POL S 6 Lecture Notes - Lecture 7: Baltic States, Developing Country, Mikhail Gorbachev
Question: What was communism? Which countries were communist?
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Question: What was the theory of communism? What was the practice?
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Question: Why are some post-communist countries doing well, and others less?
In terms of stability, GDP, etc.
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Communism ended and doesn’t really exist anymore
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Marxist theory emphasized exploitation
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Communism - elimination of private practice to create an equal society
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Transition from feudalism to capitalism creates two groups
Bourgeoisie: owners of capital
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Proletariat: workers/non-owners/everyone else
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Surplus value of labor
Extra value in an object above the cost connected to the labor someone
has done in producing the object
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Bourgeoisie exploits labor and steals the surplus value of labor
Taking all the profit
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Marx believes the profit is worth more to the proletariat than the
bourgeoisie
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Belief that capitalism is a system of exploitation
The proletariat doesn’t realize it because of their false consciousness
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Transition from capitalism to state-controlled economy (revolution in between)
Socialism (not the endpoint)
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Ideal endpoint is platonic communism/communist utopia
Somewhat like a hippie-land
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Everyone shares everything, no one has private property
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Ideal that the state wouldn’t exist anymore
Belief that the state only exists as a form of coercion to regulate
private property
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No one ever reaches the endpoint of communism, everyone just stopped at
socialism
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Why the revolutions moving from capitalism to socialism?
Monopolies
Not paying laborers more because there's no alternative place for
their workers to go
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Advancement of technology
Increasing automation - workers become of even less value
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Leading to unemployment as well
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Wanted the state to become the tool/instrument of the proletariat
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Actual communism played out differently than idealized
Countries: Vietnam, Soviet Union, Laos, China, Cuba, etc.
Eastern Europe
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Asia
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Some parts of Latin America
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Kind of got stuck in the socialism stage and never progressed to true
communism
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Central planning
Was unsuccessful because the government couldn’t always
accurately predict what resources were needed in certain areas
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Communist countries collapsed for many reasons
Workers didn't want to work anymore.. They had no incentive because
everything was just going to be equalized anyways
Low productivity
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USSR communism collapsed because of the Cold War
Spending so much money on the arms race
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Spending like that was obviously not good for the economy
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Russia Case Study
What events led to the collapse of communism in Russia?
Arms Race + declining economy
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Devolution happening in Eastern Europe
More independence arising from specific regions□
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Glasnost and Perestroika
Gorbachev made it so Eastern European countries could
decide their fate in communism
Allowed the republics to break off and become
independent countries
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Open discussion about the status of the country□
Relax controls on the country's politics and economics until
competition arose
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Failed Coup
Hardcore communists didn't like Gorbachev and tried to kick
him out
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Coup failed because soldiers wouldn’t fire on Gorbachev□
Lead to the division of the USSR□
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After communism ended in most countries, what is the status of post-
communist countries? Why are some doing better than others?
Good post-communist countries
China
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Vietnam
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Baltic Countries (Latvia, Lithuania, etc.)
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Poland
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Hungary
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Slovakia/Slovenia
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Bad post-communist countries: Why aren't they rich/growing GDP and
why are they not democracies?
Laos
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Cambodia
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Southeast Asian countries
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Ukraine
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Romania
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Serbia
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Yugoslavian Countries
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Developing Countries
Why aren't they rich/growing GDP and why are they not democracies?
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Developing nations are those with low or middle income
Poor and "okay" countries
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Colonialism
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Section 7: Post-Communist and Developing
Countries
Tuesday, May 29, 2018
9:00 AM
Document Summary
Communism - elimination of private practice to create an equal society. Transition from feudalism to capitalism creates two groups. Extra value in an object above the cost connected to the labor someone has done in producing the object. Bourgeoisie exploits labor and steals the surplus value of labor. Marx believes the profit is worth more to the proletariat than the bourgeoisie. Belief that capitalism is a system of exploitation. The proletariat doesn"t realize it because of their false consciousness. Transition from capitalism to state-controlled economy (revolution in between) Everyone shares everything, no one has private property. Belief that the state only exists as a form of coercion to regulate private property. No one ever reaches the endpoint of communism, everyone just stopped at socialism. Not paying laborers more because there"s no alternative place for their workers to go. Increasing automation - workers become of even less value. Wanted the state to become the tool/instrument of the proletariat.
