The very many questions-not-worth-their-own-thread question thread XXVII

[Borachio]

Awning (hinged at the top), or hopper (hinged at the bottom), windows! New names to me.

 

[PlutonianEmpire]

Are you thinking casement windows? Those are the ones that swing outwards from the side rather than sliding back and forth or up and down.

That's probably what I'm looking for. The side hung from the first link sounds similar as well. Thanks guys.

 

[Mouthwash]

Is it accurate to say (as my school taught) that China now has a market economy but retains a "communist government?" Is that even a coherent concept? Or should China just be thought of as a late-modern oligarchy which uses the term communism as doublespeak?

 

[Cutlass]

The current Chinese economy doesn't actually fit any model. But rather has parts of it which act in pretty much every model. There are communist parts of it, socialist parts, capitalist parts, wild west free market parts, mixed economy parts. It's really a god-awful mess. As to their government, the Communist Party controls the government. But that doesn't mean that the government is communist.

 

[Tahuti]

Is it accurate to say (as my school taught) that China now has a market economy but retains a "communist government?" Is that even a coherent concept? Or should China just be thought of as a late-modern oligarchy which uses the term communism as doublespeak?

The current Chinese economy doesn't actually fit any model. But rather has parts of it which act in pretty much every model. There are communist parts of it, socialist parts, capitalist parts, wild west free market parts, mixed economy parts. It's really a god-awful mess. As to their government, the Communist Party controls the government. But that doesn't mean that the government is communist.

From a Marxist perspective, building Capitalism is necessary step in the transition away from the Old World Order (which reactionaries like myself fancy). To be a Communist is to want to build a Communist society. Since Capitalism is a necessary precondition for Communism, there is no contradiction between being a Capitalist and a Communist. However, most Capitalists are Anti-Communists. Plenty of Communists are - rather self-defeatingly - Anti-Capitalists as well, attempting to destroy Capitalism before it can eat away the final remnants of the throne & altar.

 

[SS-18 ICBM]

How does one say "Frag out!" in the languages of the other permanent members of the UNSC?

 

[Traitorfish]

Is it accurate to say (as my school taught) that China now has a market economy but retains a "communist government?" Is that even a coherent concept? Or should China just be thought of as a late-modern oligarchy which uses the term communism as doublespeak?

I don't think that "Communist government" is applicable to China, although it's not the fact that it presides over a market economy, because all Communist-governed states were market economies, but the kind of market economics the government operates with. "Communist government" suggests a Stalinist, state-driven economic policy, but China is as fundamentally neoliberal as anywhere in Europe.

 

[cardgame]

From a Marxist perspective, building Capitalism is necessary step in the transition away from the Old World Order (which reactionaries like myself fancy). To be a Communist is to want to build a Communist society. Since Capitalism is a necessary precondition for Communism, there is no contradiction between being a Capitalist and a Communist. However, most Capitalists are Anti-Communists. Plenty of Communists are - rather self-defeatingly - Anti-Capitalists as well, attempting to destroy Capitalism before it can eat away the final remnants of the throne & altar.

So... a truly devoted commie would in fact be a robber baron capitalist to promote how bad capitalism is?

Sounds like a self-fulfilling prophecy (look how bad capitalism is when we purposely allow/influence it to be terrible!) when you could just have democratic socialism instead.

 

[Joecoolyo]

So... a truly devoted commie would in fact be a robber baron capitalist to promote how bad capitalism is?

Sounds like a self-fulfilling prophecy (look how bad capitalism is when we purposely allow/influence it to be terrible!) when you could just have democratic socialism instead.

I think the idea is that Marxist history follows a straight path, and you cannot skip over any of the steps in order to reach the end, which is communism. You can't skip directly from feudalism and go straight to communism, first you need the capitalist step in order to create a working class. Who, in turn, would overthrow the capitalist middle class and create communism.

I've probably got it wrong, but I think that's the jist of it. It's why a lot of communists derided Mao, since he tried to create a working class out of peasants, as opposed to industrial workers.

 

[Cheezy the Wiz]

I think the idea is that Marxist history follows a straight path, and you cannot skip over any of the steps in order to reach the end, which is communism. You can't skip directly from feudalism and go straight to communism, first you need the capitalist step in order to create a working class. Who, in turn, would overthrow the capitalist middle class and create communism.

I've probably got it wrong, but I think that's the jist of it. It's why a lot of communists derided Mao, since he tried to create a working class out of peasants, as opposed to industrial workers.

You do have it wrong. I'll explain in the morning, but the idea that capitalism must precede communism is a teleological argument, and Marxism is not teleological.

 

[Mouthwash]

You do have it wrong. I'll explain in the morning, but the idea that capitalism must precede communism is a teleological argument, and Marxism is not teleological.

How so? I don't see anything teleological in it.

 

[Ajidica]

You do have it wrong. I'll explain in the morning, but the idea that capitalism must precede communism is a teleological argument, and Marxism is not teleological.

If I understood it right, the Bolsheviks and Lenin believed a 'capitalist-ish' phase was necessary to develop proletarian class-consciousness.
Or perhaps I'm confusing the Bolshevik economic plan with their cultural goals for a unique proletarian culture.

Once we leave the Cheka my understanding of Revolutionary Russia begins to drop off until we hit Kruschev.

 

[Traitorfish]

Marx was a theorist of capitalism, so speculation as to the possibility of achieving a communist society without passing through a capitalist "stage" are really outside the terms of Marxist theory.

 

[Tahuti]

I don't think that "Communist government" is applicable to China, although it's not the fact that it presides over a market economy, because all Communist-governed states were market economies, but the kind of market economics the government operates with. "Communist government" suggests a Stalinist, state-driven economic policy, but China is as fundamentally neoliberal as anywhere in Europe.

First of all, 'neoliberal' isn't a thing. It is a buzzword invented by socialists that were too lazy to study classical liberal lines of thinking. Basically, this is the socialist equivalent of libertarians screaming "socialism = Stalinism". What is often meant by neoliberalism is a general policy of deregulation - except monetary policies - to further social democratic and social liberal goals, notions that are fairly non-existent in China.

While China is Capitalist (along with being Communist), it also a highly regimented economy. It is legally speaking extremely hard to start new businesses and almost all succesful Chinese businesses were spinoffs of governmental (like Lenovo). Eminent domain is nearly impossible to contest, unlike the West. Simply put, China will not spawn a Silicon Valley in its current state. The current way of thinking of the Chinese government is highly teleological, which in stark contrast with the West's decentralising tendencies. It is also highly fragile, given that one false cog will cause the machine of the Chinese Communist Party to breakdown.

 

[Traitorfish]

Fair enough.

 

[Chukchi Husky]

What makes a book a kid's book?

 

[Cutlass]

What makes a book a kid's book?

The intended audience and the level of difficulty. If an author is creating for a given age range, he'll consider the average abilities of kids in that range. Books will be shorter, the writing will be simpler, the plots will be less complex.

 

[Mouthwash]

Marx was a theorist of capitalism, so speculation as to the possibility of achieving a communist society without passing through a capitalist "stage" are really outside the terms of Marxist theory.

That seems like the perfect area of expertise to make that sort of judgment.

 

[PlutonianEmpire]

I have an AK Designs gaming chair, but it is old and wobbly; is a there a way I can fix it? It is an Octane.

 

[Cutlass]

look for any screws or bolts that are loose, and tighten them up. if that doesn't work, you're probably out of luck.