Is communism possible?

Well, if you stop the drugs companies charging stupid ammounts for their products, all of a sudden it becomes a lot cheaper.

When people say 'people today are ........' and talk about 'human nature' you ignore the fact that our concept of 'human nature' is a construct of the time we live in. Remember, 200 years ago most people believed democracy went against 'human nature.'

 

I do not agree. A people who suffers a famine that kills off 30,000,000 people (remember the Great Leap Forward http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Leap_Forward) and those were the ones who died can't be a happy people. You are speaking of China because nowadays it is completely transformed from the abject misery it was until Deng Xiao Ping started ditching the Maoist management.

Befor the GLF there was also the Sparrow Campaign, whereby the field wild birds were massacred in billions as being reactionary, and as a consequence insect population flourished and ate up the crops. Consequence: more famine.

As for comparing Cuba and Haiti, that's disingenuous, as you can compare Haiti with other failed states like Sudan without the oil, Somalia, Zimbabwe, etc. Let's try a better comparison. Cuba and Porto Rico or Costa Rica, where would you choose to live? Cuba may have a chance in the future when they get rid of Castro & Co., then it may become another Republica Dominicana, but until then it's an economy propped by a monoculture export, and Russian and Venezuelan subsidies. IMHO, downfall would have come a lot quicker if the US hadn't followed that blind blockade course of action, but...

 

I don't know if anyone has any hourly employees or is in charge of any but, it does appear that many of these people spend more time looking around to see if anyone (at the same scale) is doing less than they are.
Not more, they don't care about that, just the ones doing less.
When found, they slow to this rate.
When caught, they use this other(s) to absolve themselves of any wrong doing by saying, "What about so-n-so?"
Admittedly this is more frequent among the young and the new, but the behavior is definately prevelent.
The only way to combat this is to remove the "bad apple", which is why I believe Siberia existed.
This is why I also believe the Post Office is ever increasingly more expensive and their performance is barely holding on to the old pace if not regressing.
No Siberia (Union protected).
I believe in reward for merit, not for (just being there), time served (unless it's 20 or more years)(you almost can't be around that long and be uninterested and not good at what you do)(seniority OK)(this goes with rank/dedication), and here in lies the problem I see with expecting everyone to do the same and receive the same. Some will be watching every shovel full of dirt thrown, and not do one lick more.
There will always be those who do more and less at the same job, and there will always be discontent/dissention about whos job is harder...worth more.
Then there are the ones who believe they're entitled to more, and the thieves who take from the rest.
Communism on a country wide scale (with virtual instant communication like we have now) is doomed. Something smaller may survive, a commune, a collective, a village.
This is more "Tribal" than Communism, and has a direct/instant control with visual confirmation for all participants.
To blindly hand over the spoils of your toils and trust they will be equally distributed "For the Good of the Body" (yes I watch Star Trek) with not knowing they ever got there is silly.
Blind Faith died (or at least became extremely ill) in the information age.
I think it (Communism) may even be more work (requiring more time to execute) than other forms of government.
What I believe in; A safety net for those who can't (not wont), and reward for those who know they can do more, and do it.
I believe there are these 4 types in every society...can't, wont, do, do more.
More for less doesn't wash in any society for very long, and retards advancement because there's no benefit for the extra effort.

 

Did'nt Marx and Ingles create communism as an alternative to the abuses of the industrial revolution, where they had child labor and very long hours and poor wages ? Seems like I remember they thought the revolution would first happen in England but it happened in Russia first for some reason.

Perhaps Marx and Ingles only wanted to have profits shared alittle more equally and not most going to the industrial owners. I don't know the answer for this but maybe their ideas got reinteripeted by Lenin after he came to power.

Also Za I will be swayed by your superior wisdom and go along with what you have said on China and Cuba. Only because I can't think of anything bright enough to argue about at the moment.

 

SW, that looks like the attitude of "I pretend to work while they pretend to pay me."

Absolutely right! At the time the Communist Manifest was written (1848) the Industrial Revolution was in full swing and labour conditions were simply dreadful. This was also the time of Charles Dickens, and I'm sure we are familiar with the utter squalor and abuses he denounced. Certainly quite different from what I'm sure we'll find in SWE Inc. (Skunk Works Empire )

And yes, you are right too in your 2nd paragraph. The Marx Communism is not the state apparatus and single party oppression of Leninism.

Who am I to point the finger at you, happens to me most of the time !