• hitwright@lemmy.world
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    5 hours ago

    Corruption often rises from centralizarion of power without having “checks and balances”. So Central economy planning system might be more to blame, than the socialist movement part of communism.

    Not to mention, that in a central economy planning system, there is no accurate way for the average Joe to signal on what he needs/wants to be made (talking about consumer items, not base needs).

    That kinda creates the need for separate markets to rise to meet the demand, which works without the supervision by the state. The market can’t really self-regulate, so a lot of people end up scammed daily.

    Ah… the glory of USSR and the hoops and whistles an average man had to take to buy a shitty radio.

    Shit, even if you wanted to have a birthday party, you had to pay extra to get vodka from under the counter.

    • Cowbee [he/they]@lemmy.ml
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      4 hours ago

      Corruption often rises from centralizarion of power without having “checks and balances”. So Central economy planning system might be more to blame, than the socialist movement part of communism.

      Corruption arises from people desiring better conditions for themselves, and manipulating available levers. There’s nothing about socialism and central planning that makes it more corrupt than capitalism.

      Not to mention, that in a central economy planning system, there is no accurate way for the average Joe to signal on what he needs/wants to be made (talking about consumer items, not base needs).

      Fundamentally incorrect. Not only can you gather feedback directly, but you can use planned economics based on consumption to reallocate production and distribution.

      That kinda creates the need for separate markets to rise to meet the demand, which works without the supervision by the state. The market can’t really self-regulate, so a lot of people end up scammed daily.

      Socialist systems can legalize markets and control them by maintaining ownership of the commanding heights of the economy. Black markets arise from problems with the socialist system, but these are not unsolvable problems.

        • Cowbee [he/they]@lemmy.ml
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          32 minutes ago

          The USSR wasn’t “broken systematically,” nor was it a “shithole.” Those are better descriptors for Russia under tsarism and capitalism than under socialism. Following actual historical evidence, the USSR had steady and consistent economic growth, and provided free, high quality education and healthcare, full employment, cheap or free housing, and fantastic infrastructure and city planning. This rapid development resulted in dramatic democratization of society, reduced disparity, doubling of life expectancy, tripling of functional literacy rates to 99.9%, and much more.

          The truth, when judged based on historical evidence and contextualization, is that socialism was the best thing to happen to Russia in the last few centuries, and its absence has been devastating.

          • hitwright@lemmy.world
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            12 minutes ago

            I love~ your actual historical evidence. But I saw it with my own eyes. All great on paper. But when you needed healthcare, you also must bring chocolate (or another small gift) to your doctor.

            Everyone was employed true, but you see, people sometimes went to vacation outside the wall. The main thing they brought back, are the stories/photos of grocery stores.

            My dessert were cookies with butter…

            People did not starve, but when they shipped back bananas to the state, you had to stand in line for hours. Even then half of them were sold under the counter

            Housing was free/cheap, if you had a way to move faster up the ladder of families still waiting for housing. You could easily wait 20-30 years if you’re not the elite. Also if you wanted to live close to your family, tough luck

            Education was actually good, but most prestigious professions were a taxi driver, sausage factory worker etc…

            I’m still glad the CCCP dissolved. I will not argue that Russia is better after that, because it didn’t change for the better, but here I’m much happier