Re:

[Doug Henwood <dhenwood@xxxxxxxxx>]

Louis Proyect wrote:

>The problem in making any kind of comparison at all in this context is that
>is altogether impossible to isolate the countries in question from the Cold
>War and its impact on economic development. For example, on the face of it
>West Germany "proves" that capitalism is superior to socialism, given the
>example of East Germany. At least that was what I was taught in high
>school. What I wasn't taught is that Stalin stuck to the letter of the law
>and prohibited re-industrialization of the East under terms of the treaty
>ending WWII. Furthermore, East Germany was primarily agricultural. Also,
>there was nothing quite like the Marshall Plan for East Germany and other
>European East Bloc nations. The Soviet Union had lost all of its industrial
>infrastructure in the Western 1/3 of the country and the death of millions
>of its citizens.

Well of course Lou; I was disagreeing with your characterization of China's
growth record as "spectacular." I'm certainly not trying to argue for the
superiority of capitalism. Again using Maddison's numbers, you can a lot
more fairly apply that word to the Soviet growth record - 5.6% a year from
1929-40, and 3.9% from 1948-70. I wasn't taught that in high school, and
I'm guessing you weren't either.

Doug