[lbo-talk] Fidel on dolphins & the Cuban model

[Wojtek S]

[WS:]  It depends how you define & measure success.  If you define it as the
consumption level found in high income countries and measure it by the
volume of transactions passing through capitalist markets (GDP) - then yes,
most socialist economies were a flop.  But if you define it as as the
capacity to resist the imperial hegemony of England and the US (or lesser
European powers), quick overcoming abject economic and social backwardness,
and measure its by the net increase of living and educational standards of
the population as a whole (as opposed to those of the elite) - socialism was
a great success.  Just compare socialist Cuba to her capitalist neighbor
Haiti. And as far as i know, countries like Russia or Poland made far
greater progress during the first 10 years of socialism than during the 20+
years of capitalism and privatization.

Wojtek

On Thu, Sep 9, 2010 at 10:46 PM, Somebody Somebody <philos_case at yahoo.com>wrote:


> DRR: Unlike some Leftists, I don't blame Cuba for its geopolitical
> situation. It became a garrison state because it was and still is under
> siege by a cruel and illegal US blockade.
>
>
> Somebody: I used to believe this. I mean, sure, based upon Marxist
> orthodoxy, the notion of socialism prospering in an embargoed Caribbean
> island would be preposterous. But, historically I see no evidence that
> larger, less isolated countries had particularly more success pursuing
> socialism than smaller ones. On the contrary, if anything it seems unlikely
> that Cuba and North Korea would have persisted with their systems this long
> if they were much larger countries.
>
>
>
>
>
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