Would any of ye have liked to live in a communist country?

Wiseman Drinkwater · 11-08-2016 11:15PM #1

Well? I'm sitting here in a hotel room in England playing Civilization 5. I am hoping to conquer a conference tomorrow using diplomacy, but this evening I'm finding going for a communist military victory in the game is working out just fine. It got me thinking about communism as an idea. It was a major political ideology in the 20th century. A rising of the workers against the elite. Some of it didn't work out, but why not? And would you like to have lived under a communist leadership? Are there any communists still around in Ireland?

The_Kew_Tour · 11-08-2016 11:16PM

No, be too PC

failinis · 11-08-2016 11:18PM

"Some of it didn't work out."

Can anyone give a solid example of a large enough country that it did work fine with no detriment to the majority of the population?

Hercule Poirot · 11-08-2016 11:20PM

The countries that we call Communist weren't actually practicing the true Communist ideology, rather the Communist ideology was used a tool to enforce a tyrannical regime - if you were offering me the chance to live in a true Marxist, Communist country then yes I would give it a go but Lenin, Mao and Stalin can go f**k themselves

Ulysses Gaze · 11-08-2016 11:20PM

Wiseman Drinkwater wrote: »

Well? I'm sitting here in a hotel room in England playing Civilization 5. I am hoping to conquer a conference tomorrow using diplomacy, but this evening I'm finding going for a communist military victory in the game is working out just fine. It got me thinking about communism as an idea. It was a major political ideology in the 20th century. A rising of the workers against the elite. Some of it didn't work out, but why not? And would you like to have lived under a communist leadership? Are there any communists still around in Ireland?

Where did it ever work?

Fleawuss · 11-08-2016 11:20PM

No. I always think of them as cold, grey, boring, with sad people trudging through slush watched by pig eyed secret policemen. And cabbage. People gnawing on cabbage. So no.

Your Face · 11-08-2016 11:20PM

No, I like freedom and the general lack of summary execution.

BoJack Horseman · 11-08-2016 11:21PM

Nah..... I like to own stuff.

Armchair Andy · 11-08-2016 11:23PM

I just want to drink my coffee driving the car in peace and quiet.

After that the world can go fvck itself.

Ulysses Gaze · 11-08-2016 11:23PM

Wigglepuppy · 11-08-2016 11:27PM

Bloody hell no. Only this evening actually, I was watching Reeling In The Years (again) and it was 1980 - one of the items featured was the Solidarność (Solidarity) organisation in Poland, then behind the Iron Curtain, a trade union movement in opposition to the government. Now if a trade union movement opposes a communist regime, then something is seriously up.

A system where absolutely everyone is in the exact same circumstances can only be enforced harshly, with no possibility of any kind of individual freedom.

Now I wouldn't agree either with a society offering virtually no state supports and everyone, no matter what circumstances, having to fend for themselves, but there is a happy medium.

dresden8 · 11-08-2016 11:29PM

I visited the DDR museum in Berlin.

The typical communist apartment was larger than free market Dublin c. 1947 to c. 2016.

RobertKK · 11-08-2016 11:38PM

No.

Millions upon millions of people died from living in communist countries.
I am also not a big fan of concentration camps.
I like my freedom so that is another no to wanting to live in a communist country.

Pac1Man · 11-08-2016 11:38PM

Communism removes the incentive to be innovative. If the whole world went commy, civilization would become stagnant.

By the way OP, never trust Ghandi.

The Backwards Man · 11-08-2016 11:40PM

I come from a long line of smugglers and black marketeers, so yeah, be grand.

seamus · 11-08-2016 11:48PM

Communism was always doomed to failure because it's an ideology that disregards natural human traits and biases.

When everyone understands and wants communism, it will work. Great in small groups of 20 people, but as a system of government, a complete disaster.

Capitalist socialism is far superior because it takes account of both the human requirement to resource hoard/guard while also exploiting the individual sense of community and caring.

Aongus Von Bismarck · 11-08-2016 11:49PM

I'm living and working in Frankfurt at the moment. Quite a few of my colleagues would have grown up living in East Germany. It sounds like an appalling place to have grown up. Even worse than rural East Galway. At least we had the Commodore 64 and no threat of being wrenched out of school because Dad spoke ill about the Government over tea break.

Even today you can spot the former East German in the wider German society. It's especially true if they have made some money. A propensity towards vulgar looking Swiss watches set with diamonds and gold, low end Italian supercars, a second home in the French riviera.

Yurt2 · 11-08-2016 11:51PM

East Germany probably made the best fist out of it. Was still a sh*tbox.

BoJack Horseman · 11-08-2016 11:52PM

The worlds greatest spy isn't a fan of the Soviet union.

11-08-2016 11:53PM

Wiseman Drinkwater wrote: »

Would any of ye have liked to live in a communist country?

