Socialist Self-Deception: Einstein and the USSR to Bernie Sanders and Venezuela

Clementine

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Dec 18, 2011
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No matter how many times we watch countries destroy themselves and see the people suffering a great deal, the left still won't let go of the notion that socialism is good for everyone.

"Some ten years later, an American college professor of mine recalled his own visit to the USSR. In 1970, he and his wife spent two weeks in Leningrad, Moscow, and Kiev. During their stay in the communist country, he was shocked by the poverty and inefficiency he saw. (From Kiev, he wrote a letter to his parents in New York, which I have transcribed, with his permission, below.) All the other tourists that he met expressed similar sentiments.


When he returned to the United States, however, he kept on reading reports in mainstream publications, including Time magazine and The New York Times, which maintained that the Soviet economy was working. These reports were written by people who lived in the USSR, spoke Russian and had Soviet friends. As such, he concluded that the impressions he had made during his stay in the USSR were not valid."




And what were those observations that the guy saw first hand?



"Here is the letter from my former professor to his parents:


Hotel Dnipro, Kiev


Dear Parents,


We are on the train leaving the USSR. It’s a funny thing. In the last few years I’ve been becoming more liberal [Editorial note: i.e. left-wing]. I’d come to accept communism as just another system. But my stay in Russia has put me back in the ultra-conservative camp. Not the most raving right winger has ever adequately described how horrible this country is.


Where can I begin? Maybe the food. $1.80 for a mooshy orange. $1 for 3 tomatoes with fungi growing on them. Walnuts the likes of which you never saw (I still don’t understand how you can ruin a nut) – and don’t forget when you look at these prices that a medical doctor earns $1,200 a year. The meat and fish are utterly uneatable.


After a little while we got used to eating what the Russians subsist on – bread. This is the only food which is eatable and cheap. The effect of this diet is very obvious. The Russians are all fat and bloated. Even little children have fat bellies and double chins (this in a country where 40% of the population is farmers). Incidentally the wheat for the bread is imported from Canada.


When you walk the streets and they see you’re a tourist (this they can tell immediately by the cut of your clothes, shoes or the possession of one of the innumerable luxuries which distinguish the tourist –a watch, camera, etc.) they besiege you clamoring for chewing-gum, ball point pens, etc.


The new houses that they are putting up are already cracking and splitting before they are finished. We met a British ships engineer who is married to a Russian girl who is a doctor (she’s moving to London in a few months). In the apartment in which she lives, 9 families share 1 toilet with no facilities for bathing or showering. We asked him how they washed and said they didn’t – they smell.


Not only are refrigerators unknown but also ice-boxes are unknown. They have no means of food storage at all and drink their milk sour. Huge lines are everywhere and everyone one encounters is unbelievably lackadaisical and inefficient.


But the most horrible thing is the people’s faces – 13 days without seeing a smile, only hard, bitter, scowling faces with eyes that peer out suspiciously. Couples walking arm and arm down the street scowling. People playing checkers in the park scowling, little children scowling.


And don’t forget what we saw were only the biggest cities. The communists showcase – they themselves admit that they have "starved the country for the city". We met tourists who went through the countryside and what they saw was fantastic – cities without electricity or plumbing. Farmers using wooden plows and horses. Families living in hovels or, if they’re lucky, deserted railway cars


As far as class-consciousness and rigid class lines the likes of which I didn’t think existed anywhere any more, will not attempt to describe in a letter.


