economy to its braking point.
The Soviet Union began to adopt more open market style economics. The economy improved, but not nearly enough to make a difference.
On December 26, 1991 the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics dissolved. The eastern bloc nations had thrown off their communist regimes that were previously propped up by the USSR.
China by this time had already begun adapting capitalist polices to save itself from economic collapse. Vietnam in the 80’s began similar policies as did other communist nations so varying degree.
Communism has continued this trend to this day.
So, now that we have the major pieces of history laid in front of us, how can we discern what happen? Was Marx wrong?
No. Marx was dead on. How can this be? You might ask. After all the capitalist nations, nonetheless the capitalist hyperpower the US is stronger then ever despite it’s recession.
First I will identify why the answers elude most communists. Dogma. We have allowed ourselves to become attached to a particular set of ideals. Karl Marx got a lot of things right, but he also got some things wrong. We should be identifying those wrongs and correcting them, not sticking to them. The ability to criticize one’s own beliefs is detrimental to the fulfillment of communist theory.
To start I’ll explain why capitalism is stronger then ever.
Karl Marx left out one highly important aspect of society. This is understandable as it was unlikely to be noticed in his day. That aspect is culture.
Modern culture is the culmination of thousands of generations of humans thoughts and beliefs. Class warfare is built into it deeply. Without affecting the societal part of civilization, the economic one changes little.
Modern society is simply okay with certain forms of oppression because those forms of oppression are socially acceptable.
When human beings are back into a corner we have but one way to go. When in a capitalist society, the class competition for wealth is the only means of development. Society in these countries has accustomed to this system. Only in times of great stress (economic troubles for one) does society actively support change because the social norm is out of balance. We naturally seek a new norm to replace the failed old one.
Capitalism likely to continue to grow strong for at least several more decades before major changes will occur then.
Now you might be asking, “Why then did the Soviet Union collapse? Pressures forced a change in their norm.” They answer is rather simple.
A state run, command economy does not work. It is incompatible with Communist ideas for a multitude of reasons.
For one, this system prevents the state from “withering away”. In this system, the state IS the system. It goes away to any degree and you have major problem. Secondly, this system is prone to massive levels of corruption. Democracy is the best form of government for checking corruption. It of course does no eliminate it, but it keeps it to a stable level that is manageable and does not pose detrimental problems to the economy in a direct way. You cant have a command economy with democracy, because the economics then become political rather then need driven.
Thirdly, when you mix economics with government on a direct level, the economy become directly suited for the governments need. In the case of the Soviet Union, the challenge of the Cold War require heavy industry and a large military as well a large amounts of good for other proxy nations. This over emphasis on heavy industry lead to low levels in consumer goods and by extension played a major role in the Brezhnev stagnation.
Now there are also other things that Soviets did that were independent of the command economy but were equally harmful, for one, their wage system. Everyone being paid more or less the same did exactly what the capitalists say it did. Lack of incentive to work efficiently and with quality. Although this was done for the sack of equality, it has major problems. How then do we get around this? After all that’s one of the primary ways inequality exists under capitalism isn’t it? I advise an adaptive pay system. The minimum wage for a 40 work week is the minimum necessary to survive (basic necessities). Then a maximum (ie $1000) is set for everyone. Your managers choose how much you are paid based on the quality of your work. The more effort, the higher the pay you get. The manager is paid based on how well the workers under his command do and how well the factory (equivalent) is running. This makes equality between jobs. You get paid on how well you do you job, not what job you do.
Now you might be wondering, “Why has almost ever nation failed if it’s this simple to fix?”
Remember how the Soviet Union was the first communist nation? Remember how Stalin made this horrible styled economy BEFORE any other nations became communist? When Stalin forced communism on the eastern bloc nations, his style was inflicted on them. Other nations, only seeing how the Soviets were strong, copied their system. The Soviets only lasted as long as they did because their nation had almost unlimited resources. The others weren’t so fortunate and required the Soviets to prop them up. Now these nations are turning capitalist from lack of a good way to improve themselves.
So, if we are not going to use a command economy, and culture is acting against us, how do we proceed?
For one, we need a system based on free enterprise. Now hold on a minute! No, I am not supporting capitalism. Then why do I want a system with free enterprise? For one, although capitalism requires free enterprise, free enterprise does not require capitalism. Free enterprise is simply the people running the economy not the government. Capitalism is just HOW they run the economy.
So, what then is capitalist and what is just part of free enterprise. Capitalism is one thing and one thing only. Money flowing from one pocket to another. That is capitalism. No cash flow, no economic activity. Capitalism is based on obtaining as much of that artificial construct as possible.
