[lbo-talk] Fidel on Libya

Somebody Somebody philos_case at yahoo.com
Thu Feb 24 11:46:41 PST 2011


Eric Beck: Yeah, you'd think the death of the Soviet Union would have put an end to this productivist nonsense. I guess not.

Somebody: Actually the Soviet Union failed because it increasingly was ineffective at that "productivist nonsense" you're disparaging, starting at least in the mid 60's, not because it was too fixated on it. Its productivity levels in industry and agriculture were much lower than comparable capitalist countries, so I'm not sure what you're talking about here.

People want higher standards of living, new consumer goods, clean hospitals, well equipped schools, and popular entertainment. They also want the expectation that the next generation will live better and longer than the last. All this falls under the rubric of "productivist nonsense".



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