• Ibuthyr@lemmy.wtf
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      13 hours ago

      Ever seen Communism working as intended? There’ll always be power hungry assholes ruining these things for everyone.

      Edit: oooooh, this is lemmy.ml. That explains a lot, lol.

      • Cowbee [he/they]@lemmy.ml
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        14 hours ago

        I’d say all AES states have broadly managed to achieve their goals. There have been troubles and struggles faced internally and externally, none have been dreamlike utopian wonderlands, but seemingly only non-Marxists are the ones that require that of Marxist movements.

        • Ibuthyr@lemmy.wtf
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          13 hours ago

          I had to google that first. Had no idea what the sahel states had to do with socialism or communism.

          Those AES states are mostly highly corrupt though. I wouldn’t refer to north Korea as a livable place, plus the leaders are bathing in money while the populace dies from hunger. In Vietnam, if you know someone in politics, you can get whatever you want. I know this (nearly) first-hand. Laos, lol. And why the hell is China on that list? They’re way too deep in the capitalist game to be on that list, no? People also don’t mean shit to the ones in charge. Their people are executed by the thousands every year and they like to keep minorities in concentration camps. I’m sorry, those states are failed states in my opinion.

          And as long as there is corruption, communism is not going to work. It’s a nice theory, but it just takes one black sheep to fuck it up for everyone. I wish it weren’t that way. It’d be nice to live in a world where people work for a purpose and everyone gets the same and no one has to suffer. Not going to happen.

          Capitalism is plain evil though, I’ll give you that.

          • Cowbee [he/they]@lemmy.ml
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            13 hours ago

            AES as in “Actually Existing Socialism.” The Sahel States are a quasi-Socialist national liberatory alliance. Burkina Faso was briefly Socialist under Sankara, but that time has passed.

            The struggles faced in the DPRK are more due to sanctions and embargo than anything else, kinda like Cuba. Unlike Cuba, the US slaughtered 20% of their population and destroyed 80% of their buildings, yet they were economically ahead of South Korea until the 80s. The leadership is not “bathing in money” either.

            Vietnam is rising rapidly. It isn’t a Utopia, but is dramatically improving. Same with Laos.

            The PRC is more classically Marxist than they were under the late Mao period and Gang of Four, I elaborated on that, here. Further, you’re repeating state department propaganda about them, very silly.

            Further, China is democratic. It doesn’t have a western liberal democracy, but it does have a comprehensive Socialist democracy. You can read this article talking about why the Chinese democratic model is in place and why the people support it, or this article on how the Chinese model of democracy works in contrast to western democracy, or this short video on how it works, or this video on how elections work, or this article on the makeup of the NPC.

            By what metrics is China not democratic? What mechanically would they have to change for you to accept the opinions of the Chinese citizenry on their own system? I recommend this introduction to SWCC, it goes in-detail about how elections and the democratic model work in China. what mechanically would China have to change in order for you to accept the system that the Chinese have implemented by and for themselves, and approve of at rates exceeding 90%?

            Please explain how “one black sheep” would ruin Socialism/Communism. Given that you clearly aren’t familiar with Marxist theory nor how AES states function, this is a telltale sign that your critiques are of strawmen.

      • Scott_of_the_Arctic@lemmy.world
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        12 hours ago

        TBF Russia is a shit hole and has failed in every type of government they’ve ever had. Honestly it’s probably worse in Russia now than under communism. China was also doing no better before “communism”. Basically countries tend to make the jump when they have nothing left to lose.

        • KimBongUn420@lemmy.ml
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          2 hours ago

          Russia is a shit hole and has failed in every type of government they’ve ever had.

          The soviets found themselves in a feudal shithole, and elevated it to a global super power.

          China was also doing no better before “communism”.

          Not sure who claims that China is communist, but it’s definitely not the chines. They have a market socialist system (or more accurately SWCC), which still has class society and its own contradictions.

          Educate yourself on basic facts before you speak on a topic and stfu until you do so shitlib

      • Cowbee [he/they]@lemmy.ml
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        18 hours ago

        The vast majority believe they are worse off now than under Socialism, which makes sense because the reintroduction of Capitalism resulted in skyrocketing rates of poverty, prostitution, drug abuse, homelessness, and an estimated 7 million excess deaths around the world.

        • lost_screwdriver@thelemmy.club
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          16 hours ago

          I guess you can say Ukraine is now worse off than in the USSR, Back then they weren’t at war. The current situation isn’t exactly the fault of capitalism (or Ukranie for that matter)

            • cotlovan@lemm.ee
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              14 hours ago

              Oh my fing god, I thought lemmy is only full of extreme liberals, but it’s also full of wannabe comunists. Dude, have you ever asked yourself why USSR fell if everything was better than in the west? Why people risked their lives jumping over the Berlin wall? Why there was a whole black market of importing goods from the west into ussr? Why people didn’t enjoy being sent to Siberia by the millions to die of hunger and of forced labor?

              Or was Cuba a success?

              • Cowbee [he/they]@lemmy.ml
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                14 hours ago

                Lemmy is developed by Communists, the Communists were here first.

                Secondly, the dissolution of the USSR was driven instead by numerous complex factors:

                1. Liberal reforms that gave the Bourgeoisie power over key industries

                2. A firm dedication to planning by hand even as the economy grew more complex and computers too slow to be adapted to the planning mechanisms

                3. A huge portion of resources were spent on maintaining millitary parity with the US in order to dissuade US invasion

                4. 80% of the combat done in World War II was on the Eastern Front, and 20 million Soviets lost their lives, with no real economic support from the West in rebuilding despite taking the largest cost of war

                5. An enclosed, heavily sanctioned economy relied on internal resource gathering, closed off from the world market

                Countries like the PRC have taken to heart what happened in the USSR. As an example, the PRC shifted to a more classically Marxist economy, focusing on public ownership of only the large firms and key industries, and relying on markets to develop out of private ownership. This keeps them in touch with the global economy without giving the bourgeoisie control of key industries, and thus the bourgeoisie has no power over the economy or the state.

                People left the DDR after getting good educations for free, and higher wages in West Germany. They got the best of both worlds.

                Millions were not sent to Siberia.

                Cuba is a resilliant success story given its brutal embargo and sanctions, yes. It has astounding metrics in areas like life expectancy despite being intentionally impoverished by the US Empire.

            • SugaredScoundrel@sh.itjust.works
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              17 hours ago

              Private interests do align, but rarely. Meaning you have more chance at opposing narratives forming. Public is monovoiced. Without an opposing voice its data becomes suspect.

              • Cowbee [he/they]@lemmy.ml
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                17 hours ago

                Private is controlled by large corporations, and often gets state funding. All press has bias. Really, you don’t have anything against the data other than you feel like it could be wrong.

                • SugaredScoundrel@sh.itjust.works
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                  17 hours ago

                  I don’t trust it. Correct. I like multiple sources not controlled by one person. I like independent journalism. I think your data is bunk, drummed up, fake propaganda.

                  • BrainInABox@lemmy.ml
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                    17 hours ago

                    You don’t even have sources, just ambient cultural anti-communism. When Cowbee tried to present you with new information, you just responded “tldr”.

                    You have zero interest in independent journalism, you reject anything that doesn’t agree with you out of hand

                  • Cowbee [he/they]@lemmy.ml
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                    17 hours ago

                    You have nothing for that but vibes, though. You can go to the sources and debunk them if you wish, but with just vibes, you have nothing.

      • Cowbee [he/they]@lemmy.ml
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        14 hours ago

        That’s not how AES states function, in any capacity. Further, people get paid in Socialist states, so I really don’t know what strawman you’re fighting here.