Meeting slideshow

1. Property and the Collapse of the Soviet Union Gregory Harmon San Francisco 2007

2. Occam’s Razor `Pluralitas non est ponenda sine necessitas.' (Plurality should not be posited without necessity.)

3. Property manages conflict. Property is about struggle. http://www.printfinders.com/product/artwork.exe?ArtworkID=56382&thumbs=1&productid=29981

4. But, while Property manages conflict, it does not eliminate it.

5. Eliminating property from society will create chaos…

6. More importantly… no property, no rights.

36. In the beginning was the Word… Lenin and his Bolsheviks seized power from the Russian Provisional government in October 1917. The Tsar had abdicated in February of that year and the successor government had continued its participation in World War I, but was badly outmatched by the Germans on the Eastern Front. Crisis followed crises as shortages and strikes hobbled the productive power of the nation that might support the war effort. The Bolsheviks ceaselessly agitated for peace and bread.

37. And the Word was Power Possessed of an almost Nietzschean will to power, Lenin, with significant assistance from the German Imperial Government, managed the coup that displaced the Provisional Government in October, 1917.

38. Civil War After seizing power the Bolsheviks began a series of talks with the Germans for a separate peace. These talks ultimately resulted in the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk. Freed of direct German interference, the Bolsheviks quickly moved to consolidate their power in a Civil War with badly fragmented “Whites.” Lacking a common program or compelling appeal to match the Bolsheviks, the White forces fought for over two years, but were soundly defeated by the better led Bolsheviks.

39. Lenin in Power Although he ascended to power with virtually no administrative experience of any sort beyond Party factions, Lenin seized the reins of Russian and Soviet power with determination, competence and zeal.

40. War Communism The most pressing problem Lenin faced, beyond the mere consolidation of power, was maintaining productivity in the nation while at the same time implementing the planned reforms of communism. Lenin had every intention of following the Marxian plan of seizing or controlling all the means of production and communication in the nation.

46. The dog that did not bark in the night… The one and only thing that all Marxist-Leninist regimes did have in common was the abolition of private property. The absent dog could not bark, but its ghost could bite…even kill.

47. Occam’s Razor… applied to our problem Locke’s philosophy of social order provides little or no insight into why the socialist experiments would have gone so horribly awry. We are left with a long series of ad hoc explanations as to why any specific evil might have beset socialist orders….and virtually no overarching explanation.

48. Some examples… Anti-modernism latent in Marxian theory Suppression of civil society Bad men, historical legacy, revolutionary enthusiasm Arbitrary arrest and administrative sentencing, rather than trial—including the death penalty Imitation of French Revolutionary behavior, driven by Lenin Administrative action on anonymous denunciation Czarist legacy from Okrana, Lenin’s theories Vast expansion of secret police—Official state policy of terror Czarist legacy Vast expansion of prison system Stalin Re-enserfment of rural population Bad men, Russian cultural legacy from Czarism Reintroduction and vast expansion of the death penalty Explanation Bolshevik Effect

49. More… Proscription of markets—Mises/Hayek Mafias Proscription of markets—Mises/Hayek Black markets Opportunism Political corruption Cultural legacy Lenin’s theory Political tyranny Stalin’s actions Imposed social uniformity on an unprecedented scale Proscription of markets—Mises/Hayek Collapsed production Proscription of markets—Mises/Hayek Ubiquitous poverty Trotsky/Stalin Extensive adoption of slave labor Explanation Bolshevik Effect

53. A Hobbesian view… The absence of property Suppression of civil society The absence of property Re-enserfment of rural population The absence of property Vast expansion of prison system The absence of property Arbitrary arrest and administrative sentencing, rather than trial—including the death penalty The absence of property Vast expansion of secret police—Official state policy of terror The absence of property Administrative action on anonymous denunciation The absence of property Reintroduction and vast expansion of the death penalty Explanation Bolshevik Effect

54. And more… The absence of property Mafias The absence of property Black markets The absence of property Political corruption The absence of property Political tyranny The absence of property Imposed social uniformity on an unprecedented scale The absence of property Collapsed production The absence of property Ubiquitous poverty The absence of property Extensive adoption of slave labor Explanation Bolshevik Effect

81. The Logic of Property See Next Slideshow.

82. Just a thought…

86. markhumphrys.com/soviet.html