• SilentStorms@lemmy.dbzer0.com
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      85
      arrow-down
      22
      ·
      1 year ago

      Not a tankie, but the USSR had mostly solved this problem, despite all its other issues. There did exist some homelessness, but nowhere near the extent of current USA.

      • pelya@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        46
        arrow-down
        35
        ·
        1 year ago

        Sure, you could get a piece of land in Siberian tundra at any time, I would not call that housing.

        Moving to a city was way more complicated than in capitalist US. You could not simply buy an apartment. You had to be allocated an apartment by the government. And you needed connections for that. Or bribes. Ideally both. If you think your local rabid Republicans do not care for little wage slave men, you never experienced USSR, it was like that but 100x worse.

          • pelya@lemmy.world
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            8
            arrow-down
            8
            ·
            1 year ago

            Yup. And networking would inevitably involve vodka. All major decisions would eventually involve vodka in USSR.

              • AngryCommieKender@lemmy.world
                link
                fedilink
                arrow-up
                1
                arrow-down
                4
                ·
                edit-2
                1 year ago

                Vodka had been linked to the Russian economy under multiple Czars. I’m not sure that Stalin could have separated the two even if he had wanted to. Admittedly it doesn’t appear that he wanted to.

                I’m pretty sure that the USSR was screwed the moment that Lenin returned from exile in Germany, or when Wilson was elected. Take your pick.

                The Menchaviks would have been a better government.

                • OurToothbrush@lemmy.ml
                  link
                  fedilink
                  arrow-up
                  5
                  arrow-down
                  4
                  ·
                  edit-2
                  1 year ago

                  The mechaviks literally wanted to continue ww1 and have a psuedo democracy where the bourgeoisie were literally guaranteed a majority of seats, wtf are you talking about?

                • Grayox@lemmy.mlOP
                  link
                  fedilink
                  arrow-up
                  1
                  arrow-down
                  3
                  ·
                  1 year ago

                  I just find it ironic that Stalin was everything that the party worried about Trotsky becoming.

      • RangerJosie@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        1
        ·
        27 days ago

        At least they tried. Our homelessness is an intentional feature of our capitalist system. A constant threat and extant punishment for those among us who aren’t fortunate enough to be born with a silver stick up our ass.

      • Mercival@lemm.ee
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        7
        arrow-down
        7
        ·
        1 year ago

        Well, I’m from a post-USSR country and a substantial part of this was the criminalization of homelessness. Can’t have homeless people, if you lock them up (be it in a prison or asylum).

        Then again, just about anyone, who did not conform to the party’s message got locked up. Getting your place bugged at the slightest hint you might be up to something disagreeable and all that good stuff. The secret police could disappear and or beat you up without any real justification.

        I hate late-stage capitalism as much as you, but coming from a country that’s been through this, I am extremely reluctant to give the rotten and frankly repugnant USSR regime any credit.

        • escapesamsara@lemmings.world
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          1
          arrow-down
          2
          ·
          2 months ago

          Your grandma that “fled communism” lied to you. Eventually you’ll understand that and stop repeating their nonsense.

          • TheSanSabaSongbird@lemdro.id
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            3
            arrow-down
            14
            ·
            1 year ago

            It’s the final refuge for tankies. That and the old “social democracy only works by exploiting the global south” canard.

            • OurToothbrush@lemmy.ml
              link
              fedilink
              arrow-up
              12
              arrow-down
              5
              ·
              1 year ago

              “social democracy only works by exploiting the global south” canard.

              Yeah, I could see finding this unconvincing if you haven’t read theory, history, or were just cool with benefiting from imperialism

      • Dr. Moose@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        10
        arrow-down
        6
        ·
        1 year ago

        Soviet Union? It was uncommon for a family of 6 to live in a small apartment. You can even see it in old soviet movies where apartments would be separated by curtains (common comedy trope).

        • Grayox@lemmy.mlOP
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          12
          arrow-down
          7
          ·
          1 year ago

          In Communist countries people starve to death because of famine, in Capitalist countries people also strave to death because of famine while still starving to death after famines are over because they cant afford groceries.

    • Grayox@lemmy.mlOP
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      12
      arrow-down
      23
      ·
      1 year ago

      Yeah that’s called late stage Communism, which we have never achieved as humanity. Late stage Capitalism is currently pushing more and more folks into dangerous housing situations like the bottom right quadrant of this meme. Capitalism and Utopia are oxymorons while Communism and Utopia are synonymous.

        • Grayox@lemmy.mlOP
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          14
          arrow-down
          15
          ·
          edit-2
          1 year ago

          Call me old fashion but no one living on the streets and having their basic needs met sounds pretty utopian to me.

          • GrapesOfAss@lemmy.world
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            7
            arrow-down
            3
            ·
            edit-2
            1 year ago

            Ah yes because there was no one living on the streets, yes because a propaganda told me that it must be true.

            I guess killing literal millions of your own citizens is better than being homeless, huh?

          • xerazal@lemmy.zip
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            4
            arrow-down
            4
            ·
            1 year ago

            There were still people that lived in the streets in the USSR. Also, the housing the USSR provided wasn’t really that… great… I watch a Russian YouTuber (NFKRZ) who has talked about Soviet architecture in not just Russia, but other former USSR countries and shows that yes it’s good they were built, they weren’t very well built.

            The USSR had many problems, and bureaucracy was a big problem. I never understood why tankies love the USSR so much when the USSR didn’t truly get rid of class. Those in the government lived like kings compared to the common man, who yes lived better than they had before but still not that well due to the bloated and mismanagement of the government.

            Idk, the fact that they even had a centralized government like that seems like… the opposite of communism to me.

