Article snapshot taken from Wikipedia with creative commons attribution-sharealike license.
Give it a read and then ask your questions in the chat.
We can research this topic together.
:::Your text "Technological progress in the Communist states was sometimes highly uneven, in the sense that some sectors surged ahead while others lagged behind. As noted above, the Soviet space program saw remarkable progress, and so did pure science and military technology, in all Communist states. Consumer products, on the other hand, were typically several years behind their Western counterparts. According to the CIA , a number of Soviet products were in fact using Western technology, which had been either legally purchased or obtained through espionage. This situation has been largely attributed to the fact that economic planners in the Soviet Union and elsewhere were accountable to the government, but, in the absence of democracy, they were not accountable to the people. Thus, their plans tended to focus on long-term goals and scientific and military development, rather than the short-term needs of the population."
:::Your text "Technological progress in the Communist states was sometimes highly uneven, in the sense that some sectors surged ahead while others lagged behind. As noted above, the Soviet space program saw remarkable progress, and so did pure science and military technology, in all Communist states. Consumer products, on the other hand, were typically several years behind their Western counterparts. According to the CIA , a number of Soviet products were in fact using Western technology, which had been either legally purchased or obtained through espionage. This situation has been largely attributed to the fact that economic planners in the Soviet Union and elsewhere were accountable to the government, but, in the absence of democracy, they were not accountable to the people. Thus, their plans tended to focus on long-term goals and scientific and military development, rather than the short-term needs of the population."
:::Very POV, for the most part even in the space program and military technology the communists lagged. The same applies for pure science, for example very few Noble prize winners from Communist states. ] 13:26, 16 August 2005 (UTC)
:::Very POV, for the most part even in the space program and military technology the Communists lagged. The same applies for pure science, for example very few Noble prize winners from Communist states. ] 13:26, 16 August 2005 (UTC)
=== East Germany ===
=== East Germany ===
Revision as of 13:28, 16 August 2005
Please use the archive parameter to specify the number of the next free peer review page, or replace {{Peer review}} on this page with {{subst:PR}} to find the next free page automatically.
Well, I've taken up the herculean task of cleaning up the article, giving it a better structure and making it NPOV. I have to say I'm pretty proud of my work. :) Go and have a look. -- Mihnea Tudoreanu15:22, 20 July 2005 (UTC)
Pretty good, but we have about 12 hours before a series of reverts and crys of "censorship of the worst kind" from you know who... I never realistically imagined it becoming so passable. Still, it could correct more flaws in Ultramarine's writing, such as more direct citations of authors such as Conquest, rather than nebulous references to "critics of communism." Vague passages lacking context like the following are still troubling: "Extensive historical research has documented large scale human rights violations that occurred in Communist states." Of course, one could just as easly write it following in (say) capitalism: "Extensive historical research has documented large scale human rights violations that occurred in capitalist societies." Instead, such a passage should cite the conclusions of specific authors, and how they pin the blame on communism. 172 | Talk16:00, 20 July 2005 (UTC)
I did my best to leave his anti-communist arguments virtually untouched, so as to prove that I am editing in good faith and want to reach a good quality, readable and NPOV article. Most of my heavy editing was done on the pro-communist arguments, which had been grossly misrepresented and dismissed. -- Mihnea Tudoreanu16:49, 20 July 2005 (UTC)
That's true. His writing can remain largely intact, but we can fill in the attributions within the text later on. 172 | Talk16:53, 20 July 2005 (UTC)
I've taken another look over it and corrected one obviously false statement. Human rights violations haven't occured in ALL Communist states ALL the time. But other than that, I've left the human rights objections unchanged and unattributed. -- Mihnea Tudoreanu17:00, 20 July 2005 (UTC)
At least not on the scale it implied; if one looked broadly enough, one could find human rights problems in any country at any time, including the U.S., which boasts the world's highest per capita prison population... Later on I'll take another look at the paragraph and turn in more into a summary of Conquest, Pipes, Rummel, et al. 172 | Talk17:03, 20 July 2005 (UTC)
172, you have violated Misplaced Pages policy by deleting The two-version template. Here is a link to my version Ultramarine06:21, 21 July 2005 (UTC)
Reversions of Mihnea Tudoreanu's fixes
Ultramarine, the issue is not the two-version template but your reversion of Mihnea's changes, which left the article much more readable, NPOV, and encyclopedic. 172 | Talk06:26, 21 July 2005 (UTC)
You have violated Misplaced Pages policy both by deleting the template and reverting which the template states should not be done without consensus on the talk page. Ultramarine06:30, 21 July 2005 (UTC)
If you explain why you reverted her hard work on this page, then you one would have to revert back to an old version to begin with. 172 | Talk06:33, 21 July 2005 (UTC)
I have incorporated many of the recent changes. In addition, I have added numerous references in the text and much new information, including much well-referenced critique now deleted. Ultramarine06:46, 21 July 2005 (UTC)
In order to resolve the dispute, each of us will have to explain his edits and his objections to the other person's version. In meaningful detail. Generalities like "I have added many useful things" are quite worthless. In this spirit, I will begin:
1. My edits were motivated by three reasons:
(a) Structure - I found the structure of your article to be lacking in many respects.
(b) Accuracy - You repeatedly misrepresented the communist position, for example by claiming that "some" communists believe the term "communist state" to be an oxymoron (when in fact all of them do), or by refusing to acknowledge that there are, in fact, communist objections to the "communist states" as well.
(c) NPOV - Some parts of your article - for example the ones about "Lenin's famine" or "useful idiots" were pure, unredeemable POV.
2. With that in mind, my edits can be classified as follows:
(a) Corrections of structure - "Were the Communist states communist?" was replaced by "Communist critique of Communist states", since that is what it refers to. Marx's predictions, which are part of theory (not practice), and which were done using Historical Materialism, were moved to the section on Historical Materialism. The accusation of pseudoscience, which is also targeted at Historical Materialism (since that is the only part of Marxism that claims the status of science) was also moved to the appropriate section.
(b) Corrections of accuracy - The introduction was expanded to mention that the two kinds of criticisms (against communist states and against theory) are distinct. A header was added in order to point the reader to Criticisms of socialism and explain the purpose of this article. The fact that "communist state" is an oxymoron was mentioned, and a link was provided to the appropriate discussion within the communist state article. The sections on Historical Materialism and the LTV were improved, since you obviously either do not know what communists believe or you are trying to misrepresent those beliefs on purpose.
(c) Corrections of POV - The section on "Lenin's Famine" was not only hopelessly POV (taking the staunch anti-communist side in a controversial issue), but also unjustified. The rest of the article makes general observations, without going into specifics. If you want to go into specifics, shouldn't you start with more important events, like the Great Purge, the Great Leap Forward, etc.? The section on "useful idiots" doesn't even criticize communism at all, it just says that a number of Western right-wingers think that communists are idiots. That would be better suited for an article on pejorative political terms. Finally, a number of your section headings were POV, such as "real-world failures". Failures according to whom? Supporters of communist states certainly don't think they were failures - on the contrary!
And one final note regarding POV: You have the bad habit of sandwiching the opposing POV between two statements that support your POV. In other words, you follow this model:
You seem to think things that you dislike are POV and should be removed. My facts are well-referenced and if you want to remove them, show that the references are incorrect. Regarding predictions, they are tested in the real-world. A Google search shows numerous claims of "Marxist science" which thus can be criticized . I incorporated a number of your changes that were improvements. Critique of Lenin is important, since many think that he was innocent and all evil started with Stalin.
Here are some of the things deleted by 172 when he reverted to your version.
During Russian Civil War, Lenin started "requisitioning" supplies from the peasantry for little or nothing in exchange. This led peasants to drastically reduce their crop production. In retaliation, Lenin ordered the seizure of the food peasants had grown for their own subsistence and their seed grain. The Cheka and the army began by shooting hostages, and ended by waging a second full-scale civil war against the peasantry.
Official Soviet reports admitted that fully 30 million Soviet citizens were in danger of death by starvation. The White forces shared little of the blame and actually had a food surplus. The Civil War was essentially over by the beginning of 1920, but Lenin continued his harsh exploitation of the peasantry for yet another year. The famine of 1921 was thus much less severe in 1920, because after the reconquest of the White territories, the Reds seized the Whites' grain reserves, although they primarily sent them to cities with less hunger but more political clout. Some relief organizations suspended help when it was revealed that the Soviet Union preferred to sell food abroad in order to get hard currency rather than feed its starving people. Estimates on the deaths from this famine are 3-10 million. Lenin was also responsible for starting the slave labor camp system and for 100000-500000 summary executions of "class enemies" Sources and estimates of the number killed:
Cuba is often cited as a successful example of by communists. However, Cuba was one of most developed nations in Latin America before Castro. Other Latin American nations have seen greater increases in literacy than Cuba. Calories per person has declined in Cuba while it has increased in most other Latin American nations. Cubans eat less cereals and meat than before Castro .
After 1965, life expectancy began to decline in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe while it continued to increase in Western Europe. This decline accelerated after the change to market economy in the states of the former Soviet Union but has now started to increase in the Baltic states. In Eastern Europe, life expectancy has increased significantly after the fall of Communism. The continued poor situation in Russia and Ukraine has been strongly linked to alcoholism.
(On that social sciences are not falsifiable.)
One response is that many social sciences like psychology, economics, and political science are increasingly being tested, for example by statistical methods.
Lenin did state the following:
"The so-called cultural element of Western Europe and America are incapable of comprehending the present state of affairs and the actual balance of forces; these elements must be regarded as deaf-mutes and treated accordingly....
"A revolution never develops along a direct line, by continuous expansion, but from a chain of outbursts and withdrawals, attacks and lulls, during which the revolutionary forces gain strength in preparation for their final victory....
"We must:
"(a) In order to placate the deaf-mutes, proclaim the fictional separation of our government ... from the Comintern, declaring this agency to be an independent political group. The deaf- mutes will believe it.
"(b) Express a desire for the immediate resumption of diplomatic relations with capitalist countries on the basis of complete non-interference in their internal affairs. Again, the deaf- mutes will believe it. They will even be delighted and fling wide-open their doors through which the emissaries of the Comintern and Party Intelligence agencies will quickly infiltrate into these countries disguised as our diplomatic, cultural, and trade representatives.
"Capitalists the world over and their governments will, in their desire to win Soviet market, shut their eyes to the above- mentioned activities and thus be turned into blind deaf-mutes. They will furnish credits, which will serve as a means of supporting the Communist parties in their countries, and, by supplying us, will rebuild our war industry, which is essential for our future attacks on our suppliers. In other words, they will be laboring to prepare their own suicide."(Stalin : The First In-depth Biography Based on Explosive New Documents from Russia's Secret Archives, 1997, Edvard Radzinsky)(The Lufkin News, King Featurers Syndicate, Inc., 31 July 1962, p. 4, as quoted by the Freeman Report, 30 Sept. 1973, p. 8). .
I am perfectly aware of the information that was removed. I have explained all my deletions and other edits in detail. Now it is time for you to explain yours. Please reply to all the points I have made above; if you do not, I will have no choice but to continue reverting. A Google search does indeed show many claims of "Marxist science" - from anti-communists. In this, as in so many cases, you insist on attacking a straw man. Marxists do of course claim that historical materialism is scientific, but not that all Marxism is a science. As for your Lenin quote, it does not appear in any of Lenin's works. It comes from a dubious source and you refuse to give any details surrounding it - such as the name of the secret document in which the quote is supposed to appear, the date of its publication, the subject of the secret document, or the method by which Edvard Radzinsky claims to have obtained it. And, as I have pointed out, your entire section on "useful idiots" is dedicated to citing Western authors who say that communists are idiots. This does not belong in criticisms of communism, but in an article on pejorative political terms. Finally, the reason you give for your bashing of Lenin clearly demonstrates that you fail to understand the concept of NPOV. It is not the purpose of Misplaced Pages to "correct" the "wrong views" that certain readers may hold. Our purpose is to inform the readers of all points of view, not preach one of them.
