"It’s easy to be a communist in a free country. But try being free in a communist country." - Aubrey Huff

submitted by muellermeierschulz from self.quotes

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[–]KennyLogins 23 insightful - 1 fun23 insightful - 0 fun24 insightful - 1 fun -  (7 children)

A former boss and now good friend of mine, an older man, escaped communist Poland and eventually made his way to the U.S., where he worked diligently, day and night, until he could start his own company. He isn't a billionaire, but he is very comfortable.

He's a tall man. As a teen he was a gifted athlete and on a sponsored basketball team. The team did well and set off to western Europe for a match, it was during this trip he escaped. He escaped. Those are important words. He could not take any belongings with him, monitors checked for that kind of activity as they knew from previous experience, some would use the opportunity to flee for a better life. Think about that...he was NOT free to leave. He was a prisoner with country sized borders.

He left his family, his siblings, his friends and everything he knew. He was about 15 years old. Imagine the strength and courage the entire family had to have. His father had to let him go, his mother had to let him go, it was his only chance. The other siblings were not on the team, it's not like he could take them with, or he would have.

I'm at a loss for words when I read the propaganda that is accepted on platforms like reddit. I feel for the young, brainwashed, indoctrinated youth who are being lured along a dangerous path. I feel for them.

This country is far from perfect, far. But to date, it has been a global leader in many areas related to freedom. It is NOT a perfectly free country, there is work to be done. We find "bugs" in the code and we need to patch. Sometimes the patch causes two more bugs than it fixed. Humans are not perfect, thus no country is perfect. It's among the best models we've had so far and communism is clearly a step backwards.

[–]NiceDickBro 11 insightful - 2 fun11 insightful - 1 fun12 insightful - 2 fun -  (0 children)

Yep, my brother in laws father escaped communist Hungary with a very similar story... The fact that anyone thinks a system like that is in any way a benefit to the people is highly disturbing and ultimately downright disgusting.

[–]Nightjar 7 insightful - 1 fun7 insightful - 0 fun8 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

The correlate to this is that you have NEVER seen a leftist voluntarily leave the US to move to Venezuela, North Korea, etc. They are full of shit and they know it. They are just angry about their economic status, but rather than channeling their anger appropriately, e.g. as motivation to do better in life, they would rather just virtue signal and at least feel successful in some sense on the social hierarchy, i.e. they are the most woke among their peers.

If they were to move to Venezuela, where the revolution has already taken place, not only would they be poor, but they couldn't virtue signal anymore and so wouldn't feel elevated on the social hierarchy either.

[–]blahblahgcer 5 insightful - 1 fun5 insightful - 0 fun6 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

I'll never forget when my seventh grade math teacher sobbed a story about her escape from Lithuania, or when I heard that one of my coaches escaped in a similar manner (won't say who or what because it was actually a pretty big deal at the time and got a ton of attention).

I'm only 21 and everyone I know at my college is a communist and says anyone who isn't a communist is an evil human being. But I can't help thinking about all these stories...

[–]whistlepig 4 insightful - 1 fun4 insightful - 0 fun5 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

but its not "real" communism.... /s

gah!!... its not even funny.. it really pains me to have typed that in... I have a bunch of similar stories. I lived in Venezuela back when Chavez had his first coup. My dad got stuck in the middle of it while at a business meeting bordering the airport where the paratroopers came down and I'm told there was lead coming through the windows where he was. I've had a bunch of friends from Russia, East Germany and Bulgaria who came over when the walls came down. ... uuggg.. I'm going to go do something else.. thinking about this is really turning my stomach.

[–]supersmokio6420 3 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 0 fun4 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

Did the rest of his family make it over after the soviet union fell?

[–]KennyLogins 3 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 0 fun4 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

One of his sisters ended up in Canada. His parents were older and just stayed in Poland.

[–]HibikiBlack 10 insightful - 2 fun10 insightful - 1 fun11 insightful - 2 fun -  (1 child)

So much truth. First world commies really get on my nerves.

[–]834508946 4 insightful - 2 fun4 insightful - 1 fun5 insightful - 2 fun -  (0 children)

Well you know, I went swimming the ocean the other day, and it was too cold. That's free market capitalism for you.

[–]Breadman 5 insightful - 2 fun5 insightful - 1 fun6 insightful - 2 fun -  (15 children)

Former serfs living in apartments for the first time, in the USSR; certainly felt more free than they had been under the Tsar.

Stop thinking in absolutes. The world is nuanced.

