Lessons of the fall of Communism, etc.

[Savoir Faire-Demogague in NJ]

www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/9061328/The-lessons-of-the-fall-of-communism-have-still-not-been-learnt.html

The lessons of the fall of communism have still not been learnt
The events of 1989 are crucial to any understanding of the present world

The air is filled with noisy outrage about the moral emergency of the day. We are, according to the leaders of every major political party, in the midst of a crisis of capitalism. However bountiful the free market system may have been at its best, it is now in such deep disrepute that any politician who wishes to remain credible must join in the general vilification.

Even in this storm of condemnation, everyone has to admit that there is actually no alternative to free market economics or to the private banking system. So the competition is strictly between adjectives: “responsible” or sometimes “socially responsible” banking are great favourites, but now Ed Miliband has produced something called a “national banking system”, which is presumably not to be confused with a nationalised banking system. The Miliband neologism is intended to suggest banking that takes the concerns of the nation (or the population?) as its own. Whether he sees this role as voluntary or enforced was unclear from his speech last week.

But in spite of the official agreement that there is no other way to organise the economic life of a free society than the present one (with a few tweaks), there are an awful lot of people implicitly behaving as if there were. Several political armies seem to be running on the assumption that there is still a viable contest between capitalism and Something Else.

If this were just the hard Left within a few trade unions and a fringe collection of Socialist Workers’ Party headbangers, it would not much matter. But the truth is that a good proportion of the population harbours a vague notion that there exists a whole other way of doing things that is inherently more benign and “fair” – in which nobody is hurt or disadvantaged – available for the choosing, if only politicians had the will or the generosity to embrace it.

Why do they believe this? Because the lesson that should have been absorbed at the tumultuous end of the last century never found its way into popular thinking – or even into the canon of educated political debate.

Can I suggest that you try the following experiment? Gather up a group of bright, reasonably well-educated 18-year-olds and ask them what world event occurred in 1945. They will, almost certainly, be able to give you an informed account of how the Second World War ended, and at least a generally accurate picture of its aftermath. Now try asking them what historical milestone came to pass in 1989. I am willing to bet that this question will produce mute, blank looks.

The fall of the Berlin Wall and the collapse of communism which followed it are hugely important to any proper understanding of the present world and of the contemporary political economy. Why is it that they have failed to be addressed with anything like their appropriate awesome significance, let alone found their place in the sixth-form curriculum?

Click link for full text of article, you should read the entire piece.

[billisonboard]

Feb 6, 2012 14:59:08 GMT -5 Savoir Faire-Demogague in NJ said:

...
Why do they believe this? ...

Because people are self-serving pigs and it serves many of them psychologically to attempt to fool themselves that they aren't self-serving pigs.

[djAdvocate]

spending an ever increasing amount on defense was one of their mistakes.
neglecting social issues to fuel war spending was another.
engaging in a war in Afghanistan was a third.

oh, i was talking about the USSR, in case you were wondering.

[billisonboard]

Feb 6, 2012 15:54:57 GMT -5 djAdvocate said:

spending an ever increasing amount on defense was one of their mistakes.
neglecting social issues to fuel war spending was another.
engaging in a war in Afghanistan was a third.

oh, i was talking about the USSR, in case you were wondering.

Having a revolutionary start in Tsarist Russia didn't help much either.

[Phoenix84]

I agree. For some reason, many people still have it in their minds that if we try socialism/communisim one more time, it will work this time. Or that there's some other viable way to have an economic system that is "fair."