The accusations that "Communism does not work!" have echoed through the halls of Western power for the past 100 years. In actuality, nothing could be farther from the truth. Communism has had many flaws over the years, but economic dysfunction has not been one of them.
How do I know this? Because of history. In particular, the history of World War II and its aftermath. First of all, if Communism had not worked, it would have offered no resistance before the onslaught of Nazi Germany's invasion. As Nazi leaders initially predicted, it would have instantly crumbled in the face of the Wehrmacht. It did not.
But furthermore, World War II was from its beginning a "War of Annihilation". Its conduct was based upon the concept of "Total War", in which civilians were subjected to as much as if not more brutality than national armies were. And towards its end, its losers universally practiced the concept of "Scorched Earth", in which no spoils were left behind for the victors to claim.
As a result, at the end of World War II, not one building was left standing between Moscow and Berlin. Where once there had been towns, cities, and metropolitan areas, in 1945 the Soviet Union liberated what had effectively became a a desolate wasteland, devoid of civilized life.
So at the dawn of the Cold War, the Communist world was nothing but rubble and ruin. But how then was it able to compete with NATO, and in particular a nation like the United States, which had been virtually untouched by war?
That question is one of history's greatest mysteries. Within 10 years of being nearly wiped from the face of the Earth, the Warsaw Pact not only rivaled the West, but had surpassed it by leaps and bounds in several areas, most notably of which were the Nuclear Arms Race and the Space Race.
That was what Communism achieved. And that was what it made possible. Was it a ruthless system of governance? Yes. Was it guilty of horrific atrocities from its inception? Absolutely. But let us not deceive ourselves as to its economic efficacity, because truth be told, it was capable of far more impressive achievements than any other system of government to have come before or since.
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