[–][deleted]  (10 children)

[deleted]

    [–]flugegeheimen 4 insightful - 3 fun4 insightful - 2 fun5 insightful - 3 fun -  (9 children)

    Tens of millions of Russians were slaughtered

    No, billions! Tens of billions!

    force-famined by the Bolshevik/Soviet communist conquest of Russia

    These fucking Bolsheviks forcing nature to cause droughts and consequential bad famine, completely different from good famines regularly happening in Imperial Russia.

    Families and lineages were destroyed.

    Why couldn't pathetic commies keep these noble lineages and families intact (preferably with serfs and palaces)?! What a crime against humanity!

    It was communist policy to kill or gulag (slave labor camps and brainwashing) everyone who disagreed with communist tyranny.

    You also forgot to mention the mandatory eating of kids in the Soviet Constitution of 1924.

    Your belief that people "felt more free" later isn't possible to measure accurately, even if it were not a preposterous assumption.

    It would be a preposterous assumption if USSR wasn't more free than Imperial Russia, which is the whole reason you are even whining about (heavily exaggerated) soviet policies mirroring the previous regime. Man, your comment made /u/Breadman (!) look smart. Just think about it for a minute.

    [–][deleted]  (7 children)

    [deleted]

      [–]flugegeheimen 1 insightful - 3 fun1 insightful - 2 fun2 insightful - 3 fun -  (6 children)

      Forced famines are different from natural ones

      Technically you are right, the former is conspiracy bullshit the latter is what happened in reality. The most you can reasonably attribute to the Soviet government in 30s is bad agricultural management and that they didn't halt completely grain export, exactly the things typical for Imperial Russia during their famines. Soviet famine in 20s is even more clear cut at being natural and Bolshevik's treatment of it is even more damaging to your argument.

      Bolshevik rulers weren't concerned about planning more than 2 steps ahead for 'their countrymen', only for themselves, because the bodies of real Russians were seen as disposable. They hated Russians with the same type of hate that the modern breed of 'Bolsheviks' have in hating white people today.

      I'm kind of tired of repeating "and how is this different from the previous regime?". My point is don't double down on making up increasingly more inane shit about Bolsheviks. It's a comparison, if you have to make up some BS, at least you need both to make one side look bad and to whitewash the other side. The former alone is not enough.

      Bolshevik/Soviet communism had an extremely higher body count and was more enslaving than anything under the Russian monarchy, when comparing two examples that are both negative.

      Finally, something that is close to an actual argument, thank you. Too bad your "isn't possible to measure accurately, even if it were not a preposterous assumption." line bites you back, when you try to compare actual numbers. With that aside you take quite a leap between "higher body count" and "less free". Like it doesn't even make the slightest sense? Less free means having less freedoms and it's really a preposterous assumption (I'm going to use your "a preposterous assumption" non stop now) that the police state of absolute monarchy with nobility and other estates is more free than whatever political structures evolved in USSR.

      [–][deleted]  (5 children)

      [deleted]

        [–]flugegeheimen 1 insightful - 2 fun1 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 2 fun -  (4 children)

        It isn't preposterous to assume that most Russians at the time would choose the monarchy (as their dictators) instead of Lenin/etc (as their dictators), were they to have the benefit of hindsight and the freedom to pick

        Yeah, if only people living at the time could make decisions not on their own experience but on whatever crumbs of information a poorly educated first world internet denizen could extract from Wikipedia and random conspiracy theory books. (the latter describes us both btw)

        based on the death toll alone.

        Again, this based on a preposterous assumption that your bullshit numbers are accurate and not comparable to Imperial Russia.

        Yes, living under a monarchy was comparatively more free than being killed or having your entire family killed.

        Besides being atrociously bad at the whole false dichotomies business, you just repeated your preposterous assumption of equivalence between being free and body count without adding anything to it.

        Bolshevism killing a lot of the country's smartest people at the time is not "conspiracy bullshit".

        I think it's mixed with ignorance as well, not just conspiracy bullshit. They were "smartest" in the first place because Imperial Russia intentionally limited lower classes from receiving the same education higher classes had. Naturally a small most educated part was also the one intent on keeping the old regime, although a lot of the country's smartest people joined Bolsheviks as well.

        [–][deleted]  (3 children)

        [deleted]

          [–]flugegeheimen 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (2 children)

          I don't feel like repeating myself to disprove you simply repeating your BS over and over. So, one more question (kind of off-topic in this comment chain): how in your fantasy world where "Communists seek to eradicate a lot of the smartest people blahblablah" do you explain Bolsheviks putting a monumental effort into mass education to grow a lot of smart people they supposed to eradicate?

