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PaperclipPerfector  7mo ago (text post)   3615 thread views

Small-Scale Question Sunday for April 7, 2024

Do you have a dumb question that you're kind of embarrassed to ask in the main thread? Is there something you're just not sure about?

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I do think people overstate the extent to which communism doesn't work

Definitely not. Communism is just totally bankrupt as an economic ideology. The only reason why the USSR lasted as long as it did was because they let limited capitalistic ideas seep through pretty quickly. If you want to see the closest thing to Communism as written, read up about War Communism. Everyone hated it.

I agree that the ideology was bankrupt, but the fact remains that it was a rival superpower and did last quite a while. It could've collapsed within three years, and it didn't!

Also the US and West German governments kept subsidizing them through cheap loans and food aid whenever the USSR ran into issues.

E.G.

https://www.nytimes.com/1974/05/22/archives/180million-loan-to-soviet-union-is-made-by-u-s-biggest-credit-yet.html

https://www.nytimes.com/1983/12/03/business/east-germany-seeking-371-million-bonn-loan.html

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