So what we need to do is build a free enterprise society, with an adaptive wage system. They economics would be pearly resources driven. Under capitalism, it’s price driven. The scarcity of the resource determines how expensive it is. Under this money free system, the scarcity of the resources only determines how much it can be used. This forces people to be efficient with resources and look for alternative. Fossil fuels become a burden. With profit removed, monopolies are nearly pointless. Business owners would only own businesses because they are good at it, not because they want massive amounts of money.
You might ask then, “How is this removing the money system if we are still paying people?” The answer is that this money has no artificial value. Spending it give the person selling things no profit. He just gets paid based on how well his store does. All that ‘cash’ just get sent back to the governments who then pays it back to people. Basically, this ‘money’ just becomes a unique ration system that lets you choose the rations.
No in regards to culture. Us communists are basically waiting for another major economic problem (or something equally problematic) to shift society off balance. This free enterprise communism allows for the same consumer environment that the capitalist have, minus the inequality. Only ability separates one person from another. Under this system culture can develop into Marxist ‘communism’ were government is mostly non existent short of a management oversight with no other really useful functions. Imperialism becomes profitless under this system.
This is my radical analysis of communist theory. I encourage active debate on this. I understand that this is very generalized but I assure you there is more to it then this. This is just a brief summary to get the idea across.
May the future be Red.
Sovietcomrade262
General Analysis of Communist Theory and the Reassessment of Traditional Ideas
It all began in 1848 with the publishing of the Communist Manifesto. Karl Marx theorized society was progressing into a new phase, one of which would surpass capitalism, ending institutionalized inequality and poverty.
It has come a long way since then. Truly taking off with the October Revolution in Imperial Russia, it lead to the establishment of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and the arrival of communism to the world stage. Eventually is spread out from the Soviet Union to into Eastern Europe, East and South East Asia, parts of Africa and Cuba. Challenge at every point by the capitalist west, communism persevered until the late 1980’s when most of the communist nations where overthrown in counter revolution, reinstating capitalism and tarnishing communism image more harshly then any capitalist propaganda. Even the remaining communist nations have adopted capitalist elements just to keep themselves from collapsing, the only exception being North Korea, who instead heads more and more into instability.
What happened to world wide communism? Why has virtually every communist nation failed? Is it because of capitalist pressure? Why capitalism stronger then ever? Was it because Marx was wrong?
To answer these questions we must first look at how communism progressed throughout the world and then at what exactly world wide communism was at the time, in particular the Soviet Union.
As mentioned earlier, communism came to the world stage after the October Revolution in the Russia. Culminating into the Soviet Union by 1922, the worlds first communist nation begin to implement polices establishing socialism with the intent of reforming human society into the next phase predicted by Karl Marx.
From the very beginning, the west responded poorly. Although no significant pressure from the west occurred at this time, the culture disdain for communism began to manifest into a noticeable opposition that would be the foundation for the western side of the cold war.
Lenin lead the Soviet Union until he death in 1924. During his brief time in power, he launched the New Economic Policy, a combination of small scale free enterprise and socialist economics, The USSR began to develop the foundations of a modern economy that could then be built upon to achieve a stable, prosperous society.
Unfortunately, this is when communism begins it horrible track down a path completely distanced from its original intent.
A power struggle begin, of which Joseph Stalin was the victor. In 1928 he replaced the NEP with the command economy that would become the image of communism in the west.
The Soviet Union began to industrialize quickly. Industry boomed and the economy prospered even as the west entered the great depression. Buffered from the depression’s effects from being cut off from other economies, the Soviets continued to increase in economic ability. The standard of living in the Soviet Union reach new heights that would not end until the mid 1960’s (excluding the Great Patriotic War of course).
However the political situation was not nearly as bright. Constant power struggles and political maneuvering wrecked havoc on the Soviet Union. The purges in the late 30’s robbed the Soviet Union of much leadership. Although the west claims millions of people lost their lives to it and is likely exaggerated, the purges were indeed significant in size and in effect. The ruling class that would characterize the Soviet Union until Gorbachev emerged from these purges.
The Great Patriotic War (or in the west World War II) began in 1941 with Operation Barbarossa. The Fascist war machine launched itself into the Soviet’s territory, eventually reaching the outskirts of Moscow. During this offensive the Soviet made the intelligent move of packing up whole factories and moving then to the other side of the Ural Mountains whenever possible, as such the Soviet’s war economy did not diminish as much as the Nazi’s had thought. The economic progress the Soviet’s had made over the previous decades put itself to much use, out producing and propelling its own forces eventually into Berlin, ending WWII in Europe.