          [–][deleted]  (1 child)

          [deleted]

            [–]GConly 10 insightful - 2 fun10 insightful - 1 fun11 insightful - 2 fun -  (0 children)

            Forced famines.

            The communists took all the grain from the farmers, and shot anyone who tried to collect left over grain from the dirt after. Then all the farmers starved.

            Natural famine my arse.

            [–]jet199 11 insightful - 2 fun11 insightful - 1 fun12 insightful - 2 fun -  (1 child)

            You know the serfs were emancipated in 1861, right?

            [–]Breadman 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

            Only formally

            [–]GConly 6 insightful - 2 fun6 insightful - 1 fun7 insightful - 2 fun -  (1 child)

            Tell that to the millions Stalin deliberately starved.

            [–]Breadman 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

            Again, no need to think in absolutes. Stalin was indeed a mass murderer, I’m just pointing out for many under the regime, perceptions of ‘progress’ had some genuine basis.

            [–][deleted] 3 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 0 fun4 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

            So choose the easiest path: Don't even think about it, if you don't want to. No need to make a fuss out of it.

            Why actually use your brain when you don't want it to be used on philosophical questions?

            The real "trick" then consequently, obviously should be to find a system, where it can't drift into an authoritative regime or be misused. But since OP is a German conservative : he doesn't have the balls to post smth., that actually is "fresh" and fact-checked.

            I got into his head and he can't even see mine. So he is fighting my ideas (indirect in a double sense, so even cowardly) with stuff from the day before yesterday. yawn

            How are you gonna find something new OP, when you refuse to use your own head ?

            But i'm impressed that you found out how to use google: From that one, i'm very impressed, because at least you are trying something.

            But that's not fresh again, bc. i e.g. omitted google in 2006 when i switched my whole world into linux, so you see the problem now, right ?

            [–]bagano1 3 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 0 fun4 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

            Huff has been proven right about this over and over again. It's a political scam. End of.

            [–]engineofgod 2 insightful - 2 fun2 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 2 fun -  (0 children)

            The only way is to be dead and they usually arrange that for you.

            [–]AllCongressIsZionist 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

            US is already is becoming more communist with each plot of land BLM snatches up.

            [–]igorness 1 insightful - 2 fun1 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 2 fun -  (10 children)

            Except that Communism died in the 80s and in fact there has never been a textbook Communism country on the planet as all the ruling classes were corrupt and used money. Aubrey should really catch up.

            [–]ctvzbuxr 4 insightful - 2 fun4 insightful - 1 fun5 insightful - 2 fun -  (6 children)

            It is only real communism if it works, which is why real communism has never been tried.

            [–]igorness 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (5 children)

            Correct. Authoritarian socialist/capitalist hybrids at best.

            [–]ctvzbuxr 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (4 children)

            I don't think that's what I said. What I said is communism doesn't work. In my opinion, the degree to which a society implements socialist policies is the degree to which it will harm itself. The degree to which property rights are enforced, contracts are upheld and freedom of the individual is implemented is the degree to which a society will prosper.

            [–]igorness 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (3 children)

            That part of Socialism will never happen in the US where it's more about basic human needs issues like health care.

            [–]ctvzbuxr 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (2 children)

            How is (government) health care funded? Taxation. Taxation is a violation of property rights. You are threatening to put people in jail or kill them if they resist, when they don't pay money that they own and have not signed over voluntarily, to fund other people's health care.
            There is no such a thing as "that kind of socialism". Every socialist policy has the threat of a gun behind it, and the only reason why we don't see bloodshed is because people usually do not resist, which they would have every right to do.

            [–]igorness 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

            You are so wrong and incorrect, it's ridiculous.

            [–]ctvzbuxr 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

            Go on.

            [–]whistlepig 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (2 children)

            Power corrupts. If you don't ignore nature, then many of these were (and are) true Communist countries. As close as humanly possible, at least.

            [–]igorness 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

            Not even close. Communism requires the end of money which all it's ruling classes gleefully used corruptly. At best then and now, they'll all all authoritarian socialist/capitalist hybrids.

            [–]whistlepig 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

            That just isn't realistic. It is human (and I would argue animal) nature for people to exchange. No matter how much you complain about it, people do it anyways. Including you. Obviously of course. Since exchange is something people have to do if they are going to work together communally.