I think Mr Jacoby is a bit over the top here, but I will grant you that there are few who have been deeply involved in running "communist" governments, or providing them with support, who are worthy of praise. Those who stood by Joseph Stalin through all he did, or who stood with Mao through the loss of 100 million people, who who said that Pol Pot was a good leader have shamed themselves. They stand with those who stood by Adolph Hitler as he killed 12 million people in death camps.
There are many sincere socialists out there. The idea of the Government working to set prices and terms of exchange is unattractive to me, but it is a way to organize an economy. I think Tony Benn is wrong, but I respect him. There are even sincere communists, albeit people who have not thought through the implications of communism over the long run for their fellow human beings.
What we should all distain are the Walter Duranty's of the world. They either allow themselves to be deceived on a massive scale or are so innured to human suffering and the denial of basic freedoms that they are prepared to lie and cover up with no boundaries. But, worse, through the written word, or film or some other medium they try to convince us that communism is good.
It would be better for him if a millstone were put around his neck and he be thrown into the sea...So, Mr Jacoby gets it partly right.
Regards — Cliff
From a purely intellectual point of view, the term "communist" refers to the antitheseis of the capitalist repulican form of government we enjoy today. It is the most extreme subsequent step beyond "socialism" which Barry is currently working overtime to implement.
ReplyDeleteThe character of a communist society is that it is classless and stateless and the rule of the means of production is effected by the producers. In practical terms however, as there is no state government in a pure communist society, a hybrid form of the ideal is in play, one in which a "representative" of the working class emerges to dictate the means of production. Interestingly, the basis for this hybridization stems from the philosophy of Christian Communism largely derived from the New Testament book, "The Acts of the Apostles."
So, from the perspective of American society, there truly IS no "good" communist as they advocate the most radical alteration of that which we hold near and dear.
The REAL threat comes from the growth of socialism which at its final stage holds that the means of production are controlled by the working class, but the state continues on as it always was. In practical terms, this is a dichotomy fraught with impossible conflicts, and historically is merely a tranisition to the "communist dream." In a socialist society, there exists a functional power vacuum because the masses control the state, but such a diffuse governance is impossible, so a power void emerges with the predictable filling of that void......generally by someone with the "discipline" to prevent "backsliding" and the "reemergence of a capitalist driven market economy."
This is where Barry is taking us........