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No, most “communist” countries (and I use the term loosely because really they were just state capitalist) owned many different companies, rather than being par

No, most “communist” countries (and I use the term loosely because really they were just state capitalist) owned many different companies, rather than being part of one mega government corporation.

handmodel 5y ago
Its all a spectrum but I think in practice the above statement is meaningful. In the USSR the government set ranges of wages that different firms/administrators could give out. I guess in practice you had some choice but not if you had one entity with practically unlimited negotiating power.
- inglor_cz 5y ago
  There were political differences, though. At least in the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic where I grew up. First of all, there were some collectively owned enterprises (cooperatives), which were a tiny bit more independent than directly state owned business. They could deviate a little from the strict, centrally directed price and wage norms etc. Second, even in the state owned sector, there was some diversity among political attitudes. Some directors were more pragmatic and would be willing to employ even people whose cadre record was tainted (e.g. a relative defected to the West). Some directors were hardcore Communists who would never tolerate suspicious or politically unreliable characters in their workforce. Finding a job if you were deemed politically unreliable was a big deal, because being jobless for a certain period of time was a crime punishable by prison. (Parasitism.)
  - 8note 5y ago
    Letting people be homeless is a grand success in western countries, by comparison
  - m4rtink 5y ago
    Actually there was IMHO another class of directors in CSSR than idealists/hardliners and pragmatists - the totally corrupt ones. :P Those knew how to play the system and how to get ridd of the others while being untouchable due to being representatives of the regime.
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
cortesoft 5y ago
Isn’t that like treating the divisions of a company separate?
allemagne 5y ago
I'd just like to interject for a moment. What you're referring to as "communist" countries are in fact, Marxist-Leninist, or as I've recently taken to calling them, "state capitalist"

handmodel 5y ago

Its all a spectrum but I think in practice the above statement is meaningful. In the USSR the government set ranges of wages that different firms/administrators could give out. I guess in practice you had some choice but not if you had one entity with practically unlimited negotiating power.

inglor_cz 5y ago
There were political differences, though. At least in the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic where I grew up. First of all, there were some collectively owned enterprises (cooperatives), which were a tiny bit more independent than directly state owned business. They could deviate a little from the strict, centrally directed price and wage norms etc. Second, even in the state owned sector, there was some diversity among political attitudes. Some directors were more pragmatic and would be willing to employ even people whose cadre record was tainted (e.g. a relative defected to the West). Some directors were hardcore Communists who would never tolerate suspicious or politically unreliable characters in their workforce. Finding a job if you were deemed politically unreliable was a big deal, because being jobless for a certain period of time was a crime punishable by prison. (Parasitism.)
- 8note 5y ago
  Letting people be homeless is a grand success in western countries, by comparison
- m4rtink 5y ago
  Actually there was IMHO another class of directors in CSSR than idealists/hardliners and pragmatists - the totally corrupt ones. :P Those knew how to play the system and how to get ridd of the others while being untouchable due to being representatives of the regime.
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]

cortesoft 5y ago

Isn’t that like treating the divisions of a company separate?

allemagne 5y ago

I'd just like to interject for a moment. What you're referring to as "communist" countries are in fact, Marxist-Leninist, or as I've recently taken to calling them, "state capitalist"