Your paragraph on social sciences displays a clear lack of understanding of the scientific method. Look into it.
Your two paragraphs on Cuba and Eastern Europe, however, are valid and I will attempt to integrate them in my version of the article. But not before we agree on a general structure, which is the first order of business. Leaving aside the content, do you have any objections to the structure of my version of the article? Yes or no?
And again, I am stressing the fact that I ask you to please reply to all my points above, which were specifically designed to initiate a dialogue. You would be well advised to make a similar list of the nature of your edits and the reasons behind them. -- Mihnea Tudoreanu18:06, 21 July 2005 (UTC)
I have answered your points. It is simply false to say that only anti-communists use "Marxist science", as anyone can see from the Google results. Again, show that the references are wrong, do not delete just because you dislike well referenced historical facts. Ultramarine05:37, 22 July 2005 (UTC)
This is ridiculous. You've answered nothing - not even my simple yes or no question regarding the structure of the article! Long before we get to your historical references, there are many other changes that I made and that you keep removing for no reason. Specifically (and here I quote myself):
"(a) Corrections of structure - "Were the Communist states communist?" was replaced by "Communist critique of Communist states", since that is what it refers to. Marx's predictions, which are part of theory (not practice), and which were done using Historical Materialism, were moved to the section on Historical Materialism. The accusation of pseudoscience, which is also targeted at Historical Materialism (since that is the only part of Marxism that claims the status of science) was also moved to the appropriate section.
(b) Corrections of accuracy - The introduction was expanded to mention that the two kinds of criticisms (against communist states and against theory) are distinct. A header was added in order to point the reader to Criticisms of socialism and explain the purpose of this article. The fact that "communist state" is an oxymoron was mentioned, and a link was provided to the appropriate discussion within the communist state article. The sections on Historical Materialism and the LTV were improved, since you obviously either do not know what communists believe or you are trying to misrepresent those beliefs on purpose.
(c) Corrections of POV - The section on "useful idiots" doesn't even criticize communism at all, it just says that a number of Western right-wingers think that communists are idiots. That would be better suited for an article on pejorative political terms. Finally, a number of your section headings were POV, such as "real-world failures". Failures according to whom? Supporters of communist states certainly don't think they were failures - on the contrary!
And one final note regarding POV: You have the bad habit of sandwiching the opposing POV between two statements that support your POV. In other words, you follow this model:
# Anti-communists say X.
# Communists say Y.
# But anti-communists reply with Z.
This is highly inappropriate, not to mention making it difficult for our readers to follow the article."
As you can plainly see, none of the above has anything to do with your historical references. As for "Marxist science", please check the Encyclopedia of Marxism. I see no mention of "Marxist science", not any mention in the Marxism entry that Marxism as a whole is a science. -- Mihnea Tudoreanu07:05, 22 July 2005 (UTC)
Again, anyone can see from Google that many Marxists use the term "Marxist science". Again, I incorporated the changes to LTV, as you could have seen if you read my text. A critique against Marxist theory should certainly include how it is used in academia. Again, predictions are tested in the real world and thus fall under the real-world section. You are arguing that the examples given were not failures? Ultramarine07:53, 22 July 2005 (UTC)
Yes, I could easily argue that the examples given were not failures. Being Romanian, I can argue from personal experience that capitalism has been much more of a failure than "communism". But my opinion is irrelevant, of course - just like yours. If only you understood that, we wouldn't be having this conversation. The point is that the term "failure" is inherently subjective, and thus POV. Regarding Marxist science, it is true that Marxists believe part of Marxism to be a science, but not all of it. I keep trying to explain that. Pejorative terms like "useful idiot" do not represent a critique. Certainly not a critique of communism. Saying "communism is bad because some communists are idiots" is a logical fallacy (ad hominem), even if its two assertions (that communism is bad and that some communists are idiots) are true when taken separately. Plus, your Lenin quote (which is of dubious origin) says that capitalists, not communists, are "idiots". Finally, as a matter of structure, notice that my version of the article contains two main sections entitled "20th century Communist states" and "Marxism and communist theory", respectively. Marx's predictions are certainly not part of the discussion regarding 20th century Communist states. -- Mihnea Tudoreanu08:45, 22 July 2005 (UTC)
Actually, all I did was remove the paragraphs you quoted from the article, since, as I explained, "I am perfectly aware of the information that was removed ". I didn't know you considered it so important to have them listed here. I apologise. -- Mihnea Tudoreanu18:24, 21 July 2005 (UTC)
Violation of Misplaced Pages policy
Mihnea Tudoreanu, you have violated Misplaced Pages policy by reverting my version which was the first to use the "Two-version" tag. It states that there should be a consensus on the talk page first. You have also violated policy by removing the template. Ultramarine07:15, 22 July 2005 (UTC)
And you have violated wikipedia policy by refusing to even pretend to discuss our dispute on the Talk page. My reverting to an earlier version than my latest one was an obvious mistake (notice I had just added the "Two-version" tag right before your most recent reverts). As you can see, when I make a mistake, I fix it in 10 minutes - which is far more than can be said for you. -- Mihnea Tudoreanu07:21, 22 July 2005 (UTC)
I have shown numerous examples of well-referenced historical facts that you have deleted and answered your other claims. Ultramarine07:29, 22 July 2005 (UTC)
First you entirely dismissed, then you barely acknowledged my arguments in a 3-line paragraph. As for your "numerous examples", last time I checked there were only two short paragraphs of them, and I had agreed to start discussing and including them as soon as we reached consensus on the more general issues with the article. -- Mihnea Tudoreanu09:02, 22 July 2005 (UTC)
This is incorrect since my arguments are spread over several paragraphs in different edits. However, I have now incorporated several of your points in my version, see below. Hopefully we can now together in similar good faith include the well-referenced historical facts that are in my version but not in yours. Ultramarine13:16, 22 July 2005 (UTC)
I have already incorporated many of your points in my previous versions. I have now further incorporated some other points in a new version . Thus, I hope we can now together incorporate the many well-established historical facts that are in my version but not in yours. Ultramarine10:03, 22 July 2005 (UTC)
I have added one argument against my own position. Hopefully this will another sign of good faith.
"Some adherents to the Marxian doctrine of Historical Materialism argue that true communism can only develop as a response to the contradictions of bourgeois capitalism; therefore, the failure of those experiments in communism to date can be attributed to the fact they did not emerge in this manner. In short, some Marxists argue that, in order for a successful socialist revolution to occur, capitalism must first dominate the globe. The Soviet Union is a case in point - Tsarist Russia was quasi-feudal, not capitalist, and was overthrown by a small cadre rather than by a mass revolution. So it is argued by some Marxists that the failure of Soviet socialism to sustain itself is actually an affirmation of Historical Materialism." Ultramarine13:03, 22 July 2005 (UTC)
Thank you. This is encouraging news, and an indication that we may at last be making some progress. Your sign of good faith is very well received, and, as I have stated before, I am more than willing to incorporate the historical facts that are present in your version and not mine. As a source of references for various historical events, I would strongly suggest relying on the Historical Atlas of the 20th century, because it (a) compiles information from many different sources, and (b) it is non-ideological (unlike, say, the Museum of Communism, which is openly libertarian and has an axe to grind). -- Mihnea Tudoreanu10:28, 23 July 2005 (UTC)
On another note, once we agree on which version to start working with (see below), I propose the following method of editing: We begin with the least controversial issues and work our way up to the most controversial. Also, it is useful to discuss sections or even paragraphs one at a time, so as to avoid "blind reverts" (one attempts to edit or revert something, but, since he's not looking at the rest of the article, ends up reverting an innocent paragraph at the same time). -- Mihnea Tudoreanu10:46, 23 July 2005 (UTC)
Two Versions: a method of merger
There are two versions of this page: one I will call U; the other M.
I propose the following plan:
the editors on this page see if there is a consensus for one of the alternatives; choose M as a working basis or choose U as a working basis. If there is, the dissentients be asked to state what they would merge into the consensus version, and the consensus be as generous as possible in admitting these things. I would be happy, for example, if M is the consensus, to admit the rather elegant good-faith paragraph above. On the other hand, if there is a consensus against any item, it should be dropped. At that point the templates may be able to go too.
Opinions in the following straw-poll should be brief and civil. I have tried to set an example. Septentrionalis
Straw Poll
Chooose M as a working basis
Because it contains so much neutral stuff (like the last sentence of M's intro, or the chronology of Socialist Realism), that I would be adding back in anyway. Septentrionalis23:04, 22 July 2005 (UTC)
Because M was actually based on U. After all, M was an attempt to radically improve U and make it NPOV. I do not think we should roll back the clock. -- Mihnea Tudoreanu10:42, 23 July 2005 (UTC)
Once we agree on the version to use as our working basis, we will discuss here the first section of the article. Watch this space. -- Mihnea Tudoreanu10:52, 23 July 2005 (UTC)
The facts
I think we should discuss the actual facts instead of declaring one version to be a "working basis". What are the objections to the referenced data presented in my version? I will remove the templates claiming factual inaccuracy and original research unless specific counter-examples are given. Ultramarine12:13, 23 July 2005 (UTC)
I endorsed M largely because it contains almost all of U. What else would you like to include? Please list here.
We're not so much opposed to what you present as we are opposed to how you present it, Ultramarine. Please list here the facts you want to add to my version (a bulleted list would suffice) and I will go and add them. If one fact is controversial, we can discuss it. -- Mihnea Tudoreanu14:57, 23 July 2005 (UTC)
List of proposed changes
We can begin with this, lets take them one at a time. State if you agree or explain why it it inaccurate.
Pollution
Also pointed out is the environmental disasters. One is the gradual disappearance of the Aral Sea and the Caspian Sea because of the diversion of the rivers that fed them. Another the pollution of the Black Sea, the Baltic Sea, and the unique freshwater environment of Lake Baikal. Many of the rivers were polluted; several were virtually ecologically dead. In 1988 only 20% of the sewage was treated properly. Established health standards for air pollution was exceeded by ten times or more in 103 cities in the Soviet Union in 1988. The air pollution problem was even more severe in Eastern Europe. It caused lung cancer, forest die-back, and damage to buildings and cultural heritages. According to official sources, 58 percent of total agricultural land of the former Soviet Union was affected by salinization, erosion, acidity, or waterlogging. Nuclear waste was dumped in the Sea of Japan, the Arctic Ocean, and in locations in the Far East. It was revealed in 1992 that in the city of Moscow there were 636 radioactive toxic waste sites and 1,500 in St. Petersburg. . Ultramarine15:00, 23 July 2005 (UTC)
Take a look here: . I've added your paragraph in a slightly modified and NPOV-ed form. -- Mihnea Tudoreanu 15:19, 23 July 2005 (UTC)
Basically, I have removed the "many rivers were polluted" part, since that is generic and could be true of any industrialized country, and added a possible communist counter-argument. -- Mihnea Tudoreanu15:21, 23 July 2005 (UTC)
You have removed "One is the gradual disappearance of the Aral Sea and the Caspian Sea because of the diversion of the rivers that fed them." and "Many of the rivers were polluted; several were virtually ecologically dead" You claim that the pollution continued similarly after the fall of communism. Give source. You also claim that the rivers argument is invalid because it could also be true in the West. Please do not guess; give source stating that this is true. Ultramarine15:28, 23 July 2005 (UTC)
Look again; the gradual dissapearence of the Aral Sea was already mentioned. Regarding the continued pollution, I don't have to give a source - I live in a former communist country. I will look for sources if you insist (since it should be easy to find some), but I'd appreciate it if you did not turn this article into a swiss cheese of external links. Finally, are you implying that river pollution doesn't happen in the West?
