[lbo-talk] Oppression

[Somebody Somebody]

Ted: So in the cases of both Russia and China, an explanation of  the  
resulting despotism consistent with Marx's "materialism" can't point  
to a lack of developed forces of production.

What it can point to is the "superstition" and "prejudice" of Russian  
and Chinese peasants, i.e. to the same "cause" pointed to by Marx to  
explain "Oriental despotism" and mid-19th century Prussian and French  
despotism, to conditions inconsistent with those required for the  
development of "the real intellectual wealth" of individuals. 

Somebody: In *what* society have individuals been intellectually wealthy enough to sustain socialism? 

It's been speculated that we could genetically engineer people to be altruistic enough for socialism. It may be that the intellectual development you're talking about is beyond the abilities of a species that evolved to hunt big game in the Pleistocene.