The graph highlights that during Soviet times at least 20% of wealth is in top10% hands, the party leaders and their cronies. If it was truly communism then the top10% would own 10% of the wealth. The party leaders and their cronies owned a disproportionate amount of wealth. Everyone was equal, but some were more equal among others.
It also highlights how the erosion of social services and a lack of a federal government opposing corporate interests is to the detriment of its people.
Authoritarianism is not the way, and neither is crony capitalism in a farcical democracy.
For all the communism understanders reading this thread: communists still want unequal pay for unequal jobs. The experts and hardest workers collectively owning twice as much as the average workers is acceptable to all of us and desired by some of us.
Our only demand is that you earn the money you generate, everyone earning the same is completely orthogonal and something anti-communists use to steer the conversation and misinform. It would be nice if we were more equal, but it's not what we plan to further with our economic policy. We want everyone to own the means of production, and then you actually gotta do the production to turn that into money.
The graph highlights that during Soviet times at least 20% of wealth is in top10% hands, the party leaders and their cronies. If it was truly communism then the top10% would own 10% of the wealth. The party leaders and their cronies owned a disproportionate amount of wealth. Everyone was equal, but some were more equal among others.
"True Communism" isn't a thing. You don't measure metrics by how purely they adhere to ideology, but by measurable improvements for the Working Class. There is Capitalism, Socialism (where the USSR stood), Lower-Stage Communism, and Upper-Stage Communism. Each of these phases takes time and looks different. Marxism has never been about equal pay, but the Proletariat taking control and working towards Communism. Communism cannot be instantly lept to, and even if it could, it has never been about equal pay.
Additionally, pay was higher for doctors, engineers, professors, and other skilled workers, as is in line with Marxism. It wasn't just Party Members.
It also highlights how the erosion of social services and a lack of a federal government opposing corporate interests is to the detriment of its people.
In what way? In the USSR, Healthcare and Education were free, housing was cheap, public transit was highly developed, and workers had more vacation days and earlier retirement than US workers.
Authoritarianism is not the way, and neither is crony capitalism in a farcical democracy.
Top 10% owning 10% of wealth makes no sense as it means perfectly equal wealth redistribution. It is an ultimate goal, but it is not practically achievable. 20% is close enough.
"Communism works the same way, except the party leaders are the ones on top," you think to yourself as the crimson Poverty Line flashes upwards across your field of view. "Capitalism is the only system that works." The wind is rushing hard in your ears now; the bottom of the Money Pit is coming up fast. "Besides, they worked hard to swim in the Money Pool, they deser--." Splat.
That tends to be a general problem with human societies, and as Cowbee points out there's nothing about communism that makes society more prone to corruption. If anything, I'd argue it's the opposite since you have less inequality. In general, I look at corruption as a form of inefficiency. So, a government that has corruption, but works in the interests of the majority overall is still a better scenario than one that works in the interest of a capital owning minority.
What about the Soviet system is more prone to corruption than, say, your standard Western Country? If you can answer specifically what you're concerned about, then we can answer why the Soviet System is better, or has had advancements since the USSR such as the concept of the Mass Line to account for weaknesses.
Yes because workers owning their own workplace and directing activity democratically with no owner class siphoning profits has to work the exact same because......
Oh wait, it doesn't and you're just a fucking moron
My grandparents were forced to cut onions in the soviet onion! they still remember this when they cry and how stalin was holding the big spoon up to them and demanding more onions! "mr stalin sir too many onions is going to cause flatulence" they screamed but stalin didnt care
Communism works the same way, except the party leaders are the ones on top
Therefore the best system is the one that directly rewards the most horridly destructively greedy assholes around without the slightest obligation toward the rest of society!
Name them, Captain Smug. Tell us about whatever quaint Northern European social democratic paradise that you got excited about after reading about it on Reddit, that compartmentalizes and outsources all the suffering you don't want to know about.
you can either have private jackasses own everything like petty kings of their little financial fiefdoms, or you can have capital be socially owned and operated without the explicit need for next quarter profit seeking, those are your fucking choices you nerd
Politicians were paid around the middle of the income scale in the Soviet Union.
Unless you're talking about like the occasional free beer or taxi ride for competently administering your job, which I gotta tell you, however much you think Communist party members did it... Like, have you had a job and talked to your boss and their inter-business negotiations? Holy shit
If I'm a government official in near complete control of billions in resources, it doesn't matter what I take home in salary, I'm essentially have the power of a billionaire, so long as I keep my bosses happy
I honestly don't know what you're talking about. Do you think that a random party guy in Siberia can just say "Nope, the USSR cannot get any oil now" and nothing would be done and he'd be showered in women and coke? Or... Yeah, what the fuck are you talking about?