The next stage in Communist history was the Cold War. The culture disdain felt early in the West finally manifested itself. Propelled by the fear that their long held beliefs are being threatened, the west coalesced into NATO, an alliance against aggression despite being quite aggressive itself.
This ‘cold’ war would force the Soviet Union into a pseudo-imperialistic nation, ruled by a class that was heavily pro Russian, and exacerbate the economic problems with the system Stalin implemented.
Stalin began to forcefully export communism in the eastern bloc nations. Although you could argue his motives were pure, this forced nature gave the peoples of these nations a bitter taste that would trouble them for years.
Communism took over in 1949 in China independent of Soviet actions. Mao Zedong began transforming the Chinese economy in a command economy like the USSR.
In 1950, the Korean War broke out. The first truly significant conflict between the west and the east, it marked the beginning of heated hostilities that would be characteristic of the Cold War.
After Stalin died in 1953, another power struggle erupted. This one much less deadly, Nikita Khrushchev emerged victorious. He began the policy of De-Stalinization that would end many of the major drains on intelligent manpower.
Khrushchev would put into effect economic policies that push the Soviet Union to the forefront of science, sending first satellite and then the first man in to space.
In 1956, the Hungarian’s began to become openly upset with the status quo. Leading to the Soviets marching into Hungary, this marked place where the Soviet began to use imperialist style policies to achieve goals. The subjugation of the Eastern bloc nations would turn Eastern Europe into a production bloc for Soviet uses.
The Soviet Union and the Chinese began to butt head in the latter 50’s. Mao saw himself as the leader of the communist revolution because of his seniority, the Soviets and Chinese went there separate ways. The Soviets want domination, and so did the Chinese. Imperialistic ambitions formed in both nations, each trying to influence the wider world.
Cuba during this time had its revolution, leading to a communist nation in Central America, something the US certainly did not appreciate. The events of the Cuban Missile Crisis occurred here. The crisis marked the height of the cold war. The west continued to try and preserve its imperialistic empires, but they were slowly crumbling. They began to develop a new style of imperialism, based on a global economy, where economic domination was key, not political. The Soviets would enter this game in their own way, mostly throughout Africa and the Middle East. Their domination was through economic aid rather then economic dominance. They became proxies used to the fight the west.
Vietnam became important in the Cold War during the mid 60’s when the US intervene on behalf of South Vietnam. Contrary to popular belief (among us Communists) this was not to help preserve French holdings. This was to allow the US to further enclose the main communist nations in a series of alliances. A geopolitical move no less. It ended in 1973 for the US with their withdraw. The war itself ended in 1975 with the fall of Saigon.
Vietnam was the height of the West’s direct action against communism. From then on it’ll be small scale, quick battles or subversion from behind the scenes. The Soviet gained an ally with Vietnam. It gave then sea ports in Southeast Asia, hurting US dominance of the region and giving a geopolitical position against the Chinese.
In 1979 the Soviets enter Afghanistan. This would be the beginning of the end for the Soviet Union. Now under Brezhnev, the Brezhnev stagnation plagued the Soviet economy. Unlike in a capitalist nation, war does not allow much benefit for the economy if its state controlled. The ten year war strained the economy to its braking point.
The Soviet Union began to adopt more open market style economics. The economy improved, but not nearly enough to make a difference.
On December 26, 1991 the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics dissolved. The eastern bloc nations had thrown off their communist regimes that were previously propped up by the USSR.
China by this time had already begun adapting capitalist polices to save itself from economic collapse. Vietnam in the 80’s began similar policies as did other communist nations so varying degree.
Communism has continued this trend to this day.
So, now that we have the major pieces of history laid in front of us, how can we discern what happen? Was Marx wrong?
No. Marx was dead on. How can this be? You might ask. After all the capitalist nations, nonetheless the capitalist hyperpower the US is stronger then ever despite it’s recession.
First I will identify why the answers elude most communists. Dogma. We have allowed ourselves to become attached to a particular set of ideals. Karl Marx got a lot of things right, but he also got some things wrong. We should be identifying those wrongs and correcting them, not sticking to them. The ability to criticize one’s own beliefs is detrimental to the fulfillment of communist theory.
To start I’ll explain why capitalism is stronger then ever.
Karl Marx left out one highly important aspect of society. This is understandable as it was unlikely to be noticed in his day. That aspect is culture.
Modern culture is the culmination of thousands of generations of humans thoughts and beliefs. Class warfare is built into it deeply. Without affecting the societal part of civilization, the economic one changes little.
