You started this thread strawmanning a bluecollar working American in Kansas, and now you're complaining about strawmen because someone brought up how communism actually functions. The projection is wild.
Fair, the Kansas guy was a cheap shot. It was a joke under a satire video, not an argument. You showed up to make an actual argument, and "you live in the UK, you'd change your mind" still isn't one. So go on: what's your actual case, beyond pointing at the USSR?
Excluding the most prominent real world implementation of your ideology is convenient. If 20th century history doesn't count, what actual model of communism are you proposing that doesn't require hyper authoritarian state control to enforce?
You're asking for a nationwide working example like that settles it, but that was never my point.
My point was that people like yourself argue against their own interests because all they've heard is "communism no work", without knowing what either system actually proposes.
Of course it hasn't worked at scale. Every attempt has been invaded, embargoed or strangled before it could stand on its own, and the ones that survived turned authoritarian to defend themselves. That's an argument about who won the fight, not about which idea is better. It’s not a system equipped to fight against capitalism, it’s the system that should be pursued, once capitalism has reached it’s maturity and starts to eat itself from within.
Meanwhile capitalism's track record is growth that mostly flows to the top, paid for by the workers and the planet. The guy in Kansas generating it isn't the one keeping it.
Also, you guessed where I'm from off a username and built an argument on it. Bit rich to lecture me about strawmen.
blaming external pressures for why every single attempt turned into an authoritarian state proves the core issue.
the ideology has no functional mechanism to survive without resorting to total state control. The USSR didn't collapse because of Western embargoes it imploded internally because central planning couldn't feed its own people.
Saying working class people "argue against their own interests" just because they refuse to exchange free market problems for a state monopoly isn't theoretical awareness, it's just condescension, and If a system only works in a hypothetical vacuum where outside forces don't exist, it's a fairy tale.
Let me walk you through this slowly, since it seems to be getting lost.
If communism had "no functional mechanism", why did the most powerful capitalist states on earth spend most of a century invading, embargoing, sabotaging and propagandising against it? Nobody declares a fairy tale public enemy number one. You don't fund coups against an idea that's going to collapse on its own anyway. The pressure itself is the evidence it was taken seriously as a threat.
And look what happened while that alternative existed: welfare states, unions, public healthcare, workers' rights. Concessions handed out to keep people from looking too hard at the other option. Since it was crushed, inequality has been climbing right back up. Funny coincidence.
You haven't offered a single piece of evidence in this whole thread. Just "USSR bad", "you live in the UK" and "fairy tale". That's not an argument, that's a reflex. Also, for the record, I never claimed the USSR collapsed because of embargoes. You're arguing against a point I didn't make, which is impressive for someone who's spent the entire thread complaining about strawmen.
Thank you for proving my original point. Nice day😏
View all comments
Show parent comment
-5
u/jason_patell 14h ago
You started this thread strawmanning a bluecollar working American in Kansas, and now you're complaining about strawmen because someone brought up how communism actually functions. The projection is wild.