[PLUG-TALK] Fair Use, etc.

Jeme A Brelin jeme at brelin.net
Fri Mar 29 00:43:18 UTC 2002


On 28 Mar 2002, Russ Johnson wrote:
> I believe you are confusing communism with socialism.

I believe you are confusing socialism with fascism.

> This is common, as many people believe the folks in the former USSR
> were communists. They were not. They never made it to communism (as
> Marx and Stalin claimed to want.) from socialism. This is why they
> were called, "United Soviet Socialists Republic" or USSR.

What we call Soviet-style Socialism wasn't really socialist at all because
power never resided in the hands of the proletariat.

> In communism, everyone owns everything, and everyone has access to all
> goods and services.

That's a good enough definition, sure.  I would refine it just a little to
say that no party can control the means of meeting human needs.

> In socialism, the state owns everything, and the state decides what
> you get or don't get.

That's only half of it.  Socialism also has the requirement that the state
be run by the workers.

Simply giving the state control over the means of production does not make
a socialist state if control of the state still rests in the hands of the
few.

J.
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