tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6245381193993153721.post4853168333254291457..comments2024-03-17T00:23:24.896-07:00Comments on Social Democracy for the 21st Century: A Realist Alternative to the Modern Left: Capitalists and ImperialismLord Keyneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06556863604205200159noreply@blogger.comBlogger13125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6245381193993153721.post-59223129372659798762016-01-08T14:34:22.776-08:002016-01-08T14:34:22.776-08:00I have always wondered why the USSR, Vietnam, Chin...I have always wondered why the USSR, Vietnam, China etc are called communist. From my knowledge communism is a stateless, classless & moneyless society, so in my mind it confuses me because communism hasn't existed (save for native American society which I think still had a class system. Wouldn't it be better to call them Socialist countries?Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10626495552225963987noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6245381193993153721.post-67019830221472349852016-01-06T20:38:32.537-08:002016-01-06T20:38:32.537-08:00Imperialism is a "social parasitic process by...Imperialism is a "social parasitic process by which a moneyed interest within the state, usurping the reins of government, makes for imperial expansion in order to fasten economic suckers into foreign bodies so as to drain them of their wealth in order to support domestic luxury" - HobsonCalgacushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06031818010224747000noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6245381193993153721.post-7770741487750612042016-01-04T10:33:48.462-08:002016-01-04T10:33:48.462-08:00I do not agree with any of Anne Applebaum’s critic...I do not agree with any of Anne Applebaum’s criticisms of the book. The aspects of “getting sidetracked” give the book the context she also claims the book lacks. In addition to the fate of the Americans in the USSR, the author gives the personal stories of famous European Marxists who relocated to the new paradise. Not only did their embassies not care about their fate, neither did the world-wide masses of Marxists and leftists, a situation that continues to this day. Each of these stories would make for an excellent motion picture. Even today, leftists will still not touch the subject with a ten foot pole. That suggests to me that they know they have something to be ashamed of.<br /><br />CBS showed a “made for TV movie” about Victor Herman back in 1982. The only way to see it now is to purchase a very poor quality (and expensive) VHS tape (my copy does not track properly) even though Herman meets a prisoner in the gulag played by Willie Nelson.<br /><br />http://tinyurl.com/horz429<br /><br />The book is easy to read and much more interesting than the usual account because of all the personal stories contained therein and the description of the non-response of the worldwide left to their fate. <br />Bob Roddishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17263804608074597937noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6245381193993153721.post-75438555073581475612016-01-04T09:15:34.599-08:002016-01-04T09:15:34.599-08:00And even if we ignore the occasional genocides and...And even if we ignore the occasional genocides and gulags, the records tend to show that the occupied countries were exporting primary resources and the relatively more advanced processing was done in the center. Indeed, even "modern Russia" is a large redistribution machine from resource rich east to Moscow (on a per capita basis). You're just a paid troll i think.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6245381193993153721.post-23872566706288780872016-01-04T09:10:03.781-08:002016-01-04T09:10:03.781-08:00The relationship of Russia to the other Soviet sta...The relationship of Russia to the other Soviet states was exactly one of domination and extraction and brutal enslavement. Entire zones (Ukraine, Kazakistan) were exterminated and repopulated. Are you sure you're an historian instead of a disinformation agent?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6245381193993153721.post-3052368424464518362016-01-04T09:05:18.620-08:002016-01-04T09:05:18.620-08:00"a young democratic government."
That&#..."a young democratic government."<br /><br />That's Soviet-speak for a communist, one-party state. <br /><br />"I'd gladly take the USSR over the Belgian Congo, British India, etc., any day."<br /><br />The British didn't need to turn India into a prison to stop the people from escaping. Simply Rednoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6245381193993153721.post-3155972916274892772016-01-04T09:02:25.849-08:002016-01-04T09:02:25.849-08:00I've not read it, but from the review below, i...I've not read it, but from the review below, it seems like just another good account to add to the mountains of evidence on what a nightmarish torture chamber the Soviet Union was. <br /><br />Also, a testimony to how delusional Western Marxists/communists are to his day and clearly were back then. Terrible that American people brainwashed by the Marxist cult discovered in such a horrible way how bad their communist "paradise" actually was.<br /><br />http://www.spectator.co.uk/2008/07/deluded-and-abandoned/Lord Keyneshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06556863604205200159noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6245381193993153721.post-53616003699283310972016-01-04T08:46:04.312-08:002016-01-04T08:46:04.312-08:00Lord Keynes: Have you ever read “The Forsaken: An...Lord Keynes: Have you ever read “The Forsaken: An American Tragedy in Stalin's Russia” By Tim Tzouliadis? I paid full price in 2009 and it was worth it. You can now buy the book for pennies. The book provides the “touch and feel” of Stalin’s USSR as one giant Auschwitz. Further, none of the hip socialists who came from outside the USSR to live in the new paradise made it out alive. I would be interested in your opinion of this book.<br /> <br />http://tinyurl.com/nzmhmeh<br />Bob Roddishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17263804608074597937noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6245381193993153721.post-10592183244682121472016-01-04T06:30:59.822-08:002016-01-04T06:30:59.822-08:00Imperialism is not synonymous with war, nor even w...Imperialism is not synonymous with war, nor even with a nation protecting its interests. That's just "having a foreign policy."<br /><br />Also, the idea that the Soviet Union was imperialistic deserves some explanation, rather than simply asserting it as though it's some self-evident fact. The relationship of Russia to the other Soviet states was not one of domination and extraction, but cooperation; if anything, the records show that other Soviet states tended to benefit at Russia's expense. And I'm not sure which of those states were "taken over." Even your one concrete example, Afghanistan, was a situation of internal upheaval that only prompted Soviet intervention long after Western powers had been bankrolling brutal, regressive mujahideen rebels to overthrow a young democratic government.<br /><br />As someone familiar with history, I'd gladly take the USSR over the Belgian Congo, British India, etc., any day.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6245381193993153721.post-3666011120552541182016-01-04T02:02:23.618-08:002016-01-04T02:02:23.618-08:00The Crimean War! What a strange and fascinating pe...The Crimean War! What a strange and fascinating period in recent history!<br /><br />I read some articles about that period, and there are quotes from people of those times about how Russians planned to conquer all of Europe and covert everyone to "their Orthodox heresy".<br /><br />Seen from today, it all seems terribly paranoid.Prateekhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15287835907015065883noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6245381193993153721.post-81525428172896193942016-01-03T12:04:12.144-08:002016-01-03T12:04:12.144-08:00Lenin copied from Hobson. And then the idea become...Lenin copied from Hobson. And then the idea become part of state religion in the soviet union.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6245381193993153721.post-78922347761191204842016-01-03T10:03:43.480-08:002016-01-03T10:03:43.480-08:00Surely the claim of Lenin etc. is that Capitalism ...Surely the claim of Lenin etc. is that Capitalism as a system is inherently imperialistic, not that people who support capitalism must always support imperialism?Unlearningeconhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13687413107325575532noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6245381193993153721.post-58414168950500984592016-01-03T06:11:26.558-08:002016-01-03T06:11:26.558-08:00Fabulous quote, and good observations.
My persona...Fabulous quote, and good observations.<br /><br />My personal thought is that imperialism occurs when there is substantial private ownership or control of the state. The more concentrated the wealth (usually capitalist), the more incentive there is to use the state as an implement to increase that wealth.Mike Hubenhttp://huben.usnoreply@blogger.com