Caspian sea was excluded. You do have to give a source, your particular experience says nothing about the whole of Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union. Some pollution has happened in the West but not so that the rivers are dead. Ultramarine15:42, 23 July 2005 (UTC)
As I expected, finding sources was easy: . The years of neglect after the fall of the Soviet Union have made many ecological problems worse. -- Mihnea Tudoreanu16:01, 23 July 2005 (UTC)
And capitalist Romania's record in river pollution is worse than dismal. Just 5 years ago, a massive cyanide spill caused by a private mining company in Romania ended up killing all life in the Tisza river and massively polluting the Danube: -- Mihnea Tudoreanu16:11, 23 July 2005 (UTC)
Finally, I was not aware that the Caspian sea was in any danger of "dissapearing" - it's still the world's largest inland body of water, is it not? -- Mihnea Tudoreanu16:17, 23 July 2005 (UTC)
One of your sources is ten years old and says nothing about the situation today, the others mention some specific problems and not the general situation. However, we can certainly add that problems has continued in some countries, but has improved greatly in some, like Poland. Regarding the Caspian Sea, it is 15 years since the fall of Communism, is it not? Ultramarine16:28, 23 July 2005 (UTC)
Let us complete the merger befor arguing over points of detail. That's what {{dubious}} tags: are for. The present text says: "The most cited example is the disappearance of the Aral Sea in today's Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan, which is believed to have been caused by the diversion of the waters of its two affluent rivers for cotton production." I am going to add "The Caspian sea has also been diminishing." If either of you disagrees with that sentence, put on a dubious tag and we can look up area statistics later. Septentrionalis17:28, 23 July 2005 (UTC)
As for "Many of the rivers were polluted; several were virtually ecologically dead":the first clause is obvious from what has been said, the second a classic instance of weasel wording. (And has Ultramarine considered Lake Erie?} If it is included, I will not revert it, but I will dispute it. In any case, we cannot include all the enviromental problems of the Soviet Union; that's another article. Septentrionalis17:28, 23 July 2005 (UTC)
I will give some specific instances in the next version. And paragraph about some the many and severe environmental problems i hardly to much. Ultramarine19:21, 23 July 2005 (UTC)
Please continue previous good factual discussion. There is certainly no agreement on any non-existing Misplaced Pages policy regarding "working basis". Ultramarine17:41, 23 July 2005 (UTC)
There is no Misplaced Pages rule about 2/3 majority in cases like this, there should be consensus. If you try to do any "merger", I will ask for protection of this page, using my version. Ultramarine19:02, 23 July 2005 (UTC)
You have a real talent for grabbing defeat out of the jaws of victory. We have all agreed that 90% of your paragraph on pollution, which used to be consistently reverted, should stay permanently in the article. To get the same result on other paragraphs, you only need to ask. I repeat, what else would you like to have included? Septentrionalis
As for "winning" an edit war by requesting tactical page protection: I suggest you readMisplaced Pages:This page is protected first. 19:26, 23 July 2005 (UTC)
I would also like to add that lack of consensus is not grounds for pushing your minority view on everyone else. If we fail to resolve any dispute on one of these paragraphs, we will put up a public poll - and I get the nagging feeling that the result will be overwhelmingly against you. Notice, for example, that there is not a single person who supports you on the RfC. -- Mihnea Tudoreanu21:42, 23 July 2005 (UTC)
Your version still does not include that Poland has seen an improvement in the environmental situation after the fall of Communism. Please correct. Ultramarine12:06, 24 July 2005 (UTC)
Your version is POV since it does not mention the improvements in many Eastern Europe nations. Nor does it mention the improvements in the some of the FSU states, like the Baltic states . Please correct. Ultramarine19:35, 24 July 2005 (UTC)
Using the same logic, statements about pollution in the states of the FSU should be eliminated. I think not, both should be presented. Ultramarine19:53, 24 July 2005 (UTC)
I have altered Mihnea's most to many. I believe this to be the case. I believe it will be the one-sentence summary of the article on Pollution in Eastern Europe; and that no more of that article belongs here. Both sides of that debate should be presented in the article on that subject. Here it is a digression on a borderline sentence. Septentrionalis22:03, 24 July 2005 (UTC)
You version still does not mention the environmental improvement in many Eastern European nations and the Baltic states. Please correct that this violation of NPOV. Ultramarine00:52, 25 July 2005 (UTC)
Nor does it mention, for example, that (as one of the articles Ultramarine provides asserts) that the Polish housing market is still working badly, so this is an improvement for those well-connected enough to have houses in the cities, just as under Communism. These things are outside the scope of this article; see Misplaced Pages:Stay on topic. But I'm willing to make a deal. If Ultramarine can find someone who says: "Communism is dreadful because air pollution in Cracow has improved since 1994", I'll put something in. Septentrionalis14:19, 26 July 2005 (UTC)
Again, by the same logic the article should not mention any pollution problems after the fall of communism. You violates NPOV by only mentioning remaining problems without mentioning the many improvements. Correct. Ultramarine19:22, 27 July 2005 (UTC)
That sentence is on-topic if the position "The Communists weren't so bad; the air in Bucharest is worse than ever" is actually held. I find it difficult to believe it is not; I will leave it to Mihnea to come up with citations. Septentrionalis15:02, 29 July 2005 (UTC)
Life expectancy - resolved
Here is another paragraph:
After 1965, life expectancy began to plateau or even decreased, especially for males, in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe while it continued to increase in Western Europe. This very large divergence between two parts of Europe went on during three decades leading to a profound gap in the mid 90s. The decline in life expectancy accelerated after the change to market economy in the states of the former Soviet Union but has now started to increase in the Baltic states. In Eastern Europe, life expectancy has increased significantly after the fall of Communism. The continued poor situation in Russia and Ukraine has been strongly linked to alcoholism. Ultramarine19:34, 23 July 2005 (UTC)
Such a paragraph should be included.
The phrase started to increase in the Baltic states. exaggerates your source, who, quite plausibly, thinks the recent variation hopeful, but not yet signficant. The last sentence is unsupported by these sources, which speak of heart disease and violence as primary causes. I have seen newspaper articles speculating this, but they are not statisticians.
Mihnea will be perfectly justified in commenting that this proves as much about post-Soviet capitalism in the Independent States as anything else. Septentrionalis19:59, 23 July 2005 (UTC)
This is supported "On an individual level, alcohol consumption is strongly implicated in being at least partially responsible for many of these trends." Ultramarine20:19, 23 July 2005 (UTC)
In other words "maybe, we think, perhaps alcohol consumption could be a factor". That's idle speculation. As you so often insist, we should only mention the facts. -- Mihnea Tudoreanu21:42, 23 July 2005 (UTC)
The claim that "In Eastern Europe, life expectancy has increased significantly after the fall of Communism." is patently false. I present the case of Romania, and cite the CIA World Factbook as a reference:
1990
Life expectancy at birth: 69 years male, 75 years female
2004
Life expectancy at birth:
total population: 71.12 years
male: 67.63 years
female: 74.82 years (2004 est.)
Statistics on life expectancy are available for all East European countries; I will go see what their experience has been. -- Mihnea Tudoreanu23:39, 23 July 2005 (UTC)
Look at this . However, we can certainly change to in "In many Eastern Europe nations, life expectancy has increased significantly after the fall of Communism." Ultramarine09:57, 24 July 2005 (UTC)
Here's my proposed paragraph:
Demographic studies have concluded that, after 1965, life expectancy stayed constant, or even declined, especially for males, in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe while it continued to increase in Western Europe. This divergence between two parts of Europe went on during three decades leading to a profound gap in the mid 90s. The decline in life expectancy accelerated after the change to market economy in 12 of the 15 former Soviet republics, including Russia. Only in the three Baltic republics it may have started to increase. In Eastern Europe, after 1990, the decline continued most notably in Romania, but life expectancy eventually began to increase in many of the other countries in the region. All these developments are significant for the analysis of post-Soviet capitalism, especially the economy of Russia, as well as the policies of the Communist states.
What is your source for "12 of the 15"? The study only looks at Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Russia and Ukraine of the FSU states. 2/5. Ultramarine14:53, 24 July 2005 (UTC)
Reading the study, I see Mihnea has been too generous. Life expectancy was constant in Western Europe until 1970, and continued to increase for females even in Eastern Europe, even if more slowly, after 1970. Septentrionalis17:09, 24 July 2005 (UTC)
Your version violates NPOV since it does not mention the improvements in many Eastern European nations. Please correct. Ultramarine19:37, 24 July 2005 (UTC)
Some communist supporters argue that Lenin was innocent of the large scale human right violations associated with Stalin. However, during Russian Civil War, Lenin started "requisitioning" supplies from the peasantry for little or nothing in exchange. This led peasants to drastically reduce their crop production. In retaliation, Lenin ordered the seizure of the food peasants had grown for their own subsistence and their seed grain. The Cheka and the army began by shooting hostages, and ended by waging a second full-scale civil war against the peasantry.
Official Soviet reports admitted that fully 30 million Soviet citizens were in danger of death by starvation. The White forces shared little of the blame and actually had a food surplus. The Civil War was essentially over by the beginning of 1920, but Lenin continued his harsh exploitation of the peasantry for yet another year. The famine of 1921 was thus much less severe in 1920, because after the reconquest of the White territories, the Reds seized the Whites' grain reserves, although they primarily sent them to cities with less hunger but more political clout. Some relief organizations suspended help when it was revealed that the Soviet Union preferred to sell food abroad in order to get hard currency rather than feed its starving people. Estimates on the deaths from this famine are 3-10 million. Lenin was also responsible for starting the slave labor camp system and for 100000-500000 summary executions of "class enemies" Estimates of the number killed: Sources: See reference list below
We can discuss the picture, although for example the Holocaust has similar pictures. Regarding the prose, you have to give specific criticisms. Ultramarine20:40, 23 July 2005 (UTC)
Death in an organized camp is not the same as death by starvation. If someone dies in a concentration camp set up by some regime, there is no doubt that his/her death is the regime's fault. If, on the other hand, someone dies during a civil war as the result of a controversial natural catastrophe whose death toll may or may not have been augumented by the policies of the regime... You see the point. -- Mihnea Tudoreanu21:42, 23 July 2005 (UTC)
Since Mihnea is willing to discuss details, I will do so. However, since we already have the picture up above, I ask consent to delete it here; this post will be more readable. Septentrionalis
The prose is advocacy: high-flown, vague, rhetorical, and urging the evils of Communism. This is violation of a core Misplaced Pages policy: Articles without bias describe debates fairly rather than advocating any side of the debate and the rest of the policy page. Consider, say, a comparable bar about Magadan. It might be perfectly accurate, I might personally absolutely agree with it and be persuaded by it; I would still believe it utterly inappropriate for Misplaced Pages.
About the "Famine of 1921", I have doubts also.
I have no objections to a mention of famine in 1921, or properly sourced, of Lenin's reponsibility for it.
Famines are not uncommon the year after wars. IIRC 1816 had a famine and 1946 escaped one only through intensive American shipments. The previous year's harvest will have been bad; so there will be no reserve. The economy will still be disrupted, and the men and ploughshare required for sowing will be out of place.
The logic seems to be:
The Red Army had no food
The White armies had plenty of food.
Therefore the Red Army oppressed the peasants.
This effort at proof is itself persuasion, and improper; but it is also poor reasoning: Where did the White armies get their food? By oppressing the peasants, of course.
What are the 100,000-500,000 at the end? (Large error bar, that.) Total executions 1918-1924? Total executions, 1921? Personally ordered by Lenin, either period? This vagueness is another reason why polemic is contrary to policy.