What kept occurring to me was that this is it. The communists have been in control of Russia for over half a century. The people have gone through immeasurable blood, sweat and tears – for this. One of the communists favorite slogans is "the ends justify the means". The means were mass murders, huge forced labor camps and constant terror. The ends are what we saw."




https://fee.org/articles/socialist-self-deception-einstein-and-the-ussr-to-bernie-sanders-and-venezuela/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=mattkibbe
 
Food protests in Venezuela as people go hungry...
icon_omg.gif

'We Want Food!,' Venezuelans Cry at Protest Near Presidency
June 02, 2016 — Venezuelan security forces fired tear gas at protesters chanting "We want food!" near Caracas' presidential palace on Thursday, the latest street violence in the crisis-hit OPEC nation.
Hundreds of angry Venezuelans heading towards Miraflores palace in downtown Caracas were met by National Guard troops and police who blocked a major road. President Nicolas Maduro, under intense pressure over a worsening economic crisis in the South American nation of 30 million, had been scheduled to address a rally of indigenous groups nearby around the same time. The protest spilled out of long lines at shops in the area, witnesses said, after some people tried to hijack a food truck. "I've been here since eight in the morning. There's no more food in the shops and supermarkets," one woman told pro-opposition broadcaster Vivoplay. "We're hungry and tired."

08470F24-7958-4AB8-B337-DA1583D05ADE_w640_r1_s_cx0_cy10_cw0.jpg

People shout at Venezuelan National Guards (not pictured) during riots for food in Caracas, Venezuela​

The government accused opposition politicians of inciting the chaos but said security forces had the situation under control. Despite their country having the world's biggest oil reserves, Venezuelans are suffering severe shortages of consumer goods ranging from milk to flour, soaring prices and a shrinking economy. Maduro blames the fall in global oil prices and an "economic war" by his foes, whom he also accuses of seeking a coup. "Every day, they bring out violent groups seeking violence in the streets," he said in a speech at the indigenous rally, which went ahead near Miraflores later in the day. "And every day, the people reject them and expel them." Critics say Venezuela's economic chaos is the consequence of failed socialist policies for the last 17 years, especially price and currency controls.

B82CEAC5-EAC5-4925-86BA-7CE942FB52CE_w640_s.jpg

People run away from tear gas during riots for food in Caracas, Venezuela​

The opposition wants a referendum this year to recall Maduro. Protests over shortages, power cuts and crime occur daily, and looting and lynchings are on the rise. Several local journalists said they were robbed during Thursday's chaos in downtown Caracas. The government's top economic official, Miguel Perez, acknowledged the hardships Venezuelans were undergoing but promised the situation would improve. "We know this month has been really critical. It's been the month with the lowest supply of products. That's why families are anxious," he told local radio. "We guarantee things will improve in the next few weeks."

'We Want Food!,' Venezuelans Cry at Protest Near Presidency
 
No matter how many times we watch countries destroy themselves and see the people suffering a great deal, the left still won't let go of the notion that socialism is good for everyone.

"Some ten years later, an American college professor of mine recalled his own visit to the USSR. In 1970, he and his wife spent two weeks in Leningrad, Moscow, and Kiev. During their stay in the communist country, he was shocked by the poverty and inefficiency he saw. (From Kiev, he wrote a letter to his parents in New York, which I have transcribed, with his permission, below.) All the other tourists that he met expressed similar sentiments.


When he returned to the United States, however, he kept on reading reports in mainstream publications, including Time magazine and The New York Times, which maintained that the Soviet economy was working. These reports were written by people who lived in the USSR, spoke Russian and had Soviet friends. As such, he concluded that the impressions he had made during his stay in the USSR were not valid."




And what were those observations that the guy saw first hand?



"Here is the letter from my former professor to his parents:


Hotel Dnipro, Kiev


Dear Parents,


We are on the train leaving the USSR. It’s a funny thing. In the last few years I’ve been becoming more liberal [Editorial note: i.e. left-wing]. I’d come to accept communism as just another system. But my stay in Russia has put me back in the ultra-conservative camp. Not the most raving right winger has ever adequately described how horrible this country is.


Where can I begin? Maybe the food. $1.80 for a mooshy orange. $1 for 3 tomatoes with fungi growing on them. Walnuts the likes of which you never saw (I still don’t understand how you can ruin a nut) – and don’t forget when you look at these prices that a medical doctor earns $1,200 a year. The meat and fish are utterly uneatable.


