"Last point here, if 'communism was tried and failed' then how is it that an officially communist country is now the 2nd largest economy in the world?
'Duh! because they became capitalist, Sean!' I hear some conservatives cry.
Oh did they? So China now is your idea of an capitalist state, is it? A place where the central party decides policy, locks up and kills people who go against it, blocks out words it does not like online, pressures HK to suppress freedom, etc. Thats capitalism is it? Surely supporters of capitalism would want to say 'No, that's state dictatorship. They are using elements of capitalism in their economic policy, but the communist party is still in power and they don't act in democratic ways.'
Ok, so do you see how your are making my case for me? My point is that even though Stalin and Mao SAID they were communist, they had the words communist on their badges and party meetings, etc... their actual actions were, to a very large extent, not communist, but something else.
To which conservatives reply 'Ha, thats just evading something you don't like.'
But now conservatives seem to be saying 'Even though China SAYS they are communist, they have the words communist on their badges and party meetings, etc... their actual actions are, to a very large extent, not communist, but something else.'
How is it ok for supporters of capitalism to say that but not ok for me to say almost exactly the same thing? You cant have it both ways, folks. If China now is 'pretend communism but actually something else', then the same thing applies to them in the 1950s and 1960s etc. And to the USSR. So you are supporting my point.
OR, if you think that China now really IS communist (with capitalist elements), then you cant say 'communism was tried and failed', can you? Because a certain form of communism is now so successful that its become the 2nd largest economy in the world.
So which is it?"
See the rest here:
radicalfun.weebly.com/7-cliches-about-capitalism-and-communism.html