The very nature of private ownership of the means of production creates incredible amounts of stress for people living under capitalist regimes. Everyone lives in daily terror of losing their job. Losing your source of income means that you are no longer able to meet your basic needs such as housing, food, and healthcare. The anxiety about job security and debt accumulation is something that’s constantly at the back of everyone’s minds. Additionally, many capitalist nations do not have guaranteed retirement, shifting the burden of retirement savings onto individuals, leading to worries about financial security in old age.

These are the kinds of worries that people living in socialist societies, such as the USSR, could not even begin to comprehend. USSR implemented policies of guaranteed employment, universal healthcare, free housing, and comprehensive social welfare programs. These measures provided citizens with a sense of security and dignity, removing a whole class of anxieties associated with meeting basic needs. It’s also worth noting that historical examples such as Hungary and contemporary models like China demonstrate that socialist principles can be combined with market economics addressing the main criticism of USSR style economy.

To sum up, capitalist relations introduce unique stressors related to meeting basic needs, which socialist societies address through systemic guarantees, thereby ensuring true freedoms for the people. These guarantees liberate the working class from the constant worry of survival, creating a society where human dignity and well-being are prioritized.

  • happybadger [he/him]@hexbear.netEnglish
    10·
    27 days ago

    “THERE were two “Reigns of Terror,” if we would but remember it and consider it; the one wrought murder in hot passion, the other in heartless cold blood; the one lasted mere months, the other had lasted a thousand years; the one inflicted death upon ten thousand persons, the other upon a hundred millions; but our shudders are all for the “horrors” of the minor Terror, the momentary Terror, so to speak; whereas, what is the horror of swift death by the axe, compared with lifelong death from hunger, cold, insult, cruelty, and heart-break? What is swift death by lightning compared with death by slow fire at the stake? A city cemetery could contain the coffins filled by that brief Terror which we have all been so diligently taught to shiver at and mourn over; but all France could hardly contain the coffins filled by that older and real Terror—that unspeakably bitter and awful Terror which none of us has been taught to see in its vastness or pity as it deserves.”

    • Mark Twain
    • eldavi@lemmy.mlEnglish
      8·
      27 days ago

      my journey into theory has been greatly slowed down by american & other western authors, poets, activists, etc. that all seem to have unknowingly mirrored the summarized dialectics extolled by marx or engels alike and i’m thankful for them since their prose is much more relatable to me and serve as a gateway drug into understanding the ultra dense material of theory.