Some communist supporters argue that Lenin was innocent of the large scale human right violations associated with Stalin. However, during Russian Civil War, Lenin started "requisitioning" supplies from the peasantry for little or nothing in exchange. This led peasants to drastically reduce their crop production. In retaliation, Lenin ordered the seizure of the food peasants had grown for their own subsistence and their seed grain. The Cheka and the army began by shooting hostages, and ended by waging a second full-scale civil war against the peasantry.
Official Soviet reports admitted that fully 30 million Soviet citizens were in danger of death by starvation. At the same time, the areas under White control had built up a food surplus. The famine of 1921 was much less severe in 1920, because after the reconquest of the White territories, the Reds seized the Whites' grain reserves, although they primarily sent them to cities with less hunger but more political clout. Some relief organizations suspended help when it was revealed that the Soviet Union preferred to sell food abroad in order to get hard currency rather than feed its starving people. Estimates on the deaths from this famine are 3-10 million. Lenin started the slave labor camp system and 100000-500000 summary executions of "class enemies" occured during his regime . Estimates of the number killed: . See also references below.
Pure POV and unacceptable. You do not state the facts, you assign blame. Some of your statements are clearly false or at least badly written, for example talking about the Soviet Union in 1921 (that's 3 years before the Soviet Union was actually formed), while others are absurd, for example "The Cheka and the army began by shooting hostages, and ended by waging a second full-scale civil war against the peasantry". I'm curious, how exactly was the Red Army able to win a war against the White movement AND the British and French intervention forces AND its own peasantry? Were they supermen? The picture is POV and unacceptable for reasons outlined above, and I call into question your reasons for concentrating on this particular controversial famine rather than, say, the much better documented one of 1929-1931. I have accepted to include many of your paragraphs into my version. This one, however, will have to go. -- Mihnea Tudoreanu14:08, 24 July 2005 (UTC)
Remains advocacy. unacceptable in this form. Please read WP:NPOV.
Misplaced Pages is not a letters-to-the-editor column; and if something would work well there, it is inappropriate to WP. A polemic can be made up of facts and still be a polemic. I will add a sentence about War communism, and about Conquest's estimates for Lenin (it is a criticism, after all). Septentrionalis
The implication of Ultramarine's rant is that Lenin spent 1921 ordering his Bolsheviks to oppress the peasantry, without even the excuse of a war. That single sentence would be worth including, if only it were true. But the New economic policy was decreed March 21, 1921.
I believe my remarks about famine above are true, but are a vera causa for 1922. The famine of 1921 was largely due to shortage in the harvest of fall 1920, which was only to be expected; it was a year of war, and Russian agriculture had been in disarray since 1915. If the famine was coming anyway, it was not Lenin's fault. He made different, and in my opinion, more people die, but that is not responsibility for the famine. Septentrionalis16:37, 24 July 2005 (UTC)
Since you absolutely refuse to read the more important references by scholars, maybe some of these online links will convince you.
Your third reference does convince me of two things: the text you propose to include is a copyright violation; and the attribution to Robert Conquest may well be wrong. (I am, btw, perfectly willing to assert Lenin's count as a fact, provided Mihnea agrees that hundreds of thousands of deaths are a consensus figure.) Septentrionalis23:00, 24 July 2005 (UTC)
You are correct that there was a mistake, it was not Conquest's book I referred to but . I will correct that. Regarding copyright, the text is now quite different than the source, contains some other content, like on relief organizations, and what resemblance there may be falls under fair use. Note that the picture is in the public domain. Ultramarine01:20, 25 July 2005 (UTC)
I am unclear about what facts are being claimed here. Is this text intended to suggest that Lenin sold grain abroad in 1921? or is it not? Septentrionalis15:05, 29 July 2005 (UTC)=
From the link "Even when finally requesting famine aid, the Bolsheviks relied on the nominally private All-Russian Public Committee to Aid the Hungry (Pomgol). Pomgol requested the assistance of the American Relief Association founded by Herbert Hoover, then-U.S. Secretary of Commerce. The ARA responded by spending over $61.6 million to relieve the Russian famine. The ARA fed up to 11 million people a day at the height of relief efforts. The ARA suspended relief operations in June 1923 when it was revealed the Soviet Union was offering foodstuffs for sale abroad -- specifically millions of tons of cereals which it preferred to sell for hard currency rather than feed its starving people. " Pipes, Richard. Russia under the Bolshevik regime. New York: Vintage Books, 1994, pp.415-9. So obviosuly not intended. Ultramarine13:07, 3 August 2005 (UTC)
I will add the year but this does not change the point of the argument. What revisions are you claiming to be necessary? Ultramarine13:39, 3 August 2005 (UTC)
Please list them here, or insert them yourself. Some of them really don't belong in the article. For example, I intentionally omitted the second reference under environment, above, as redundant; and the amazon link to Robert Conquest is unencyclopedic. See Misplaced Pages:ISBN for the proper technique.Septentrionalis17:29, 24 July 2005 (UTC)
Actually, that's very amateurish and quite unencyclopedic. Is there anything on that website that can't be found at Rummel's, or in the Black Book of Communism? -- Mihnea Tudoreanu14:50, 26 July 2005 (UTC)
It may help to demonstrate that a variety of Right ideologies join in the criticism, instead of it being Rummel's private project, as Ultramarine's list would make it appear. I'm not sure that the external links have to be WP quality; they are the subject of this article, not an extension of it. Septentrionalis15:44, 26 July 2005 (UTC)
We have four Rummel references already, one of which is on-line and links to these. Eight is ridiculous. I have no objection to changing which ones we include, if Ultramarine prefers. Septentrionalis
Three of these are book references and not external links. I removed two of these that seemed to be duplicates. Regarding the external links, Rummel is probably the only scholar that presents the details of his scholarly estimates online. Therefore there is nothing wrong with having this linked in some detail. Note that most of the links only goes to graphs and tables. Ultramarine18:07, 2 August 2005 (UTC)
Your version excludes:
"Thus, as a defense of communism, it is claimed that so-called "Communist states" are unrelated (or only distantly related) to an ideal communist society. Therefore, it is argued, the failings of these states should not be taken as failings of communism per se. Critics of communism find fault with this reasoning, noting that this argument cannot be falsified and is therefore not scientific. Were it valid, they argue, it could similarly be applied to capitalism, fascism or other ideologies." Ultramarine12:05, 24 July 2005 (UTC)
The argument does not make sense. What is an "ideal capitalist society"? How about an "ideal fascist society"? There is no agreement among capitalists on how an ideal capitalist society would look like - or even if such a thing exists. In the case of fascism, those who created the theory (Mussolini and Hitler) were the same people who implemented the theory in practice - thus it is very hard to argue that the practice does not correspond to the theory. This is not the case with communism, where those who implemented the theory in practice (Lenin, etc.) weren't even born when the theory was written (by Marx). -- Mihnea Tudoreanu13:29, 24 July 2005 (UTC)
Are you arguing that all communists agree on the ideal communist society? Using the same defense strategy, I could argue that no society has ever been anarcho-capitalist, and thus that there has never been an ideal capitalist society. And that every problem in so called "capitalist states" can be explained by this. Ultramarine19:49, 24 July 2005 (UTC)
First of all, no communist claims that every problem in the so-called "communist states" is due to the fact that those states did not follow some perfect communist ideal. Rather, the argument goes that those states disregarded some of the most basic principles of communism - like a capitalist state banning the market, for example. Furthermore, capitalism, unlike communism, has more than one ideology to uphold it. All communists base their ideas more or less accurately on the works of Marx, Engels and Lenin. Capitalists, on the other hand, may be liberals, conservatives, libertarians... Capitalists are not united by a single ideology. Supporters of anarcho-capitalism may argue that every problem of capitalism today could be solved by their ideal system (and they often do make this claim), but they do not have a monopoly on the notion of "capitalism" in the same way that Marxists have a monopoly on the notion of "communism". -- Mihnea Tudoreanu10:58, 25 July 2005 (UTC)
If Ultramarine can find an example of this criticism, I am perfectly willing to include a summary of what it actually says. But I will be surprised to see one; the argument is very weak. There is consensus among Communists that a "communist" society (in the strict sense of the word) would be desirable; there is no such consensus among capitalists. Many capitalists, and even some Libertarians, would oppose anarcho-capitalism, for example. Septentrionalis16:23, 25 July 2005 (UTC)
Marx never gave any specific details or requirements regarding how the Communist society should be organized, except some contradictory comments about the Paris Commune discussed elsewhere. Thus, there can be no more consensus regarding ideology than Capitalist consensus about ideology, and arguably less since all capitalists agree on basic details of how society should be organized, like free markets, profit, some income inequality, free enterprise, and property rights. They only thing Communist agree on is that some of these things should not be in the Communist society, which is less specific, and they disagree on for example whether there should be markets and inequality. Ultramarine05:24, 15 August 2005 (UTC)
Ah, but we're not talking about Marx alone here, we're talking about Marx and Engels and Lenin, and everyone else in between. They filled in the gaps in Marx's work. Also, you seem to be misinformed. There are no communists who believe that markets and inequality could exist in a communist society. In addition, note that communism is supported by one ideology, whereas capitalism is supported by many mutually exclusive ideologies. The liberal view of capitalism cannot be reconciled with the conservative view, for example. Finally, keep in mind that no "communist state" ever claimed to have achieved communism. Thus, calling their system "communism" implies that you (a non-communist) reserve for yourself the right to define what communism means. This is absurd. -- Mihnea Tudoreanu09:46, 15 August 2005 (UTC)
You make numerous mistakes. Not all Marxists are Leninists. Thus, the only thing that all communists have in common are the works of Marx and Engel. What was said about Marx also applies to Engel. There are are communists who have supported and argued that markets are necessary. Read more on for example Oskar Lange. Thus my argument still stands. Ultramarine10:28, 15 August 2005 (UTC)
Not all Marxists are communists. And all the Marxists who ever ruled a Communist state were (or claimed to be) Leninists. Thus they can be judged by Leninist standards of Communism. -- Mihnea Tudoreanu11:09, 15 August 2005 (UTC)
Socialism is a much broader concept than Communism. Marxism obviously refers to the ideas of Marx, which includes the classless communist society. Thus, all Marxists are communists. Do NOT delete my edits .
