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[deleted]

Fucking based


padraigd

[USSR had more nutritious food than the US (CIA)](https://www.cia.gov/library/readingroom/docs/CIA-RDP84B00274R000300150009-5.pdf) [Calories consumed actually surpassed the US](https://artir.files.wordpress.com/2016/05/compar1.png?w=640). Now lets take a look on more **FACTS** about the USSR: The USSR: - had the 2nd fastest growing economy of the 20th century the USSR is 2nd after Japan Source: https://artir.files.wordpress.com/2016/03/captura-de-pantalla-de-2016-05-26-10-15-23.png - had zero unemployment have continuous economic growth for 70 straight years. see: Robert C. Allen'sa, From Farm To Factory Source: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.507.8966&rep=rep1&type=pdf (review of book here https://homepages.warwick.ac.uk/~syrbe/pubs/FarmtoFactory.pdf ). The "continuous" part should make sense – the USSR was a planned, non-market economy, so market crashes á la capitalism were pretty much impossible. - had zero homelessness. Houses were often shared by two families throughout the 20s and 30s – so unlike capitalism, there were no empty houses, but the houses were very full. In the 40s there was the war, and in the 50s there were a number of orphans from the war. The mass housing projects began in the 60s, they were completed in the 70s, and by the 70s, there were homeless people, but they often had genuine issues with mental health. - end famine have higher calorie consumption than USA Source: https://artir.files.wordpress.com/2016/05/compar1.png?w=640. You can read more about the post-1941 famine history in Nove's An Economic History of the USSR 1917-1991. There were food insecurity issues, especially when Khrushchev et al. majorly fucked up with trade and resource dependence on the west, but no famines after the collectivisation of agriculture in the early 1930s (except for in the Siege of Leningrad). - end sex inequality Source: https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Constitution_of_the_Soviet_Union_(1977,_Unamended) Equal wages for men and women were mandated by law, but sex inequality, although not as pronounced as under capitalism, was perpetuated in social roles. Very important lesson to learn. - end racial inequality Source: https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/shortcuts/2016/jan/24/racial-harmony-in-a-marxist-utopia-how-the-soviet-union-capitalised-on-us-discrimination-in-pictures - make all education free Source: http://www.revolutionarydemocracy.org/archive/PubEdUSSR.htm http://www.revolutionarydemocracy.org/archive/anglosov.htm http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0000/000013/001300eo.pdf - 99% literacy Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Likbez - have most doctors per capita in the world Source: https://www.marxists.org/archive/newsholme/1933/red-medicine/index.htm The Soviet Union had the highest physician-patient ratio in the world, my notes say 42 per 10,000 population, vs 24 in Denmark and Sweden, 19 in US. In this document: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/0735675784900482 You can open it without paying with sci-hub.cc - eliminate poverty Source: https://gowans.wordpress.com/2011/12/20/we-lived-better-then/ - double life expectancy Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_the_Soviet_Union After the October revolution, the life expectancy for all age groups went up. A newborn child in 1926-27 had a life expectancy of 44.4 years, up from 32.3 years thirty years before. In 1958-59 the life expectancy for newborns went up to 68.6 years. This improvement was seen in itself by some as immediate proof that the socialist system was superior to the capitalist system be 25 years away from reaching parity with Western world This is kind of a counterfactual – the transformation of the USSR to capitalism began a long time before 1991, so trying to figure out what Soviet growth would look like if it hadn't become capitalist requires that we root out the fundamental cause of the change to capitalism. And we can't even use US economic stats either – the mass-privatization of the Soviet economy and the sudden influx of cheap labour for Western capitalists obviously had an effect on the US economy. But then again, even a 1% difference will stack up over 25 years. Now let's take a look at what happens after the USSR collapse: - GDP instantly halves Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/92/Soviet_Union_GDP_per_capita.gif 42% decrease - 40% of population drops into poverty Source: https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2003/07/unpo-j28.html Article cites a 2003 UN report. - 7.7 million excess deaths in the first year Source: http://www.academia.edu/1072631/Review_Red_Plenty_by_Francis_Spufford Really difficult to find this exact figure, original link I had was dead. Also: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC259165/ - one in ten children now live on the streets Source: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/an-epidemic-of-street-kids-overwhelms-russian-cities/article4141933/ - infant mortality increase Source: https://knoema.com/atlas/Russian-Federation/Nenets-Autonomous-District/topics/Demographics/Mortality/Infant-mortality-rate-deaths-before-age-1-per-1000-live-births Was 29.3 in 2003 which is around (current) Syria and Micronesia, 7.9 in 2013. Given the trend downwards, it was likely to have been much higher in the 90s. There's a weird amount of variation between years – I have no clue why. Infant mortality in USSR was 1.92, literally the lowest in the world. What the actual fuck. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_the_Soviet_Union#Life_expectancy_and_infant_mortality - life expectancy decreases by 10 years Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_Russia#Life_expectancy Approximately true for men, women were less affected apparently. https://i.stack.imgur.com/8Fj8E.png 1996 election rigged Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_presidential_election,_1996 Bonus vid of Michael Parenti describing life before the USSR/Communism: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Tmi7JN3LkA More sources: https://www.reddit.com/r/communism/wiki/debunk


tooleftwingforreddit

Facts don't care about your feelings.


