this post was submitted on 18 Jul 2024
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And unregulated hyper-capitalism is what happens when communism fails
Yes, sadly. During the dissolution of the USSR, millions of people died, literacy rates plumetted, safety nets were plundered by opportunistic Capitalists, and the State was sliced up and sold for parts. This privitization was a disaster for the common worker.
I’m sure after decades of capitalism they are doing fine now.. right?! Oh no
Technically, they are just now approaching the metrics they had in the USSR, so they are getting there! Just slowly and unequally.
I’ve been so sad to see the privatization of NASA. It feels very similar to me. SpaceX celebrating about launching a rocket into low earth orbit after spending billions in taxpayer money. How is this progress? We could do it back in the 60s with the equivalent computing power you can find in a $7 wristwatch today. Why didn’t we just keep building on our success, no we had to privatize, so that we could reach a beautiful end goal where space would not be for science and exploration funded by the people with its fruits improving humanity.
No we all had to pull together so spacex can build a massive taxpayer funded toll booth and every time America would like to visit the stars some billionaires can collect their cut. And people cheer
Now go check out how much each launch of the shuttle cost ($1.5 billion per flight) and compare it to the costs by SpaceX. The shuttle was launched 135 times, SpaceX has had more launches than that in the last 3 years. That tiny computer got us to the moon, but it wasn't enough to make rockets or boosters be able to land or be reusable. And don't bring up the farce of reusability of the shuttle. The number I recall from back when it was still flying was a 75% overhaul to get it flight ready.
Elon may be an enormous asshole, but SpaceX has taken what they got from NASA and moved it to the point where they're one of a handful of groups who could get us back to the moon, and doing better than any corporation on that front (China may surpass them, and Artemis only counts as a long-term concern if they can do more than 5 or 6 launches ever, which is not the current plan).
I mean arguably we could've done all of that with nasa if nasa had received a similar level of funding to SpaceX, but that's kind of getting into alt-history.
NASA spent more than that on the Shuttle program alone, and we got 135 launches and a dozen dead astronauts, so that is demonstrably false.
NASA is great, and did a lot of great things. We also got a lot of great technology (and some questionable shoes) because of it. But NASA suffers from the same thing Blue Origin does, bureaucracy and a top-down attitude with respect to developing technology. (They also suffered from a lot of government pork.) It's a good system for developing new things from scratch with a clear goal, but it rarely works well for taking existing technology and wringing the most effectiveness you can out of it.
Besides all this, the shuttle program suffered from ties to the military, which put in expensive requirements that didn't help the whole thing, either.
If NASA got out of the rocket launching business and contracted out that part of their mandate to others, they would have a lot more money to spend on other things, such as research, both pure and practical.
Yep, Capitalism has been a disaster. I cannot wait for it to finally be a footnote in history.
Yes, which is why it is important to protect communist projects from capitalist backed coups, like the presidential coup that illegally and undemocratically dissolved the USSR
Quite funny of you to mention undemocratic in the context of the USSR, as if it had been a democracy even one day of its existence. And about illegal, most of the times a country and its constitution is absolved its technically illegal. I can only think of the German constitution that actually has clauses on how to legally phase it out.
There was a fucking referendum where people voted for not dissolving the Union and it was ignored. It can't go more undemocratic than that.
What do you mean by the USSR not being democratic? They practiced Soviet Democracy.
Technically Belarus and Russia are democracies
Sure, those aren't the USSR.
It was literally a democracy for its entire existence. Now, during the last couple decades it wasn't as democratic as proletarian democracies like Cuba Vietnam and China, but it was still more democratic than bourgeois "democracies"
Okay but was it good that the Russian president ordered tanks to bombard the Soviet parliament building until the parliament surrendered? Is that your take? Even when it led to the installation of "bourgeois" democracies and a humanitarian crisis not seen outside of war?
Just now the nations which made up the USSR are meeting old life expectancy metrics. And that is uneven, some of them still haven't, some of them are doing better.
Also LOL you are German, you'd know a thing about reducing Soviet life expectancy. Your nation killed more than 25 million Soviet citizens, 1/6 of the total population. Maybe you have an imperative to do some research on what Soviet democracy was from their perspective instead of regurgitating anticommunist shit out your mouth like a good little anti-communist German.
Ah right so we go ad-hominum now? Frankly pretty low of you. Also it just sounds like a way to say that I am not allowed to have any differing opinion, simply because of my country's past. Makes me want to find out where you're from and tell you you're not eligible to say anything because your country fucked up badly in the past.
You expect me to believe that USSR votes weren't rigged from the get-go? Next you tell me the GDR was an actual democracy. To be fair I actually didn't know that there were elections, which in hindsight should be obvious considering that they had a parliament. They still had dictators of much the time
As for the violence part, not that I am supporting that, but frankly it seems to be pretty much part of the Russian identity. It's not like the USSR was not to take a friendly approach to any kind of civil unrest at all.
No, you are not personally responsible for your country being incredibly anticommunist. I know what my country has done in the past, it has happened to some of my ancestors and living family. Which is why I am skeptical of the things my country tells me about its opponents, as I am encouraging you to be by emphasizing to you what is in the political atmosphere you find yourself breathing.
Do you have any evidence that they were?
If was. And women and LGBT people lost a lot of rights during reunification. Not to mention the plundering of nationalized industry by the capitalist class, greatly decreasing the wealth of the rest of the country.
I would suggest reading "why women had better sex under socialism, and other arguments for economic independence"
It takes a lot to admit this. I would suggest taking this as a moment to reflect on what you actually know vs what you think you know.
Uh, no? Even during the height of WW2 Stalin still answered to a committee.
Frankly this is kinda racist and beneath you from the moments of reflection I've seen in this interaction.
Look I'd actually support socialism or at least strong social-capitalism. Just wanna make that clear.
Arguing certain things worked way better during the GDR does not at all refute my point of it not being a democracy apart from on paper. Child care for one worked incomparably better than it now does. Privatisation and more importantly the dissolvement of companies did not go well and is certainly still a problem. Actually it caused neo-feudalism in parts of the former GDR.
Stalin being officially reproachable does not actually mean he was reproachable. The kind of socialism the USSR practiced is in my opinion not all better than a well restricted capitalism. But to be fair, that is subjective and I am financially not in any kind of trouble.
It was not meant to be racist, the history of violence in Russia since I am vaguely aware of its history, does speak of itself. Certainly in the years since the founding of the RF, has violence among the people and state-sanctioned been a common thing. The wide-spread unrestricted violence can be openly observed in Ukraine. If you look at any macro-violense theories you see my point proven. All and I mean all factors for mass-violence are fulfilled.
Also if anything, my comment was xenophobic, racism is something different
Hey, it looks like your heart is in the right place, I would really suggest you read a bit about participatory democracy and whole process people's democracy (although the latter has a lot of misinfo about it) I would also try to understand the socialist argument from one party democracies and how they lead to more generative conflict (that is, collegeal onflict that genuinely resolves problems and addresses needs in a way that achieves democratic consensus)
I would also suggest reading some marx who talks a lot about how even regulated capitalism cannot function. I would not start with capital though.
Frankly speaking, I see no actual chance of communism or even just socialism happening in my lifetime, hence I'd rather focus my remaining brain capacity on something that actually seems feasible.
It is not a finite solution but it is what it is.
The ideas that you are proposing are less feasible than socialism. They're literally long term impossible within the logic of capitalism. Which you'd know if you read Marx who lays out why it doesn't work in excruciatingly detailed and well researched ways.