> > But Michael, isn't it important to acknowledge that Actually Existing
> > Socialism was notorious for its inability to produce decent consumer
> > goods, including clothes?
> >
> It was a matter of priorities. I remember asking Cubans why they would
> accept a Soviet nuke plant if they hated Soviet consumer products. They
> argued that the Soviets produced poor products because they put their
> emphasis on military and nukes.
I don't much care for this line of argument, Michael. The same could be
turned on you: why do you accept IBM computers if you hate capitalism?
> I don't see any reason why socialism cannot produce better products than
> we have today.
I'm not arguing this from principle. I'm placing before you the fact that
AES was notorious for producing shitty consumer goods. In some minds, this
was one of the system's weaknesses which made it susceptible to outright
capitalist counter revolution. Given the pervasiveness of this problem
throughout AES and its powerful potential to generate social opposition
within AES, I don't think it's enough to say that AES should, in
principle, have been able to do better. What were the barriers that
prevented it from doing so?
Sid
