Is the goal of capitalism to be able to afford Communism - Nanjie Village

[papau]

says yes!

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-village20jan20.story
COLUMN ONE
An Old Dogma's New Twist
Residents of the Chinese village of Nanjie have happily reverted to communism. The secret to their success? A hefty dose of capitalism.
By Ching-Ching Ni
Times Staff Writer

January 20, 2005

NANJIE, China — The sky is still black when the village loudspeaker blasts the revolutionary song "The East Is Red." A three-story-high statue of Chairman Mao looms over a Tiananmen-like square flanked by giant portraits of the socialist all-stars: Marx, Engels, Lenin and Stalin.

A new day has arrived in this commune on China's central plains where residents enjoy free food, housing, healthcare, schooling — even free weddings and funerals.

As the rest of China struggles with mounting social problems brought on by two decades of turbocharged economic reforms and vanishing social safety nets, the decidedly retro Nanjie seems to have found the answer to the good life. It is the best known of a handful of villages to return to the country's communist past.

Of course, its definition of the good life doesn't include what village bylaws deem "excessive living." Fancy restaurants, karaoke bars, music clubs and mahjongg are all forbidden. And though Nanjie is free of crime and unemployment, it is also free of all the trappings of personal freedom that are part of life for most Chinese citizens today.

At work, villagers study Mao Tse-tung quotations and attend self-criticism sessions. To marry, they participate in a group wedding held once a year in front of a giant portrait of the chairman. Then the village buses them off to a honeymoon in Beijing — because that's where Chairman Mao lived, a villager explained.

At home they sit on identical village-issued, natural-wood-frame sofas, watch the same TV sets and tell time on the same Mao clocks that are adorned with bright rays lighting up his face and the slogan "Chairman Mao is human, not God. But Chairman Mao's thoughts are greater than God."

"The only thing I had to buy myself was the microwave and these plastic tulips," said villager Wang Fenghua, 57.

Although the teachings of the "Great Helmsman" serve as the moral compass for the 3,100 people of Nanjie, the real secret to its collective well-being is, well, capitalist: two dozen village enterprises manufacturing all sorts of things — noodles, beer, pharmaceuticals. One even promotes "red tourism."

"The widening gap between the rich and the poor. Corruption. Crime. What is the root cause of all these social ills? Privatization. Our goal is to realize communism. But communism needs to make big money — only big money can make communism better. There is no contradiction in that," said Wang Hongbin, the 53-year-old village leader credited with lifting Nanjie out of poverty by marrying communist ideals with capitalist mechanics.<snip>

[DaedelusNemo]

1. Don't like the totalitarianism

And i don't think it's necessary for us to be able to provide ourselves with 'enough' of a social net. I think we should make sure people have the essentials, and we should make sure people have the opportunity to improve their lot rather than perpetually running on a subsidence - or debt - treadmill. But other than that, we should leave open as much as we can possibly manage to the individual pursuit of happiness.

[papau]

2. I agree - but I like the idea of needing capitalism to afford communism

:toast:

:-)

[Paleocon]

3. Guess they gave up on communism being able to support itself???

I thought it was the greatest thing in the world? Everyone's taken care of, everyone's equal, yadda, yadda, yadda...

:shrug:

[happyslug]

4. True Communism has always worked....

For Example Amana and Corning Corporations started out as Communist Communes. They were so successful that when the Great-Grandchildren of the original founders of the Communes came to control the Commune they decided to end the commune and make the business into a Corporation. This is typical of most communes, when they are successful the descendent's of the original commune members eventually decide to end the commune and live the good life.

The main problem with communism as practiced in the Soviet Union and Red China was to be successful in overthrowing the old regime they had to be a cut throat as the old regime. This meant they never really had popular support (This was the main dispute between Rosa Luxembourg and Lenin, she wanted to wait for any revolution till the Communist had support from the majority of the people, Lenin did not want to wait that long, he believed once you have the power of the Government the people will follow, Please Note Lenin Ended up in Power in Russia, Rosa Luxenbourg ended up shot and thrown into a Berlin body of water). Given this lack of popular Support the Communist had to watch for counter-revolutionary activities. This meant a large secret Police force which became the tool of Suppression of any popular movement. Thus you never had majority support FOR communism in Russia or China. The Communist were the largest party in both countries, but most peasants ended up being neutral and as such not commented to Communism. Without that popular support the peasants could always back someone else and the Communist had to guard against this which lead to the repression of the Soviet Union.

The second problem was Stalin. Do to his activities as a informer for the Czarist Secret Police, bank robberies and other illegal activities he was the main source of Money for the Communist Party prior to WWI. Given this fact he had a lot of people in the Party that owned him favors. Now Lenin and Trotsky won the Revolution for the Communists, Stalin was of some (Through minor) help. When Lenin Died, Stalin do to the people who owned him favors where able to maneuver Trotsky out of sharing Power in the Soviet Union, than out of the Communist Party and than out of Soviet Union. Stalin liked power more than he liked Communism, thus he liked the idea of centralized control of the economy for it gave him absolute power. That such a control system was wasteful in itself did not phase Stalin, all he cared about was the Control. Thus Russia ended up with was nothing but Government Controlled Businesses with the business managers acting like the Capitalist of the old regime. No flexibility and no bankruptcy to correct their problems.

Tied in with Stalin adoption of what the Trosklites call "State Capitalism" was the problem of raising money to fight off the enemies of the Soviet Union. Even Trotsky had to fight off the Whites and that required raising money. Taking over Businesses by the Central Government "Solved" the problem of raising the necessary revenue to fight off the Whites, but ended the small scale Communism that had become wide spread in 1917-1921 (and it is such small Scale Communism that had been the most successful throughout history). Money for the war effort was constant need.

Finally and what did in the Soviet Union more than any other single factory is the high percentage of their GNP the Soviet Union was spending on Defense. The estimates is around 30-40%. 10% is the maximum a country can spend over a long term and NOT seriously affect their economy. This was tied is with ALL of the above and meant sooner or later Communism had to fall, either to an invasion once the spending was cut, or internal economic collapse do to the excess spending (it is the later that happened).

My point is Communism does work, providing you do not spend to much on Defense, and provide a product that the world wants to buy.

For More On Amana:
http://www.amanaheritage.org/history.html