One reason the exploited don't believe there is any alternative to the class system is that the ruling classes have successfully equated socialism and communism with Stalinism in the public imagination. Any attempt to imagine alternatives to class society is immediately met with horrified references to Stalin's crimes----which is ironic given that many of the people Stalin killed off in the Gulag were Trotskyists and others who actually BELIEVED in socialism rather than just using it as a slogan to justify autocracy and corruption. Be that as it may, Stalin is still the bourgeoisie's best friend a half century after his death. Not only was he always ready to betray the class struggle and team up with the bourgeoisie for his own advantage, as in the Hitler-Stalin pact or the later alliance with Roosevelt and Churchill, but he continues to function as the greatest enemy of the socialist cause even in death. If mankind is ever to find its way out of the historical dead end of capitalism, it will first have to recognize that Stalinism was not equivalent to, but rather was a deviation from, the natural path of socialist development.

This is funny. There are still people that believe that Communism was a good idea implemented badly. This particular one seems to believe, moreover, that the only place and time where it was implemented badly was Stalin's Russia. No one has ever accused Castro of being a mass murderer; so why are all the happy, un-murdered Cuban communists trying to turn sedans into boats and sail to the U.S.?

they aren't all trying to sail to the US. Only a few. Most stay. There are many reasons communist/socialist nations forbid emigration. But at the base is the communist premise of equality for all. In every society there will be people who feel they deserve more than the average amout others get. It is they who try to escape.

hyperionred:

No one has ever accused Castro of being a mass murderer.

Uh, try googling "castro mass murderer" - 880,000 hits.

I don't at all dispute your claim that Communism is a dead-end (I think it runs counter to human nature), but your example is lousy given: 1) Castro IS a mass murderer, and 2) the world's largest economy (situated right next to Cuba) has been hellbent on destroying the Cuban economy for 45 years BECAUSE it is Communist.

There are many countries doing quite well on a partially Socialist model, however.

Excellent. I prefer to call this type of government progressive capitalism, its as good as any other name. Capitalism is no more valid in the absolute as is communism. They both lead to the same results if taken literally. The issue is not the idea but the ability for us to control power and overcome the inequality of birth. A saying goes a long way:

There but for the grace of God go I.

It is a statement of timeless truth. If one truly values human life beyond all other, then true heartless capitalism is not just. If one believes that the conditions of life mean as much as equality, then communism will also fail you miserably. It takes a constant struggle between each extreme to get to a better place. That is why I never ever want one party to have full control of all three branches. There must be a counter to each sides extremes or ruin follows.