> Given the hash that capitalism has made
>> of the world, I
>> don't see why we should give too much credence to
>> this position.
>>
>
>Oh come, now you are starting to sound like Charles.
>Why can't I say just as well, given the hash that the
>Soviets made of their part of the world . . . .
I could make a long list of what was wrong with the Soviet Union (though I doubt it'd be as long as Michael Pugliese's). But the Soviet years were the only ones in which Russia et al narrowed the income gap with the West - and the same for Eastern Europe. People talk as if it weren't for 1917, Russia would have evolved like Sweden., Industrializing Russia was no small feat. Sure it was ugly at times, but so was industrializing England. I just can't support the line that the USSR was an unmitigated failure - and I'll bet most Russians (and quite a few Ukranians and Uzbeks, too) would agree.
Doug