and as put forward in the writings of Marx, Lenin, Engles and Trotsky, Communism had indeed, some similarities with what might pass for a philosophy, or even a religion as many have pointed out. After all, to be a “good communist” one had to be selfless, egalitarian and willing to sacrifice everything for the “cause” or, in the case of religion, the belief. The idea of “to all according to their need from all according to their ability” or some such claptrap was patently absurd and proved, in the end, hugely unworkable.
The largely Christian West developed under market driven economies rather than one centrally controlled by government. There is no mystery or philosophy responsible for the incredible success of the European and American economies. Goods and services are created by private interests and directed to those markets that have a need and pay the most. This system is better described as one advanced by purely natural and logical forces rather than any cohesive and managed plan. Capitalism is simply supply and demand conducted under and within a system of common law, based for the most part on the Christian God’s ten commandants. To the degree that government keeps their dirty paws off the system it works very well. However, once the collective weasels begin monkeying with it, the system can be severely damaged if not destroyed. The Affordable Homes Act, Community Reinvestment act and the Financial Regulatory act of 2011 (Dodd Frank) are great examples, as are Fanny Mae and Freddy Mac etc.
In the Soviet state, a man was not allowed, under their absurd laws, to make a chair and sell it. A kid was not allowed to wash his neighbors car (if, indeed, a neighbor even had a car) Private enterprise, of any kind, was prohibited and the penalties, for even minor transgressions, severe. An author was not allowed to profit from publishing his book. All publishing was a function of the state and there were, in fact, no private presses. All forms of profit making activity was outlawed and remained so for 70 odd years. Imagine, while the free world economies prospered and grew, the Soviet system stagnated while the monolithic state crushed every vestige of individual incentive creating a nation of slaves.
Western governments, for fifty years, dealt with communist countries by maintaining a powerful military force and a policy of containment under NATO & SEATO. This was never considered in the west as a contest of Capitalism vs. Communism. It was simply a way to survive the threat of a militaristic dictatorship that was spinning out of control.
The Soviet empire was this xenophobic military colossus that demanded unquestioning obedience from its huge masses of imprisoned slaves. It is only due to the individual competence of the many dedicated Russian professionals that the Soviet system was able to work at all. The decisions of the aged, barbaric and hugely ignorant soviet leadership were almost all, terribly wrong. It is truly a wonder that anything worked at all, so egregiously erroneous were the edicts issued by the Soviet Masters. Billions of pounds of produce, grown by armies of slave laborers, rotted in rail yards waiting vainly for trains and rails hat hadn’t even been built. Electrical power stations were built that sat idle for lack of any way to supply oil or coal to power the generators or distribution lines to carry the power.
Engineers studied for years, earning advanced degrees, only to be ordered to work as
Huge and luxurious hotels were built and ordinary Soviet citizens of the “workers paradise” were prohibited from even entering the lobbies. Vast blocks of grey concrete towers served as “homes” for the ‘slaves.’ These drab and boring towers of misery had no parking- After all, the slaves were never met to have cars, so why waste the space? At times, two or three families shared a single two room flat- communal kitchens were the norm.
Meanwhile, the party bosses, the fat cats, stuffed themselves with caviar and luxuries, denying themselves nothing while seeing every day the horrendous misery of their fellow Russians. How they could live with themselves is a mute testament to the triumph of self-service and greed over human compassion. Many Russian artists and writers made films and illustrations subjecting the regime to ridicule. One was the famous Russian artist Ilya Glazunov, whose portrayal of the bloated leadership as sub- human hogs swilling at the public trough, pointedly expresses the artists utter contempt for the murderous power hungry soviet leaders. (see above)
Lenin himself was a rather dull, self-important, insufferable bureaucrat who never physically
Lenin continued to be the chief exponent of Bolshevik thought in the long struggles for supremacy against Plekhanov, Kautsky, and other less radical Marxists. With the outbreak of revolution in 1905, Lenin returned to Russia. His view that the Bolsheviks should take part in the second Duma prevailed in 1907, but he left Russia later that year and subsequently spent his time engaged in complex theoretical disputes which had little basis or relationship to the realities of human life.
Lenin was in Switzerland during the early years of World War I. In his limited and naive view the war was an imperialist struggle since “imperialism,” whatever the hell that means, was, in his words, “the final stage of capitalism,” it was a “historical necessity that the war would offer opportunities for a revolution of the proletariat.” This begs the question of what and who in hell are the Proletariat? Lenin never saw the Proletariat as anything but faceless “masses.” He had no concept of individualism or respect for human life. He was a cold, empty and heartless person, one without depth- a shallow character like his absurd statues, a bas-relief, with no dimension. In his ranting and screaming diatribes, he resembled Hitler, spitting and frothing his cruel invectives at people he never knew-consigning thousands to terrible deaths in the name of hideous and hellish social concepts.
Lenin urged the proletariat to oppose the war by an international civil war against the “capitalist class.” Here he showed his base ignorance and lack of perspective. Whatever didn’t fit into his muted and short-sighted world-view was dumped into one of his convenient catchall phrases. The “Capitalist class,” indeed! There never was and never has been a class that one could label as “The capitalist Class.” The myriad individuals who built businesses in Germany and Europe and indeed everywhere, were just that, individuals. They didn’t know each other and pretty much kept to their work building up their companies. They created jobs and had little interest in and little knowledge of “imperialism” if, indeed, they even knew what the word meant, which I rather doubt. Over time, excesses were of course committed. The early days of western industrial age are full of stories of ruthless bosses working thousands into an early grave in horrible and dangerous sweatshops. The emergence of labor unions, a more enlightened middle class and the development of labor law cured most of these social ills so that today, labor unions are mostly passé and disappearing.
After the outbreak of the Russian Revolution of February 1917, the German government allowed (encouraged actually) Lenin to cross Germany en-route from Switzerland to Sweden in a sealed railway car. By aiding his return to Russia, the Germans hoped (correctly) to disrupt the Russian war effort.
Lenin
