Communism // Current

Fall of the Berlin Wall - 20 years later

I actually don't remember where I was when I found out that the Berlin Wall fell... more

afitzgerald
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1 day ago
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The 11/9 Anniversary

Today, November 9, is the twentieth anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall.

Today is the real 9/11. This is not meant as a quibble about dates. Future historians will remember 9 November 1989 as far more significant than that terrifying day in September eight years ago. Countless long-forgotten events have been marked in headlines as the day we shall all remember. But nobody can doubt that the world changed on that wonderful night in Berlin.

When the Berlin Wall fell, communism died. Events have moved on fast since then. A new clash of civilisations – or in many ways an old one – began to surface. Now it is hard for anyone under about 40 to remember communism. To recap: it was that once idealistic, inspirational creed promising equality, freedom from exploitation and the creation of a new perfect humankind. The problem was that people had an annoying refusal to be perfected.

Almost always communism was imposed at the point of a gun and created labour camps and bread queues. The Stalins, Mao Zedongs and Pol Pots turned communism into the bloodiest social experiment of all time. History will mark 9 November 1989 as the day it was seen off as a miserable failure.

Again, we should try to look back. Less than a generation ago a third of our continent was under military occupation by a foreign superpower. The Soviet Union had around 750,000 troops stationed in central Europe. Hundreds of nuclear missiles were aimed at western cities, while the Nato countries had hundreds targeted at Budapest, Warsaw and so on. As easyJet and Ryanair take us on weekend breaks to Berlin or Bucharest, we should recall how unwelcoming and lugubrious these places were 20 years ago. Their people, imprisoned behind an iron curtain of electrified fences and minefields, were crying out to be free.

Then there was the wall in our heads, on both sides of the divide. For most of the four decades before 1989, communism was a real threat to our way of life. Two generations were brought up to fear the Soviet monolith. There were nuclear scares (the Cuban missile crisis) and the cold war fuelled proxy wars on other continents, such as Angola and the Soviet conflict in Afghanistan. Culturally, we were fed on spy thrillers and movies with the reds as the enemy.

All that changed in 1989. The collapse of communism inspired liberation elsewhere, most dramatically in South Africa, where apartheid could have survived longer. Nelson Mandela was released three months after the fall.

A downside to this story is that 9 November led directly to 11 September. The end of the cold war opened a door for Osama bin Laden. But Islamic fundamentalism is not a threat to western-style democracy as communism was. Obviously there will be converts, and all demographic graphs show that the number of Muslims will increase. But it is unlikely that Islam will appeal to the sort of western minds who were once attracted by socialist thinkers in the European intellectual tradition.

Terrorism is not a cause; it is a weapon, as Trotsky observed. Modern terrorist groups are a threat to many lives and will continue to be so. But to our way of life? Only if we choose to make it so. Outside the mind of an al-Qaida fanatic, it is fanciful to imagine that any day in London, Paris, Rome or Budapest imams will be in charge of governments sanctioning sharia law. In 1989, communist party apparatchiks ran a dozen now free European states, quite apart from the communist revolutions exported to the third world.

Last, but not least, 9 November was gloriously happy. Anything seemed possible that night. 11 September was a day that sparked panic and fear. I know which is a better 9/11 to remember.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/nov/08/september-11-berlin-wall-communismToday, November 9, is the twentieth anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall.... more

pjacobs51
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1 day ago
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Actually, Free-Markets DON'T WORK, Survey says

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_depth/8347409.stm Twenty years after the fall of the... more

asherp
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1 day ago
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24 comments

Einstein: A Socialist?

A clear, concise and comprehensive case for socialism, written by Albert Einstein in 1949. He discusses our nature as both solitary and social beings, simultaneously conditioned by biological and cultural constitutions, and what this means for the individual's role in society. He then asks "how the structure of society and the cultural attitude of man should be changed in order to make human life as satisfying as possible." The final passages prove particularly poignant in presaging the greatest atrocities committed by Soviet tyranny. The challenge: How is it possible, in view of the far-reaching centralization of political and economic power, to prevent bureaucracy from becoming all-powerful and overweening? How can the rights of the individual be protected and therewith a democratic counterweight to the power of bureaucracy be assured?

Part of the answer may reside in bypassing the power of large bureaucracies through a decentralized system of democratic planning directed by workers' and consumers' councils. Moreover, with today's information communication technology, the capacity for mass collaboration and self-government/self-management has never been more viable and effective. Your thoughts?

An Excerpt:

"The individual has become more conscious than ever of his dependence upon society. But he does not experience this dependence as a positive asset, as an organic tie, as a protective force, but rather as a threat to his natural rights, or even to his economic existence. Moreover, his position in society is such that the egotistical drives of his make-up are constantly being accentuated, while his social drives, which are by nature weaker, progressively deteriorate. All human beings, whatever their position in society, are suffering from this process of deterioration. Unknowingly prisoners of their own egotism, they feel insecure, lonely, and deprived of the naive, simple, and unsophisticated enjoyment of life. Man can find meaning in life, short and perilous as it is, only through devoting himself to society.

