Re: Query from a Venezuelan

[Grant Lee <grantlee@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Louis,

> But I said that the right to work in a capitalist country, including
> Chavez's Venezuela or Peron's Argentina, is not the same thing as job
> entitlements in Cuba or the USSR, for that matter. This is a fundamental
> distinction.

What are "job entitlements" really, when the alternative is a labour camp or
prison? One difference between communism in an underdeveloped country and
communism in a developed country is that unless there is forced labour in
the former case, development will not be possible. Both being distinct from
the vague threat of unemployment, to workers in state capitalist industries
which have generally been nationalised to _avoid_ the threat that mass
unemployment poses to accumulation.

> It is what Brus characterized as the Achilles heel of the
> Soviet model. Unless you have the lash of unemployment, there will be
> "inefficiencies".

There are also "inefficiencies" in the remaining state capitalist industries
in developed countries, although these "inefficiencies" are disguised by the
fact that the undustries concerned are also generally natural monopolies.

> I guess you won't be satisfied with anything less than world communism.
> What ideas do you have about getting there?

I'm not inclined to discuss tactics on an economics mailing list.

> I won't even ask you if you
> have ever been an activist. That wouldn't be fair.

The tone there betrays a problem with _your_ approach.