After a little while we got used to eating what the Russians subsist on – bread. This is the only food which is eatable and cheap. The effect of this diet is very obvious. The Russians are all fat and bloated. Even little children have fat bellies and double chins (this in a country where 40% of the population is farmers). Incidentally the wheat for the bread is imported from Canada.


When you walk the streets and they see you’re a tourist (this they can tell immediately by the cut of your clothes, shoes or the possession of one of the innumerable luxuries which distinguish the tourist –a watch, camera, etc.) they besiege you clamoring for chewing-gum, ball point pens, etc.


The new houses that they are putting up are already cracking and splitting before they are finished. We met a British ships engineer who is married to a Russian girl who is a doctor (she’s moving to London in a few months). In the apartment in which she lives, 9 families share 1 toilet with no facilities for bathing or showering. We asked him how they washed and said they didn’t – they smell.


Not only are refrigerators unknown but also ice-boxes are unknown. They have no means of food storage at all and drink their milk sour. Huge lines are everywhere and everyone one encounters is unbelievably lackadaisical and inefficient.


But the most horrible thing is the people’s faces – 13 days without seeing a smile, only hard, bitter, scowling faces with eyes that peer out suspiciously. Couples walking arm and arm down the street scowling. People playing checkers in the park scowling, little children scowling.


And don’t forget what we saw were only the biggest cities. The communists showcase – they themselves admit that they have "starved the country for the city". We met tourists who went through the countryside and what they saw was fantastic – cities without electricity or plumbing. Farmers using wooden plows and horses. Families living in hovels or, if they’re lucky, deserted railway cars


As far as class-consciousness and rigid class lines the likes of which I didn’t think existed anywhere any more, will not attempt to describe in a letter.


What kept occurring to me was that this is it. The communists have been in control of Russia for over half a century. The people have gone through immeasurable blood, sweat and tears – for this. One of the communists favorite slogans is "the ends justify the means". The means were mass murders, huge forced labor camps and constant terror. The ends are what we saw."




https://fee.org/articles/socialist-self-deception-einstein-and-the-ussr-to-bernie-sanders-and-venezuela/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=mattkibbe
The only deception is the idiotic thread premise, which fails as a preach to the choir fallacy.

No one of significance or merit ‘advocates’ for ‘socialism,’ including Sanders.

And this is yet another thread exhibiting the ignorance of ‘socialism’ common to most on the right.
 
The people are completely miserable, yet none of the liberals here talk about what a disaster those socialist polices are. Instead, they seek to steer the U.S. in that direction. Even the liberal who visited Russia and saw firsthand the misery of the people ignored what he saw with his own eyes because the liberals here said that the Soviet economy was working. Amazing that they can see what's happened in so many other countries and still deny that the policies failed.
 
Maduro threatens to dissolve Venezuelan Parliament...
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Venezuelan opposition threatens to remove justices after parliament dissolution threat
June 29, 2016 -- Venezuela's National Assembly President Henry Ramos Allup has threatened to remove 12 justices of the high court after President Nicolas Maduro's ruling government threatened to dissolve parliament.
Allup said the opposition-controlled National Assembly will begin efforts next week to revoke the "unconstitutional" appointment of 12 justices with the goal of appointing new justices for the positions on Venezuela's highest court, the Supreme Tribunal of Justice. Allup said the Supreme Tribunal of Justice met early Tuesday to discuss the "developing" plot against parliament. The unicameral National Assembly was won with a qualified majority, or supermajority, by the Democratic Unity Roundtable, or MUD, opposition coalition in December parliamentary elections.

On Tuesday, Didalco Bolívar, a spokesman for the coalition of Maduro's ruling government, said there is an ongoing "discussion to request consultation with the Supreme Tribunal of Justice" in order to ask for "the abolition of the National Assembly." Bolívar accused the opposition-controlled National Assembly of usurping government functions in domestic and foreign affairs, referencing its involvement in the recent meetings by the Organization of American States about Venezuela.

