…so much for bailing on this thread, anyway.
I do not view China as a “model communist society.” I view it as the closest thing to socialist perfection we have now, but that hardly means that it has truly achieved the goal yet. China must keep evolving and perfecting its system.
I do believe that there is a world of difference between Stalin’s USSR and present-day PRC. Stalin was a horrible administrator, one that crippled the army and the economy, made disastrous domestic policy choices, and seemed to be preoccupied with the process of murdering fellow party members rather than, you know, running the country. He was a toxin introduced into the nation’s bloodstream, and he weakened it to the point of actual collapse.
China, on the other hand, is a progressive, thriving world leader. It is a magnificent nation that was able to drag itself out of the swamps of feudalism and leap into true modernity in less than half a century. It has had problems, to be sure, but it has met them in a decisive and fair manner. In short, it is our future, and the future is looking bright, indeed.
We’re realists. The world being what it is, we sometimes have to play other people’s games to get what we want. Representative democracy is abhorrent, but when there is no other choice, we may participate if we believe that doing so would advance the wellbeing of the people. Once we achieve actual power, we must seize the chance to abolish elections and similar anachronistic and irrational institutions. The average person has neither the knowledge nor the capacity to make an informed decision concerning his nation’s governmental bodies. Such decisions must be made by the experts, not by the mobs.
I kindof think thats what we have Now in the U.S.!
Which is why it is moving toward a capitalist and less centeralized model.
Good to know that under your model you personally will never make an informed decision concerning a nation’s government.
Here I have to agree. Debate and discussion is the lifeblood of political philosophies and movements. Up to and including telling the person on the other side of the issue that their head is so far up their ass that they’ve spontaneously evolved to breathe feces instead of oxygen.
Oh Jesus H. Wesley tapdancin’ Christ on a turbopowered pogo stick. With jimmies and a lobster bib. Please see my previous comments.
But let’s face it, that about which Commissar is blathering is a pretty fair descrepition of what one party rule is, and what communism does when in power – elimination of the opportunity to participate in a democracy.
QUOTE #162 The average person has neither the knowledge nor the capacity to make an informed decision concerning his nation’s governmental bodies. Such decisions must be made by the experts, not by the mobs.
Yes.
No. What you hold to be communism in power is nothing close to what marxists envision, for very real material reasons. Check the link in my post on Page 2 for further explanation.
You have got to be fucking kidding me.
Sorry about that - the post in question is on Page 1.
So not only are you yourself devoid of working-class consciousness, you’re promoting the suppression of working-class consciousness in the working class itself by saying that the oppressive military junta in Burma is doing the right thing by denying human rights to opponents of the regime and that this is an acceptable state of affairs.
You’re flying directly into the face of everything Marx and Lenin supported and fought for. You deserve neither the title of communist nor socialist. It’s that simple.
I think at this point, der Commissar really should explain where the hell he takes his political philosophy from, because it’s not Das Kapital. Seriously, can you explain the leading teachers of the philosophy you follow? It sure isn’t recognizable to the rest of us.
Or are you basically the communist equivalent of a snake-handlin’ preacher? Cause that would make sense. You’re so wrong the only way you would make sense is if you were self-educated out of context. You come somewhat closer to being a fascist than a communist. Authoritarian, corporatist rule, by ‘experts’, centrally planned.
Olentzero, it is entirely possible, at this point, he was educated in the Soviet Union, it’s the only other way I could think of for someone to be so false-to-fact. Toss in some ‘better days’ thinking and you get Gorby as a traitor.
Now we know it’s a whoosh, no one, not even a communist is this stupid, truly. I vote troll.
Can’t tell the difference between horrible right-wing military junta and horrible left-wing revolutionaries… Probably one of those “socialism = national socialist” shills.
I find it interesting that capitalists will go to great lengths to argue that China (and, to a lesser extent, Vietnam), are switching over to the capitalist model. I strongly suspect that it is your inability to accept a strong, prosperous socialist state; it simply flies in the face of everything you assume about us.
The world is not that black and white, my friend. Our competing systems are constantly evolving, shedding some characteristics while acquiring others - even if these acquisitions are made from the opposing theory.
China is no more capitalist than the US is Communist. The US has now fully embraced the concepts of welfare, minimum wages, maximum working hours, child labor laws, etc. - socialist concepts, each and every one. Has that turned it into a socialist state? If not, then why should China not be able to embrace limited private entrepreneurship while remaining socialist in nature?
You can dream up whatever utopia you want. The simple fact of the matter is that communist states tend to be non-democratic one-party states in which the opposition is re-educated in gulags, camps or fields, or simply put up against the wall and shot. Communist intellectual masturbation is of no concern to me. What concerns me is the track record of communist states, which for the most part has been truly evil.
Now I’ve seen everything. A capitalist telling me that I’m a bad Communist… 
Once again, your thinking is very rigid and black-and-white. There is no one philosophy that all Communists are required to accept. Look at Marx and Lenin. Even a limited knowledge of these two great man would have shown you that Lenin greatly expanded on Marx’s theory, rejecting some tenets while creating entirely new ones to take their place. Does that make Lenin a bad Marxist? According to you, it must. According to me, it makes him a genius willing to attempt to perfect a new theory rather than to blindly follow it like a mindless fanatic.
Yes, some of my theories are different from those of Lenin and Marx, though they are ultimately grounded in their teachings. I am proud of that, for it demonstrates that I am continuing the evolution of socialist thought. Don’t presume to tell me what a “real” Communist should or should not believe.
And corruption:
So that’s three situations. Any more?
Also, while I’m here, I wish you’d cut out all that “You westerners” stuff. You’re aware that Marx was German and that Marx and Engels based their writings on the condition of the working classes in Manchester, England?
Communism is a western theory not a Soviet theory. The Soviets may have tried to put Communism into practice but they didn’t advance the theory in any meaningful way. I actually come from Manchester myself and Communism is my birthright and heritage in ways that you cannot even begin to understand since you are not steeped in the history and culture of the place that gave birth to it.
It’s not your birthright and heritage - you just nicked it off us.
What, there was a doubt? 
Lenin just adapted it to fit the more agrarian Russian society (including the idea that a revolution was necessary). No great expansion of the basic theory.