My grandfather from Spain saw and suffered what happens when Communism is implemented (it was called the Socialist Party and the Communist Party running Spain in 1934 and declaring void the elections where they lost -the 1934 elections-). After a promise of elections, nothing had happened yet by 1936 (apart from nuns and vicars being shot, well, and anybody else the thugs did not like, including neighbours, those suspected of being religious, those who had red shoes, those who looked weird, those who had no friends, guys with funny hair, capitalists -i.e. business owners-, etc.). Then, in 13 July 1936 the leader of the opposition (Calvo Sotelo, check him on wikipedia) was dragged from his home by thugs (i.e. the thought police and the local militia) and shot (and the government said they did not know what had happened or how to find the culprits)... the military did a coup (failed) four days later, which led to the civil war. Despite the war, I am of the belief that Spain was better off in 1975 (when Franco died) than if they had been Romania-in-the-West until 1990. God knows what the Soviets would have done in Europe with Spain as a satellite.
The Communist (that's right, communist, republican was double-speaking) side lost because they were unable to arrange a piss-up in a brewery, and civilians (my grandfather was one of them) on the Communist side were defecting to the Franco side (not many the other way round) as on one side you had some food and order, on the other side you had no food (unless you were a thug or part of the clique) and no order.
My father, and now me, travel across latinamerica. We have seen what communism did and what capitalism has done for these guys over the past 20 years. Capitalism wins hands down every time (hence why Ecuador and Venezuela suck, ditto for Argentina), yet take a look at Chile and Colombia (I think Mexico can rise... if they nail down -well- the narco culture, because a culture it is, even with its own music style).
Final note: I heard that Pinochet was responsible for eliminating 2000 people; it is said (in Chile, of all places -I have worked there-) that 200,000 people would have died had Allende implemented his Communist dictatorship of the People. Interestingly, I read recently that one of the first things Pinochet did was call economists in the US, and the Chicago school of thought sent a few people over; next thing Pinochet did was burn millions and millions of bank notes to bring down inflation; the economic measures he implemented resulted in present day Chile, the only country in latinamerica where I would invest my own money (well, perhaps Brasil as well).
The Communist (that's right, communist, republican was double-speaking) side lost because they were unable to arrange a piss-up in a brewery, and civilians (my grandfather was one of them) on the Communist side were defecting to the Franco side (not many the other way round) as on one side you had some food and order, on the other side you had no food (unless you were a thug or part of the clique) and no order.
My father, and now me, travel across latinamerica. We have seen what communism did and what capitalism has done for these guys over the past 20 years. Capitalism wins hands down every time (hence why Ecuador and Venezuela suck, ditto for Argentina), yet take a look at Chile and Colombia (I think Mexico can rise... if they nail down -well- the narco culture, because a culture it is, even with its own music style).
Final note: I heard that Pinochet was responsible for eliminating 2000 people; it is said (in Chile, of all places -I have worked there-) that 200,000 people would have died had Allende implemented his Communist dictatorship of the People. Interestingly, I read recently that one of the first things Pinochet did was call economists in the US, and the Chicago school of thought sent a few people over; next thing Pinochet did was burn millions and millions of bank notes to bring down inflation; the economic measures he implemented resulted in present day Chile, the only country in latinamerica where I would invest my own money (well, perhaps Brasil as well).
Thanks. When I was a libertarian moving away from liberalism, I remember being outraged, OUTRAGED that Henry Kissinger was walking free because I had read Christopher Hitchens book on Kissinger. That is, until I did research of my own.
ReplyDeleteBrasil wouldn't be all bad. Thanks to their policy on imports, they still have a decent industrial base.
ReplyDeleteOf course, the elite/commoner gap is supposed to be large, and elites run the constant risk of kidnapping for ransom. Not sure about their firearms laws...