In the West there was a prior agricultural revolution, liberating surplus labor from the countryside. Marxist regimes didn't bother with that part.
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Replying to @Outsideness
This isn't a very accurate picture of either capitalist development or that of the communist bloc. In the west colonization provided much of the surplus resources, as well as changing market conditions that favored pastures over farmland freed up labor.
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Replying to @RealEnverHoxha @Outsideness
In terms of the communist bloc, China established food security for the first time in its history under the first few year's of communist rule. But it's also the case that these developing countries could not wait a hundred years or so to complete this process.
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Replying to @RealEnverHoxha @Outsideness
In the case of the USSR, it was clear that war would return to Europe soon, and they needed to be ready. Thus the process was violent, and quick.
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Replying to @RealEnverHoxha
"This omelette might require breaking a few Kulaks."
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Replying to @Outsideness
I don't disagree. But don't be so sanctimonious Mr. Land, this is exactly what your position is in defending global capitalism while acknowledging its status as a monstrosity
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Replying to @RealEnverHoxha
Deng Xiaoping initiated sustainable industrialization in China whilst massively improving agricultural conditions, so no.
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Replying to @Outsideness @RealEnverHoxha
... Suppressing markets kills a whole bunch of people for no reason. The hold-outs on that thesis are a desperate and dying breed.
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Replying to @Outsideness
It certainly does kill a whole bunch of people, but so does the creation of markets. Neither of those events happens for no reason. It's widely established in developmental economics that the more backwards a country is, the more it's state needs to step in for it to catch up.
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Replying to @RealEnverHoxha @Outsideness
It should be noted, however, the original marxist position is that communism comes about not by suppressing markets, but by markets making themselves obsolete.
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So how about waiting for that to happen? (You can hold your breath if you want, but I probably won't.)
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Replying to @Outsideness
I don't care either way. The end of markets is a historically contingent fact, and even then, a speculative prediction based on those contingencies. I only concern myself with what is necessary for our continued survival, that is the expropriation of the heights of industry, and
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Replying to @RealEnverHoxha @Outsideness
planning required to stop ecological collapse.
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End of conversation
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