Does not the Soviet Union, whose every aspect was controlled by the government, resemble an all-powerful company? A monopoly that, through a close-knit band of powerful men, dictate all conditions within the country?
Is this, a corrupt, omnipotent union, something the first and true communists would have dreaded? Would they not realize this mockery of the name of Communism?
I tend to think of state-communism as a one big-all-powerful monopoly. That’s one, if not the, reason why they fail.
The USA is actually a nearly perfect implementation of Communism! The USA has a fake free market, rather than a really free market.
Actually, someone who considers themselves a “true” communist would argue that the Soviet empire was not communism. I’ve decided that I prefer Marxism more because most “communists” are actually referring to that it seems, rather than Soviet “communism”.
Marxists seem to want the abolition of private property. Of course, we already know how that turned out for the pilgrims… not that any Austrian economist couldn’t have predicted it anyway.
No, it is a government. Only governments can sponsor monopolies. An company apart from the government can only depend on its customers. A company who has government protectiion in the upkeep of a monopoly is simply part of the government or will at some time be a part of the government.
Given that governments are monopolist, and given the overarching monopoly of the communist state: the USSR was a monolithic monopoly.
Bolsheviks like Lenin actually had sympathy for a ‘free market’. You can refer to Lenin’s Imperialism to know more. In the book, Lenin points out to some period in the 19th century which according to him was a really free economy without monopoly nuisance; but that which didn’t last long, mainly because of the bankers-politicians nexus.
There are many essays of Lenin which wanted democratic workers’ councils handling production.
The Soviet Union was far away from anything Lenin dreamt of!
i’ve heard that the Soviet Union was only Soviet for the first 4 years(1917-1921). After that, Lenin started allowing private property or something to that effect.