The economic anarchy of capitalist society as it exists today is, in my opinion, the real source of the evil. We see before us a huge community of producers the members of which are unceasingly striving to deprive each other of the fruits of their collective labor—not by force, but on the whole in faithful compliance with legally established rules. In this respect, it is important to realize that the means of production—that is to say, the entire productive capacity that is needed for producing consumer goods as well as additional capital goods—may legally be, and for the most part are, the private property of individuals...

(The) crippling of individuals I consider the worst evil of capitalism. Our whole educational system suffers from this evil. An exaggerated competitive attitude is inculcated into the student, who is trained to worship acquisitive success as a preparation for his future career.

I am convinced there is only one way to eliminate these grave evils, namely through the establishment of a socialist economy, accompanied by an educational system which would be oriented toward social goals. In such an economy, the means of production are owned by society itself and are utilized in a planned fashion. A planned economy, which adjusts production to the needs of the community, would distribute the work to be done among all those able to work and would guarantee a livelihood to every man, woman, and child. The education of the individual, in addition to promoting his own innate abilities, would attempt to develop in him a sense of responsibility for his fellow men in place of the glorification of power and success in our present society."A clear, concise and comprehensive case for socialism, written by Albert Einstein in... more

JMPxx85
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5 months ago
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How do I get my kids interested in comics? Devaluation (4 of 6)

http://www.examiner.com/examiner/x-27408-Childrens-Comics-Examiner~y2009m10d29-How-do-I... more

WesleySmith
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12 days ago
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2 comments

Two weeks later, Darsi Ferrer still on hunger strike

Cuban human rights activist Darsi Ferrer, imprisoned since July 21, is two weeks into... more

Zurama
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13 days ago
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2 comments

The Modern World, via Cartoon

The classic struggle of management vs. worker. I am not a communist. I am more of a... more

vesher
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15 days ago
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0 comments

Here Comes Obama

Here comes Obama care, through this national health "emergency". Never let an... more

blogspression1
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17 days ago
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5 comments

Why Obama's lieutenants love Mao

http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=113670

The left's long romance with tyranny and terror is manifesting itself in the Obama administration once again. Having experienced the high of putting $900 million of American taxpayers' money into Hamas' blood-soaked hands, some Obama advisers are now getting a new fix by offering thanks and praise to the late communist mass murderer Mao Zedong.

President Obama's White House communications director, Anita Dunn, recently praised Mao Zedong in a videotaped speech to high schoolers by calling him "one of the two people that I turn to most." When confronted on it, she said she was just joking. It remains a mystery what is laughable about extolling the greatest mass murderer in human history who slaughtered 70 million of his own people. In any case, Dunn was clearly not joking, as is evident in the detailed and earnest explanation she gave the high schoolers in her references to both Mao and Mother Teresa while emphasizing the importance of perseverance and choosing one's own path.

Dunn's veneration of Mao is shared by another Obama insider, "manufacturing czar" Ron Bloom, who, it appears, has been quoting the communist mass murderer with great approval. At a 2008 Union League Club meeting in New York, for instance, Bloom explained to his audience that:

"We know that the free market is nonsense. (…) We kind of agree with Mao that political power comes largely from the barrel of a gun."

And from the barrel of a gun Mao's political power did come indeed. Let's for a moment reflect on the crimes that Mao perpetrated:

After capturing power on Oct. 1, 1949, in the immediate post-revolutionary period alone, Mao murdered as many as 15 million Chinese citizens. In 1958, Mao launched the Great Leap Forward, an industrial and agricultural program intended to make China the world's largest steel and grain exporter. Involving demented economic schemes and brutal forced collectivization, the Great Leap was an unparalleled human disaster, exterminating approximately 38 million people through government-engineered famine.

Mao's starving victims were reduced to eating grass, dirt, leaves and tree bark in the attempt to survive. They picked through horse manure for undigested grains of wheat, or cow manure for worms. They also resorted to cannibalism, digging up freshly buried corpses. Mad from hunger, parents ate their own children – or swapped children with other parents in an attempt to ease the horror of the act. Children were also killed, boiled and used as fertilizer. Desperate villagers who abandoned their homes and traveled to other towns in search of food were mowed down by machine-gun fire.

This horrifying tragedy – the greatest famine in all human history – was created intentionally by Mao. While millions starved, plenty of food existed in state granaries. The army, however, guarded these granaries under strict order: "Absolutely no opening the granary door even if people are dying of starvation." In their biography, "Mao: The Unknown Story," authors Jung Chang and Jon Halliday conclude that if food had not been exported and instead had been distributed among the Chinese people, "very probably not a single person in China would have had to die of hunger."

