Re: And how did you celebrate 1 May?

David Friedman wrote:

> In article <256v14tuacd045haqi7arc68000iavlkk9@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>,
>  mike weber <fairportfan@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
> 
> > On Mon, 05 May 2008 15:11:25 -0700, David Friedman
> > <ddfr@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
> > 
> > > In article <o7vu14hootlekksecsreh6g831mthq23j5@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>,
> > > mike weber <fairportfan@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
> > > 
> > >> What i meant was that here are people who came to power in the
> > >> time-hnoured tradition of revolution, who killed many of their
> > own >> people, and had no intention of yielding up power except by
> > the "cold >> dead fingers" route ... it's not just Comunists who do
> > that sort of >> thing.
> > > 
> > > On the other hand, I think most people who come to power by
> > > revolution don't kill very many of their own people, if "very
> > > many" means "on the scale of a Hitler or Stalin." Some do.
> > 
> > Well, Stalin himself didn't come to power by revolution, but the
> > regime he siezed control of did.
> > 
> > Then there's Mao.
> > 
> > One wonders about the Sandinistas.
> > 
> > And didn't Pol Pot come to power by revolution?
> 
> I think you are supporting my point. What all of those had in common
> was being communists--assuming the Sandinistas, who I don't know all
> that much about, qualify.

As I understand it:  The Sandinistas were social democrats, and
belonged to the international social democratic organization.  HOWEVER:
the USSR had given up on the Nicaraguan Communist Party, and hooked up
with the Sandinistas.

The Sandinistas stopped acting much like real social democrats, and
started acting like Communists -- particularly once they got into
power.  It's as if Unitarians established a celibate male priesthood,
or a libertarian government imposed wage and price controls.  (Or
American Christians who thought of themselves as heirs of the Puritans
failed to fight against the celebration of Christmas and to persecute
Baptists.)

The anti-Sandinista coalition which got the Sandinistas voted out of
power included the Nicaraguan Communist Party.

-- 
Dan Goodman
"I have always depended on the kindness of stranglers." 
Tennessee Williams,  A Streetcar Named Expire
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