I suspect few people understand the difference between socialism and communism, or how the communism you desire is different from what was implemented in the USSR historically. I'd love to hear your thoughts Bla.
Hijacking this to another thread :b
I think the USSR made some big mistakes on the democracy side and after Stalin took over, degenerated into a very oppressive society that I don't support, which it didn't properly recover from after the de-Stalinization.
Economically USSR's military was also a gigantic burden on its production and one of the main reason why its economy ended up falling apart, but I can understand why they focused so much on it despite their historically much smaller economy compared to the west, given the threats from the west, the second world war and many western interventions in the revolution to begin with. But I think the USSR wasted too many resources on its military and that it ended up being larger than necessary in the situation (especially their nuke stockpile).
But the situation that USSR was in when it was created and the historical events that shaped its history are also very different from the conditions that I usually think about when considering my ideology. In a developed country like many countries in the west, with technology like the internet and computers, there is a good infrastructure to create a planned economy based on a strong direct democractic influence in the economy and openly sharing information about the planning process, where the internet technology can be used more efficiently in determining the needs and problems in the economy compared to the older communication methods.
As for the differencies between socialism and communism, this is how I see them:
Socialism is a society with a fully planned economy, but where wages are still distributed based on the quality and quantity of people's work (unless they are judged unable to work for physical or mental reasons).
"From each according to their ability, to each according to their contribution."
Here wages still play as a factor in people's motivation to work (a role that should decrease over time to transition to a more need-based economy), and I'm not completely sure about what should be considered basic human rights and what should be granted in return for wages. Some examples of the services that I think should be universally granted in any socialist society are healthcare, clothing and collective transport. Housing/shelter I am also strongly leaning towards, but not food and luxuries. The extreme housing inequality that capitalism leaves behind would probably take decades to repair and balance, however.
Socialist societies in the past have proven, unlike capitalist ones, to be able to make unemployment virtually non-existant, and of course, if the state cannot supply work to some fraction of the work force for a period, that is the state's fault and not the jobless work force's fault, and the state should also cover their food and other fundamental needs. The distribution of income in this socialist society should be vastly more equal than that found in capitalism, where clearly bankers and those playing the stock economy game clearly do not work hundreds of times harder than a farmer or smith, but some people might earn somewhat more than others.
However, it should also be a harshly punished crime to refuse to work if you are capable of it.
In this socialist society, since the state sets all wages, taxes should also lose their meaning, as reducing wages becomes the exact same thing as increasing tax rate.
Communism is the future vision of a classless society where goods are distributed according to need. I don't think I follow Marxism completely here, because I see the most important factor in making this society possible as technology, which eventually replace humans in work completely.
I've written down some of my ideological goals here in a more general sense than to apply to the situation in specific countries and plan to expand and improve it over time:
http://www.nationstates.net/nation=blaist_blaland/detail=factbook/id=39987