The OAS held meetings over Venezuela's alleged erosion of democracy that is partly attributed to the Supreme Tribunal of Justice, which has been repeatedly criticized as acting as an extension of the socialist regime established under former President Hugo Chavez. The MUD has been working to hold a recall referendum that would ask citizens if Maduro should be removed from power.

Bolívar, former governor of Venezuela's Aragua state, said parliament's actions are treasonous and unconstitutional. "We ask that the abolition will be accompanied by the call for parliamentary elections, so it will be for the people to say" if the "obstructionist" National Assembly that is "violating the constitution" should continue to operate, Bolívar said.

Venezuelan opposition threatens to remove justices after parliament dissolution threat
 
Mebbe we should send `em some food?...
confused.gif

Report: Protests in Venezuela up 24 percent; most over food
July 14, 2016 -- There has been a 24 percent increase in protests -- roughly 19 demonstrations a day -- throughout Venezuela in which six people have died in the first half of 2016 when compared to last year, according to a report by the Venezuelan Observatory of Social Conflict.
The local non-governmental organization on Wednesday reported 3,057 protests have been recorded in Venezuela within the first six months of 2016. The figure does not include 416 incidents of looting or attempted looting nationwide. About 27 percent of protests in the first part of 2016 were related to food shortages.

The Venezuelan Observatory of Social Conflict, or OVCS, said the six deaths occurred during protests over food. "In these six months the Venezuelan streets have been the scene of many massive demonstrations to demand the human right to food," the OVCS writes in the report. "The government's response to these protests has been repression."

http://cdnph.upi.com/sv/b/i/UPI-2511468510611/2016/1/14685138503882/Report-Protests-in-Venezuela-up-24-percent-most-over-food.jpg[/center]

About 24 percent of protests were to "demand basic services in residential dwellings," the OVCS said. Water shortages, electricity blackouts, and little to no Internet or phone services have affected millions of Venezuelans. Eighteen percent of protests were held over labor rights, while 15 percent of protests were held over crime.

Venezuela has one of the highest murder rates in the world, which is estimated to be up to one killing for every 28,000 people. About 10 percent of protests were related to politics while 6 percent were related to education rights. In 2014, at least 43 people were killed during protests against the country's rise in crime, shortages in stores and triple-digit inflation.

http://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-News/2016/07/14/Report-Protests-in-Venezuela-up-24-percent-most-over-food/2511468510611/?spt=sec&or=tn[/quote]​
 
Mebbe we should send `em some food?...
confused.gif

Report: Protests in Venezuela up 24 percent; most over food
July 14, 2016 -- There has been a 24 percent increase in protests -- roughly 19 demonstrations a day -- throughout Venezuela in which six people have died in the first half of 2016 when compared to last year, according to a report by the Venezuelan Observatory of Social Conflict.
The local non-governmental organization on Wednesday reported 3,057 protests have been recorded in Venezuela within the first six months of 2016. The figure does not include 416 incidents of looting or attempted looting nationwide. About 27 percent of protests in the first part of 2016 were related to food shortages.

The Venezuelan Observatory of Social Conflict, or OVCS, said the six deaths occurred during protests over food. "In these six months the Venezuelan streets have been the scene of many massive demonstrations to demand the human right to food," the OVCS writes in the report. "The government's response to these protests has been repression."

Report-Protests-in-Venezuela-up-24-percent-most-over-food.jpg

About 24 percent of protests were to "demand basic services in residential dwellings," the OVCS said. Water shortages, electricity blackouts, and little to no Internet or phone services have affected millions of Venezuelans. Eighteen percent of protests were held over labor rights, while 15 percent of protests were held over crime.

