this post was submitted on 29 Apr 2024
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[–] umbrella@lemmy.ml 4 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago)

Russian and Chinese famines weren't intentional though. In China, because they were literally coming out from being the hungriest country in the planet, and decided to change too much too fast, you can't really turn such a huge country around overnight. In Russia because they needed to collectivize really quickly in preparation for WW2, and the landlords at the time decided to literally burn grain and kill cattle instead of handing their big estates. The numbers offered by western authorities on both are greatly exaggerated without adequate proof.

After the tragic events, both countries saw unprecedented improvements in quality of life, nutrition and life expectancy. These events didn't really repeat after they stabilized, something that can't be said of most capitalist countries to this day.

In capitalism the owner class needs people to be in despair for them to be willing to work such shitty, desperate jobs. Millions of poor and starving people have to exist either in your own country, or elsewhere in a neocolony for one billionaire to be able to steal so much accumulated capital to himself. It's common to see them taking decisions that help with their accumulation at the expense of everyone else (eg. Oil companies covering up climate change). We are already making more food than we would need to be able to feed everyone fairly, yet capitalist countries don't.