Socialism is a much broader concept than communism. Marxism obviously refers to the ideas of Marx, which includes the classless communist society. Thus, all Marxists are communists. Ultramarine22:52, 15 August 2005 (UTC)
Strictly speaking, Ultramarine, you are correct. All Marxists should be communists. However, there are many people who consider themselves Marxists and who say that they are only socialists, not communists. If you wish to argue that they are mistaken, then you leave the door open to similar arguments to the effect that the leaders of the Soviet Union, for example, were mistaken in calling themselves communists. And I know you just can't tolerate that, can you? -- Mihnea Tudoreanu09:56, 16 August 2005 (UTC)
But that line of argument will get us nowhere. After giving it a bit of thought, I remembered that this defence which you deplore so much HAS in fact been applied to a number of other ideologies besides Communism. Nobody actually believes that the Democratic People's Republic of Korea is really democratic, for example. Likewise, the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia clearly does not support liberal democracy. It appears our deadlock was caused by your insistence on using capitalism as an example of an ideology to which the defence can be applied, when it is in fact much more correctly applied to democracy and liberalism. -- Mihnea Tudoreanu09:56, 16 August 2005 (UTC)
Cuba
Your version excludes this:
Cuba is often cited as a successful example of by communists. However, Cuba was one of most developed nations in Latin America before Castro. Other Latin American nations have seen greater increases in literacy than Cuba. Calories per person has declined in Cuba while it has increased in most other Latin American nations. Cubans eat less cereals and meat than before Castro . Ultramarine10:04, 24 July 2005 (UTC)
This is part of the comparison controversy (comparing communist states with capitalist countries) and will be incorporated in a larger discussion of that controversy. The last time we handled this subject it resulted in the utter mess over at The Black Book of Communism, so this time we'll have to be more organized. -- Mihnea Tudoreanu14:15, 24 July 2005 (UTC)
"Comparison controversy" is just an informal title I use for the practice (on both sides of the communism vs. capitalism argument) to compare various communist states with various capitalist ones and draw conclusions from this comparison. I don't think anyone else uses the term, and there are certainly no books written on it, so it doesn't deserve its own article. I strongly believe we should keep all criticisms of communism in one place - because if there's something we omit here, you can bet someone will later come along, ignore the link to the article where the matter is discussed, and ask why we don't present it here. -- Mihnea Tudoreanu18:20, 24 July 2005 (UTC)
Now, going back to the comparison controversy, it goes something like this: Anti-communists compare X with Y, and point out that the capitalist country was better off. Communists point out flaws (such as other factors that could have influenced prosperity besides the economic system) and come up with a comparison between Z and W. Anti-communists retaliate with another comparison of their own, and so on ad nauseaum until the whole discussion degenerates into an argument over which countries are more capitalist than others. -- Mihnea Tudoreanu18:20, 24 July 2005 (UTC)
Your version excludes:
"One response is that many social sciences like psychology, economics, and political science are increasingly being tested, for example by statistical methods." Ultramarine10:10, 24 July 2005 (UTC)
That is just the point. If it cannot be tested, it is a pseudoscience, unlike for example those fields of economics and political science that can be tested. Please correct your text. Ultramarine22:13, 25 July 2005 (UTC)
Again, the real test for any science is the controlled, repeatable and falsifiable experiment, not statistics. Set up a controlled, repeatable and falsifiable experiment in political science or economics, and I'll be impressed. I can add your point about statistics if you really insist, but you'll have to reformulate it so it doesn't imply that statistics can determine whether a hypothesis is true. -- Mihnea Tudoreanu14:32, 26 July 2005 (UTC)
Statistics can be used to show both correlation and causality. Other variables can be controlled for. The theories are falsifiable when using statistical tests. The statistical tests can be repeated by other persons. New data are continuously being generated from the real-world. Correct your text. Ultramarine19:10, 27 July 2005 (UTC)
Statistics can be used to show correlation, but certainly not causality. It may be true that teenage boys eat lots of chocolate, and that teenage boys have acne. Does that mean that chocolate causes acne, or that acne makes you eat chocolate? See correlation implies causation (logical fallacy). And while statistics are indeed repeatable, they are not a controlled experiment. The number of variables you need to take into consideration is immense, and, especially in the case of social sciences, it may be that some of those variables are difficult to measure, hidden, or unknown to science (the human psyche still has many mysteries, after all). But here's an idea: Let's start a public poll. I wager that no other wikipedian will support your absurd idea that statistics can be used to prove a hypothesis. Especially those wikipedians who contribute to articles on hard science. -- Mihnea Tudoreanu20:33, 27 July 2005 (UTC)
You do not seem to understand that more advanced statistics the simple correlations are used. These methods can indeed show causation. Additional variables can and have been controlled for. Such results can sometimes be criticized with the use of other variables or methods; however, this is normal for science and shows that it is not a pseudoscience which is not falsifiable. Ultramarine03:33, 2 August 2005 (UTC)
Causation cannot be proven by statistics. This is a scientific, mathematical fact, and it is not open for debate. If anyone claims that his statistics show causation, then he is lying. End of story. -- Mihnea Tudoreanu09:49, 15 August 2005 (UTC)
Human rights
Your version excludes:
"to have continued to occur in all communist states during their existence." For example, no Free speech.
If you're talking about free speech, this will be included in the free speech section. However, your version includes this statement in the section on mass murder, which makes it false. Mass murder was concentrated in specific countries at specific times. -- Mihnea Tudoreanu13:32, 24 July 2005 (UTC)
The same, however, can be said for any state prior to the 20th century. Indeed, the states that don't violate human rights (as they are defined today) systematically are the exception, not the rule. -- Mihnea Tudoreanu20:35, 27 July 2005 (UTC)
As you have insisted, the section is called "20th century Communist states". Thus is they can be compared with other 20th century states. And many did not systematically violate human rights. For example, the democratic capitalist states in Sweden or Canada. Ultramarine20:44, 27 July 2005 (UTC)
Actually, for the majority of the 20th century, the only states that did not violate human rights were those of North America, (most of) those of Europe, and a few of those of Latin America. But suit yourself. I have added the following:
"Large scale human rights violations occurred in Communist states. The most common of these were restrictions on freedom of speech (in the form of censorship, discussed above). Such restrictions existed, to a greater or lesser degree, in nearly all Communist states during most of their existence. Usually, newly established Communist states maintained or tightened the level of censorship that was present in those countries before the Communists came to power; indeed, the Communists themselves were most often subjected to censorship. As a result, after coming to power, they argued that they wanted to fight the former ruling class using its own weapons, either as a form of vengeance or to prevent it from staging a counter-revolution." -- Mihnea Tudoreanu08:25, 3 August 2005 (UTC)
Democracy
Your version excludes:
"However, Marx never insisted on this and he rejected the concept of liberal democracy. That all the Communist states became and remained totalitarian as long as the Communists remained in power can be seen as an argument against communism." Ultramarine10:53, 24 July 2005 (UTC)
Marx (and Lenin, and all the other communists) always insisted that democracy was a central part of their principles. They rejected liberal ("bourgeois") democracy, of course, but embraced the notion of democracy itself. As my version points out, some communist states even adopted the name of "Democratic Republics". -- Mihnea Tudoreanu13:46, 24 July 2005 (UTC)
You two appear to be using two different definitions of the word "liberal", one associated with 'civil society', the other with 'bourgeois'. This is one reason to avoid the phrase, as ambiguous. Septentrionalis16:20, 24 July 2005 (UTC)
He never explicitly required much at all for his dictatorship of the proletariat - he said very little about it (because he thought that planning the future constituted utopian socialism). I will gladly add the fact that he rejected liberal democracy and supported direct democracy - under which section would you like me to add it? -- Mihnea Tudoreanu10:13, 25 July 2005 (UTC)
I do not think it matter exactly where. Please also include the phrase "dictatorship of the proletariat" which many critques have used. And also the point "That all the Communist states became and remained totalitarian as long as the Communists remained in power can be seen as an argument against communism." Ultramarine22:16, 25 July 2005 (UTC)
There is a problem with that argument, however. As the Historical Atlas of the 20th Century points out , no democracy older than 3 years ever became a Communist state. The majority of Communist states replaced other dictatorships, not democracies. The only exceptions are to be found in Eastern Europe after WW2, and even there, the interlude of democracy between wartime dictatorships and post-war Communist states was short (with the 3 year maximum being reached in Czechoslovakia, 1945-1948). Thus, you can hardly blame the communists for creating dictatorships. At most, they just maintained them. -- Mihnea Tudoreanu14:16, 26 July 2005 (UTC)
It's important because it shows that Communist states did not become dictatorships under Communist rule. They were already dictatorships (with the aforementioned exception of 4 very young Eastern European democracies). -- Mihnea Tudoreanu15:08, 3 August 2005 (UTC)
Mihnea would do better, and have a shorter time limit, if he simply acknowledged Czechoslovakia as an exception: the Government of 1945-8 was the successor in interest and policy to the First Czechoslovak Republic. Therefore 3 very young Eastern European democracies and Czechoslovakia, which had been severely brutalized in the Second World War.Septentrionalis15:27, 3 August 2005 (UTC)
The Communist states used their energy very inefficiently, getting much less economic growth from the same amount of energy than the Western nations and the Third World.
I find the graph almost unreadable (and it borders on being a crystal ball); the text is strikingly incomplete. A neutral version would add something like:
The Soviet Union was an exporter of oil; China has vast supplies of coal. There was no reason for them to avoid energy-intensive development.
Your version excludes:
But many of the Communist states were often critical of Stalin and tried many variants of communism beside Stalinism, with little success. Those variants that were more successful resembled capitalism, like Lenin's New Economic Policy. Ultramarine10:58, 24 July 2005 (UTC)
Pure POV. Firstly, those states who were critical of Stalin were the Soviet Union and its allies after 1953. They might have criticized Stalinism, but, in practice, they kept the same government structures that Stalin had created. Secondly, who are you to say they had "little success"? According to them, they were very successful - because the Soviet Union became the world's second largest economy, for example. -- Mihnea Tudoreanu13:39, 24 July 2005 (UTC)
Tito was a loyal Stalinist until Stalin tried to bring Yugoslavia under his control. Mao likewise admired Stalin and Maoism is built upon Stalinism (remember that one of the major issues in the Sino-Soviet split was that the USSR repudiated Stalin while China did not). Juche was also built upon Stalinism, and many call North Korea "Stalinist" today. You may have a point about the Khmer Rouge, but, according to all the other communists, they were just a lunatic fringe group (which is saying something!). Glasnost and Perestroika were clearly not Stalinist, but they happened in the Soviet Union and therefore fit with what I said above ("those states who were critical of Stalin were the Soviet Union and its allies after 1953"). -- Mihnea Tudoreanu10:08, 25 July 2005 (UTC)
I propose the following compromise:
Many Marxists and some Marxist-Leninists argue that most Communist states did not actually adhere to Marxism-Leninism but rather to a perversion heavily influenced by Stalinism. On the other hand, many of the the Communist states were critical of Stalin, especially after his death. They tried many different political and economical systems during their existence. Examples include War communism, the New Economic Policy, Stalinism, Titoism, Juche, Perestroika, and Glasnost. Maoism is a broad concept that includes episodes such as the Great Leap Forward, the Cultural Revolution, and the Red Khmers. However, many Marxists argue that the Communist states continued to use many of Stalin institutions and thus continued to be Stalinist. Ultramarine23:04, 25 July 2005 (UTC)
It is quite easy to read this paragraph as saying that that Stalinism (or NEP or Juche...) was one of the systems tried by Communist states critical of Stalin. It is much harder to see what it is supposed to mean. What does Ultramarine mean? Septentrionalis23:39, 25 July 2005 (UTC)
Clearly, neither War Communism nor the NEP were instituted by Communist states "critical of Stalin", because Stalin hadn't even risen to power yet. Tito, as I pointed out above, only criticized Stalin's policy towards Eastern Europe, not his style of governing. North Korea has never criticized Stalin, and neither has Mao. -- Mihnea Tudoreanu14:22, 26 July 2005 (UTC)
Titoism was very different from Stalinism, see for example Milovan_Djilas. I propose the following:
Many Marxists and some Marxist-Leninists argue that most Communist states did not actually adhere to Marxism-Leninism but rather to a perversion heavily influenced by Stalinism. On the other hand, many of the the Communist states were critical of Stalin, especially after his death. They tried many different political and economical systems during their existence. Examples include Titoism, Juche, Perestroika, and Glasnost. Maoism is a broad concept that includes episodes such as the Great Leap Forward, the Cultural Revolution, and the Red Khmers. Lenin tried War communism and the New Economic Policy. However, many Marxists argue that the Communist states continued to use many of Stalin institutions and thus continued to be Stalinist. Ultramarine15:40, 26 July 2005 (UTC)
Again, out of all the systems you mention, the only ones tried out by communists who were critical of Stalin have been Titoism and Perestroika/Glasnost (which go together - they're not separate systems). Your point could be included in a section that discusses the way some Communist states opposed and criticized other Communist states. Such a section does not currently exist, and I don't feel it necessary to create one (because it would be splitting hairs). But one can be created if you really wish. -- Mihnea Tudoreanu10:30, 27 July 2005 (UTC)
I don't have one; I don't think a section on the relationships between different Communist states is necessary, because they were all very similar to each other (at least to the same degree that different liberal democracies are similar to each other). If you want such a section, though, I'm open to suggestions. -- Mihnea Tudoreanu20:40, 27 July 2005 (UTC)
It is false to state that the Communist states were very similar to each other. Many different policies were tried. From the profit-sharing in Titoism to almost primitivism by the Red Khmers. I propse the following:
Many Marxists and some Marxist-Leninists argue that most Communist states did not actually adhere to Marxism-Leninism but rather to a perversion heavily influenced by Stalinism. On the other hand, many of the the Communist states were critical of Stalin and many of his policies, especially after his death. They tried many different political and economical systems during their existence. Examples include the profit-sharing in Titoism, the extreme self-reliance in Juche, and the reforms in Perestroika, and Glasnost. Maoism is a broad concept that includes episodes such as the self-sufficient communes during the Great Leap Forward, the anti-intellectualism during the Cultural Revolution, and the almost primitivstRed Khmers. Lenin tried War communism and the New Economic Policy. However, many Marxists argue that the Communist states continued to use many of Stalin institutions and thus continued to be Stalinist. Ultramarine04:02, 2 August 2005 (UTC)
