The failure of capitalism (again)

[svr]

I would hasten to add that there is one very prolific contributor who always equates capitalism as the extreme. What I am saying is that there is a way without the extremes. The trouble is greed, power and corruption precludes that happening.

Early Socialist thought was actually wonderfully utopian and idealistic - encompassing timeless humanistic values. The recent bloody Marxist regimes (= State seizure of assets, ideological repression, `temporary' dictatorship, etc) were clearly far removed from those values.
Perhaps the real tragedy of the failure of `actual existing socialism' is that we no longer believe that there can be something better / more humane / more sustainable than the the current global corporate antidemocratic nightmare. The scariest bit is that Capitalism has itself become an ideologically sealed system with no real opposition.

[davereid]

...bloody Marxist regimes (= State seizure of assets,.. etc) were clearly far removed from those values....

The seizure of assets is how socialism works.
It's an absolutely necessary part of any socialist system.

If the state did not seize your assets (particularly your income) by force, it would be relying on voluntary donations.

We would call that charity !

[MisterD]

The scariest bit is that Capitalism has itself become an ideologically sealed system with no real opposition.

The trouble is that capitalism has become bastardised too - there is no place in capitalism for government-imposed trade barriers.

[Robert Taylor]

The seizure of assets is how socialism works.
It's an absolutely necessary part of any socialist system.

If the state did not seize your assets (particularly your income) by force, it would be relying on voluntary donations.

We would call that charity !

Actually in some ways socialism can be more insidious than communism, ''communism in drag'' as it were. I suspect many of our so called leaders are in fact closet communists and they have worked their way into power via a false front. Such people are just as corrupt as the uncaring types of capitalists.

[svr]

Communism was supposed to be the later (transcendent) form of post-state socialism. The State never withered of course, it grew.
The idea of the extended family, friends and associates living / working with shared production resources minus landlords / taxmen / central government / wars / fat-rich-bastards taking all the money and hot women etc. was a general utopian dream long before Capitalism or Marx's critique or theory of History.
Now that individual property rights are conceptually inalienable no such form of communism / socialism is really possible or even desirable, apparently.
A few pesky flies in the global capitalist champagne of course - the bloodiest century in human history, escalating state violence `legitimized' by stupid fearful masses, mass economic poverty, real exploitation, spiritual poverty, imminent collapse of our biological life-systems, etc., for a few starters. Enlightenment derailed!
In terms of how we collectively satisfy our needs and wants, maybe its time again for some big, bright ideas?