Should Communism Be Declared A Criminal Ideology?

[JimC]

[DRSB]

Yeah, you Marxists, you can't fool me!

[Hermit]

Yeah, you Marxists, you can't fool me!

Much better, comrade. You must not betray your loyalty to the revolutionary cause until you have safely crossed the border.

[DRSB]

[Forty Two]

Anyone care to answer the two questions directly?

You'll have to wait for an advocate of socialism. We had some here in the past, but neither of them has posted in this forum for years.

Answering the questions does not depend on what economic system one advocates. The scenarios are, in fact, answerable by someone who advocates capitalism or some other economic system.

I'm interested in the responses of anyone here, as there have been several different viewpoints on socialism, capitalism, etc., expressed here on this thread.

As if the answers will surprise you or anyone else. I, for one, do not feel inclined to oblige. Your hectoring is becoming tedious, especially since you yourself have thrown a tanty when you wrote you don't have to reply to every post addressed to you. That reminds me: have a go at this one if you ever change your mind. I note that since I posted it, you replied to five posts above and two below it. Artful dodger.

Right, I never said you have to respond to every post. However, if you do respond to a post - as you did - it's pretty customary to actually respond to it. Instead, you did respond, but with a red herring - that I would have to wait for someone to express support for socialism (as if that hasn't already happened, lol). My followup was to note that the questions don't require any adherence to a particular economic system.

It's not "hectoring." I've not demanded you respond to anything. Feel free not to, of course. But, again, you DID, in fact, respond. You just responded with a diversionary non sequitur that had nothing to do with anything in order to hand wave away the point. The questions weren't even personally directed to you - they were open questions to anyone wanting to take part in the discussion.

If the answers "wouldn't surprise anyone" then why not answer? Maybe your answers will provide some insight into the issue, even if you have staked no position one way or the other. I think anyone reading the exchange knows why you don't want to honestly respond to them.

It's funny - certain folks here do all kinds of gymnastics responding to posts suggesting capitalism is horrible and creates poverty, strife and inequality, and ultimately destroys itself, etc., and defending socialism - and then we get posts like yours pretending that nobody here defends socialism in the least! Perish the thought! Who does that??? Are you mad??? nobody thinks socialism is worth a damn around here, right? LOL. Sure...

[Forty Two]

Question: further to Hermit's point of needing to wait for an advocate of socialism, cuz we don't have any of their kind around here no more -- does anyone here think socialism is a good economic system to pursue?

Does anyone here advocate for socialism instead of capitalism?

Does anyone here think that in a mixed economy, it's the socialism part of the mix that facilitates economic well-being of the given country?

Just wondering. Maybe nobody here is agin' me, and I'm just preaching to the choir.

[Hermit]

It's funny - certain folks here do all kinds of gymnastics responding to posts suggesting capitalism is horrible...

Actually, no, that's not funny. The funny bit is that you seem to presume robust criticism of capitalism - particularly the type of capitalism you advocate - means we embrace communism. You are repeating the mistake you make in regarding a criticism of Trump as an embrace of Clinton, or Obama for that matter.

[Scot Dutchy]

It's funny - certain folks here do all kinds of gymnastics responding to posts suggesting capitalism is horrible...

Actually, no, that's not funny. The funny bit is that you seem to presume robust criticism of capitalism - particularly the type of capitalism you advocate - means we embrace communism. You are repeating the mistake you make in regarding a criticism of Trump as an embrace of Clinton, or Obama for that matter.

Well he is a Trumpette after all. They are only able to have binary thoughts, if you can call them thoughts more like head farts.

[DRSB]

Question: further to Hermit's point of needing to wait for an advocate of socialism, cuz we don't have any of their kind around here no more -- does anyone here think socialism is a good economic system to pursue?

Even Socialist systems are not uniform. I think even in history, you have to differentiate between Soviet and non-Soviet type. There was Yugoslavia with the so called Euro-Communism of Tito, a system of non-Soviet type, they had private enterprises, were not behind an iron curtain, yet it counts as Socialism.

[Forty Two]

The lack of uniformity does not change the yes or no part of the question. If there are 10 different types of socialism, and someone advocates or supports one of them, then the answer is still yes. That person is free, of course, to specify that they support one particular version or another, and explain what that is.

[Forty Two]

It's funny - certain folks here do all kinds of gymnastics responding to posts suggesting capitalism is horrible...

Actually, no, that's not funny. The funny bit is that you seem to presume robust criticism of capitalism - particularly the type of capitalism you advocate - means we embrace communism. You are repeating the mistake you make in regarding a criticism of Trump as an embrace of Clinton, or Obama for that matter.

No, I did not accuse anyone of "embracing communism." I was referring to socialism. And, people have suggested that they support socialism. I have not suggested - ever - that criticism of capitalism means embrace of communism. Nor have I ever said criticism of Trump is embracing Clinton or Obama. I have suggested that suggestions of support for socialism by certain people is a support for socialism, and that defenses of Clinton and Obama or support for them is support for them.

Why be cagey about this? Do you support some form of socialism? If so, what? It's as if you take the question as an accusation, or that in a thread discussing communism (a form of socialism - Marxist socialism - or a stage subsequent to socialism, as some put it) it's inappropriate to ask people who are taking adverse positions to me to state their position clearly.

[DRSB]

The fact that something is called "socialist" does not mean it fits the bill. Yugoslavia was called "Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia", not sure how adequate the name was.

[Animavore]

I don't think the National Socialist German Workers' Party were actual socialists. But it doesn't stop a lot of right-wing types trying to claim it is in order to smear the left while ignoring all actual Nazis to this day are right-wing.

[Forty Two]

The fact that something is called "socialist" does not mean it fits the bill. Yugoslavia was called "Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia", not sure how adequate the name was.

Again - different question. The question I posed was whether anyone supports or advocates any kind of socialism, not whether anyone supports a particular kind of socialism. Whether one or another economic system "fits the bill" is a different question to whether a person advocates or supports a particular economic system or one of several versions thereof.

[Forty Two]

I don't think the National Socialist German Workers' Party were actual socialists. But it doesn't stop a lot of right-wing types trying to claim it is in order to smear the left while ignoring all actual Nazis to this day are right-wing.

Again, different point entirely. The fact that some right wingers try to claim that the Nazis were socialists doesn't change the fact that if somebody here supports or advocates some version of socialism or another that they can just say so, and defend their position.

The Nazis were rabidly anti communist, that's for sure. Their "National Socialism" was a combination of a socialized economic system and extreme racist nationalism. The Nazis were also rabidly anti-capitalist, although there is an ongoing myth nowadays to cast the Nazis as some sort of libertarian free market capitalist group, lol.

I'll certainly stipulate, however, that nobody here is a Nazi or a supporter/advocate of Naziism.

But, do you support/advocate some form of socialism?