Equally many policies were tried in capitalist countries - from laissez-faire to the welfare state. We already have a section to discuss the Communist critique of Communist states. What exactly is the point of this paragraph that you insist on inserting? So far, the only possible purpose for it that I see is to endorse your POV that Communist states tried many different systems and all of them failed. Even if it were true, and those systems were as different as you claim, then that would just serve as evidence for the argument that many "Communist states" were not in fact Communist. You can't have your cake and eat it too. If you want to place all Communist states under the same category and criticize them together, then you have to admit that they were mostly similar to each other. If, on the other hand, you want to argue that they had major differences, then we'll have to break up this article into "Criticisms of Stalinism", "Criticisms of Maoism", "Criticisms of Titoism", etc. -- Mihnea Tudoreanu08:38, 3 August 2005 (UTC)
The point being that it is very doubtful that the problems can be explained by arguing that the Communist states were "Stalinist". Ultramarine12:15, 3 August 2005 (UTC)
No one is trying to explain away everything based on Stalinism. However, many specific things that were introduced by Stalin and later used by a multitude of Communist states (such as purges, show trials, rewriting history, and arguably also things like autocratic leadership and extreme violations of human rights, etc.) can reasonably be blamed on Stalinism. If you believe that those later Communist states were so different from the USSR under Stalin that Stalin's legacy was irrelevant to them, then we need to split up the article, like I said, into "Criticisms of Stalinism", "Criticisms of Maoism", "Criticisms of Titoism", etc. You seem to insist that Communist states are similar enough for us to put them all under the same category and tar them with the same brush, but too different to have been influenced by a common ancestor like Stalin. Make up your mind. -- Mihnea Tudoreanu15:03, 3 August 2005 (UTC)
The text already includes your argument that "the Communist states continued to use many of Stalin institutions and thus continued to be Stalinist." However, as the text notes, many of the Communist states had in some ways had very different institutions that those under Stalin. Therefore, it is doubtful if they can be claissified as Stalinist. However, they all argued that they followed Marx. I propose the followng to make the argument clearer:
Many communist supporters argue that most Communist states did not actually adhere to Marxism but rather to a perversion heavily influenced by Stalinism. On the other hand, all of the states themselves claimed to be following Marxism. In many ways their institutions often differed from those under Stalin. Examples include the profit-sharing in Titoism, the extreme self-reliance in Juche, and the reforms in Perestroika, and Glasnost. Maoism is a broad concept that includes episodes such as the self-sufficient communes during the Great Leap Forward, the anti-intellectualism during the Cultural Revolution, and the almost primitivstRed Khmers. Lenin tried War communism and the New Economic Policy. However, communist supporters often argue that problems such as systematic human rights violations can be explained by institutions created by Stalin and later used by other Communist states. Ultramarine05:11, 15 August 2005 (UTC)
Dictatorship of the proletariat and the Paris Commune
Your version excludes:
"However, Marx’s dream of a socialist revolution involved a transitory phase known as the dictatorship of the proletariat. Later, Marx reasoned, the state would "whither away". The Communist states claimed to be in this transitory phase and to be "working towards communism". It can thus be argued that the Communist states followed Marx's theory and that it failed to work in the real world." Ultramarine11:57, 24 July 2005 (UTC)
The only things Marx ever said about the dictatorship of the proletariat were that 1. The proletariat would be the ruling class, and 2. It would look somewhat like the Paris Commune. The fact that the communist states claimed to follow Marx's theory is obvious; whether they actually did follow it is very controversial, with communists as early as 1936 (the year Trotsky wrote The Revolution Betrayed) claiming that the communist states were non-Marxist. -- Mihnea Tudoreanu13:43, 24 July 2005 (UTC)
and the paragraph as phrased would be PoV even if it were correct. "Dream"? a tendentious word if there ever was one. However, if M does not note that the communist states failed to achieve true communism while claiming to head there, I will add it. Septentrionalis22:09, 24 July 2005 (UTC)
I have added some more arguments. "Some communist supporters argue that the Communist states were not communist since they were not democratic. However, Marx rejected the concept of liberal democracy. He never gave any specific details or had any explicit requirements regarding how the dictatorship of the proletariat should be implemented. Some argue that Marx and Engels may have supported the claimed direct democracy of the Paris Commune as a model for transition to communism. Others dispute this and there were human rights violations even during the few months the Commune existed . That all the Communist states became and remained totalitarian as long as the Communists remained in power can be seen as an argument against communism." Please include. Ultramarine21:07, 14 August 2005 (UTC)
The Paris Commune did not "violate human rights" any more than the French state which preceded it or the French state which followed it. As a matter of fact, thousands of communards were executed without trial by the new authorities after the Commune was crushed by the French army. Thus, your argument is based on a double standard. -- Mihnea Tudoreanu21:40, 14 August 2005 (UTC)
That is still no excuse. See the initial argument in "There were human rights violations before the Communists took poower" below. Ultramarine21:47, 14 August 2005 (UTC)
Your argument below only applies to cases where the violations by communist states were far greater than those by the states which preceded or followed them. In other cases, you are holding a double standard and trying to insert a piece of utter hypocrisy into the article. This will not fly. To use your Hitler example: If Hitler exterminated Jews at a time when every other country in Europe (including his enemies) also exterminated Jews, then you could not use this as a criticism against Hitler in particular. You could only use it to criticize the entire historical period he lived in. -- Mihnea Tudoreanu09:16, 15 August 2005 (UTC)
You are actually saying that is other nations had killed more Jews, then one could not criticize Hitler for killing Jews? Only "the entire historical period he lived in"? Ultramarine10:48, 15 August 2005 (UTC)
Precisely. You could not single out Hitler as a mass murderer of Jews and criticize him alone for it if other countries were doing the same at the same time. You would have to criticize all those countries together, or the entire historical period. But here's a real-world example to illustrate the same point: You cannot criticize one particular Greek city-state for endorsing slavery, because all Greek city-states endorsed slavery. At most, you could criticize the entire historical period (the Ancient world) for being a time when slavery was commonplace. Do you understand now? -- Mihnea Tudoreanu11:03, 15 August 2005 (UTC)
Also, I think it is better to continue the earlier discussion about "Democracy" here. I still ask that Marx's rejection of liberal democracy should be included as well as "That all the Communist states became and remained totalitarian as long as the Communists remained in power can be seen as an argument against communism." Ultramarine21:20, 14 August 2005 (UTC)
Alright, here's a compromise: I will add this argument, but also the counter-argument that the vast majority of those states were undemocratic (and violated human rights) long before communist rule. -- Mihnea Tudoreanu21:40, 14 August 2005 (UTC)
This argument is discussed elsewhere, see "See the initial argument in "There were human rights violations before the Communists took poower" below." Ultramarine21:51, 14 August 2005 (UTC)
Your version states "Finally, in the first half of the 1980s, Hungary, with a largely collectivised agriculture, exported more agricultural products than France from an agricultural area little more than a quarter of the French (FAO production, 1986, FAO Trade vol. 40, 1986).". This is contradicted by FAO's own statistcal database . Remove or add this contradiction. Ultramarine15:08, 26 July 2005 (UTC)
I would suggest you calm down. It's not a mortal sin to move someone's text to a more appropriate section of the Talk page. Anyway, I did a FAO query of my own, and, as it turns out, all agricultural production indices are higher for Hungary than France during the early 80's (though exports are not). -- Mihnea Tudoreanu20:53, 27 July 2005 (UTC)
Such indices compare food production in the same country over time. They cannot be used to compare food production in different countries at the same time. Look at this , Hungary produces less than France however you measure. Ultramarine21:00, 27 July 2005 (UTC)
Again, you cannot easily compare countries with these indices. Note that France exported about 10 times more than Hungary, which is interesting considering that Hungary exported from "from an agricultural area little more than a quarter of the French". Ultramarine21:08, 27 July 2005 (UTC)
I would not be surprised if both claims are correct. France produced high-value cash crops for export. Thus Hungary may have produced more tonnage (such as grain and fodder for the Soviet Union) but France more cash-value, as in Ultramarine's table. I'm not sure that this can be described as a triumph of capitalism, however. Much French produce was bought by the EU's Agricultural Support Policy, with its 'butter mountains' and 'wine lakes'. Septentrionalis15:18, 29 July 2005 (UTC)
If you had bothered to read the above links you would have noticed that France produced more in almost all categories, including grain and fodder. Ultramarine03:27, 2 August 2005 (UTC)
Sentence not in present text. If it returns, it should have accompanying statistics, at least name of table and page citation. Septentrionalis17:13, 15 August 2005 (UTC)
Terrorism
"Several of the Communist states directly supported terrorist groups with money, training and safe bases. Examples include the PFLP, the Red Army Fraction, and the Japanese Red Army." There is a short chapter in Black Book of Communism about this. Please include. Ultramarine20:57, 14 August 2005 (UTC)
Hypocrisy and a double standard, yet again. Several capitalist states, including staunchly anti-communist ones, also supported terrorist groups with money, training and safe bases. The American support for Islamic fundamentalists in Afghanistan during the 80's is the most glaring example (particularly since it eventually backfired). In any case, this article is about criticisms of communism, not criticisms of things that communists, along with many others, did. Criticisms of X ideology have to be based on bad things that X ideology did and other ideologies did not do - or bad things that X ideology did to a much greater extent than others. -- Mihnea Tudoreanu09:26, 15 August 2005 (UTC)
There is no such requirement. Problems in other political systems cannot be used as an justification. Are you saying that if other nations used torture, then one cannot criticze a nation and the persons who torture? And few would argue that the Afghan resistance against the Soviet occupation was terrorism. Ultramarine10:34, 15 August 2005 (UTC)
Yes, problems in other political systems can be used as a justification. If it doesn't matter what other systems did, then you could criticize Communist states for such outlandish things as not providing every one of their citizens with a flying car, or failing to completely eliminate murder, or failing to make each and every one of their people happy, etc. You need some terms of comparison. And you just highlighted one of the problems with accusations of "terrorism": One man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter. -- Mihnea Tudoreanu10:53, 15 August 2005 (UTC)
The last is good point which should be added to the text. Still, many consider the mentioned organization to be terrorists. The support can thus be criticzed. Ultramarine12:17, 15 August 2005 (UTC)
I would say, rather, that support for the organizations has been criticized by responsible observers and that we can verify that critique. After all, we are here to document notable criticisms, not to criticize communism ourselves. Robert A West14:59, 15 August 2005 (UTC)
You evaded my main point, Ultramarine. If Communist states did something wrong that was also done by a multitude of other states, then you cannot criticize Communism in particular for it. At most, you could mention something about terrorist organizations being supported by both sides during the Cold War. -- Mihnea Tudoreanu09:56, 16 August 2005 (UTC)
There were human rights violations before the Communists took poower
"Some supporters of communism find this approach simplistic, noting that humans rights violations such as executions, forced labor camps, the repression of ethnic minorities, and mass starvation were patterns in both non-democratic Russian and Chinese history before their respective Communist takeovers. However, past evils in an old regime can hardly be used to justify new ones; otherwise supporters of Hitler could justify his deeds by pointing to past human rights crimes by the German Empire in Africa. Advocates reply that they only seek to put the events into perspective, not justify them. However, this defense can also be criticized. Alexander Solzhenitsyn argues in his book Gulag Archipelago that the living conditions and death rates of the inmates in the Soviet era Gulags were much worse than those of the Tsarist era Katorgas. The worst crop failure of late Tsarist Russia, in 1892, caused 375,000 to 400,000 deaths, while famines under both Lenin and Stalin caused many millions of deaths ." Please include the critical arguments. Ultramarine21:03, 14 August 2005 (UTC)
Past evils of an old regime can be brought up as arguments that the new regime is no worse than the old one. If the crimes of the German Empire in Africa were as bad as the Holocaust, this would make a perfectly good argument for the claim that the German Empire was no better than Hitler. Similarly, if a certain capitalist regime engaged in the same kinds of crimes as its communist successor, this would make a perfectly good argument for the claim that the capitalist regime in question was no better than the communist one. You seem to make the mistake of trying to criticize practical communist states by comparing them to liberal theory. This is unacceptable. You must compare practice with practice, not practice with theory. -- Mihnea Tudoreanu09:38, 15 August 2005 (UTC)
Hmmm. You seem to be saying what is already included. "Advocates reply that they only seek to put the events into perspective, not justify them.". Are you accepting the current version? Ultramarine10:41, 15 August 2005 (UTC)
What is your suggestion? And again, even if other nations killed more Jews than Hitler, then Hitler could still be criticzed. However, this is not the case here, the Communists were worse than the comparison. Ultramarine11:16, 15 August 2005 (UTC)
See the example I used in another discussion further above: You cannot criticize one particular Greek city-state for endorsing slavery, because all Greek city-states endorsed slavery. At most, you could criticize the entire historical period (the Ancient World) for being a time when slavery was commonplace. Do you understand now? -- Mihnea Tudoreanu09:56, 16 August 2005 (UTC)
Technology
"Soviet technology generally lagged Western technology by many years. Exceptions include areas like the Soviet space program and military technology where sometimes the Communist technology was more advanced due to a massive concentration of research resources. Generally, however, much of the technology in the Communist states consisted simply of copies of Western products that had been legally purchased or gained through a massive espionage program. Stricter Western control of the export of technology through COCOM is often cited as one of the reasons for the fall of Communism ." Please include Ultramarine21:13, 14 August 2005 (UTC)
Your text "Technological progress in the Communist states was sometimes highly uneven, in the sense that some sectors surged ahead while others lagged behind. As noted above, the Soviet space program saw remarkable progress, and so did pure science and military technology, in all Communist states. Consumer products, on the other hand, were typically several years behind their Western counterparts. According to the CIA , a number of Soviet products were in fact using Western technology, which had been either legally purchased or obtained through espionage. This situation has been largely attributed to the fact that economic planners in the Soviet Union and elsewhere were accountable to the government, but, in the absence of democracy, they were not accountable to the people. Thus, their plans tended to focus on long-term goals and scientific and military development, rather than the short-term needs of the population."