            • cecinestpasunbot@lemmy.ml
              link
              fedilink
              English
              arrow-up
              3
              ·
              edit-2
              1 year ago

              I think what people don’t fully understand is that Marxism is meant to be scientific. That means that there will likely be many imperfect and failed attempts at building a socialist society before one comes along that is stable enough to outlast outside interference from capitalist states.

              As such, most people I know who like the USSR are also it’s biggest critiques. Unfortunately, there is so much misinformation about the USSR that most discussions about it online are just about delineating truth from propaganda.

          • MeowZedong@lemmygrad.ml
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            4
            arrow-down
            5
            ·
            1 year ago

            They don’t call you old fashioned for that, they call you tankie. It’s because they’re mad that you don’t buy the bullshit they push. Look at all the claims they make about the USSR here while providing no evidence or context for the situations they claim people were living in.

            They compare apples to oranges when it’s communism they are criticizing and stick their fingers in their ears while screaming when it comes to criticizing crapitalism.

      • probablyaCat@kbin.social
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        12
        arrow-down
        7
        ·
        1 year ago

        Yeah those soviets sure got rid of the homeless problem. Can’t be homeless when you were intentionally starved to death.

  • HelixDab2@lemm.ee
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    101
    arrow-down
    18
    ·
    1 year ago

    This is fundamentally false.

    While it is true that there was inexpensive housing available in the USSR, and that rents were quite reasonable compared to anything that currently exists in the US, and people couldn’t readily be evicted if they lacked the ability to pay, it’s a flat-out lie to say that that was the “solution” to homelessness, or that it eliminated the problem. Rather, the USSR criminalized being homeless and not being engaged in socially-productive labor; people that were homeless ended up in prisons and were labelled as parasites. The problem that we have now is that the official records simply didn’t record the problem, in much the same way that Stalin had histories and photos revised to eliminate people that had become enemies of the state.

  • SuddenDownpour@sh.itjust.works
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    91
    arrow-down
    13
    ·
    1 year ago

    These discussions on communism vs capitalism that devolve into comparing the US with the USSR are like discussing feudalism vs liberalism in 1825, when the only perceptible legacies of the French Revolution were the Reign of Terror and Napoleon’s degeneration into monarchy.

    If you’re sensibly anticapitalist, for the love of Marx do not argue in favor of states that rejected all pretension of wanting to let the economy be democratically managed, ultimately turning into party-controlled hierarchies rather than socialism. If you’re a liberal in 1825 and rather than arguing in favor of ending serfdom and enfranchising everyone you keep going on about how Robespierre wasn’t really that bad, you’re politically useless.

  • Waluigis_Talking_Buttplug@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    80
    arrow-down
    33
    ·
    edit-2
    1 year ago

    Why is this shit always communist vs capitalist, like we’ve only got 2 answers avaliable. You fuckers never set foot in a communist country and worship this shit

    Fucking communist countries have killed how many millions of their own citizens? Don’t really think showing a picture of some buildings is enough to prove that they actually solved any issues. They may have solved those issues for some who were lucky enough to get an apartment, but don’t be a hexbear and pretend they housed everyone.

    And no, I don’t want a response with a link about hurr duer capitalism bad, yeah I know, but I live in capitalism so I already know that.

    • Unaware7013@kbin.social
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      27
      arrow-down
      10
      ·
      1 year ago

      Fucking communist countries have killed how many millions of their own citizens?

      Bruh, centuries of capitalist exploitation of its citizens and treating them like a disposable commodity would like to have a word on the whole ‘citizens killed by their own country’ topic.

      How many thousands or millions of citizens die yearly because they can’t afford to live in this fucked up system?

      • WhiteHawk@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        13
        arrow-down
        21
        ·
        1 year ago

        None? People don’t starve to death in western countries. And where they do the issue is lack of infrastructure. A communist government couldn’t conjure the resources needed to build that out of thin air either.

        • Unaware7013@kbin.social
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          20
          arrow-down
          1
          ·
          1 year ago

          None? People don’t starve to death in western countries. And where they do the issue is lack of infrastructure.

          “This thing doesn’t happen, and when it does, it’s not the fault of capitalism itself” is a monumentally stupid argument. Especially when talking about the homeless population, which absolutely does have people that starve.

          A communist government couldn’t conjure the resources needed to build that out of thin air either.

          And the capitalist economy chose not to build it because it wasn’t profitable, or after it was built, it was too expensive to be used.

          • 小莱卡@lemmygrad.ml
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            3
            arrow-down
            1
            ·
            edit-2
            1 year ago

            Not to mention that the people in the global south starve because their food production literally goes to the west. What a fucking moron.

          • Smk@lemmy.ca
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            2
            arrow-down
            5
            ·
            1 year ago

            Where is your great communist country ?? Oh wait, it’s not there. It doesn’t exist and it never will. Capitalism works. Not perfect but it works. Your idealized version of communism is great but so is my idealized version of capitalism where everyone has a shot at the American dream!

        • purahna@lemmygrad.ml
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          5
          ·
          1 year ago

          saying that “people don’t starve to death in western countries” without understanding in the slightest the actual harms of food insecurity and how it leads to death is a very accurate representation of the scientific ignorance and sociopathic lack of empathy that capitalism supporters bring to the table in these kinds of discussions a hundred times out of a hundred

    • 小莱卡@lemmygrad.ml
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      16
      arrow-down
      2
      ·
      1 year ago

      This is not “one or the another” situation, communism is the next qualitative stage in development of society. It solves the primary contradiction that we experience in capitalism, that is socialized production being privatized by individuals, aka capitalists.

      You can’t just declare communism by signing a document, because it is a process of development in which small quantitative changes in production (socialism) lead to a qualitative change (communism), thus to achieve the communism stage you have to achieve a certain level of development.

