>>> "Alexandre Fenelon" <afenelon at zaz.com.br> 03/02/00 08:34PM >>>
> Aren't these statistics pretty hard evidence (data), in as controlled an
experiment as one gets in the real socialeconomic world, that socialism is
superior to capitalism ?
>
> CB
>
To answer this question, we must consider other variables.
1-USSR living standards were starting to fall before the transition to
capitalism. If this transition never happened, would the socialist regimen
be able to reverse this tendency?
2-How are doing other Ex-socialist countries in Europe?
3-Could the failure of URSS be due to a wrong transition strategy? A gradual
approach (see China) would be better?
One could formulate the opposite question. Would a gradual transition to
socialism be a better option for 30's USSR and 50's China. Lenin wrote a
text called on cooperation, favoring this approach. Where could I find it?
4-Didn't the former USSR wasted its economic gains with weapons? Should the
post 1985 disasters have been avoided if they kept the military budget in
lower levels?
***************
CB: Good questions, but whenever some empirical evidence comes out supporting socialism over capitalism, apologists for capitalism immediately say, well lets look at something else. On your questions:
1) Maybe the living standards were starting to fall, because they were starting to go capitalist.
2) Yes , I thought of this. Would be good to see stats, but, the SU is the big one. East Germany seems to be troubled economically. Living standards in Yugoslavia are falling. Bulgaria and Romania seem to be in crises a lot.
3) China does not claim to be transitioning to capitalism.
4) Of course , the SU had the NEP with Lenin.
5) Lenin also favored peaceful coexistence and competition between different social systems, but the imperialists weren't having it. Soviet enormous military production was not its choice , but forced on it by imperialism, which invaded in 1919, 1942 ( the largest war in the history of humanity) and then forced every step of the nuclear arms race on the SU. How could the Soviets not build a big defense without being conquered ?
CB