Very POV, for the most part even in the space program and military technology the Communists lagged. The same applies for pure science, for example very few Noble prize winners from Communist states. Ultramarine13:26, 16 August 2005 (UTC)
East Germany
What is the source for that East Germany was less developed than West Germany after the war? It is true that the Soviet Union seized much of the industry and railroads in East Germany and simply moved it to the Soviet Union. It is also true that many people fled to West Germany before the Berlin Wall. But these problems were caused by the Communist states and cannot thus be used as an excuse for lagging development. Ultramarine11:56, 15 August 2005 (UTC)
You are incorrect. Saxony was considered the technology center of Central Europe before WWII. Berlin was a major center of which East Germany got half. West Berlin was of doubtful value since it was isolated and the industry there instead had to be heavily subsidized by the rest of West Germany. Of course Ruhr was a major industrial center, but this does not prove that the much larger West Germany as a whole was more developed. Ultramarine21:41, 15 August 2005 (UTC)
You have not even succeeded in contradicting the text, or my enlargment on it. Berlin was a city, but it was the capital. If Ultramarine includes government expenditure as a form of development, I encourage him to include the roaring success of Moscow (and I suppose Bucharest) in the text. Mihnea will be amused. Septentrionalis22:04, 15 August 2005 (UTC)
We are discussing Germany here. Regarding Berlin "In the early decades of the 20th century, Berlin was the leading industrial city in Europe." But this was of little value to the rest of West Germany "But only heavily subsidized industry stayed within the city, creating an artificially upheld industrial economy with very little increase in value. Altogether, more than half of the city’s revenues were direct subsidies from the West German government in 1989." . Ultramarine22:19, 15 August 2005 (UTC)
You've reached contradiction; I shall rephrase.
East Germany contained Saxony, Brandenburg, Pomerania, Mecklenburg, and some of Thuringia. With the exception of the Kingdom of Saxony, which was a small part of Saxony, and the city of Berlin, these were always relatively rural districts, and remained pretty much so through 1945. Where does Ultramarine suppose the Prussian junkers came from? He thinks them very important in other discussions.
Germany's industry was in the Rhineland which had the coal, the steel, and the communications - and to some extent in Silesia, which fell to Poland. The Hohenzollerns subsidized, and the market of their capital supported, the industry of Berlin; the Nazis subsidized the armament industry nearby. The industry of both halves of Berlin was crippled by the disappearance of this support, and the limitations of trans-German trade. This was a consequence of the political and economic division of Germany, not of the particular systems which divided it. Does Ultramarine wish to argue that the Communists erred in not maintaining the Zollverein? Septentrionalis23:32, 15 August 2005 (UTC)
See my earlier comments. You make lots of claims without sources. Here is a source for Saxony being considered the technology center of Central Europe before WWII . Again, as noted, West Berlin was crippled by its isolation and its former industry was of no use to West Germany. Instead, West Germany had to heavily subsidize West Berlin. The communist states are of course to blame for this isolation, they created the Berlin Wall and sometimes blocked all land transportation to the city from West Germany. Obviously East Berlin could easily trade with the rest of East Germany and it was the Communists who stopped the exchange with West Berlin by building the Wall. Ultramarine13:15, 16 August 2005 (UTC)
I think what we have now is quite sufficient since there is no agreement on many issues for the moment. If you want to find more differences, you can check yourself. Ultramarine00:58, 25 July 2005 (UTC)
Please discuss portions of version U above this point.
I moved a the opening of a new topic to an appropriate superhead, without changing a word. What other accuracy issues are there? Septentrionalis15:56, 26 July 2005 (UTC)
This is the second time that you have edited my discussion comments. Including falsely using my signature.
I did not edit your comment. Not a jot nor tittle was changed. I moved it to where it could be more conveniently discussed. It is now (identically) in both places. Septentrionalis17:01, 29 July 2005 (UTC)
On the contrary, I see no other factual inaccuracy in the article. Whether this is one, the two of you will have to settle. Septentrionalis15:11, 29 July 2005 (UTC)
Can you show me how you reached that page - that is, how you can request such comparisons of exports and other things from the FAO website? I'm asking because I want to look more closely into this matter. -- Mihnea Tudoreanu10:16, 27 July 2005 (UTC)
Mihnea, you deleted the following text from the section on the LTV:
Critics of Marxism hold that the qualifier socially necessary is not well-defined, and conceals a subjective judgment of necessity. They also hold that market prices are in fact objectively determinable: the market price of a widget can be discovered by attempting to buy one.
The purpose of that section in this article is to discuss criticisms of the LTV. I believe this text includes major criticisms which are actually made. (Even if Marxists dismiss them as confusion, which should be added if true.) Please explain. Septentrionalis22:31, 23 July 2005 (UTC)
On closer inspection, I see that the first sentence does indeed state a real objection. I removed the paragraph due to the second one, however, which misrepresents both sides of the argument. The Marxists distinguish between use-value (which is objective, constant, and depends on the amount of socially necessary labor) and exchange-value (which is the market price). This is explained in Capital volume 1. The supporters of the STV, for their part, argue that "objective" value simply does not exist, and that the only real value of an object is its price on the market. I have no idea what the statement that "market prices are in fact objectively determinable" is supposed to refer to... -- Mihnea Tudoreanu23:34, 23 July 2005 (UTC)
That the question "What is the market price of a widget?" is answerable by independently replicable experiment. This is the sense of 'objective' I am accustomed to; but I have no objection to a rephrasing. I found the reversal neat. Septentrionalis16:15, 24 July 2005 (UTC)
But if it can be answered, replicably, then market prices are a proper subject for the scientific method. Calling them "subjective" does tend to imply that they are not. Restoring first sentence, btw. Septentrionalis18:25, 24 July 2005 (UTC)
Capitalist economists call the theory the "utility theory" of value. Could we substitute this name, and then add reproducibility?Septentrionalis21:55, 24 July 2005 (UTC)
Actually, a full name would be marginal utility theory of value, but it's often shortened to just marginal theory of value or marginalism. "Subjective theory of value" is another name given by its proponents, to distinguish it from all the objective theories of value (the LTV isn't the only one). I'll just change its name in this article to "marginal theory of value", and then we'll no longer need that confusing disclaimer about objective measurement. -- Mihnea Tudoreanu10:26, 25 July 2005 (UTC)
(reverting to full size) I believe there is a distinction here.
The capitalist economists changed (c. 1870, IIRC) to the utility theory of value which implies that the only "value" meaningful to everybody is market value.
Marginalism is a later refinement on this, dealing with how market functions in deciding any individual price.
See Russell's History of Western Philosophy, chapter on Marx. But the criticisms in Socially necessary labour time are sufficient to establish that LTV has been criticized for not defining its terms well. What criticisms of LTV were you planning to include, btw? Septentrionalis16:52, 25 July 2005 (UTC)
Not yet ready for consideration for promotion
I my view, the dust needs to settle over the war between some contributors before even thinking of making this a featured article. It's the kind of subject matter that contributors need to have a rest from, then return with fresh eyes.
Just a trivial, but irritating, point: why is 'Communism' and related words spelt with an upper-case C?
To distinguish the proper name, "Communist Party", and institutions related to it (which have C) from the doctrine, ideal condition, or general tendency "communism". Few of these criticisms apply to Peter Kropotkin or William Morris. (Capitalizing "State" is traditional in the Left, including the non-Communist Left.) Septentrionalis18:35, 8 August 2005 (UTC)
And can we remove statements such as 'This has been criticized ...'; by whom it never says, and why not just present the facts. The readers can draw their own conclusions.
I concur in general. However, the fact of criticism is what demonstrates that a particular subject is on-topic, in this article. Septentrionalis18:35, 8 August 2005 (UTC)
In which case, we need to know who is criticising in each case, either by brief reference in the wording, or a footnote. Otherwise, the text loses credibility.
Tony13:35, 9 August 2005 (UTC)
I see; Ultramarine's edit summary was incorrect: he did correct one misspelling, and add one word, while revising the 2V tag; it was the reversion beforehand that was identical. I regret the minimal misapprehension. Septentrionalis16:50, 13 August 2005 (UTC)
Consolidated version
The consolidated version now contains everything common to version M and U; it contains substantially everything that was in either version, and which two editors have not deprecated. (In particular, it does not contain the disputed comparison between France and Hungary.)
