The Enigma Of Socialism

[Khandro]

What is its appeal? Are its supporters ignorant of world history, or of even current politics? In the USSR, China, North Korea, Eastern Europe, Cuba, Vietnam, Cambodia, and Venezuela it has led variously to the suppression of free speech, the imprisonment of dissidents, state-sanctioned mass murder and widespread starvation - as witnessed recently by the President of Venezuela telling the people not to be squeamish about eating their rabbits.

So what began as a dream of equality ends up with you having to eat your pets!

With all previous attempts at Socialism having patently failed, why did nearly 13 million of the population vote for Jeremy Corbyn last June, are they unaware of the suffering and misery which Socialism has unleashed on the world?

[mikey4444]

TTT...Murdoch is my mate ?

Where did that gem come from ?

[Kromovaracun]

He's talking about Murdoch's support for Blair (or perhaps "arrangement with Blair" would be more accurate...)

Also I am getting very confused about editorial policy on AB. The recent answer Khandro responded to was rather mad (e.g. claiming the USSR was not a socialist country), but it wasn't offensive or in any way contravening the site's terms of use.

[Khandro]

Kromo; I too am confused about the removal of that post, the jist of which was that there wasn't enough Communism!
Deranged perhaps, but not warranting removal.
What's going on ?

[scooping]

Socialism isn't an enigma. It's a disease.

[Togo]

"I am for doing good to the poor, but…I think the best way of doing good to the poor, is not making them easy in poverty, but leading or driving them out of it. I observed…that the more public provisions were made for the poor, the less they provided for themselves, and of course became poorer. And, on the contrary, the less was done for them, the more they did for themselves, and became richer."
— Benjamin Franklin

[naomi24]

Khandro, someone else has just had a perfectly legitimate post removed. I think we've a power mad, trigger happy mod in our midst.

[Togo]

//In my experience Danny13k one does't have to take the English language literally all of the time. Native speakers tend to use all sorts of shades and tones in their language,//sic

Is that left wing for what Tories may call lies?

[Togo]

"Whoever claims the right to redistribute the wealth produced by others is claiming the right to treat human beings as chattel."
— Ayn Rand

[Togo]

"How do you tell a Communist? Well, it’s someone who reads Marx and Lenin. And how do you tell an Anti-communist? It’s someone who understands Marx and Lenin."

— Ronald Reagan

[naomi24]

^Spot on. And they said he was daft.

[Togo]

This is what I call "spot on" Naomi.

\\Most people who read “The Communist Manifesto” probably have no idea that it was written by a couple of young men who had never worked a day in their lives, and who nevertheless spoke boldly in the name of “the workers.” Similar offspring of inherited wealth have repeatedly provided the leadership of radical movements, with similar pretenses of speaking for “the people.”//
Thomas Sowell.

[naomi24]

Sounds about right.