      This is why China is considered a communist country by marxists-leninist even though qualitatively it is a capitalist country. They are actively working to develop communism, this can be clearly seen throughout their rhetoric (i.e. “The Governance of China”) and their material results.

      • HelixDab2@lemm.ee
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        3
        arrow-down
        10
        ·
        1 year ago

        The problem with China being that it’s authoritarian, not that it’s capitalist or communist. There’s no choice other than the Communist Party, so when the party is wildly corrupt, you have no recourse at all short of revolution. And we all know what China does to counter-revolutionaries.

    • OsrsNeedsF2P@lemmy.ml
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      15
      arrow-down
      3
      ·
      edit-2
      1 year ago

      Remind me, how many capitalist countries have killed millions of their own citizens?

      Germany, pre-communist China, Japan, Armenia, pre-USSR Russia, Pakistan…

      • 小莱卡@lemmygrad.ml
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        7
        ·
        1 year ago

        Not to mention all the fascist militaries supported by the US that regularly engaged on mass murders of “communists”. Indonesia, brazil, chile, south korea, south vietnam, etc… Ultimately they dont care, they just want to discredit communism by whatever means possible.

      • Waluigis_Talking_Buttplug@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        1
        ·
        1 year ago

        See, this is what the fuck I’m talking about.

        You’re so dense. I’m not advocating or simping got capitalism here. That’s what I’m trying to communicate, but you’re too fucking dense to even see that when I lay it out.

        Both are bad. Just because I say these turds who worship an imaginary and propagandized version of communism are dorks doesn’t mean I’m arguing in favor of capitalism. For fucks sake learn to read

    • mycorrhiza they/them@lemmy.ml
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      8
      arrow-down
      5
      ·
      edit-2
      1 year ago

      fucking communist countries have killed how many millions of their own citizens

      Most of these articles cite the Black Book of Communism, which goes to absurd lengths to inflate the death toll of Communism, for example counting all the millions of nazi and soviet soldiers killed on the eastern front as victims of communism, counting the entire death toll of the Vietnam war, and even counting declining birth rates as deaths due to communism.

      Noam Chomsky used the same methodology to argue that, according to Black Book logic, capitalism in India alone, from 1947–1979, could be blamed for more deaths than communism worldwide from 1917–1979.

      https://web.archive.org/web/20160921084037/http://www.spectrezine.org/global/chomsky.htm

    • Socsa@sh.itjust.works
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      5
      arrow-down
      2
      ·
      1 year ago

      It’s even worse than that. Most Lemmy commies are aggressive sectarians who cling to a very particular form of the ideology, while rejecting all forms of moderate leftism and Marxist revisionism. It’s extremely obnoxious, and their bizarre, outdated philosophy is a primary reason why people are skeptical of leftist politics.

    • Katana314@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      1
      ·
      1 year ago

      I’m still confused and alarmed that the only alternative brought up is communism, not socialism. So far as I know, the core difference is transfer of power - one is peaceful, one is violent.

      So in communism, your home might be six feet underground because “It is necessary to achieve the revolution, comrade.” Absolutely zero chance of a leader that wants the best for their people, apparently.

      • Cowbee@lemm.ee
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        1
        ·
        1 year ago

        That’s incorrect.

        Socialism is Worker Ownership of the Means of Production. There sre many, many forms, such as Anarcho-Syndicalism, Marxism-Leninism, Democratic Socialism, Market Socialism, Libertarian Socialism, Anarcho-Communism, Council Communism, Left Communism, and more.

        Communism is a more specific form of Socialism, by which you have achieved a Stateless, Classless, moneyless society. Many Communist ideologies are transitional towards Communism, such as the USSR’s Marxism-Leninism or China’s Dengism and Maoism.

        Whether by reform or Revolution, the form doesn’t change.

      • Grayox@lemmy.mlOP
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        0
        arrow-down
        1
        ·
        edit-2
        1 year ago

        Real socialism leads to communism. I want to call what I am advocating for as cultural marxism, but unfortunately that term has antisemitic connotations, while also perfectly encapsulating the gradual shift in the publics perception of Marxist ideology I am advocating for with memes such as this. I am not advocating for a violent revolution, but I wont deny the fact that when the powers that be make a peaceful revolution impossible, a violent revolution is inevitable.

    • Immersive_Matthew@sh.itjust.works
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      2
      arrow-down
      3
      ·
      1 year ago

      Right. Communism vs capitalism is just more centralization. There are plenty of decentralized options to balance things as too much centralization, no matter the political system leads to corruption.

          • intensely_human@lemm.ee
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            1
            ·
            1 year ago

            That is the death of capitalism. That’s capitalism (based on free markets) devolving into oligopoly (based on regulatory capture and tightly-restricted markets).

            Capitalism doesn’t last any better than any other institution. It degrades into something else. The thing it degrades into is a centrally-controlled market, similar to what you find in socialism.

            • Immersive_Matthew@sh.itjust.works
              link
              fedilink
              arrow-up
              1
              arrow-down
              1
              ·
              1 year ago

              Agreed. Whether it is Capatalism, Communism, Socialism, democracy, dictatorship they all have centralizion in them even if their intent is otherwise. We need to support more decentralized services and governance as it balance the poor and returns it to the people. We just need more people to get on board, it it seems like we prefer to give our power to power hungry companies and regimes instead. Not saying we need to have zero centralization as it has its place, but it needs to be kept in check and the only to force to do so is decentralization. But it is all so much more complicated and above the human condition to manage. Hopefully AI will be able to help for better or for worse.

    • TheOneAndOnly@lemm.ee
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      7
      arrow-down
      8
      ·
      1 year ago

      It’s simple… If you convince the communists that the capitalists are trying to destroy them, (and vice versa), they fight each other, distracting them from the real enemy: the 1% with enough money to directly influence the folk that make the rules that keep them in the 1% club. We’re fighting culture wars so we won’t fight class wars, my friend.