Venezuela has one of the highest murder rates in the world, which is estimated to be up to one killing for every 28,000 people. About 10 percent of protests were related to politics while 6 percent were related to education rights. In 2014, at least 43 people were killed during protests against the country's rise in crime, shortages in stores and triple-digit inflation.

Report: Protests in Venezuela up 24 percent; most over food

See also:

Vital bridge in Venezuela could collapse as cars keep falling off, politician warns
July 14, 2016 -- A National Assembly member of Venezuela's Carabobo state has warned the La Cabrera viaduct, one of the South American country's most vital bridge-tunnels, is in danger of collapsing after several deadly incidents.
Williams Gil, who also serves as president of the unicameral parliament's Standing Committee on the Family, on Thursday said a 2013 restoration of the viaduct was a "great scam." At the time, the Venezuelan Ministry of Land Transportation said the lifespan of the viaduct would be extended by 75 years. "In 2013, they 'rehabilitated' the La Cabrera viaduct. Just three years later, we realize the great scam which that work represented," Gil said in a statement. "It is extremely alarming that in less than a month, four vehicles have fallen off of the viaduct." Gil said potholes are persistent on the stretch of road and steel rods are visible in some sections. There are no guardrails in some areas, which has been the main cause of cars falling off after drivers lose control when trying to maneuver their vehicle to avoid potholes.

Vital-bridge-in-Venezuela-could-collapse-as-cars-keep-falling-off-politician-warns.jpg

Venezuela's La Cabrera bridge-tunnel, considered one of the most important transport routes in the country, has had dangerous infrastructure problems on its viaduct, according to a National Assembly member who warns that if the viaduct collapses his state of Carabobo will be in "solitary confinement."​

La Cabrera bridge-tunnel connects the Venezuelan state of Carabobo with the state of Aragua. Gil said it is the most important road in the country as thousands of vehicles travel on it each day, particularly cargo trucks that carry products from the docks of the city of Puerto Cabello to the rest of the country. "We alert of a possible collapse of the La Cabrera viaduct for lack of maintenance," Gil said. "In the National Assembly, we will investigate the causes of the permanent deterioration." Puerto Cabello is one of five ports that was taken over by the Venezuelan military this week as part of "war strategies" to provide food and medicine carried out by President Nicolas Maduro amid the country's economic crisis.

Vital-bridge-in-Venezuela-could-collapse-as-cars-keep-falling-off-politician-warns.jpg

In January 2006, the Caracas-La Guaira viaduct was closed by the Venezuelan government under former President Hugo Chávez. A large section of the vital bridge collapsed about two months later. The collapse partially isolated Caracas from much of the country until a replacement viaduct was opened in June 2007. "If the viaduct collapses, we'll be in solitary confinement. Lack of maintenance takes its toll, as it happened with ... the Caracas-La Guaira viaduct," Gil warned, adding that it could cost an estimated $4 million to repair the viaduct.

Vital bridge in Venezuela could collapse as cars keep falling off, politician warns
 
No matter how many times we watch countries destroy themselves and see the people suffering a great deal, the left still won't let go of the notion that socialism is good for everyone.

"Some ten years later, an American college professor of mine recalled his own visit to the USSR. In 1970, he and his wife spent two weeks in Leningrad, Moscow, and Kiev. During their stay in the communist country, he was shocked by the poverty and inefficiency he saw. (From Kiev, he wrote a letter to his parents in New York, which I have transcribed, with his permission, below.) All the other tourists that he met expressed similar sentiments.


When he returned to the United States, however, he kept on reading reports in mainstream publications, including Time magazine and The New York Times, which maintained that the Soviet economy was working. These reports were written by people who lived in the USSR, spoke Russian and had Soviet friends. As such, he concluded that the impressions he had made during his stay in the USSR were not valid."




And what were those observations that the guy saw first hand?



