I am not criticizing them, I’m just out of the loop.

  • psud@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    So far communism had only been tried in small groups (where tribal dynamics make it work) and in Soviet and Chinese authoritarian regimes

    Communism ≠ command economy

    Communism ≠ authoritarianism

    Communism = a broad selection of idiologies more or less agreeing with the idea “from each according to their ability, to each according to their need”

    Several countries have such strong socialist policies in place that they could reasonably be called communist if we didn’t pretend that capitalism was opposite to and incompatible with communism. Capitalism is an excellent technology for extracting from each according to their ability.

    “Full communism” where you strive for perfect equality is probably less bad than “full capitalism” where you strive for full freedom of capital. Enough capitalism that you have the incentives it supplies and enough communism that those who won’t or can’t work are paid enough to live healthily and be in a position to seek work if they wish to, seems to be a good and reasonable position.

    I’ll answer the other part for the parent comment too

    If they fail to fit in to normal culture at work and are so unsuccessful at working, communism gives them a safety net.

    • They could have taken a risk and selected a job they expect to enjoy rather than one that will accept them if there’s a safety net
    • they could have selected a job they might enjoy rather than one calculated to pay enough to save for gender reassignment surgery if the state would pay for the surgery
    • they could have had the surgery earlier (which makes it better) if the state paid for it
    • Katana314@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      It’d be fantastic evidence if we could actually look at documentation of how these small group trials have worked out. Honestly, it’s the first I’m hearing of them.

      I don’t understand the word “paid” appearing in your third bullet point. Wouldn’t a communistic society operate without money? Generally speaking, what would a doctor’s motivation be to get 11+ years of medical school + residencies, then perform a difficult operation on a patient that has potential for complications and blame? (In a capitalist society, the motivation would be “Helping people” plus “Money”, tied with hospital-level protections against malpractice suits, but I’m curious about your answer)

      • some_guy@lemmy.sdf.org
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        1 year ago

        Wouldn’t a communistic society operate without money?

        You could have communism with money. People still need a way to allocate resources and barter. I’m out of my depth here, as I’m a socialist but not a communist. However, I recognize that communism isn’t the bogeyman US propaganda (in schools, media, culture) taught me to think of it.