4 ms·

Both the Great Famine and the 1942-1943 famines were politically caused, the first by communism and the latter by Japanese invasion. > a relatively modest pand

Both the Great Famine and the 1942-1943 famines were politically caused, the first by communism and the latter by Japanese invasion. > a relatively modest pandemic resulted in global disruptions of trade, commerce, finance, and governance The pandemic didn't result in that directly. It was the political response to it that caused that. Some places just skipped many of the most damaging responses but had identical outcomes. Africa hardly did much and you can't see it in their population figures for example. Also it seems like resilience is remarkably high. Governments went crazy and used enormous force to create as much havoc as possible, yet the core supply chains (food, water, electricity) held up very well especially after people realized how robust it was and the panic buying stopped.

hnbad 2y ago
> Both the Great Famine and the 1942-1943 famines were politically caused, the first by communism and the latter by Japanese invasion. The Great Famine wasn't caused "by communism", it was caused by incompetence. Mao rejected both Western science and the expertise of Chinese farmers which agreed to it, much like the Nazis rejected "Jew science" (which luckily hampered their war effort and prevented them from developing nuclear weapons). He also established a culture of fear that led to bureaucrats lying about their numbers instead of risking admitting failure. I guess you could say the cause of the Great Famine therefore was bureaucracy, or maybe dogmatism. Neither of which is necessary, nor sufficient, for communism[0]. [0]: ... even without getting into the distinction between what governments have justified with the excuse that they want to achieve communism and what communism itself would look like. No so-called communist government I'm aware of has ever claimed to have achieved communism. Even Soviet-era Eastern Europe at best claimed to have achieved "real socialism" when they pretty much admitted giving up on communism by calling anyone expecting more of them "utopianist".

hnbad 2y ago

> Both the Great Famine and the 1942-1943 famines were politically caused, the first by communism and the latter by Japanese invasion. The Great Famine wasn't caused "by communism", it was caused by incompetence. Mao rejected both Western science and the expertise of Chinese farmers which agreed to it, much like the Nazis rejected "Jew science" (which luckily hampered their war effort and prevented them from developing nuclear weapons). He also established a culture of fear that led to bureaucrats lying about their numbers instead of risking admitting failure. I guess you could say the cause of the Great Famine therefore was bureaucracy, or maybe dogmatism. Neither of which is necessary, nor sufficient, for communism[0]. [0]: ... even without getting into the distinction between what governments have justified with the excuse that they want to achieve communism and what communism itself would look like. No so-called communist government I'm aware of has ever claimed to have achieved communism. Even Soviet-era Eastern Europe at best claimed to have achieved "real socialism" when they pretty much admitted giving up on communism by calling anyone expecting more of them "utopianist".