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Having never lived in a socialist country, but having seen the effects up close and having read about them extensively, my model of Marxist-Leninist states is t

Having never lived in a socialist country, but having seen the effects up close and having read about them extensively, my model of Marxist-Leninist states is that they are basically giant corporations that produce everything and employ everyone within the boundaries of a state. Imagine Walmart, but they produce everything, employ everyone, "Loss Prevention" runs a corporation-wide spying ring (with incentives for turning in your fellow employees), HR has show trials and prisons/camps for anyone who might be causing low worker morale. Management releases quarterly numbers that are extremely rosy, mainly for the benefit of the board (the Politburo or maybe Central Committee) and the shareholders (the Party), though this is mainly to enforce which talking points to discuss; none of them can say anything but disparaging things about the competition (bourgeois capitalist-imperialist states), nor acknowledge any progress they may have achieved. Above all, management wants everyone to know that they are actually a giant family. I'm not sure how far off this is, but socialist propaganda always reminds me of corporate BS I've seen over the course of my career. At least with a corporation, I can leave.

Viliam1234 6y ago
Your model is nice, but it is missing one important step: At the beginning of the experiment, all people who were not at the bottom of the company pyramid are shot, and their roles are filled by randomly selected remaining employees. So the company starts with nobody in the management having any idea about anything, and it takes a few decades of trial and error to regain some knowledge about how to run things. In the meanwhile, many employees starve to death. At the end, Wallmart finally regains its former functionality. The management proudly opens the windows that have been locked for decades. On the outside, they see drones flying everywhere, a personal teleport at every street corner, and rockets regularly flying to Mars. In despair, the entire project is abandoned.

Viliam1234 6y ago

Your model is nice, but it is missing one important step: At the beginning of the experiment, all people who were not at the bottom of the company pyramid are shot, and their roles are filled by randomly selected remaining employees. So the company starts with nobody in the management having any idea about anything, and it takes a few decades of trial and error to regain some knowledge about how to run things. In the meanwhile, many employees starve to death. At the end, Wallmart finally regains its former functionality. The management proudly opens the windows that have been locked for decades. On the outside, they see drones flying everywhere, a personal teleport at every street corner, and rockets regularly flying to Mars. In despair, the entire project is abandoned.