Comment on Is communist idea of base & superstructural bullshit?
DeathByBigSad@sh.itjust.works 1 day agoCommunists are why we have unions, minimum wage, universal healthcare, welfare, safety nets, 5-day work week etc.
If by “communist” you mean leftists in the west, then yes.
But if by “communist” you mean those who supported USSR and PRC, Lol no, their shit end up failing and USSR’s successor state is now an oligarchy and modern PRC is an authoritarian state-capitalist regime, with most of the negatives of America, but worse. Seriously, I know the US’s labor rights are atrocious, but PRC is a whole another level; no unions, no workplace safety, no overtime bonus, long hours, minimal breaks, most places have zero paid vacation days, and its a stuggle to even get an unpaid sick day. I mean there is a lunar new year bonus (symbolicly representing the boss giving you a Red Envelope), but that doesn’t mean shit when pay is already low, so the its just posturing. And healthcare in mainland China isn’t free, its basically equivalent to the US for the most part, but you also need the money ready for ER, many hospitals make you pay first before getting treatment, not the “bill you later” that the US does.
LainTrain@lemmy.dbzer0.com 22 hours ago
Yes PRC bad. USSR bad.
Buuut, the USSR did have free housing, free healthcare, free bills, free and quality higher ed, plenty jobs in STEM, while yes, also having horrific repressions inside and imperialist ambition outside too.
The successor state of the Soviet Union is as much a product of soviet corruption as it is a product of IMF’s “shock therapy” that forced rapid privatization in the name of capitalism and cuts to public services in a country that was basically near 100% public services, which led to the well connected cashing in their political capital for all the country’s resources, industry and infrastructure, creating the oligarch class and setting up a government to be inevitably influenced by them, and when capitalists control the government the only result is fascism.