this post was submitted on 09 Dec 2023
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Leftism
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Capitalism has allowed far more people to work less and become financially independent than communism ever has.
Except that's literally untrue. Before capitalism, peasants received winter wages for not working, on days that went from sunrise to sunset workers received double wages, workers received both breakfast and lunch from their employer, workers had a siesta after lunch, worked only 4-6 hours per day after removing breaks (obviously harvest was longer), and had a fast/slow weekly work cadence. There was something called "Saint Monday" where absenteeism was completely accepted, most labor actions in early Europe stemmed from crackdowns on Saint Monday. For us to match the amount of time off they got, we'd need all weekends, holidays, a 6 week paid vacation, and an additional 3.5 months of paid time off.
Do you believe that capitalism is to be credited for the 40h work week and 2 day weekend? Or minimum wage limits? Or prohibitions against child labor?
Communism is a pipe dream as far as I'm concerned.
But if you think what we've got right now is the best that it can get for us peons (in the US at least) then I would be genuinely sorry to hear it.
"Communism" hasn't existed yet. Socialism has, and it's great. Cuba for example has free healthcare, no homelessness or starvation, and enough free high level education to provide Italy with doctors during the pandemic.
Not to mention one of the most open democracies in the world. It has an unusually high percentage of women in the government compared to the rest of the world thanks to that; 53.22% now (U.S has 29.0%), and better LGBT rights than the US nowadays
All while the world’s current top superpower is right beside them, sees them as an enemy, and has a still ongoing embargo on them for 60 years now to prevent them from trading with other countries. That’ll hopefully change once China’s Belt and Road Initiative is complete though.
Imagine what it could do without the US embargo with those massive advantages. Precisely why the embargo is there in the first place.
Clearly this model works. It does require expelling landleeches, plantation owners and billionaires if they don’t hand over the means of production to the workers (like Cuba did after the revolution), but I don’t think most people would mind that.
[Citation Needed]
Through your blind hatred of communism you failed to recognize that capitalism is a pile of shit, and you’ve failed to consider that not everyone who advocates against capitalism wants communism. You are comparing a privileged view of capitalism to red scare propaganda.
You also have ignored that most people are no longer feeling financially independent with their wages staying stagnant and the price of everything increasing. Many people turn to multiple jobs to get by. You have also ignored that outside the western world, capitalism has been a spectre of oppression. Many people slave away at low paying monotonous work at long shifts in order to maximize profits overseas. Their countries are ripped apart for resource exploitation due to a lack of environmental protection, either because of corruption, or because some pro-American despot was propped up to allow for it.
I know we're talking about this steaming pile of shit over here but look there are other piles of steaming shit over there too!
That's a false dichotomy. "Communism bad" doesn't equate to "Capitalism good". We work much more than before the industrialization. That doesn't mean that we have to undo it, but that it is possible to work less.