      • darq@kbin.social
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        11
        arrow-down
        3
        ·
        1 year ago

        … capitalism is the ideology that lets the 1% be the 1%.

        This is like the one fight that isn’t part of the culture war.

        • Furball@sh.itjust.works
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          1
          arrow-down
          5
          ·
          1 year ago

          Do you think the Russian oligarchs, who by the way pen a FAR larger portion of the Russian economy than their American counterparts, appeared from nowhere after the collapse of the Soviet Union? The Soviets had an extremely wealthy and influential elite

        • TheOneAndOnly@lemm.ee
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          5
          arrow-down
          10
          ·
          1 year ago

          The 1% exist in every form of government, my friend. Billionaire capitalists == Russian Oligarchs. The name changes based on the audience, but the idea is money influences politics. The folk with the most money to do so are the 1% who actually rule, not the interchangeable talking heads who take their money to live a comfortable life acting as the mouthpiece (or scapegoat) for that group.

          • Cowbee@lemm.ee
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            13
            arrow-down
            2
            ·
            1 year ago

            …do you think Russia is still Socialist? The Russian oligarchs are Billionaire Capitalists.

            The USSR collapsed in the 90s, buddy.

            • TheOneAndOnly@lemm.ee
              link
              fedilink
              arrow-up
              4
              arrow-down
              7
              ·
              1 year ago

              Exactly! This is exactly what I’m saying. The 1% is still the 1% calling the shots… No matter where they are or what you want to call the type of government they influence.

              • Grayox@lemmy.mlOP
                link
                fedilink
                arrow-up
                10
                arrow-down
                4
                ·
                1 year ago

                The Russian Oligarchs you speak of are a result of the fall of Communism in Russia.

              • Cowbee@lemm.ee
                link
                fedilink
                arrow-up
                7
                arrow-down
                4
                ·
                1 year ago

                Yes, so you’re proving the Communists and Socialists in this thread correct. Across all Capitalist systems, the bourgeoisie are still the ones calling the shots. Therefore, a better system would be a more decentralized, worker owned system, perhaps along the lines of Socialism or Anarchism, to reach an eventual state of Communism in the far future.

                What exactly do you take issue with Socialism, Communism, and Anarchism here? You appear to be advocating for a more top-down system like Capitalism, than a bottom-up system. Your argument appears to uphold your criticism.

                • TheOneAndOnly@lemm.ee
                  link
                  fedilink
                  arrow-up
                  2
                  arrow-down
                  3
                  ·
                  1 year ago

                  Oh! I see. No…I’m only saying the minute you start talking any “-isms”, you trigger feelings of tribalism that exist in all of humanity. We want to be on the “good team”. No one wants to be on the bad team, and that feeling is what the Uber wealthy uses to keep us busy. Debating all of the “-isms” is the problem. Let’s figure out how to take care of the masses so basic human needs are met, allowing humanity to prosper, and figure out what the hell to call it later. Otherwise, we just quibble over semantics and nothing gets done.

          • irmoz@reddthat.com
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            1
            arrow-down
            3
            ·
            1 year ago

            What ideology is it, again, that champions working class people to take their power back? It’s certainly not right wing.

            If you think the world is fucked because of the greed of the 1%, and you want those people to pay for their crimes through class war, you’re communist.

            • intensely_human@lemm.ee
              link
              fedilink
              arrow-up
              1
              ·
              1 year ago

              What ideology is it, again, that champions working class people to take their power back?

              That sounds like a free market to me. When people have the power to determine their own fate, and how they engage with others for economic coordination.

              When everyone has the ability to choose how they engage, that’s called a free market. The economic system based on free markets is called capitalism.

              • irmoz@reddthat.com
                link
                fedilink
                arrow-up
                1
                ·
                edit-2
                1 year ago

                That sounds like a free market to me

                A free market means zero regulation, so I hope you like drinking poison because “ain’t no gubmint telling me how to bottle my soda!”

                When people have the power to determine their own fate, and how they engage with others for economic coordination.

                This requires kicking capital out of the economy. That would be defeating capitalism.

                When everyone has the ability to choose how they engage, that’s called a free market

                No, it’s called voluntary participation. Free markets inevitably trend toward monopolies and concentrations of power, because the supply side is not held to any standard.

                The economic system based on free markets is called capitalism.

                And look where it’s gotten us - with a 1% bleeding the rest dry.

      • Grayox@lemmy.mlOP
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        6
        arrow-down
        7
        ·
        edit-2
        1 year ago

        The 1% are the Capitalist. The folks in the comments defending Capitalism are all members of the Prolitariat brainwashed into thinking they are down on their luck Millionaires.

        • TheOneAndOnly@lemm.ee
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          5
          arrow-down
          5
          ·
          1 year ago

          Look… It’s all tribalism, in the end. We can argue semantics, but doing so it’s exactly their point. It keeps us busy with pedantry, while they continue to enjoy their wealth from on high. I am not educated enough to debate the pros and cons of each group, but I am intelligent enough to smell an attempt to distract me from the point. To know there’s some sleight of hand fuckery happening right in front of my face.

          • Grayox@lemmy.mlOP
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            8
            arrow-down
            7
            ·
            1 year ago

            Yes you are intelligent, and so close to getting it, the cultural warfare bullshit is all a distraction to keep you from noticing the class warfare being waged against the working class by the 1% who continues to rob value from us to horde weath far beyond our comprehension. I cant recommend Marx’s writings enough, there is so much slight of hand fuxkery going on and it SHOULD rightfully piss you off!

            • TheOneAndOnly@lemm.ee
              link
              fedilink
              arrow-up
              3
              ·
              1 year ago

              Help me understand how I’m close in what I’m saying, my friend. It feels like we’re saying exactly the same thing.