In 1966, Mao launched the Cultural Revolution, designed to purge the country of all dissent and bring it completely under the dictator's vicious rule. Millions of schoolchildren became the infamous Red Guards, whose task was to destroy anything connected to traditional culture and philosophy. As Paul Johnson put it, the Cultural Revolution became "a revolution of illiterates and semi-literates against intellectuals, the 'spectacle-wearers' as they were called. ... It was the greatest witch-hunt in history, which made the Zhdanov purges in post-war Russia seem almost trivial."http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=113670 The left's long romance... more

bielski
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17 days ago
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30 comments

The March of Chairman Obama

A brief article talking about the obivous power-grab from this administration.

blogspression1
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20 days ago
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Red America?

Is America turning red? Why would one think that?

blogspression1
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22 days ago
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"Made In Russia"

It seems that Russian authorities (Putin to be exact), now is looking at their... more

insanejain
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24 days ago
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4 comments

Who else will tell the truth when Fox is Gone ...Heil Obama for life Seig Heil !! Seig Heil !!

The Obama Admin. is full of Commies that should have ben Vetted before getting a Job... more

Birdmanbob4
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26 days ago
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13 comments

Cuba: End of the free lunch

The Economist reports on Cuba replacing state-sponsored lunches with a slight raise... more

afitzgerald
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27 days ago
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0 comments

Get Off Obama's Back ...second thoughts from Michael Moore

Why? Because "HOPE". The simple fact that he was elected was reason enough for him... more

remanns
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1 month ago
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22 comments

Numerous Epidemics in Cuba

If all the tourists who are so happy to visit Cuba, had knowledge of the lack of... more

Zurama
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1 month ago
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0 comments

East German nostalgia ahead of Berlin Wall Anniversary

German retailers have seen a huge spike in demand for products from the defunct... more

sophosthegreat
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1 month ago
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MSNBC host: Congress defends ‘CORPORATE COMMUNISM' in health care

MSNBC host Dylan Ratigan says the efforts of some congresspeople to kill the public health care option and limit access to the proposed health care exchange system is a sign that Congress is defending the "corporate communism" of the health care industry.

On MSNBC's Morning Meeting, Ratigan pointed to the fact that health insurers are exempt from anti-trust laws as proof of the "communist" nature of the health care industry.

Anti-trust laws were enacted to prevent companies from forming market monopolies. Health care companies are exempt from these laws, which is why, for example, BlueCross BlueShield is able to control 83 percent of Alabama's health insurance market, and why WellPoint is able to control 78 percent of the market in Maine. (See the complete chart here.)

"If you're looking for choice in your own health care or competition to break up the corporate communism that burdens our country at this point and prevents any of us from finding work -- no no, your Senate is not working for you, there will be no competition, nor will there be any choice," Ratigan said.

Ratigan said the interplay between the health industry near-monopolies and their protectors in Congress amounts to "a cancer on our nation."

Ratigan was referring to an amendment proposed by Oregon Democratic Senator Ron Wyden that would have allowed anyone with health insurance from an employer or a labor union to shop for health care on a so-called health insurance exchange. Wyden withdrew that amendment last week after heavy pressure from business and labor leaders, meaning the health reform bill being debated in the Senate will allow only those without such insurance policies to use the exchange, rendering it useless for a majority of Americans.

Ratigan said the move to restrict the exchange was "a great tactic. It protected health insurers from having any real competition, perpetuating their corporate communism. ... These are literally people who are paying off our government to make sure they don't have to compete, whether it's the too-big-to-fail banks or in this case the health insurance companies."

To prove his point, Ratigan drew attention to the Max Baucus Wheel of Health Care Contributions, a chart designed by the Sunlight Foundation and the Center for Responsive Politics that shows Montana Democratic Sen. Max Baucus -- the author of the current health care bill before Congress -- took on average 3.5 times as much money from the health care industry as the average senator.

Last week, RAW STORY reported on the Wheel of Contributions and the discovery by political watchdogs that politicians are receiving more money from the health insurance industry because of the existence of "contribution clusters" -- political donations from lobbyists whose clients had already donated directly to the politician.

"This research puts a fine point on the connections -- how the lobbyist contributions really complement and echo those of their clients," Sheila Krumholz of the Center for Responsive Politics told Ratigan. "But it isn't a smoking gun, however ... there is no proof of coordination just because there are all of these contributions coming from all of these sources."

"The more I learn and see this, the more I suspect that we don't have a two-party system, we have a one-party system where it's those who have the money who control the Democrats and Republicans to ensure they don't have to compete," Ratigan said. "And everybody else gets screwed."MSNBC host Dylan Ratigan says the efforts of some congresspeople to kill the public... more