Reply #39

Communism is obviously a leftist philosophy, but there's never been a communist government that hasn't been authoritarian.

I think the people who founded the USSR had the best intentions, but it certainly didn't turn out well at all.

(I know that it's a common argument that communism has never been done right, but the fact that it's never been done right even though it's been tried quite a few times tell me that there are inherent problems in the system.)

I'm interested in a right-wing reading of the Hunger Games in part because I could see it argued that Katniss and Gale are capitalists in a totalitarian communist regime with a centrally planned economic system. Part of how the capitol is oppressing the masses is dictating that some areas will produce coal, some areas will produce timber, some areas will be agricultural, and so forth. The protagonist is someone who has gone outside the system and learned a form of resourcefulness that most of the other people in the story don't have.