                • Grayox@lemmy.mlOP
                  link
                  fedilink
                  arrow-up
                  6
                  arrow-down
                  4
                  ·
                  1 year ago

                  Bruh if I HAD to be right I would still be a devoted Libertarian simping for the free market. I love being proven wrong, its how people and ergo society are supposed to evolve and grow.

  • Roflmasterbigpimp@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    35
    arrow-down
    1
    ·
    edit-2
    1 year ago

    I live in north-east Germany in one of these Blocks (it was firmly renovated tho). It’s actually not bad. Most of them are build in Horseshoe shape so you have small parks inside. But it’s nearly impossible to hang anything to the wall without proper power tools. EDIT: typos

  • ColdWater@lemmy.ca
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    67
    arrow-down
    36
    ·
    1 year ago

    Why a lot of people on Lemmy like communist so much? As a person who grow up in a country which is almost destroyed by the communist party in the past I don’t know what to say just why?, capitalist or not it’s depends on your own country’s government, at least you still can talking shit about them without getting arrested and torture to death, have we not learn from the past or other communist country, why don’t you live in North Korea or China and see how’ve you like it

    • PeriodicallyPedantic@lemmy.ca
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      21
      arrow-down
      5
      ·
      1 year ago

      It’s an unfortunately nuanced subject, where people don’t agree on the underlying definitions of words. For instance, I think you’re confusing “capitalism” with “democracy”. You can have authoritarian undemocratic capitalist countries, where you can’t talk shit about your government.

      For me personally, I think communism has too many issues to actually try, but I like some of its theoretical tennants when compared to that of capitalism. Those goals are something to strive for. The spirit of communism is helping eachother and rewarding work, and the spirit of capitalism is sacrificing others for personal gain

    • rando895@lemmy.ml
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      15
      arrow-down
      3
      ·
      1 year ago

      Though to be fair, DPRK is the way it is at least in part thanks to the Americans obliterating their cities and farm land. But we can ignore history to make a “I used to be in a communist country and it’s bad, trust me bro” statement.

      And I agree, I prefer to live in a system where prisoners aren’t primarily minorities or political prisoners. And where the prison system isn’t the most populated in the world, and rife with for-profit forced labour.

      I would also be curious to hear which definition of “capitalism” and “Communism” you are using. That is, if you are open to dialogue.

      • 小莱卡@lemmygrad.ml
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        11
        arrow-down
        1
        ·
        1 year ago

        Not to mention NK is economically blockaded and has to endure yearly military provocations by the largest military in the world. No wonder why they take draconian measures.

        • TheSanSabaSongbird@lemdro.id
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          1
          arrow-down
          5
          ·
          1 year ago

          They take draconian measures because they’re held hostage by one of the world’s most powerful and effective crime families. One only needs to look at South Korea to see that it doesn’t have to be this way.

          • rando895@lemmy.ml
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            4
            ·
            1 year ago

            True, the south manages to have a rising GDP and the world’s worst rates of suicide, and some of the longest working hours of anywhere, while being held hostage by that same crime family. That is the difference you can expect while you kiss the boot of the empire responsible for segregating your country and preventing any attempts of reunification.

    • Cowbee@lemm.ee
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      13
      arrow-down
      4
      ·
      1 year ago

      A number of reasons. Just like you claim a Communist party almost destroyed your country, Capitalist parties destroy and are destroying many countries as well. The existence of bad Communist parties does not itself mean Communism is structurally a bad thing, as pursuit of a Stateless, Classless, Moneyless society is a noble goal for humanity.

      I think it’s fair to say that decentralization is a good check against Authoritarianism, and as such, this should be extended to the workplace, not just government.

      As far as why Lemmy leans left, the founder is a Communist, and principles of decentralization and federation tend to appeal far more to leftists, while Capitalist-inclined individuals have Reddit.

      • Seasoned_Greetings@lemm.ee
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        3
        arrow-down
        3
        ·
        1 year ago

        Heads up, this guy is a troll. His sole, self declared purpose is to be an asshole and pick fights. Not worth engaging

      • intensely_human@lemm.ee
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        0
        arrow-down
        2
        ·
        1 year ago

        It’s not so much the existence of bad communism that indicates communism is a structurally bad thing, quite so much as the utter lack of good communism that indicates communism is a structurally bad thing.

      • rchive@lemm.ee
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        0
        arrow-down
        3
        ·
        1 year ago

        I’m just laughing to myself about the thought of Reddit being primarily capitalist. Lol

        • Cowbee@lemm.ee
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          5
          ·
          1 year ago

          It’s a for-profit, Capitalist business that runs it, ergo its Capitalist. The user base is largely liberal, which is still pro-Capitalism. You tend to see more Anarchists and Communists on Lemmy by proportion.

      • mayoi@sh.itjust.works
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        3
        arrow-down
        6
        ·
        edit-2
        1 year ago

        principles of decentralization and federation tend to appeal far more to leftists

        Absolute load of shit, just like your false dichotomy of capitalism vs communism. Neither affects politics. In fact countries are being destroyed by the same type of people, they don’t give a fuck if they’re playing communism or capitalism today.

        … As for why majority of countries are capitalist and not the system that has never been tried, that’s because people always want to outsource decisions to someone else and when the people own means of production, there can be no production, only people inclined to produce do produce.

        Classless society is impossible when 80% of people are worthless lackeys and only 20% of people even dream of doing something.

        • Cowbee@lemm.ee
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          6
          ·
          1 year ago

          Lmao, none of what you just said actually meant anything, beyond you hating humanity and deepthroating Capitalist boot.

          • mayoi@sh.itjust.works
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            0
            arrow-down
            5
            ·
            edit-2
            1 year ago

            Yes I’m misanthrope, what are you gonna do about it? Spout more bullshit that makes me hate you even more?

