Attila T. Hun wrote:
Russia never had a communist government, it was a dictatorship somewhat tempered by the power of the apparati (which under Stalin was a joke); it just so happened they practiced the art of the commune in collective farming --except they stole the bulk of the communes' production. Any concept of the commune ownership was fantasy.
In Canada, farmers purportedly own their own land, but are required by law to sell their grain only through the (collective) Canadian Wheat Board. Right now, farmers are fighting this policy, and being jailed for attempting to sell their grain themselves, on the open market. Why is it that governments always seem to be so self-congratulatory about allowing the citizens to be 'free' to do those things that the government 'allows' them to do? It is so comforting to know that I am 'free' to decide what color of sand they put in the Vaseline. (I prefer black, myself) Toto