Re:Mondragon as the New City-State
by max_hoffmann on Tuesday September 03, 2024 @06:35PM
(#41440017)
A free market of cooperatives is an alternative. One might call it „cooperatism“, if it needs a term.
After some initial mistakes, the Soviet system did provide basic needs. It was inefficient, badly led, conservative, repressive, ultimately undemocratic, and often produced very mediocre output (crappy houses, etc), but it ensured that everyone had food, shelter, work, healthcare, and education.
Neither full-collectivism nor full-capitalism are the final answer.
Re:Mondragon as the New City-State
by WalterBright on Tuesday September 03, 2024 @09:13PM
(#41440927)
The Soviet system only was able to provide basic needs when it decided to overlook the black market. It also allowed farmers to farm owned plots of land and sell their produce as they saw fit. This was the only way to stop the mass starvation.
Re:Mondragon as the New City-State
by bboygravity on Wednesday September 04, 2024 @08:07AM
(#41444695)
"some initial mistakes" is quite something to describe 9+ million people dying from hunger in Ukraine during the great famine.
More careful historians, such as Snyder, put the figure at around 3.5 million.
Doesn't detract from your overall point though, which is quite valid.
Re:Mondragon as the New City-State
by UncleSlacky on Wednesday September 04, 2024 @03:17PM
(#41449520)
And how many famines were there under the Tsars?
To withold basic needs for profit, you need to be able to provide basic needs in the first place.
All of the alternatives I know of can't even reach that point.