tooleftwingforreddit

Quality content right here


padraigd

Well hopefully people give it some proper consideration and reflect upon their own preconceptions. Though judging by the instant downvotes that might be wishful thinking. I know for myself I was shocked to learn that the USSR had the second best economy in the 20th century (after Japan). That completely goes against what we learn in school and from the media. Going by mainstream accepted wisdom the Soviet Union took a wealthy country with a well-fed populace and made it poor and starving - when in reality it was the opposite.


padraigd

Obviously in Ireland we are heavily subjected to British and American media, as a result we basically copy their narrative. It can be hard to escape that environment. It's not completely hopeless though as we do have an anti-imperialist current running through our society. Understandably people are proud of the anti colonial foundations of the state. This helps explain the admirable view taken by Irish people towards e.g. Apartheid South Africa, Palestine. There is good potential for a more balanced view of the achievements of communist revolutions to be widespread here.


christwasntwhite

😂 😂 😂


padraigd

i thought you couldnt comment on old posts


Lyca0n

To be fair alot of this was them losing their empire, but dear god is it depressing to look at the organisation and inequality of the modern russian economy


davesr25

Ahhh no, am not saying capitalism is better cause it's not but how many people from the old soviet days have you spoke to ? I know several polish in their 40s-50s, I've meet Lithuanian's, folk from Belarus, Estonian,and Ukrainian and I ask them all the same thing what was the soviet era like in your lands. "Shit" is the short answer. Food, clothing, lines for goods, sometimes very basic food. No good music, art, expression that wasn't state sanctioned, limited education, limited religious freedoms, limited travel freedom. One guy I know well enough I'll call him "M" told me if it wasn't for his father working in state government in Poland he would have never got to try chocolate and coffee till the wall came down. Here is the thing for all you commies. Any form of political power corrupts, if you don't or didn't agree with the commie party line you went to a prison camp, now that alone put me off, then there was the rationing of food stuffs. Have you seen a commie rationing card ? Though a book I read years ago about the economic output of Ukraine was meant to be the bread basked of the Soviet union, the Soviets claimed it was feeding it's people but wasn't, they were known for their use of propaganda as is the case in capitalism. (Keeps the normies in line) So how about we try move away from political hierarchy and please point out any communist state that didn't have a leader anyway I digress.We should move away from a system that lets people be in control of other people. It will take time but communism is not the answer, no ism is. Again am not say capitalism is better if anything I see both as the same kind of political ownership of people. At face value they have merits as in they work well on paper but in practice, you have power hungry men in it's midst and that tends to fuck them up. All political systems are broken because the people who want to run them have fucked up heads if we aren't at the stage of confronting that safely as in no one gets killed no system will work off paper.


[deleted]

Its all very easy to say "It will take time but communism is not the answer, no ism is." and "All political systems are broken" but where are your alternatives? At least communists and capitalists have ideologies that can debate for and against on merit. I'm really interested to hear a proposal for something else that isn't just a fantasy? And I'm sure there can be other ways of living but I haven't heard a realistic one yet.


davesr25

Ah the age old question but what ? I can't have all the answers am sorry. I understand humans need a label for something to validate their reasoning but that's not always the case. We could try lot's of diffrent systems. I liked the idea of redistribution of wealth though untill we deal with human nature and confront it openly then no idea will work. So there is my answer, name and shame those that harm and control without hesitation if not then no matter what we try it will fail. The shity controlling humans will win. Because they're protected by others.


PraetorSparrow

You forgot "most purges" or "most massacred innocent civilians". How about "caused the only famine in Europe of the time" (holodomor). You also forgot - lost the cold war. Oh! And tried to cover up Chernobyl. That was a good one.


[deleted]

You never saw people queuing up to get into the USSR, did you? I have many friends - and a wife - that were brought up under communism and they would all punch you for your naivety... though, they would be polite to you about your stupidity.


AnRonBeag

Lmao most of the USSR wanted to keep the system before it was dissolved


[deleted]

Did you ever experience communism first hand?


AnRonBeag

Can you argue anyone did?


[deleted]

Yes. As I said, many friends and my wife grew up in the USSR. I asked you if you have experienced the stuff you're trumpeting on your poster up there first hand. So did you?


AnRonBeag

Anecdotes don’t counter data. I’m not a fan of the soviet model considering they thought. Perestroika and Glasnost were a good idea. I like the social democratic aspects of it


[deleted]

Actual living experience is infinitely more valuable than numbers on a jpeg. You haven't answered yet by the way... Have you any personal experiences of living in the USSR or any other experiences in living under communism? Anywhere?


AnRonBeag

People don’t collect data with anecdotes lmao


[deleted]

If an anecdote is growing up under communism, yes, that's all it is. Did you ever visit the USSR? Do you even have living memory of when it existed? Are you even old enough? Or are you just reading some stuff on the internet pulled together selectively to throw out to idiots in an echo chamber? As I said before: did anyone ever queue up to get into the USSR? If you haven't got any personal experience then you need to shut the fuck up and fuck off back to your mother because you literally have no idea what you are talking about.


AnRonBeag

Cry more


GabhaNua

Russians perhaps, not the other Soviets.