In regard to my reference to "cognitive abilities", I stand corrected. At least I should have been more careful.
Charles,
I didn't read you post carefully enough. I read the lines:
>"And state socialism surpassed most of the capitalist world in economic
growth >and social justice. The socialist world-system was a great success,
betrayed >by the Communist regimes in the 1980s. Stalin didn't betray the
Revolution but >rather advanced state socialism and in so doing bettered
the lives of hundreds
>of millions of human beings."
toward the beginning and started making assumptions.
>Is the converse of this: "Who cares if you live in poverty if you are
>politically free"? That is the promise of capitalism, isn't it? In fact,
>social justice is measured in the leveling of income.
Just for the record, I think we should strive for both political freedom and income + wealth equality and more egalitarian and democratic production relations. I thought social justice required all of these - not just material equality. I misinterpreted your use of the term.
>First, nobody is praising Stalin. I can recognize his accomplishments
>without denying his failings. Other people are all too willing to step up
>and make all sorts of wild claims about Stalin. Just because I focus on
>his accomplishments does not mean that I endorse his negatives and his
>excesses. What this argument by Brett says, Charles, is that any sort of
>objective analysis of the macroeconomics of the socialist world-system in
>comparison to the capitalist world-system between 1960 and 1978 that does
>not engage in ideological polemics against Stalin is somehow "praising a
>communist thug." See how deeply anti-communism has infected the left?
You are right. As I said, I jumped to conclusions and judged your piece unfairly. I didn't mean to imply that comparing capitalist countries with state socialist/communist countries is invalid unless Stalin is properly chastised. Such comparisons are indeed valuable, and after rereading your post I retract my earlier remarks.
Perhaps its a good thing that I've reached my limit. I've done nothing but put my foot in my mouth today.
Brett