d2jsp
Log InRegister
d2jsp Forums > Off-Topic > General Chat > Political & Religious Debate > Yeltsin
12Next
Add Reply New Topic New Poll
Member
Posts: 78,723
Joined: Nov 30 2008
Gold: 493.00
Jul 12 2023 09:09pm
Just came across this story on Yeltsin which gives an interesting pov from a former communist who was blown away by something we take for granted like a supermarket. My fellow liberal pardians who believe communism is the answer to all the problems created by capitalism, why do you think so many people who lived through communism prefer capitalism?

https://blog.chron.com/thetexican/2014/04/when-boris-yeltsin-went-grocery-shopping-in-clear-lake/#photo-433894
About a year after the Russian leader left office, a Yeltsin biographer later wrote that on the plane ride to Yeltsin’s next destination, Miami, he was despondent. He couldn’t stop thinking about the plentiful food at the grocery store and what his countrymen had to subsist on in Russia.

In Yeltsin’s own autobiography, he wrote about the experience at Randall’s, which shattered his view of communism, according to pundits. Two years later, he left the Communist Party and began making reforms to turn the economic tide in Russia. You can blame those frozen Jell-O Pudding pops.

“When I saw those shelves crammed with hundreds, thousands of cans, cartons and goods of every possible sort, for the first time I felt quite frankly sick with despair for the Soviet people,” Yeltsin wrote. “That such a potentially super-rich country as ours has been brought to a state of such poverty! It is terrible to think of it.”

Member
Posts: 22,437
Joined: Mar 3 2007
Gold: 96.11
Jul 12 2023 09:41pm
We've never had a communist state, despite the name "communism" being used. It's similar to how North Korea describes itself as a "Democratic People's Republic", but it is neither democratic nor a republic. The USSR, and other so-called "communist states", practiced state capitalism which contrasts the private capitalism of the West.

The very existence of the State is actually antithetical to Marxist communism, as Marx and Engels wrote that the State was a tool/weapon of the bourgeoisie and that communism would eventually lead to the "withering away of the State".
Member
Posts: 34,186
Joined: May 25 2007
Gold: 21.00
Warn: 10%
Jul 12 2023 09:49pm
Quote (Handcuffs @ Jul 12 2023 08:41pm)
We've never had a communist state, despite the name "communism" being used. It's similar to how North Korea describes itself as a "Democratic People's Republic", but it is neither democratic nor a republic. The USSR, and other so-called "communist states", practiced state capitalism which contrasts the private capitalism of the West.

The very existence of the State is actually antithetical to Marxist communism, as Marx and Engels wrote that the State was a tool/weapon of the bourgeoisie and that communism would eventually lead to the "withering away of the State".


This is partially true - USSR was indeed never a communist state, it was a Socialist state which was correctedly in the name. They did not practice capitalism - everything was owned by the State which is the socialist system. What you define as "state capitalism" is just socialism.

Trotsky wanted to press onward to establish the mythical concept of communism and pillage mainland Europe, but since it is just mythical and not based in reality people did not support him and instead backed Stalin, who supported the socialist state system. So he got ice pick'd.
Member
Posts: 54,736
Joined: Jun 5 2006
Gold: 1,463.83
Jul 12 2023 10:09pm
Quote (Handcuffs @ Jul 12 2023 08:41pm)
We've never had a communist state, despite the name "communism" being used. It's similar to how North Korea describes itself as a "Democratic People's Republic", but it is neither democratic nor a republic. The USSR, and other so-called "communist states", practiced state capitalism which contrasts the private capitalism of the West.

The very existence of the State is actually antithetical to Marxist communism, as Marx and Engels wrote that the State was a tool/weapon of the bourgeoisie and that communism would eventually lead to the "withering away of the State".


thankfully we never will either
Member
Posts: 22,437
Joined: Mar 3 2007
Gold: 96.11
Jul 12 2023 10:13pm
Quote (majorblood @ Jul 12 2023 09:09pm)
thankfully we never will either


Not with that attitude we won't, comrade!
Member
Posts: 54,736
Joined: Jun 5 2006
Gold: 1,463.83
Jul 12 2023 10:13pm
Quote (Handcuffs @ Jul 12 2023 09:13pm)
Not with that attitude we won't, comrade!


i'm not your comrade, guy
Member
Posts: 22,437
Joined: Mar 3 2007
Gold: 96.11
Jul 12 2023 10:14pm
Quote (majorblood @ Jul 12 2023 09:13pm)
i'm not your comrade, guy


I'm not your guy...yet.
Member
Posts: 46,966
Joined: Sep 5 2016
Gold: 100.00
Jul 13 2023 12:52am
they will tell you its not real communism and real communism hasnt been tried yet and no matter how many times its fuked or how many horror stories the excuse will always be the same.................... well get it right this time.....
Member
Posts: 15,940
Joined: Jun 27 2010
Gold: 102,354.50
Jul 13 2023 12:56am
Inb4 bernout telling us that communism is the way to go
Member
Posts: 22,437
Joined: Mar 3 2007
Gold: 96.11
Jul 13 2023 01:11am
Quote (TiStuff @ Jul 12 2023 11:52pm)
they will tell you its not real communism and real communism hasnt been tried yet and no matter how many times its fuked or how many horror stories the excuse will always be the same.................... well get it right this time.....


Can you define "communism" in your own words?
Go Back To Political & Religious Debate Topic List
12Next
Add Reply New Topic New Poll