Comic Strips

When was the Soviet Union invaded? Other than the Nazi betrayal of the plan to divide Europe between them and the Soviets, which happened years after the end of the Holodomor, the USSR was the one on the offensive during this period, for example in Afghanistan, China, Finland, Hungary, Czechoslovakia.

Gosh, I wonder why someone whose only crime was being a bit more successful than the average peasant might have been angry about seeing their friends and family murdered, having their livelihood taken away, or watching some aparatchik experiment on their society with some economic system he's only ever read about. Yes, that one's a real mystery to me.

China was indeed quite backwards and devastated by the Japanese invasion and the civil war, but somehow severe famine didn't occur until after the communist victory and a decade of reconstruction. It was caused by Mao's Great Leap Forward, imposed from above by people who had clearly read extensively about political philosophy and never agriculture.

Subsistence farming in sub-saharan Africa has very little to do with capitalism. Where are the capitalists? There is essentially no capital! Feudal warlordism is a bad system, but trying to use it to criticize something completely different is nonsense. The food situation in America could hardly be more different, even during severe recessions essentially nobody starves, and in fact one of the biggest public health challenges they're facing is that even relatively poor people have access to so much cheap, appetizing, calorie-dense food that without taking steps to avoid it they become severely obese.

Countries fight wars of conquest independent of their economic system, essentially any country strong enough to impose their will on others will almost certainly do so sooner or later, as we've seen throughout all of human history under a variety of economic and political systems. Trying to somehow tie the crimes of Israel and and Nazi Germany to their economic system while ignoring all other factors shows how weak your argument is - you are unable to criticize capitalism directly so you instead take a stab at guilt by association. Perhaps the problem is having too much power concentrated in the hands of leaders? Nope, it's definitely because businesses are privately owned. Surely Palestinian Nationalists and Zionists would get along if only there were bread lines.

Ignorance is when your opponent reads history, bad faith is when he refuses to accept your twisted interpretation of it. Thank you for enlightening me. You would have to be willfully blind to still believe Marxism offers real solutions and that actual existing communism is preferable to capitalist democracy, even with its many shortcomings, after having witnessed the events of the 20th century.

Indeed, there should be a distinction. But Communism isn't exactly angelic in its tendencies, any more than capitalism is.

Ayn Rand was a bitter individual who turned her bitterness into a philosophy, helping many people all across the world turn their own pain into bitterness. I'm not a fan.

Neither capitalism nor communism are strangers to violent censorship, particularly where it concerns opposition to ideology.

There are things that capitalism does better, and there are things that communism does better. Clearly, the ideals and genuine attempt by some in communism to establish sound philosophical merit is there, and that's a good first step. However, the infeasibility of implementation of an effective communism that can also compete with capitalism just isn't there. Concessions are made, and capitalism (or authoritarianism) becomes more and more present, but in ways that aren't acknowledged.

The reality is that capitalism is powerful, and that there is no way of ensuring ideal human behavior. Government and economic systems fail here, and tend to reflect the vices the people in general hold in esteem (whether they would acknowledge that or not).

The proper grounds for change isn't government or economic system, but in the moral ideology of the people. It has to do with the values the people hold in esteem, and are willing to back with action. Any system of governance or economy will begin to reflect those underlying values, whether the starting point be communistic, capitalistic, monarchic, oligarchic, or any variant of governance or economic system.

Communism promises to be the next leap forward. It's only natural to reach for it. But it does not provide what it promises. A dream is not enough. An evolutionary platform must incorporate what exists, not deny it.

That doesn't mean we can't find in communism (and other systems of life) what attracts us, and learn to build systems of love and power in our own lives that reflect those things we love so dearly. Once you've given up on the dream - truly, and without bitterness or apathy - it's only natural to do so.

there should be a distinction between offensive and defensive wars.

...that difference is entirely which side of the battle line you're on...