Nathan Natas: "The Market" is life in the real world. Communism, like Theocracies it tries to replace, is a DREAM that relies on the impossible. These phantasies appeal only to those too weak to face life as it is; "Millions Now Living Will Dine on Sky Cake!"
Well, I agree that Communism is a dream, and the reality is that it does not work. For me, communism (at it's purest level) founders on the rocks of human nature. I am referring to the inherent laziness of so many people who may do their best to avoid real work.
And, you do not have to work for a state-owned organisation to be like that. Anyone of us who have worked in a large group of workers will be familiar with this problem. Large companies, whether privately owned, or state-owned are particularly vulnerable to this problem, that's why large private enterprise organisations have periodic purges (lay-offs) to try to rid themselves of these obnoxious pests. I once knew the manager of a large state-owned company here in Sydney, Australia. Through their union (which is not to argue that unions are bad things) the workers had organised so they did not have to produce more than an agreed production level. Once they reached that level, the workers essentially stopped working productively. Of course, they could not leave the premises, but they may as well have
I once knew the manager of a large state-owned company here in Sydney, Australia. Through their union (which is not to argue that unions are bad things) the workers had organised so they did not have to produce more than an agreed production level. Once they reached that level, the workers essentially stopped working productively. Of course, they could not leave the premises, but they may as well have left, because at that point no more product was made. It will not surprise you, that that factory is no longer in business. But how the workers winged when the government finally acted and closed the doors and started buying the goods once made in Sydney in Asia. It is not always the boss, Nathan, that is the person at fault.
At a different level, a German migrant to Australia I knew, on his first day of work in his new country (a dockyard), worked as he had in Germany. At the end of the day, in the changing rooms, an Aussie worker said to him, "Had a good day, mate? Oh! I noticed you working hard ... You know what, it's not very safe working like that! You really must slow down, or you might have a fatal accident."
But this is a complex problem - and I can only speculate on possible solutions.
N.N.: These phantasies appeal only to those too weak to face life as it is; "Millions Now Living Will Dine on Sky Cake!"
I often wondered how work would be organised in the Jesus/Yahweh paradise? My solutions depended on 'magic' too. Jesus would 'train' us, by 'moulding' our personalities until we all became, 'model workers' as the communists called the hard workers who became examples to emulate!
But since Jesus is dead and shows no sign of a return, I guess I've abandoned that possibility.
N.N.: I take joy in seeing the collapse of these schemes and the fortunes of capitalists-in-name-only who run to China to exploit the cheap labor. Bugger them sideways!
But in China, not all CPC members believed in communist theory. The evidence is that the CPC defeated Chiang Kaishek's KMT (more correctly GMD, for Guomendang) because the Chinese population in general was disillusioned with the GMD, and a broad popular front, including six other (smaller) political parties formed that appealed to the masses and enable the CPC to win power. Capital was difficult to get in the beginning of the new PRC, mostly because of American sanctions. I suggest that shortage of capital was the reason for the push for a centrally organised economy in the China of those days. But the failure of that program and then the death of Mao, and the CPC's appointment of Deng XiaoPing, the non-believers in central planning took control. The government owned factories were organised into state-owned enterprises so that the economy could continue, while private enterprise was encouraged. Private ownership has progressed until now when state owned enterprises are in a minority situation, contributing much less that 50% of GDP. The central government has stated that they will eventually be sold off.
So I'm not quite sure what your beef is about that situation?