Modern society is simply okay with certain forms of oppression because those forms of oppression are socially acceptable.
When human beings are back into a corner we have but one way to go. When in a capitalist society, the class competition for wealth is the only means of development. Society in these countries has accustomed to this system. Only in times of great stress (economic troubles for one) does society actively support change because the social norm is out of balance. We naturally seek a new norm to replace the failed old one.
Capitalism likely to continue to grow strong for at least several more decades before major changes will occur then.
Now you might be asking, “Why then did the Soviet Union collapse? Pressures forced a change in their norm.” They answer is rather simple.
A state run, command economy does not work. It is incompatible with Communist ideas for a multitude of reasons.
For one, this system prevents the state from “withering away”. In this system, the state IS the system. It goes away to any degree and you have major problem. Secondly, this system is prone to massive levels of corruption. Democracy is the best form of government for checking corruption. It of course does no eliminate it, but it keeps it to a stable level that is manageable and does not pose detrimental problems to the economy in a direct way. You cant have a command economy with democracy, because the economics then become political rather then need driven.
Thirdly, when you mix economics with government on a direct level, the economy become directly suited for the governments need. In the case of the Soviet Union, the challenge of the Cold War require heavy industry and a large military as well a large amounts of good for other proxy nations. This over emphasis on heavy industry lead to low levels in consumer goods and by extension played a major role in the Brezhnev stagnation.
Now there are also other things that Soviets did that were independent of the command economy but were equally harmful, for one, their wage system. Everyone being paid more or less the same did exactly what the capitalists say it did. Lack of incentive to work efficiently and with quality. Although this was done for the sack of equality, it has major problems. How then do we get around this? After all that’s one of the primary ways inequality exists under capitalism isn’t it? I advise an adaptive pay system. The minimum wage for a 40 work week is the minimum necessary to survive (basic necessities). Then a maximum (ie $1000) is set for everyone. Your managers choose how much you are paid based on the quality of your work. The more effort, the higher the pay you get. The manager is paid based on how well the workers under his command do and how well the factory (equivalent) is running. This makes equality between jobs. You get paid on how well you do you job, not what job you do.
Now you might be wondering, “Why has almost ever nation failed if it’s this simple to fix?”
Remember how the Soviet Union was the first communist nation? Remember how Stalin made this horrible styled economy BEFORE any other nations became communist? When Stalin forced communism on the eastern bloc nations, his style was inflicted on them. Other nations, only seeing how the Soviets were strong, copied their system. The Soviets only lasted as long as they did because their nation had almost unlimited resources. The others weren’t so fortunate and required the Soviets to prop them up. Now these nations are turning capitalist from lack of a good way to improve themselves.
So, if we are not going to use a command economy, and culture is acting against us, how do we proceed?
For one, we need a system based on free enterprise. Now hold on a minute! No, I am not supporting capitalism. Then why do I want a system with free enterprise? For one, although capitalism requires free enterprise, free enterprise does not require capitalism. Free enterprise is simply the people running the economy not the government. Capitalism is just HOW they run the economy.
So, what then is capitalist and what is just part of free enterprise. Capitalism is one thing and one thing only. Money flowing from one pocket to another. That is capitalism. No cash flow, no economic activity. Capitalism is based on obtaining as much of that artificial construct as possible.
So what we need to do is build a free enterprise society, with an adaptive wage system. They economics would be pearly resources driven. Under capitalism, it’s price driven. The scarcity of the resource determines how expensive it is. Under this money free system, the scarcity of the resources only determines how much it can be used. This forces people to be efficient with resources and look for alternative. Fossil fuels become a burden. With profit removed, monopolies are nearly pointless. Business owners would only own businesses because they are good at it, not because they want massive amounts of money.
You might ask then, “How is this removing the money system if we are still paying people?” The answer is that this money has no artificial value. Spending it give the person selling things no profit. He just gets paid based on how well his store does. All that ‘cash’ just get sent back to the governments who then pays it back to people. Basically, this ‘money’ just becomes a unique ration system that lets you choose the rations.
No in regards to culture. Us communists are basically waiting for another major economic problem (or something equally problematic) to shift society off balance. This free enterprise communism allows for the same consumer environment that the capitalist have, minus the inequality. Only ability separates one person from another. Under this system culture can develop into Marxist ‘communism’ were government is mostly non existent short of a management oversight with no other really useful functions. Imperialism becomes profitless under this system.
This is my radical analysis of communist theory. I encourage active debate on this. I understand that this is very generalized but I assure you there is more to it then this. This is just a brief summary to get the idea across.
May the future be Red.
Sovietcomrade262