Under capitalism, a lot of the time, highly dangerous jobs are also highly paid. Kind of a balance that the individual decides to engage with. Same idea behind getting an advanced degree in STEM or law. I think of my job by example, I’m a power plant operator at a large combined cycle plant. No fucking shot I’d be doing this if the pay wasn’t good. I’m around explosive and deadly hot shit all day.
Yes. It was me. All communist revolutions Mark the beginning of a transitionary period. Not a single one has achieved a “final form” of communism. The ones that still exist are still building towards communism. The ones that failed failed before they built communism. Some people call it socialism, some people call it the Dictatorship of the Proletariat.
Talking about these concepts is challenging even for the people who have researched and studied. It’s honestly confusing for people who haven’t spent a lot of time researching it. It was for me.
Just like capitalism, it will be much easier to talk about this stuff when we look back over 400 years of history, but while we’re still in the first half of the process, if not earlier, it’s hard to pin down.
Just so you know, I’m thinking out loud, not trying to argue against you.
So you’re saying they were really all stuck in that transitionary period, yes? Because they sure all seemed to claim to have achieved their goal. Maybe that’s where a root of the problem lies? They all pretended to have it all figured out, effectively lying to the people, instead of being honest and trying to make everybody come together to work through the problems.
You’d have to be very open about this process from the very start and trust that everybody is willing to endure that uncertainty of not knowing where the journey is going exactly. That’s probably a big ask, both of the people leading such a, well, for lack of a better word, revolution as well as the people following. The former need to have at least a certain desire for power which always brings with it a risk of corruption - they’ll have to not grab for more power AND let go of that power eventually. And the latter need to trust and believe that giving up their familiar lifestyle will be worth it in the end.
Have you read the writings of communist leaders? They are very clear that the victory is of the revolution over the former ruling class and that from this point forward the country is building a new future.
But they did create a collaborative society where everyone came together and solved problems. From collective farming to citizens commisions to workplace and local councils to national initiatives. They’ve all achieved so much incredible stuff. Cuba developed a COVID vaccine on the same timeline as the US and the USA spent billions incentivizing a competition between privately held companies.
Yup. That’s what it is. And that’s what they do.
It is. And that’s part of the experimental process. What systems are needed? What roles do people play? How do you defend against outside corruption and internal corruption at the same time? How do you deal with the people who disagree and want to turn back the revolution to the way things used to be?
All very hard problems. All part of the movement, the literature, the debates, the speeches, the education, the philosophy, the critique.
It’s all there. It’s been going on for over a century. You can read all about it.