I did a lot of research for a book “3 ideologies that shaped the 20th century” about “Fascism, Communism and Zionism” the 3 ideologies that was created at the same time, in central/eastern europe.
All 3 based on superiority of a group above others, 2 were crushed by the world and Zionism is now the only remaining extremist ideology that is killing innocent people while destroying our freedom and rights.
Communism is very much not based on the idea of superiority of a group above others.
well, it is the dictatorship of proletariat was the foundation of the disasters that followed in Russia, China, Cambodja and other places.
Sure, the idea was noble, but it created an atmosphere of hate, discrimination and mass murder.
What are you even talking about here? Standard of living rapidly increased in every communist country compared to before. Having actually lived in USSR, I can tell you for a fact that there was no atmosphere of hate or discrimination. Maybe learn some actual history instead of guzzling propaganda.
After the revolution, Russia went from a backwards agrarian society where people travelled by horse and carriage to being the first in space in the span of 40 years. Russia showed incredible growth after the revolution that surpassed the rest of the world:
- https://wid.world/document/soviets-oligarchs-inequality-property-russia-1905-2016/
- https://wid.world/document/appendix-soviets-oligarchs-inequality-property-russia-1905-2016-wid-world-working-paper-201710/
USSR provided free education to all citizens resulting in literacy rising from 33% to 99.9%:
- http://www.revolutionarydemocracy.org/archive/PubEdUSSR.htm
- http://www.revolutionarydemocracy.org/archive/anglosov.htm
- http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0000/000013/001300eo.pdf
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Likbez
USSR doubled life expectancy in just 20 years. A newborn child in 1926-27 had a life expectancy of 44.4 years, up from 32.3 years thirty years before. In 1958-59 the life expectancy for newborns went up to 68.6 years. the Semashko system of the USSR increased lifespan by 50% in 20 years. By the 1960’s, lifespans in the USSR were comparable to those in the USA:
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_the_Soviet_Union
- https://www.rand.org/pubs/research_briefs/RB5054/index1.html
USSR ended famines https://artir.wordpress.com/2017/02/04
Quality of nutrition improved after the Soviet revolution, and the last time USSR had a famine was in 1940s. CIA data suggests they ate just as much as Americans after WW2 peroid while having better nutrition:
USSR moved from 58.5-hour work weeks to 41.6 hour work weeks (-0.36 h/yr) between 1913 and 1960:
- https://books.google.com/books?id=x8JYjwEACAAJ
- https://web.archive.org/web/20210509140019/https://b-ok.cc/book/2669908/77497f
USSR averaged 22 days of paid leave in 1986 while USA averaged 7.6 in 1996:
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https://www.ilo.org/public/libdoc/ilo/1994/94B09_66_englp2.pdf
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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.](https://www.marxists.org/archive/newsholme/1933/red-medicine/index.htm) 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.
In 1987, people in the USSR could retire with pension at 55 (female) and 60 (male) while receiving 50% of their wages at a at minimum. Meanwhile, in USA the average retirement age was 62-67 and the average (not median) retiree household in the USA could expect $48k/yr which comes out to 65% of the 74k average (not median) household income in 2016:
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https://www.ilo.org/public/libdoc/ilo/1994/94B09_66_englp2.pdf
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https://www.cbsnews.com/news/could-you-get-by-on-the-average-americans-retirement-income/
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Combatted 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.
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Soviet power production per capita in 1990 was more than the EU, Great Britain, or China’s in 2014. GDP took off after socialism was established and then collapsed with the reintroduction of capitalism:
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https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Soviet_Union_GDP_per_capita.gif
The Soviet Union had the highest physician/patient ratio in the world. USSR had 42 doctors per 10,000 population compared to 24 in Denmark and Sweden, and 19 in US:
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http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/0735675784900482 (use sci-hub for access)
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USSR defeated a smallpox epidemic in a matter of 19 days https://www.rbth.com/history/331857-how-ussr-defeated-black-smallpox
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The Social Consequences of Soviet Immunization Policies https://web.archive.org/web/20240218132709/https://www.ucis.pitt.edu/nceeer/1997-812-03g-Hoch.pdf
Next, we can look at what happened after the USSR collapsed, and what came with capitalist privatization:
- Life expectancy decreases by 10 years. 2. 7.7 million excess deaths in the first year. 2
- 40% of population drops into poverty.
- GDP instantly halves.
- One in ten children now live on the streets. Infant mortality increases. Was 29.3 in 2003 which is around (current) Syria and Micronesia, 7.9 in 2013. Infant mortality in USSR was 1.92, literally the lowest in the world.
- 1996 election rigged by the US, Yeltsin sends in tanks to disperse the supreme soviet.
For an overview of the soviet experiment, watch this brilliant talk by Micheal Parenti, or read his article, Left anticommunism, the unkindest cut.
Also read this great article by Stephen Gowans, Do publicly owned, planned economies work?. Audio on youtube
here are some academic studies on USSR
Professor of Economic History, Robert C. Allen, concludes in his study without the 1917 revolution is directly responsible for rapid growth that made the achievements listed above possible:
Study demonstrating the steady increase in quality of life during the Soviet period (including under Stalin). Includes the fact that Soviet life expectancy grew faster than any other nation recorded at the time:
A large study using world bank data analyzing the quality of life in Capitalist vs Socialist countries and finds overwhelmingly at similar levels of development with socialism bringing better quality of life:
This study compared capitalist and socialist countries in measures of the physical quality of life (PQL), taking into account the level of economic development.
This study shows that unprecedented mortality crisis struck Eastern Europe during the 1990s, causing around 7 million excess deaths. The first quantitative analysis of the association between deindustrialization and mortality in Eastern Europe.
Romania, the inustrialization of an agrarian economy under socialist planning
And of course we can look at how do people who lived under communism feel now that they got a taste of capitalism?
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Adult mortality increased enormously in Russia and other countries of the former Soviet Union when the Soviet system collapsed 30 years ago. https://archive.ph/9Z12u
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Former Soviet Countries See More Harm From Breakup https://news.gallup.com/poll/166538/former-soviet-countries-harm-breakup.aspx
and does it prove that the system was a success?
Would you say the same about Israel and it’s economy too?
I already addressed your false narrative in my other reply. Don’t be so transparently dishonest, it’s not a good look.
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@yogthos oh, quality of life is terrible in israel?
does it mean it is a good system?
You are being incredibly intellectually dishonest here. The sources I provided show that USSR improve the standard of living for the working people. It wasn’t based on exploitation, apartheid or genocide the way the west and israel are. It’s very telling that you’d ignore the facts and stick to your false narrative in face of overwhelming evidence. Do better.
again, I said you are right.
USSR was a great place to live, just like Israel is a great place to live for the jews.
a successful society can’t live on success of a group while opressing others.
But again, you believe in what you believe.
You can call it dishonest, you can’t accept that the horror of Stalin and Mao were result of problems with the political implementation of communism.
Communism as an ideological economical system is one thing, it’s political implementations
You’re a deeply dishonest individual trying to create some sort of an equivalence between an apartheid state of Israel and worker state of USSR. You should be ashamed of yourself. I literally provided you with numerous sources and academic studies showing that you’re full of shit. Yet, here you are again regurgitating the same talking points you’ve memorized instead of actually engaging with the information you’re provided. Go and spew you drivel somewhere else.