A single editor reverting to version U, or any edit which differs from it by a few sentences, will involve, therefore:
Massive, unjustified, deletions.
insertion of material which two editors have separately removed.
For the avowed purpose of making this article a criticism of communism, rather than a discussion of such criticisms.
Any of these would be sufficient grounds for re-reversion.
In addition, such reversions restore the critics say... Supporters say... style, which has been justly condemned above.
I do wish Ultramarine would stop shooting himself in the foot with these silly reversions, which waste everybody's time. Edits to the consolidated version are welcome, and will be viewed on their merits. They may well stay; no-one contends the present version is flawless. Septentrionalis16:50, 13 August 2005 (UTC)
This is an incorrect and misleading description. See the previous discussion above. There are also many other documented facts in the more critical version that are not mentioned in the other version. Ultramarine16:53, 13 August 2005 (UTC)
Misleading descriptions
This is itself a misleading description, as are Ultramarine's edit summaries. Ultramarine's versions have been changing by a word or a sentence between times; for example, his latest version differs from his earlier ones by:
a claim by Ukraina that Stalin's agricultural policies were genocide,
and a generality about the opening of Communist archives
I would welcome both in the consolidated version if he cares to add them; although the first seems incomplete - Stalin was willing to starve peasants of any nationality.
Aside from this handful of new sentences, I believe everything in U has either been added to the consolidated version or objected to above. Septentrionalis18:08, 13 August 2005 (UTC)
This is again incorrect, here are some of the changes and added facts that are not covered in the discussion above . I have not yet added them to the discussion, because, as I have noted previously, most of the past discussions are still not resolved. Ultramarine18:20, 13 August 2005 (UTC)
I have read both versions, and while there are substantive differences, I just don't see the vast divide that a twoversion tag suggests. Robert A West18:53, 13 August 2005 (UTC)
Several editors are violating the two-version templates by reverting to the less critical version. The more critical version was the first to use the template, thus it should not be reverted without consensus. In addition, they even refuse to update the template to the latest version of the more critical version when they revert. Are they afraid to let others see the content and arguments? Explain. Ultramarine19:44, 14 August 2005 (UTC)
Being the first to use the two-version template does not grant you immunity from reversion. If it did, then a user could do the following:
Write an extremely biased and/or inaccurate version of an article.
After that version gets reverted once, re-revert and insert the 2V template.
Refuse to engage in any meaningful discussion on the Talk page and use the 2V template as an excuse to keep the biased and/or inaccurate version on top forever.
Incidentally, this is precisely what you are trying to do. For a while you agreed to discuss and debate, and we agreed to insert many of your points and arguments into our version. Thus, the two versions of the article are now (1) a collaboration by several users, including yourself (aka the "less critical version"), and (2) your pet article, which is absurdly biased (aka the "more critical version"). The rule of consensus cannot be used to give one POV-pusher the power to impose his will on all other editors. -- Mihnea Tudoreanu19:51, 14 August 2005 (UTC)
This is incorrect. I have incorporated many of your points in my version and as you have done in yours. However, we now see to have reached a deadlock where you simply refuse to correct obvious npov violations like mentioning continuing environmental problems in Russia while refusing to mention environmental improvements in Eastern Europe. See earlier discussion. Therefore, the importance of the two-version.
No, you have not. Your version is absurdly biased, Ultramarine, and everyone but you seems to notice that. Your version is the wiki equivalent of a show trial. You intentionally reduce all pro-communist arguments to easily refuted straw men. Just listing all the NPOV violations in your version would take hours, and I sincerely doubt it would have any effect on you anyway. -- Mihnea Tudoreanu20:13, 14 August 2005 (UTC)
Again, why are some of you refusing to update the two-version template to the latest version of the more critical version? Are you afraid to let others see the content and arguments? This criticsm does not include Mihnea Tudoreanu, who has also often been constructive in the above debate before the deadlock. Ultramarine20:05, 14 August 2005 (UTC)
These are the diffs between the recent forms of Ultramarine's private version:
None of them has added more than a few sentences - one is exact. I see no real difference in the arguments. I find all of them about equally formidable. Septentrionalis12:42, 16 August 2005 (UTC)
The difference
There are two versions of this article at the present time: One is a collaboration, the other is Ultramarine's pet. The single largest difference between them is that the collaboration is the result of editing efforts by several users, including Ultramarine himself. He has brought several objections to the content of the collaboration version. Some of those objections have been resolved, others are still in discussion. On the other hand, Ultramarine's pet article is the work of no one but Ultramarine himself, and there are a multitude of objections that other users could bring to it - starting from the intro, which blatantly censors a piece of information that is present in the collaboration version. -- Mihnea Tudoreanu20:13, 14 August 2005 (UTC)
Again, this is incorrect. I have made numerous changes due to the earlier discussion, before the above mentioned deadlock. I have also continually incorporated text and arguments from the less critical version without discussion. Ultramarine20:17, 14 August 2005 (UTC)
That's just the thing: You incorporated bits and pieces from the collaboration version, and rewrote them in ways you saw fit. Your version is yours and yours alone. Here's my suggestion for breaking the deadlock: Rather than reverting to your pet article all the time, edit the collaboration version to show us exactly what you have in mind. It's much easier to work that way. -- Mihnea Tudoreanu20:28, 14 August 2005 (UTC)
As I see it, there are two version: Ultramarine's and a collaborative version, to which Ultramarine has contributed extensively. The 2V tag was intended for temporary use only, and is tolerated only on the understanding that its use will be transient, while people seek out consensus. See Misplaced Pages:Templates for deletion/Log/Not deleted/May 2005#Template:Twoversions. At this point, the two-version tag seems to be doing more harm than good. I propose to remove the two-version tag, keep the collaborative version as the only version, and actively encourage Ultramarine to participate in improving it.
Please vote agree or oppose and sign with ~~~~ below. I propose that 75% be considered consensus.
Agree As the list of disagreements above shows, the points of dispute are far fewer than the differences between the two versions seem to indicate. If you must revert anything, Ultramarine, please edit and revert only the paragraphs disputed above. Mihnea Tudoreanu20:55, 14 August 2005 (UTC)
I can see no mention of it being temporary. A poll in this case is meaningless, Misplaced Pages requires consensus. I suggest mediation, instead of trying to force a removal of much of the criticisms of communism without debate. Ultramarine20:49, 14 August 2005 (UTC)
I agree with mediation. I also agree with removing the 2V template, if only to encourage you to work within the collaborative version (something you rarely, if ever, seem to do). If you want to add something, then why don't you just add it to the collaborative version? -- Mihnea Tudoreanu20:55, 14 August 2005 (UTC)
I assert consensus has already been reached: A poll is about the only method of measuring that assertion. There is a consensus on Misplaced Pages that 75% support strongly indicates a consensus. Frankly, I will be surprised if anyone but Ultramarine opposes. Robert A West21:06, 14 August 2005 (UTC)
Again, Wikipdia require consensus in cases like this. Please do not again violate policy. Debate, do not simply delete arguments you do not like. By the way, I added some new arguments above. Ultramarine21:30, 14 August 2005 (UTC)
Unless you misunderstand "consensus" as meaning "unanimity" (it doesn't), I am not sure what to make of your comment. What policy do you claim I have violated wrt this page? Please be specific. Robert A West21:36, 14 August 2005 (UTC)
Actually, if anyone violated policy there, it was you. The fact that the collaborative version had been worked on by multiple editors for some time as the "A" version of the 2V manifestly establishes that was the consensus. Your revert was improper, and I properly reverted, as did Minhea. Robert A West21:49, 14 August 2005 (UTC)
More on consensus from your link "In article disputes, consensus is used as if it means anything from genuine consensus to my position; it is possible to see both sides of a back-and-forth revert war claiming a consensus for their version of the article.
This is deprecated behavior. You are the one using "consensus" to mean "your way". Again, I assert that consensus is manifest, and this poll is intended to demonstrate that. Robert A West21:49, 14 August 2005 (UTC)
Note that consensus can only work among reasonable editors who are making a good faith effort to work together to accurately and appropriately describe the different views on the subject. (e.g. insisting on insertion of an insignificant factoid into an article in opposition to many other editors has been judged a violation of consensus; see Misplaced Pages:Requests for arbitration/Charles Darwin-Lincoln dispute.)
Can you not see your face in the mirror when you read the above paragraph? You are the one not acting in good faith. You are the one adopting an imperious tone of do-it-this-way-or-else. You are the one who repeatedly tries to insert pictures of dubious connection. Robert A West21:53, 14 August 2005 (UTC)
Specifying exactly what constitutes a reasonable or rational position is difficult. Nearly every editor believes that their position is reasonable; good editors acknowledge that positions opposed to their own are also reasonable. But Misplaced Pages's consensus practice does not justify stubborn insistence on an eccentric position combined with refusal to consider other viewpoints in good faith. With respect to good faith, no amount of emphasized assertions that you are editing according to Misplaced Pages:Neutral point of view while engaging in biased editing will serve to paper over the nature of your activities.
Again, I could not have said it better. There is a fine line between accurately reporting the criticisms of communist states (and it has been often noted that their conduct strayed far from anything Marx envisioned), and writing an article in condemnation. Many of your proposed edits cross it, and your protestations of NPOV do not hide that fact. Other edits do not, which is why people want you to stay involved. But. you seem to have a problem admitting the rationality of positions to which you are opposed, and seem to have trouble recognizing balance when you see it. Please take this paragraph to heart. Robert A West21:58, 14 August 2005 (UTC)
Consensus should not trump NPOV (or any other official policy). A group of editors advocating a viewpoint do not, in theory, overcome the policy expressed in Misplaced Pages:What Misplaced Pages is not concerning advocacy and propaganda. However, a group of editors may be able to shut out certain facts and points of view through persistence, numbers, and organization. This group of editors should not agree to an article version that violates NPOV, but on occasion will do so anyway. This is generally agreed to be a bad thing." Ultramarine21:44, 14 August 2005 (UTC)
If you have some magical method of actually measuring NPOV, then please, let us see it. So far it has been your word against ours (or rather, your word against the word of everyone else who looked over the article and the dispute). But I guess you think this is all one giant communist conspiracy to prevent your holy Truth from being rightfully proclaimed by wikipedia, don't you? -- Mihnea Tudoreanu08:58, 15 August 2005 (UTC)
At some point, as a practical matter, a decision has to be made on what is and is not NPOV as regards a particular article. The Misplaced Pages method is that if there is consensus that NPOV has been reached, or approximated as closely as we are going to get, that is the end of the story. Wikifaith holds that failures of this method will not go undiscovered. You are bright and energetic. A little intellectual discipline and collegiality would go far. Robert A West22:05, 14 August 2005 (UTC)
If you try to remove the two version template without consensus, without trying to debate with arguments as I do above, and without trying mediation, then I will have to ask for page protection to prevent the edit war which the two-version template has as a purpose to prevent. Ultramarine22:15, 14 August 2005 (UTC)
Please consider for 24 hours before you commit yourself to this, which borders upon abusing policy to win an edit war. The two of us have requested mediation twice, and if anything comes of those requests, I am certainly still willing to submit to mediation. For what it's worth, I support the continued presence of the NPoV tag; there clearly is a dispute, and I am not sure I see the present text clearly after this long discussion. Septentrionalis22:50, 14 August 2005 (UTC)
This is a strange description. If you remove the two-version template then it is you who "borders upon abusing policy to win an edit war.". Or rather, who abuses policy in order to remove critical arguments. Instead, let others see them and use factual arguments. Is there something dangerous about letting others read them and form their own opinion? Ultramarine23:00, 14 August 2005 (UTC)
Your threat is irrelevant: No one is proposing to remove the tag without consensus. The poll exists to measure my belief that a consensus already exists. So far, the results support that conclusion, but we need to give this some more time. Robert A West23:22, 14 August 2005 (UTC)
