this post was submitted on 19 Mar 2025
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Socialism
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This is a very difficult question which probably needs a thesis to explain but here is my simplistic take.
Communism as a theory and communism in practice are two very different things.
In an ideal world, workers would take control of means of production and self organize. Coop style.
In the real world, factories need to coordinate with one another. Goods need to be transported to other parts of the country. Some kind of planning is needed if people prefer redistribution over free market.
Without a powerful central state, it would be nearly impossible to ensure that means of production are indeed not being owned by capitalist for exploitative profit.
Realistically, the only way to ensure the "revolution" is complete is through a very powerful forces, in the USSR and China's cases, that would be the state.
Anarchist communism exist in theory but we have not seen anyone implement it in the real world yet. At least not at state level.
Socialist democracy is a compromise between market economy and socialism. Currently, this model seems to be more preferable than authoritarian communism, at least for some people.
If you look at Chinese history, there is indeed a period of time when the communist are less oppressive and they seem to have found a different path than the Russian. Unfortunately, we cannot redo history to see how things would have played out if the more liberal communists (e.g. Zhao Ziyang) in China were allowed to run things.
There is a cure for political illiteracy.
?
reading. reading cures political illiteracy.