- Capitalism and Alternatives -

Nonsense

Posted by: Nikhil Jaikumar ( DSA, MA, USA ) on October 26, 1999 at 14:04:07:

In Reply to: So in fact, communism leads to fascism. posted by DonS on October 26, 1999 at 10:56:27:

: Fascism is in fact very similar to communism. Both communism and fasicism involve a powerful government that crushes the rights of individuals.

Unfortunately for your argument, communism can thrive in a democratic system, and has done so many times. Look at Kerala, Nicaragua, Chile, Guyana, Zimbabwe, or several other states. None of these states crushed teh rights of idnividuals.. Tehy maintained political roigts like the right to free speech, free elections, freedom of religion, etcetera, and added to them social and economic rights. What about a capitalist system taht denies people their social and economic rights, e.g. the right to housing, education, leisure, food, medicine, a fulfilling job. You may not accept these rights, but for the vast majority of people in the vast majority of countries, tehy are absolutely fundamental. If you told a peasant in Brazil or India that the freedom to vote is more fundamental than the feredom to eat and be healthy, they would probably laugh at you. By teh way, in the United States teh range of choice in politics and the media is woefully narrow. is this also not a restriction on political rights?

:Fascism is worse, because it actually works.

Yes, as it worked brilliantly in Germany or all those South American countries which wnet fascist.

Communism cannot work, and folds into a fascist or quasi-fascist system, like in the PRC and former USSR. So in fact, communism leads to fascism.
:

The USSR never went fascsist. Plenty of communist regimes have 'worked', look agaoin at Kerala, Nicaragua, or Burkina Faso. Many of tehm have been democratic while they were communist and democratic afterward. There are a few, of course, that have become fascist opr neo-fascist; Aleman in Nicaragua and Yeltsin in Russia spring to mind. Of course, both were closely backed by the US.


: : This was said by Berthold Brecht, the famous Czech playwright, who had experience with capitalism, fascism, and communism. he escaped Nazi persecution in hsi native Czechoslovakia, then escaped McCarthy's persecution in America and sought political asylum in East Germany, where he ended his life.

: It is fitting that he ended his life after finding "political asylum" in East Germany.




Follow Ups:

The Debating Room Post a Followup