            Colonial insects are the only ones who made communism work and that’s because they’re insects, goodluck with this knowledge.

            • Seasoned_Greetings@lemm.ee
              link
              fedilink
              arrow-up
              4
              ·
              1 year ago

              Spout more bullshit that makes me hate you even more?

              Bad form, troll. It’s weakness to let your mark know that you hate them

            • Cowbee@lemm.ee
              link
              fedilink
              arrow-up
              3
              arrow-down
              1
              ·
              1 year ago

              You don’t actually have any points, though. Your whole thing is that “good thing bad because it hurts my feelings,” lmao.

              • mayoi@sh.itjust.works
                link
                fedilink
                arrow-up
                2
                arrow-down
                4
                ·
                1 year ago

                You’re the one whose feelings get hurt every time I tell you that the only ones who implemented communism successfully have no feelings. They don’t even have a brain, ants and bees are more like machines, unlike humans who have hopes, dreams, and aspirations, and some humans aspire to rock the boat which is why goymmunism will never ever work in our species.

                • Cowbee@lemm.ee
                  link
                  fedilink
                  arrow-up
                  2
                  arrow-down
                  1
                  ·
                  1 year ago

                  What would a human who has hopes, dreams, and aspirations do to rock the boat in Communism? Why do you think Communism is based on requiring everyone not have hopes, dreams, and aspirations?

                  You don’t actually know, your feelings are just hurt and so you lash out.

        • Seasoned_Greetings@lemm.ee
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          4
          ·
          1 year ago

          when 80% of people are worthless lackeys and only 20% of people even dream of doing something.

          Man, I thought you said yesterday that your parents raised you right? The more I see you, the more it’s clear that they mostly just raised a cynical asshole. I guess that’s par for the course for a troll picking fights on obscure social media

    • TheBeege@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      8
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      1 year ago

      This community is on lemmy.ml, which explicitly leans hard left. Maybe a memes community on another instance would be less like this

    • pinkdrunkenelephants@lemmy.cafe
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      4
      ·
      1 year ago

      Because they hate the system they live in and communism is the only modern alternative that has ever existed.

      When someone comes up with an alternative to both, humanity will move forward.

    • mycorrhiza they/them@lemmy.ml
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      5
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      edit-2
      1 year ago

      how old were you when the USSR fell? Did you experience communism, or the capitalist takeover after communism fell?

    • Traister101@lemmy.today
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      7
      arrow-down
      8
      ·
      edit-2
      1 year ago

      We have never seen an actual communist country. USSR for example was a fascist dictatorship which runs directly counter to the first property of communism, it must be stateless.

      Facists like the Nazis like to claim they are for the people and sadly the only “communism” we’ve seen so far has been carried out by their hands. This is similar to how Nazis were supposedly progressive… Hopefully we can agree that is obviously not the case.

      • OurToothbrush@lemmy.ml
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        5
        arrow-down
        5
        ·
        1 year ago

        https://jewishcurrents.org/the-double-genocide-theory

        Don’t call communists fascists please. This is an article from a mainstream holocaust historian that explains why a related equation between the two is harmful.

        I would also recommend reading “economy and class structure of german fascism” so you have a better idea of what fascism actually means.

      • rchive@lemm.ee
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        2
        arrow-down
        3
        ·
        1 year ago

        I’d say the fact that leftist socialist or communist movements keep decaying into authoritarian dictatorships is a pretty big weakness of communism, actually. I think Western capitalist countries are not perfect by any means, but they’re winning the quality of life game, even of poor people.

        • Traister101@lemmy.today
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          1
          ·
          1 year ago

          Not decaying. The Nazis were always fascist they put on a front of being progressive to ganrner support which worked quite well as we can tell from history. By the time it became obvious they weren’t really progressive they were already in power.

        • OurToothbrush@lemmy.ml
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          4
          arrow-down
          4
          ·
          edit-2
          1 year ago

          The Cuban people literally joke that the government should be less democratic because of how much they consult the people, I dont think it is an authoritarian dictatorship and it is under immense pressure as it is 70 miles away from the imperial core and has been effectively blockaded for 60 years or so.

          • rchive@lemm.ee
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            1
            ·
            1 year ago

            Sure, different ones have different levels of dictorshipness. To be clear, democratic and authoritarian are not opposites at all. Chattel slavery in the US was extremely authoritarian and awful, yet it was democratic. Abolition was a minority viewpoint until around the time of the Civil War.

    • intensely_human@lemm.ee
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      5
      arrow-down
      8
      ·
      1 year ago

      You need to tell your story more, and include the feelings, and include how the communist policies did that destruction.

      People like communism because they don’t know your story.

    • valkyre09@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      17
      arrow-down
      2
      ·
      1 year ago

      It sure is a lifestyle choice. The choice is the tent or a cardboard box, fucking insensitive assholes.

    • AngryCommieKender@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      2
      ·
      edit-2
      1 year ago

      San Diego already banned camping in the city. The county board of supervisors either has proposed that they do the same or already has.

      San Diego county is bigger than two states. They are trying to outlaw homelessness in an area about 65 miles north to south, and roughly the 86 miles east of The Pacific Ocean.

      These are almost all Democrats, btw. We didn’t vote for Republicans.

  • TheDarksteel94@sopuli.xyz
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    48
    arrow-down
    17
    ·
    1 year ago

    What if, and hear me out on this one, the problem isn’t which “-ism” is prevalent. The real problem is that ANY form of power or society needs checks and balances. If those are missing or not enforced, then everything goes to shit. It’s a balancing act, not just a matter of black or white.