"Here is the letter from my former professor to his parents:


Hotel Dnipro, Kiev


Dear Parents,


We are on the train leaving the USSR. It’s a funny thing. In the last few years I’ve been becoming more liberal [Editorial note: i.e. left-wing]. I’d come to accept communism as just another system. But my stay in Russia has put me back in the ultra-conservative camp. Not the most raving right winger has ever adequately described how horrible this country is.


Where can I begin? Maybe the food. $1.80 for a mooshy orange. $1 for 3 tomatoes with fungi growing on them. Walnuts the likes of which you never saw (I still don’t understand how you can ruin a nut) – and don’t forget when you look at these prices that a medical doctor earns $1,200 a year. The meat and fish are utterly uneatable.


After a little while we got used to eating what the Russians subsist on – bread. This is the only food which is eatable and cheap. The effect of this diet is very obvious. The Russians are all fat and bloated. Even little children have fat bellies and double chins (this in a country where 40% of the population is farmers). Incidentally the wheat for the bread is imported from Canada.


When you walk the streets and they see you’re a tourist (this they can tell immediately by the cut of your clothes, shoes or the possession of one of the innumerable luxuries which distinguish the tourist –a watch, camera, etc.) they besiege you clamoring for chewing-gum, ball point pens, etc.


The new houses that they are putting up are already cracking and splitting before they are finished. We met a British ships engineer who is married to a Russian girl who is a doctor (she’s moving to London in a few months). In the apartment in which she lives, 9 families share 1 toilet with no facilities for bathing or showering. We asked him how they washed and said they didn’t – they smell.


Not only are refrigerators unknown but also ice-boxes are unknown. They have no means of food storage at all and drink their milk sour. Huge lines are everywhere and everyone one encounters is unbelievably lackadaisical and inefficient.


But the most horrible thing is the people’s faces – 13 days without seeing a smile, only hard, bitter, scowling faces with eyes that peer out suspiciously. Couples walking arm and arm down the street scowling. People playing checkers in the park scowling, little children scowling.


And don’t forget what we saw were only the biggest cities. The communists showcase – they themselves admit that they have "starved the country for the city". We met tourists who went through the countryside and what they saw was fantastic – cities without electricity or plumbing. Farmers using wooden plows and horses. Families living in hovels or, if they’re lucky, deserted railway cars


As far as class-consciousness and rigid class lines the likes of which I didn’t think existed anywhere any more, will not attempt to describe in a letter.


What kept occurring to me was that this is it. The communists have been in control of Russia for over half a century. The people have gone through immeasurable blood, sweat and tears – for this. One of the communists favorite slogans is "the ends justify the means". The means were mass murders, huge forced labor camps and constant terror. The ends are what we saw."




https://fee.org/articles/socialist-self-deception-einstein-and-the-ussr-to-bernie-sanders-and-venezuela/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=mattkibbe
The only deception is the idiotic thread premise, which fails as a preach to the choir fallacy.

No one of significance or merit ‘advocates’ for ‘socialism,’ including Sanders.

And this is yet another thread exhibiting the ignorance of ‘socialism’ common to most on the right.
you are the dumbest person on usmb, ever.

and I was here with TM and mr Shaman
 
The people are completely miserable, yet none of the liberals here talk about what a disaster those socialist polices are. Instead, they seek to steer the U.S. in that direction. Even the liberal who visited Russia and saw firsthand the misery of the people ignored what he saw with his own eyes because the liberals here said that the Soviet economy was working. Amazing that they can see what's happened in so many other countries and still deny that the policies failed.
you're mistaken, you actually think leftist don't want that level of utter misery and government control.

The facts are so overwhelming at this point that anyone able to think should come to the natural conclusion that socialism is a bad idea.

therefore, they must want the suffering.
 
No matter how many times we watch countries destroy themselves and see the people suffering a great deal, the left still won't let go of the notion that socialism is good for everyone.

