How to respond to “Communism doesn’t work.”
Does Capitalism Work?
Lets unpack the idea that “Capitalism works”. In the US, the most developed Capitalist country, the richest country in the history of the world
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1 out of every 7 US citizens needs to visit food banks to survive, despite having enough food to feed 10 billion people. Half of all food produced is thrown away by retailers. Food waste in 2018 enough to feed world’s hungry 4 times over
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UNICEF, RESULTS, and Bread for the World estimate that 15 million people worldwide die each year from preventable poverty, of whom 11 million are children under the age of five. 2
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In the US alone, 20-40k deaths every year because of lack of health insurance / care. On average, that’s 300k over the last decade
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Empty homes outnumber the homeless by 6 to 1. Bank foreclosures and housing speculators have left 18.9 million empty homes. 2.5 million homeless children, or ~1 / 30. In the UK, there are 10x more empty houses than homeless families
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Rising Housing prices from real estate speculation have skyrocketed to the point that an epidemic of hidden homeless has arisen: families who live in their cars, or on the street, but who still work. In most US cities, such as LA, it’s illegal to sleep in your car overnight. 1/3rd of all renters pay half their income towards landlords. Even mid-size cities like Boise Idaho are experiencing a surge of homelessness as of 2019
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80% of US workers live paycheck to paycheck, 40% cannot cover a $400 emergency
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40% of millenials live with their parents. Younger generations, with dwindling opportunities, feeling disposable and unwanted under late capitalism, suffer from a burnout epidemic. Many have stopped pursuing romantic relationships, and having children. 2
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~ 1/4th of US workers are trapped in the gig economy as of 2019
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8 men control as much wealth as half the worlds population. Anyone wanna take a guess at how this game of monopoly ends?
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Billionaires made enough money in 2017 to end poverty 7 times over
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US Life expectancy peaked in 2014, is on the decline, and is now lower than in China. 2
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Suicide rates have leaped more than 33% in the last 20 years. Teen suicides are on the rise and outpacing all other age groups. 2, 3
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A Drug overdose epidemic, and suicides are fueling a decrease in life expectancy.
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Committed countless atrocities, killing millions directly and indirectly across the globe. Currently maintains an imperialist network of over 800 military bases in 70 countries. (For comparison, all the other countries combined have only 30 bases)
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Most prisoners per capita AND by total. Makes sense, since prison is Capitalism’s boarding house.
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34,000 undesirables imprisoned in over 500 immigrant prison camps
Capitalist hegemony has short-circuited people into buying wildly illogical and ridiculous propaganda like: “Lift yourselves up by the bootstraps” (which shows the almost religious power of capitalist propaganda, that the impossible can become possible), or “Communism doesn’t work”, when in fact Communism did work extremely well.
Examples from this post by /u/bayarea415, Stephen Gowans - Do publicly owned, planned economies work?, Audio on youtube and Ian Goodrum about the USSR specifically:
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USSR had a more nutritious diet than the US, according to the CIA. Calories consumed surpassed the US. Ended famines.
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Productive forces were not organized for capital gain and private enrichment; public ownership of the means of production supplanted private ownership. It was illegal to hire others and accumulate personal wealth from their labor.
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Had the 2nd fastest growing economy of the 20th century after Japan. The USSR started out at the same level of economic development and population as Brazil in 1920, which makes comparisons to the US, an already industrialized country by the 1920s, even more spectacular.
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Free Universal Health care, and most doctors per capita in the world. 42 doctors per 10k population, vs 24 in Denmark and Sweden, 19 in US.
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Had near zero unemployment, continuous economic growth for 70 straight years. The “continuous” part should make sense – the USSR was a planned, non-market economy, so market crashes á la capitalism were pretty much impossible.
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Saved the world from Fascism, Taking on the majority of Nazi divisions, and killing 7 out of every 10 fascist soldier. Bore the enormous cost of blood and pain in WW2, with the bloodiest battles in the history of warfare. An estimated 70% of Soviet housing was destroyed by Nazi invasion. Nazis were in retreat after the battle of Stalingrad in 1942, a full 2 years before the US landed troops in normandy.
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End sex inequality. Equal wages for men and women mandated by law, but sex inequality, although not as pronounced as under capitalism, was perpetuated in social roles. Very impor
