I might bring tankies out of the woodwork for saying this, but I remember one time a tankie told me that scarcity in communist countries is by design and it's a good thing, after I pointed out that people had to be on the waiting list just to get a car. What if the person lives in rural with no access to public transport?

I understand capitalism is wasteful, but doing the extreme opposite and making people wait to own a car or giving someone bare essentials is not a good thing. Having a scarcity economy is not good, especially considering that the Soviet Union produced more tanks than cars throughout its history. The American military industrial complex is rightly criticised for overspending, but communist countries are worse since the case is that more tanks were made than civilian cars. It means more budget went to the military than to producing consumer good. Talk about priorities.

[–] prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone 4 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago) (3 children)

Not a tankie, nor a communist, just a progressive with an interest in history, but,

after I pointed out that people had to be on the waiting list just to get a car. What if the person lives in rural with no access to public transport?

Is such a US-centric view. They all didn't need to drive cars, dude, they had public transportation.

Edit: Added emphasis for people having trouble reading

[–] Takumidesh@lemmy.world 2 points 6 days ago (1 children)

Do you think that every single person in Europe is perfectly served by public transport?

[–] prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone 2 points 6 days ago (1 children)

Nope. Did I say that?

[–] Takumidesh@lemmy.world 1 points 6 days ago

No but the person you replied to called out a specific scenario in which the person lives in a rural area with no public transport access which is a real thing in every single country, with good public transit or not.

The concept of someone not having access to public transit isn't an American centric point of view.

[–] Justas@sh.itjust.works 1 points 6 days ago

Yes, busses were relatively common and affordable, but many of them were smelly and horrible. Except for the Icaruses, the passengers of which felt like kings among men.

[–] TankovayaDiviziya@lemmy.world 1 points 6 days ago

Not all countries have good public transport system. Imagine living in Siberia at the time of the communists, unless you're in gulag which doesn't require you to travel to other places.

[–] Justas@sh.itjust.works 2 points 6 days ago

Soviet Union had a limited ability to produce things, especially heavy machinery. Their leadership quickly realised that they can't outproduce the Western countries on everything, so they decided to only match their military production capabilities. Which led to them falling further and further behind.

[–] Valmond@lemmy.world 1 points 6 days ago

No, are you sure? /s

Don't take what tankied say like they mean it, it's just propaganda / they amuse themselves coming up with lies that you have to unravel and defeat. And if you do so, then magically the discussion is over and we'll talk about some other thing.