To the Communists out there...

[guerrillaradio]

Does absolute power not corrupt absolutely, as Orwell claims?? I think it does, and the more power a government has, the more suspectible it is to corruption. In a communistic state, how would you avoid corruption??

[Hattori Hanzo]

Bowser and Blue-
"oh, Vodka Corrupts, but Absolute Vodka corrupts absolutly!"

[Nateddi]

Economic democracy / people's participation in issues.

People decide economic practices and own factories collectively. No power at the top to exploit (CEO), a leader is appointed with a salary no more than a skilled worker. No monopoly, no exploitation, no corruption. The state does not have to play a big role in anything (even in an immature society).

[Hattori Hanzo]

OUr hope is that the government will never become an all powerful figurehead, The people should technically have the "absolute power"

[Fires of History]

Corruption reigns when the populace is uninformed. If people remain SO uneducated, then any system will be corruptable. No 'theory' holds the answer, the people do--> an educated people. Democracy is hopeless/pointless with an ignorant populace.

No wonder the U$ is so anti-intellectual.

Since you brought up Orwell. surely you see the common thread in his writings that for power to rule so "absolutely" the populace must be simple-minded? As in 1984?

“American politics are deeply contradictory of course, but anti-intellectualism is the common strain. This includes a deep suspicion of anything that isn't simple, fundamental, traditional, down-to-earth and American in the ideological sense, and can be exploited easily by demagogues and cynical politicians of the right. The key word is freedom, which includes the freedom to own and use firearms, the freedom to trade and use the marketplace without restraint even if it means serious injury to health and decency, the freedom above all to make America's will rule all over the earth.” –Edward Said

[RedRevolutionary87]

i plan on getting rid of corruption by taking away the state army. and democracy, where the person in power can be voted out at any time, and everyone participates in politics, where every commune(about 200 citizen communitites) send a representative. the government will be stripped of almost all power, they will be only there for the purpose of organization...

[guerrillaradio]

Quote: from Fires of History on 1:07 am on May 23, 2002
Corruption reigns when the populace is uninformed.

But if you tell the people enough times that the government's a great thing, they'll believe you...and corruption can be easily hidden from the people, no matter how well educated they are...

[yuriandropov]

i'll give you 3 letters to stop corruption... K.G.B! komitet gosudarstvennoi bezopusnosti (russian for, comitte of state security)! a well organised intelligence agency is the key to stopping corruption. just look what happened when yuri andropov (former kgb chief) became general secratary, corruption went down massivly!

[guerrillaradio]

Quote: from yuriandropov on 2:06 pm on May 23, 2002
i'll give you 3 letters to stop corruption... K.G.B! komitet gosudarstvennoi bezopusnosti (russian for, comitte of state security)! a well organised intelligence agency is the key to stopping corruption.

And what's to stop them becoming corrupt?? in fact, with a state-run intelligence agency, isn't corruption even more likely??


just look what happened when yuri andropov (former kgb chief) became general secratary, corruption went down massivly!

Well it couldn't really get much worse after Brezhnev's time could it?? And Andropov was only in charge for a couple of years...

[yuriandropov]

he was only in charge two years but he cleaned up corruption massivly! because he knew ho to do it, he knew how to keep a watch on people, he had the know-how to see the corruption and where it was going on. this he all learned from his time as kgb chief.
i do agree with you about brezhnev though. the man was an idiot but to be honest, he was basically a figue head. the bureaucracy (which he created) held the real power. he was too busy enjoying the high life to notice the corruption, and if he did know about it, he wasn't going to challenge the buracracy that was keeping him there and maintaining his rich life style.

[Fires of History]

Quote: from guerrillaradio on 2:01 pm on May 23, 2002


But if you tell the people enough times that the government's a great thing, they'll believe you...



But is a truly educated populace easily brainwashed? It's hard to imagine people with a balanced education and good political and historical bearing just buying into government claims. Now, the education they receive is perhaps a better source for debate. Education of what kind?

But whether or not corruption will continue under a Socialist/Communist state is a flimsy reason to keep a capitali$t system currently full of its own corruption.

[guerrillaradio]

Quote: from Fires of History on 10:35 pm on May 23, 2002
But whether or not corruption will continue under a Socialist/Communist state is a flimsy reason to keep a capitali$t system currently full of its own corruption.

That's not the point...I'm hardly the most capitalist person on this forum am I?? I was just interested to see how you were intending to avoid the Animal Farm situation.