    • Grayox@lemmy.mlOP
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      26
      arrow-down
      19
      ·
      1 year ago

      The whole point of Communism is to balance power away from the 1% and back to the masses. The fact that it is an “-ism” and has decades of propaganda demonozing it, doesnt make that any less true.

      • Kalkaline @leminal.space
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        28
        arrow-down
        7
        ·
        1 year ago

        The important part is it’s not an authoritarian running the show and calling it “communism” or " democracy" when the reality is it’s just a plain old oligarchy with a new title applied.

      • MrSqueezles@lemm.ee
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        3
        arrow-down
        5
        ·
        1 year ago

        This is why Xi Jinping lives in a giant gilded castle and any negative thing said anywhere about him is censored, just like every other citizen. Everyone’s equal.

      • jeansibelius@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        4
        arrow-down
        7
        ·
        1 year ago

        Just look at “balance power away from 1%” in China, Ruzzia or North Corea. Do you really like it? Or you just read books and not looking at real life examples?

      • TimeSquirrel@kbin.social
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        8
        arrow-down
        13
        ·
        1 year ago

        balance power away from the 1% and back to the masses

        By installing a dictator…every time it’s attempted…

        • MotoAsh@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          13
          arrow-down
          2
          ·
          edit-2
          1 year ago

          That is a problem of how revolution works, not a problem of communism.

          Create a power vaccuum, and those who had the most power will STILL have the most influence. Even if you literally killed all the old power, you would be immediately creating an authority structure with the legal authority of capital punishment, which many, MANY communists wouldn’t agree with.

          The problem is horrible people exist, NOT the concept of communism. For every reason people shit on Communism, there are twenty valid reasons to shit on capitalism. Neither system works in the real world on its own. To pretend like capitalism is magical in comparison is literally failing to observe reality.

          The rich and powerful constantly shit on political action because it IS effective. They do not enjoy going through the effort of retaining power through internal conflicts and ESPECIALLY not actual revolutions. Why would they EVER tell you the truth?

        • Cowbee@lemm.ee
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          5
          arrow-down
          1
          ·
          1 year ago

          Why did Napoleon take power after the French Revolution if Capitalism doesn’t have dictators every time a revolution occurs?

        • emergencyfood@sh.itjust.works
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          6
          arrow-down
          2
          ·
          1 year ago

          Maybe not do that next time and try doing it from the bottom up instead of top-down🏴.

          Those have been tried, but they often tend to get liberated by the CIA. Or in some cases, the KGB / Red Army.

          • rchive@lemm.ee
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            3
            arrow-down
            2
            ·
            1 year ago

            I’m certainly not advocating for toppling other countries’ governments, but honestly the fact that so many countries end up not being able to withstand the attacks from outside is kind of a mark against them.

            • emergencyfood@sh.itjust.works
              link
              fedilink
              arrow-up
              1
              ·
              1 year ago

              Well, that’s the problem with bottom-up government, isn’t it? It is better in most ways, but the local empire will invade you at the first chance they get.

              If I remember correctly, the fall of the Paris commune to a Franco-German alliance was what led the early Marxists to embrace a centralised system. Of course, that brings its own problems, as power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.

    • MrSqueezles@lemm.ee
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      3
      arrow-down
      5
      ·
      1 year ago

      Why is there so much communist propaganda on Lemmy? Could it be that reddit is actually good at filtering out state-sponsored content farms?

      • Cowbee@lemm.ee
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        3
        arrow-down
        1
        ·
        1 year ago

        Decentralization appeals to leftists, as that’s the principle of the ideology, away from bourgeois interests.

        I haven’t seen evidence of state-sponsored propaganda, though there are people that simp far too hard for China and the CPC on Lemmy though.

      • Jungle@linux.community
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        2
        arrow-down
        4
        ·
        1 year ago

        Actually, the problem is homelessness.

        The solution is either housing (ethical) or genocide (unethical).

        Provision of housing for the poor can be achieved by means of social housing programs. These can exist in both communist and capitalist societies. E.g. the Netherlands is capitalist, but there is almost no homelessness thanks to its social housing program. The few homeless that are present are choosing this way of life and are therefore not part of problem.

    • Grayox@lemmy.mlOP
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      25
      arrow-down
      23
      ·
      edit-2
      1 year ago

      They were built for the Prolitariat, which homeless folks are quite literally a part of.

      • EfreetSK@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        15
        arrow-down
        24
        ·
        1 year ago

        So if one person picks 1000 apples per day and the second picks 2 apples, then they split apples 501 to each. Good luck convincing the first person that this is good for them

        • darq@kbin.social
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          25
          arrow-down
          7
          ·
          1 year ago

          Except we aren’t talking about two people, are we? We’re talking about entire populations of people.

          And when people have their needs met, they are more able to be productive. And they are more likely to believe in the good of the system that supports them, as they can see the tangible results of that system in their daily life. They can see how their contribution to the system benefits them. Making them more likely to be happy to contribute.

          Will some percentage of people under-contribute because of laziness? Sure. But who cares? That percentage is small. And we have the technology to compensate many times over now.

          Why the hell do we make society more miserable for everyone, forcing everyone to live under the threat of poverty if they don’t work, just to force this small percentage to work against their will? Not to mention completely screw over anyone who cannot work for reasons beyond their control, because we subject them to this insane level of scrutiny because we’re paranoid that they might just be lazy.

          We can choose a cooperative system, or the antagonistic one we currently have, where we are all at each others’ throats because of suspicion that someone might be getting something that they “don’t deserve”.

          • TheSanSabaSongbird@lemdro.id
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            1
            arrow-down
            1
            ·
            1 year ago

            You still have the problem of misaligned incentives together with the fact that the only way to mitigate it is through coercion. This is why all communism inevitably leads to authoritarianism. The strength of capitalism is that it can absorb and indeed is designed to allow for the fact that humanity’s cooperative impulse --due to the fact that we evolved over hundreds of thousands of years to live in small bands of about 30 to 150 people-- cannot work at the level of the modern nation state.

