The Scandinavian example

[Defyman]

Its a fact that countries like Finland and Sweden are doing pretty well in terms of economy. Some people would say that those economies are the only "socialistic" examples of today..some other may disagree. It seems to me that communism (a classless society) could develop easier over there.

Or are they an example of a more "humane" face of capitalism (hmmm..)??<_<

[Bolshevist]

None of the countries in Scandinavia, or Europe for that matter, can be considered socialist. They have a socialized healthcare, state-regulated prices on basic commodities such as food, clothes, transportation and such, but it cannot be considered a socialist economy. More and more nations are joining EU, some are &#39;close allies&#39; with American imperialism and if not all nations are savages when it comes to exploiting the poor countries, such as Norway holding many demands in WTO that will only bring poverty and profits from an extensive arms production that fuels the imperialist war-machine.

I don&#39;t think we will see socialism within the next decade or so here, living standards are too good.

[Djehuti]

There is greater potential for communist perspectives to manifest themselves when living standards are good. Not the opposite.

Never the less, the global capitalist class-offensive has struck Sweden quite hard and the working class has been on the retreat the last few decades. The Swedish working class has very little experience of fighting by themselves for themselves; they are used to have the union and the social democrat party doing it for them, so they can&#39;t mount a good defense against these attacks. Things has gotten worse, and that is not a positive thing. This only breads apathy & hopelessness, not a revolutionary climate. But communism is always a potentiality under developed capitalism, and we will do our best to counter the threats and spread communist perspectives.