Re:On being the right size (1928)
by vidarh on Monday October 14, 2013 @07:07AM
(#6546540)
It is worth noting that the USSR came into that system for many reasons, but not least because they tried something that Marx had explicitly warned against: Attempting revolution somewhere that was so poor that redistribution would make want for basic necessities universal.
Marx pointed out already in The German Ideology (1845) that this would just cause a return to class struggle, as it creates an immense incentive for people to find ways to accumulate, no matter how much you try to crack down on it.
This was one of many objections to the Bolshevik rush to try to develop socialism, but by the time of the Bolshevik power grab, Lenin had spent 25 years inventing excuses for how Russia could somehow avoid that trap, starting by his fantasy that the Bolshevik would somehow get the support of poor farmers (didn't happen)... Didn't save him from it.
Marx pointed out already in The German Ideology (1845) that this would just cause a return to class struggle, as it creates an immense incentive for people to find ways to accumulate, no matter how much you try to crack down on it.
This was one of many objections to the Bolshevik rush to try to develop socialism, but by the time of the Bolshevik power grab, Lenin had spent 25 years inventing excuses for how Russia could somehow avoid that trap, starting by his fantasy that the Bolshevik would somehow get the support of poor farmers (didn't happen)... Didn't save him from it.