I've lived in China for the last 7 years.

Communist women are sexy. Enough said.

philstar · 11-08-2016 11:57PM

Ireland of the 1980's was pretty close to a communist country

backward dismal kip dominated by the RC church

12-08-2016 12:04AM

seamus wrote: »

Communism was always doomed to failure because it's an ideology that disregards natural human traits and biases.

When everyone understands and wants communism, it will work. Great in small groups of 20 people, but as a system of government, a complete disaster.

Capitalist socialism is far superior because it takes account of both the human requirement to resource hoard/guard while also exploiting the individual sense of community and caring.

Communism tends to work for the first two decades after the "revolution" because the average person is filled with the right "spirit of the worker". Then corruption sets in, they dabble with stupid economic policies, have a few famines, and then the economy itself buckles. The "people" lose trust or belief in the leadership and then... bleh!

Modern communism isn't the same as what happened before. It's more of a capitalist police state.

Wigglepuppy · 12-08-2016 12:05AM

philstar wrote: »

Ireland of the 1980's was pretty close to a communist country

backward dismal kip dominated by the RC church

I dunno. It certainly seems to have been as dreary in ways, and far less plentiful, but it was not close to communist economically, and certainly not politically.

There was a pretty staunch capitalist in power for much of the decade, people had varying incomes and worked for private enterprises, and people could criticise the government, leave and re-enter the country when they pleased, and did not have to be on a waiting list for years for e.g. a TV and could set up their own business and buy whatever stuff they wanted, even if they did not have as much money as people have today.

Church domination sure - but churches ain't allowed in communist countries!

mzungu · 12-08-2016 12:06AM

If it was life or death, then at a BIG push, Tito's Yugoslavia. Although it's an utterly crap choice no matter where you go, some are just slightly better than the others.

I certainly wouldn't have chosen to live in any of them though.

B.A._Baracus · 12-08-2016 12:08AM

I'll be the first to admit I haven't educated myself a lot of the whole communist thing but is'nt it something that is meant to work "well" on paper but in actual fact it turns out to be holding people down.... or am I nuts?

Aongus Von Bismarck · 12-08-2016 12:11AM

Hercule Poirot wrote: »

The countries that we call Communist weren't actually practicing the true Communist ideology, rather the Communist ideology was used a tool to enforce a tyrannical regime - if you were offering me the chance to live in a true Marxist, Communist country then yes I would give it a go but Lenin, Mao and Stalin can go f**k themselves

I think this is utter tosh. My reading of 20th century history is relatively rudimentary, but I remember reading that there were over 80 attempts throughout the world to impose a communist regime during that time.

The best you could hope for if you were a poor misfortunate who lived in one of those countries was suspicion and stagnation. The worst was state imposed death.

It didn't work out. Marxism is as strange an idea as homeopathy and astrology. It appeals without having any grounding in science or logic. And its proponents are blinded by a belief that borders on the puritan.

JupiterKid · 12-08-2016 12:13AM

No, absolutely not.

I value my freedom of expression and civil liberties, which are non existent in an oppressive Communist society.

12-08-2016 12:17AM

The thing that bugs me about communism is that it promotes ignorance. The communist governments "educate" (indoctrinate, propaganda etc) to make their people stupid. Naturally enough so that they won't question the government, but still its annoying, because people just go along with it.

Having conversations with Chinese people about Japan, Tibet, Taiwan etc is like talking to a tape-recorder. They list the same reasons (told to them by their teachers or government reports) and can't argue beyond them, or even argue properly to support their points. Instead, it comes down to we are right and everything anyone else says is lies. American lies.

And then the massive hero worhship for incredibly flawed people. Mao was a creepo (he liked very young girls) but his picture is still in most restaraunts and in many peoples homes. It's so weird.

Thankfully there are a small number of intelligent people remaining but you'll still see the same indoctrination in them in certain ways.

endacl · 12-08-2016 12:21AM

failinis wrote: »

"Some of it didn't work out."

Can anyone give a solid example of a large enough country that it did work fine with no detriment to the majority of the population?

Antarctica? No industry. No commerce. Permanent population sharing freely?

Edit: The modern world is making inroads though...
http://nymag.com/thecut/2014/02/tinder-makes-its-first-match-in-antarctica.html

12-08-2016 12:24AM

Deleted User wrote: »

I've lived in China for the last 7 years. Communist women are sexy. Enough said.

China was never communist. It was a brand of socialism called Maoism, but they started leaning towards capitalism since 1978, hence the strong economic growth for the last 40 years. A true communist has never existed.

The only reason why the Soviet Union boomed after World War 2 was because their determination to better than America during the Cold War.

Billy86 · 12-08-2016 12:27AM

Communist? No.

A higher degree of socialism in a social democracy? You betcha!

Would any of ye have liked to live in a communist country?

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