"Some ten years later, an American college professor of mine recalled his own visit to the USSR. In 1970, he and his wife spent two weeks in Leningrad, Moscow, and Kiev. During their stay in the communist country, he was shocked by the poverty and inefficiency he saw. (From Kiev, he wrote a letter to his parents in New York, which I have transcribed, with his permission, below.) All the other tourists that he met expressed similar sentiments.


When he returned to the United States, however, he kept on reading reports in mainstream publications, including Time magazine and The New York Times, which maintained that the Soviet economy was working. These reports were written by people who lived in the USSR, spoke Russian and had Soviet friends. As such, he concluded that the impressions he had made during his stay in the USSR were not valid."




And what were those observations that the guy saw first hand?



"Here is the letter from my former professor to his parents:


Hotel Dnipro, Kiev


Dear Parents,


We are on the train leaving the USSR. It’s a funny thing. In the last few years I’ve been becoming more liberal [Editorial note: i.e. left-wing]. I’d come to accept communism as just another system. But my stay in Russia has put me back in the ultra-conservative camp. Not the most raving right winger has ever adequately described how horrible this country is.


Where can I begin? Maybe the food. $1.80 for a mooshy orange. $1 for 3 tomatoes with fungi growing on them. Walnuts the likes of which you never saw (I still don’t understand how you can ruin a nut) – and don’t forget when you look at these prices that a medical doctor earns $1,200 a year. The meat and fish are utterly uneatable.


After a little while we got used to eating what the Russians subsist on – bread. This is the only food which is eatable and cheap. The effect of this diet is very obvious. The Russians are all fat and bloated. Even little children have fat bellies and double chins (this in a country where 40% of the population is farmers). Incidentally the wheat for the bread is imported from Canada.


When you walk the streets and they see you’re a tourist (this they can tell immediately by the cut of your clothes, shoes or the possession of one of the innumerable luxuries which distinguish the tourist –a watch, camera, etc.) they besiege you clamoring for chewing-gum, ball point pens, etc.


The new houses that they are putting up are already cracking and splitting before they are finished. We met a British ships engineer who is married to a Russian girl who is a doctor (she’s moving to London in a few months). In the apartment in which she lives, 9 families share 1 toilet with no facilities for bathing or showering. We asked him how they washed and said they didn’t – they smell.


Not only are refrigerators unknown but also ice-boxes are unknown. They have no means of food storage at all and drink their milk sour. Huge lines are everywhere and everyone one encounters is unbelievably lackadaisical and inefficient.


But the most horrible thing is the people’s faces – 13 days without seeing a smile, only hard, bitter, scowling faces with eyes that peer out suspiciously. Couples walking arm and arm down the street scowling. People playing checkers in the park scowling, little children scowling.


And don’t forget what we saw were only the biggest cities. The communists showcase – they themselves admit that they have "starved the country for the city". We met tourists who went through the countryside and what they saw was fantastic – cities without electricity or plumbing. Farmers using wooden plows and horses. Families living in hovels or, if they’re lucky, deserted railway cars


As far as class-consciousness and rigid class lines the likes of which I didn’t think existed anywhere any more, will not attempt to describe in a letter.


What kept occurring to me was that this is it. The communists have been in control of Russia for over half a century. The people have gone through immeasurable blood, sweat and tears – for this. One of the communists favorite slogans is "the ends justify the means". The means were mass murders, huge forced labor camps and constant terror. The ends are what we saw."




https://fee.org/articles/socialist-self-deception-einstein-and-the-ussr-to-bernie-sanders-and-venezuela/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=mattkibbe
The only deception is the idiotic thread premise, which fails as a preach to the choir fallacy.

No one of significance or merit ‘advocates’ for ‘socialism,’ including Sanders.

And this is yet another thread exhibiting the ignorance of ‘socialism’ common to most on the right.
Funny....they said the same thing in Venezuela.....

You liberals are a special kind of stupid....the dangerous kind....
 

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