First newspaper to hit the streets of Baghdad: Commie

Post by **Vympel** » 2003-04-21 05:09am

The People's Path, Iraq's Communist Party newspaper was the first newspaper to be published since the fall of Baghdad- funny.

Peregrin Toker · Post by **Peregrin Toker** » 2003-04-21 05:12am

It's even more ironic considering that Saddam Hussein is a communist.

Stormbringer · Post by **Stormbringer** » 2003-04-21 07:39am

Simon H.Johansen wrote:It's even more ironic considering that Saddam Hussein is a communist.

Ummm, no. He's not a communist.

Col. Crackpot · Post by **Col. Crackpot** » 2003-04-21 08:11am

feed the people a load of bullshit about economic equality while living the good life and killing anyone who opposed you? sounds pretty commie to me....but for the record we'll just call him a Quasi-Stalinist

Peregrin Toker · Post by **Peregrin Toker** » 2003-04-21 09:32am

Stormbringer wrote:
Simon H.Johansen wrote:It's even more ironic considering that Saddam Hussein is a communist.
Ummm, no. He's not a communist.

I thought thay communism was founded upon the same disregard for personal freedom which Saddam Hussein obviously displays??

MKSheppard · Post by **MKSheppard** » 2003-04-21 09:46am

Simon H.Johansen wrote: I thought thay communism was founded upon the same disregard for personal freedom which Saddam Hussein obviously displays??

He's stalinist/

Darth Gojira · Post by **Darth Gojira** » 2003-04-21 10:29am

MKSheppard wrote:
Simon H.Johansen wrote: I thought thay communism was founded upon the same disregard for personal freedom which Saddam Hussein obviously displays??
He's stalinist/

Rim shot

Master of Ossus · Post by **Master of Ossus** » 2003-04-21 11:24am

Simon H.Johansen wrote:
Stormbringer wrote:
Simon H.Johansen wrote:It's even more ironic considering that Saddam Hussein is a communist.
Ummm, no. He's not a communist.
I thought thay communism was founded upon the same disregard for personal freedom which Saddam Hussein obviously displays??

Perhaps, but communism also embodies certain economic principles and philosophies that Saddam Hussein did not employ or endorse. I'm not saying that he's better than a communist dictator, but I am saying that I don't think he qualifies as a communist.

Post by **Sea Skimmer** » 2003-04-21 12:05pm

Simon H.Johansen wrote:It's even more ironic considering that Saddam Hussein is a communist.

No he is not, notice the fact that capitalism was widespread within the country. In some ways his political system was Stalinist, but that's about it.

Glocksman · Post by **Glocksman** » 2003-04-21 01:07pm

The People's Path, Iraq's Communist Party newspaper was the first newspaper to be published since the fall of Baghdad- funny.

Not very surprising though.

CP cells are nothing if not organized, and I don't doubt that they've had plans in the works for months to do this once the fall of Hussein became a reality.

Anyway, it's nice to see freedom of the press in action.

Peregrin Toker · Post by **Peregrin Toker** » 2003-04-21 01:15pm

Sea Skimmer wrote:
Simon H.Johansen wrote:It's even more ironic considering that Saddam Hussein is a communist.
No he is not, notice the fact that capitalism was widespread within the country.

Maybe, but he probably severely restricted free trade, like most dictators. (a vestige of modern totalitarianism's Leninist roots)

Post by **Coyote** » 2003-04-21 01:26pm

Better the Commies than the freako fucking Islamic Jihadist groups that the Shia'a populace is already starting up with. They haven't heard the latest news from Iran: mullahs make shit-poor gov't leaders.

RedImperator · Post by **RedImperator** » 2003-04-21 06:37pm

Hussein was not that different from most third world tin-pots--Iraq had a massive state social support structure, restricted free trade, and a centrally planned economy on top of a brutal internal security apparatus. He was not, however, a Communist in the purest sense of the word, though have him speak Russian instead of Arabic and it's awfully hard to tell him from Uncle Joe.

Post by **Gandalf** » 2003-04-21 09:30pm

I think the only real difference between Saddam and Stalin is the hair, Stalin had a nice cut, looked good.

Publius · Post by **Publius** » 2003-04-21 09:36pm

It is not correct to call President Hussein a Communist. It is more accurate to say that he is a socialist (the Ba'ath Party's official name is the Arab Socialist Resurrection Party). His Stalinist tendencies speak for themselves.

Publius

Post by **Darth Wong** » 2003-04-21 11:27pm

Simon H.Johansen wrote:
Sea Skimmer wrote:No he is not, notice the fact that capitalism was widespread within the country.
Maybe, but he probably severely restricted free trade, like most dictators. (a vestige of modern totalitarianism's Leninist roots)

So did George Bush. Does that make him communist? Saddam Hussein is a fascist, not a communist.

RedImperator · Post by **RedImperator** » 2003-04-21 11:45pm

Darth Wong wrote:
Simon H.Johansen wrote:
Sea Skimmer wrote:No he is not, notice the fact that capitalism was widespread within the country.
Maybe, but he probably severely restricted free trade, like most dictators. (a vestige of modern totalitarianism's Leninist roots)
So did George Bush. Does that make him communist? Saddam Hussein is a fascist, not a communist.

He also had a centrally planned economy, which would argue in favor of Communism. Nevertheless, a Communist dictatorship has several very specific qualities besides lip service adherence to Marxism which the Hussein regime did not have. He borrowed heavily from Stalin (not surprising--lots of dictators do) and had what amounted to a socialist economy (also not surprising--most dictators, even right-wing dictators, have that), but he wasn't a Communist.

Post by **Sea Skimmer** » 2003-04-22 12:40am

RedImperator wrote:
He also had a centrally planned economy, which would argue in favor of Communism.

South Korea actually had five-year plans after the cease-fire gave them a chance to start building a new economy.

RedImperator · Post by **RedImperator** » 2003-04-22 12:48am

Sea Skimmer wrote:
RedImperator wrote:
He also had a centrally planned economy, which would argue in favor of Communism.
South Korea actually had five-year plans after the cease-fire gave them a chance to start building a new economy.

Five year plans can actually work if you're trying to jump from a preindustrial to an industrial economy quickly. The price, however, is a shitoad of human misery and a state apparatus with its fingers in every pie even after industrialization is achieved.