> 2. There is no evidence that socialist states necessarily develop
> productive forces qualitatively or quantitatively better than
> capitalist states.
Socialism isn't a particular state or state formation. It's an egregiously heterogenous collection of social processes, ranging from welfare states to social movements, to cultural works of art. Certain nation-states have certain aspects of what a future socialist society might look like, that's all.
> democracy. Hell, politics in Iran today is a lot livelier than
> politics in any of the former socialist nations, North Korea, and even
> Cuba!
I don't know what you're talking about. NK is a society in severe lockdown. But Cuba has a pretty vibrant civil society; so does China, Russia, Hungary, etc. Politics isn't staged speeches and media blitzes, it's the battles waged in daily life, over the most mundane of things.
-- DRR