Most western european countries had better social safety than the soviet union, and have to this day. If the point is that it feels the trend is getting worse, then I agree.
You required permission to gather above a certain number and only allowed if it were approved by the party, no matter how well fed you were.There was also a constant surveillance state, and state police enforcement, which yes, we are getting there now too.
As for the famines, you had holodomor and “the great leap forward”.
I will not defend capitalism, but these issues were definitely a staple of most communist regimes.
It isn’t actually true that most western European countries had better safety nets, and more importantly western European safety nets came from the spoils of imperialism, rather than their own working classes. The soviets were anti-imperialist and provided what they could based on what they could actually produce themselves.
As for famine, neither the 1930s famine in the USSR or even the Great Leap Forward are living memory. Both the USSR and China abolished famine in countries where famine was historically common through industrialization and collectivization of agriculture. Socialism did not cause famine, it ended it.
“As for famines, you had (the last two famines ever to occur in their historically famine-prone regions shortly after communist takeover)”
If the communists took over a capitalist-owned neighborhood where stabbings had been a common occurrence for as long as anyone could remember, and then one more stabbing happened and then never again, would you say the communists caused stabbings or in fact ended stabbings?
Most western european countries had better social safety than the soviet union, and have to this day. If the point is that it feels the trend is getting worse, then I agree.
You required permission to gather above a certain number and only allowed if it were approved by the party, no matter how well fed you were.There was also a constant surveillance state, and state police enforcement, which yes, we are getting there now too.
As for the famines, you had holodomor and “the great leap forward”.
I will not defend capitalism, but these issues were definitely a staple of most communist regimes.
It isn’t actually true that most western European countries had better safety nets, and more importantly western European safety nets came from the spoils of imperialism, rather than their own working classes. The soviets were anti-imperialist and provided what they could based on what they could actually produce themselves.
As for famine, neither the 1930s famine in the USSR or even the Great Leap Forward are living memory. Both the USSR and China abolished famine in countries where famine was historically common through industrialization and collectivization of agriculture. Socialism did not cause famine, it ended it.
How did they come to have a better social safety net? Where did the money and resources come from?
“As for famines, you had (the last two famines ever to occur in their historically famine-prone regions shortly after communist takeover)”
If the communists took over a capitalist-owned neighborhood where stabbings had been a common occurrence for as long as anyone could remember, and then one more stabbing happened and then never again, would you say the communists caused stabbings or in fact ended stabbings?
Yeah, but the last stabbing was extra stabby!