Greetings,
On Thu, 19 Jun 1997, Peter Bohmer wrote:
> Gordon Taylor made a few mistakes on his history of slavery and I
> disagree with his analysis of Communism.
>
> Slavery lasted into the 1880's in Cuba and Brazil.
>
> Equating Communism and Nazism is a favorite ploy of those who are
> downplaying the genocidal nature of Nazism, see the excellent columns by
> Daniel Singer on this.
> There are serious problems with what has been called Communism in terms
> of people having power, democracy. The lack of independent worker's power
> is part of the reason why multi-nationals can exploit workers today in
> China and Vietnam.
> Nevertheless, although I would not call the Soviet model socialist or
> communist, there were some positive aspects in many societies following
> this model--high employment, smaller wage differentials, challenging
> United States aggression around the world.
>
> Compare, for example, the health and education conditions in "Communist
> Cuba" to the U.S. backed "democratic" regimes of Mexico, Brazil, Grenada,
> etc. Peter
>
> On Thu, 19 Jun 1997, Gordon Taylor wrote:
>
> > In response to the person who was wondering if the US was the last nation to
> > abolish slavery: A number of Islamic nations OFFICIALLY maintained the
> > "peculiar institution" into the 1960's, until world opinion forced them to stop
> > the practice. Many Islamic nations still allow it to go on unofficially-for
> > example, Sudan. (Where is Louis?) Of course, we have the example of the state
> > slaveries of the twentieth century under Fascism and Communism. The crimes of
> > Nazi Germany were long ago exposed. Communism has (mostly) been dumped on the
> > ashbin of history, and as historian search through the newly open archives, we
> > are learning more and more about the true cost of Communism. It is quite
> > interesting to see how Wall Street all of a sudden had developed a love affair
> > for the last major communist regime left. (The multi-nationale will exploit
> >
> > the human race?)
> >
>
Peter, these are some good points. As well, it should not be
forgotten that communism (i.e., classless society) has not existed
anywhere for several thousand years. And that what existed in the USSR
from the mid-fifties onward was pseudo-socialism. That is, "communism"
did not "fall" in the USSR. Pseudo-socialism "fell" and capitalism was
restored.
The bourgeoisie's fear of communism is evidenced in the fact that
three million times a year the monopoly-controlled media repeats million
times a year that "communism is dead." But if it so "dead," then one need
not really worry about it. Why continue frantically repeating it?
Shawgi Tell
Graduate School of Education
University at Buffalo
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