            • darq@kbin.social
              link
              fedilink
              arrow-up
              1
              arrow-down
              1
              ·
              1 year ago

              You still have the problem of misaligned incentives

              Not really sure what you mean by that. Socialism leads to better alignment of incentives. If everyone is benefitting from the system, contributions to the system are incentivised.

              That is the opposite of capitalism, where the individual tries to gain any advantage they can, even at the expense of everyone else. And broad advances and contributions of work benefit very few people, by design. That leads to lower trust, which further entrenches the idea that the individual has to look out for themselves, and is thus incentivised to game to system.

              together with the fact that the only way to mitigate it is through coercion

              I reject that premise.

        • enkers@sh.itjust.works
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          17
          arrow-down
          4
          ·
          1 year ago

          So Instead, one person picks 1000 apples, gives them all to the property owner, and then receives enough money to buy 50 apples, yet you’d prefer that over having to split the 1000 apples evenly.

        • radroot@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          7
          arrow-down
          5
          ·
          1 year ago

          In your example, I’m assuming the first person is a worker and the second person is the boss. That’s usually how it goes

        • Kecessa@sh.itjust.works
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          7
          arrow-down
          5
          ·
          edit-2
          1 year ago

          And for both situations I would need ask at least one of them “Why do you need so many apples? Why not give some of them to those who need them instead of accumulating them?”

          Think about it, you’re already living the situation you presented but the person picking two apples is in a managerial position and gets to keep the thousand apples you picked in exchange for the two apples they picked.

        • Kras Mazov@lemmygrad.ml
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          1
          arrow-down
          1
          ·
          1 year ago

          In a socialist society you would be paid by how much work you do, you don’t simply divide everything for everyone equally.

          You work more you get more, you work less you get less.

          Also, why would anyone need a 1000 apples for?

        • Chigüir@slrpnk.net
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          3
          arrow-down
          6
          ·
          1 year ago

          Yeah, is a bad deal.

          But that’s not the point, the point of this approach is that like in cooperatives, there are minimum productivity goals and many roles to play, and so on. Obviously like you point out, no one is that stupid.

          Now, consider the needs of people who are old or need help. Like helping your old man, I’m sure you don’t mind getting more apples. I wouldn’t. Like you, I would get angry if I’m the only useful one hahaha, but that what productivity and organization is for. No one lives in a bubble.

          Now… What you said, I’ve seen it happen in capitalism. Not in small businesses, normally the owner is in the store too. I mean when we talk about the big bucks like a better example. They expect you to handle of those apples, and ain’t offering you a comfy home neither.

    • interolivary@beehaw.org
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      5
      arrow-down
      4
      ·
      1 year ago

      No duh, they were built to be very affordable so you wouldn’t have as many homeless people. It’s incredible that you thought that answer was somehow insightful

      • Hovenko@iusearchlinux.fyi
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        2
        ·
        1 year ago

        They were built to be affordable for working class and had nothing to do with homelesness… Communists/socialists did not acknowledge existence of homelessness because it would mean party admitting of making a mistake or system being flawed.

        • interolivary@beehaw.org
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          1
          ·
          1 year ago

          Affordable and available housing has everything to do with homelessness though, it’s one of the best ways to actually keep people from becoming homeless in the first place. If more people can afford a place to live, less people will be homeless. Won’t fix all of it but a huge chunk anyhow

          I have no idea if or how much old Eastern Bloc countries lied about the number of homeless. I wouldn’t be surprised at all, but I haven’t seen any studies or statistics about this so I can’t assume they were all lying or that the situation was universally worse than in Western countries.

          • Hovenko@iusearchlinux.fyi
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            1
            ·
            1 year ago

            But that was no goal of communist party at all. It is only your justification for this meme and proving your point about current capitalism.

  • ParsnipWitch@feddit.de
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    34
    arrow-down
    10
    ·
    1 year ago

    Please, not this again… Personally, I am a lot in favour of communism. But some people, especially US Americans, have a fundamentally wrong idea about the housing shown in the upper picture.

    This is often neither cheap, nor does it reduce homelessness. And it’s also not the goal of that kind of rental homes to reduce homelessness.

    That is just normal homes of average people in many places.

    It’s not “cheap housing for everyone”.

  • essell@beehaw.org
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    21
    arrow-down
    2
    ·
    1 year ago

    Not in the UK. Our government is looking to ban the tents next. That’ll fix the homeless issue 😕

    • Grayox@lemmy.mlOP
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      9
      arrow-down
      18
      ·
      1 year ago

      Thanks, i pride myself on making innovative memes that point out the glaring hypocrisies of Capitalism in new and inventive meme formats. Thankfully the glaring hypocrisies of Capitalism have been around for decades giving me plenty of material for OC. /s

        • Grayox@lemmy.mlOP
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          7
          arrow-down
          5
          ·
          1 year ago

          Lmao what is fictional about this?! Are you saying the homeless camps are fictional? Or are you saying the soviet priotitizing prefabricated apartments to increase housing supply is fictional?

  • Omega_Haxors@lemmy.ml
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    14
    arrow-down
    3
    ·
    edit-2
    1 year ago

    “Darn that’s a lot of tents, this is starting to become a real problem. Better build more rental properties.”

  • Commiunism@lemmy.wtf
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    17
    arrow-down
    8
    ·
    1 year ago

    Finland is capitalist and kind of solved homelessness, with there being around only 1.3k homeless people in the entire country (population: 5.6m, which means the rate of homelessness is around 0.02%).

    I don’t think that communism or any ideology is an answer to homelessness, it’s pretty much the job for the government and what kind of systems/reforms they implement.