January 14, 2009

The communist conundrum

It is a riddle that has perplexed proponents of communism since the days of Marx and Engels: How do you get people to produce, to work, to give all they have in exchange for a meager existence devoid of personal freedom? So far, the only way they have been able to obtain this is at the point of a gun, but that is not really finding a solution to the riddle. In reality there is no answer to the riddle because human nature precludes one from giving their all in exchange for nothing.

So when one reads a headline such as "Young Cubans not interested in getting jobs," it really should not be a surprise to anyone. Why would a young Cuban want to become just another slave making his slave master richer while he or she continues to live in squalor? Of course Cubans will seek another way to make their life better because working for their slave master provides them with very little and deprives of them of all their freedom and dignity.

The Cuban dictatorship, of course, is not happy with this latest trend of disobedience, and in their love of labels and slogans, they have taken to labeling these young Cubans who are fighting back against their master as "lazy," practitioners of "idleness," and an "ideological danger" to the social order.

Although I disagree with their first two labels, I do agree that these young Cubans are an ideological danger to the regime simply because the regime does not have the resources to escort at gunpoint each and every young man or woman to work. And the worst part for them is that things such as this are contagious. Just what could the regime do if more and more Cubans decided they were just not going to work for the slave masters?

Just imagine what would happen if the slaves one day decided they were not going to work anymore? Now that is what I would call a communist conundrum.

Posted by Alberto de la Cruz at January 14, 2009 10:12 AM

Comments

Alberto, you silly boy. Communism, or its current form by a different name, doesn't have to actually make sense or work in practice. It just has to be fashionable or trendy enough, and get suitable PR from the usual suspects. THAT, unfortunately, works only too well.

Posted by: asombra [TypeKey Profile Page] at January 14, 2009 10:24 AM

the only pure socialism is what is practiced in the Kibbutzim in Israel. In that microcosm it works. Those in the Kibbutz choose to be there. They all work as a collective and provide for each other.

If one does not fit in or want to be there, they leave. It's voluntary. Human nature being what it is and the thirst for power being what it is, it is clear that the system cannot work in a nation state without degenerating into totalitarianism.

Posted by: Cigar Mike Pancier [TypeKey Profile Page] at January 14, 2009 10:46 AM

Sounds like they're getting ready to do away with the ration book. The real question is whether they will start offering incentives to workers in the form of higher pay.

Posted by: Mariana [TypeKey Profile Page] at January 14, 2009 06:12 PM


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