Communism- the myth and reality

Ayn Rand’s “we the living” is yet another beautiful story about men and issues of freedom versus dictatorship. The protagonist Kira Argounova is born in Russia and the story revolves around Russia in nineties-twenties. It is about communism and their ideals that men must exist for the states, how a man is robbed of his dreams and aspirations made incapable to think and transformed into a degenerated being. Ayn Rand draws the point that not only the communist methods are loathsome even the ideals. The ideas, which harps, on men must live for the state, destroying the self, which distinguishes men from fellow men, sacrificing the few talented ones for the masses who are supposed to think collectively and chew on the thoughts put into their brains by state. Men are not equal in ability and hence they should not be treated in the same way. The plot is set during the rise of communism in Russia, the birth of U.S.S.R. Against the panorama of political revolution and personal revolt, the writer shows what the theory of socialism means in practice. Kira Argounova is a strong character who dreams of building bridges, towers and never succumbs until the end, struggling for her existence behind the red banners and slogans of communism. She is a fighter who fights until the end. The other character portrayed is Leo Kovalensky and Andrei Taganov. Leo is an egotist, an individualist, a man who lives for his values. His life under the rule of physical force become endurable for him and his beliefs are crushed. He retaliates by drowning his mind and thereby losing the ability to care any longer what is done to him. Andrei by contrast, is explicitly committed to opposite ideas; he accepts the principle of selflessness and collectivism as his moral idea and even spills blood for them but deep sub conscious he is at war with his actions. When he discovers that his whole life was a lie, he commits suicide. The rise and fall of Soviet communism is one of the most amazing stories in human history. The principal figure in the genesis of Russian communism was the radical socialist Vladimir Lenin. Like Marx, Lenin believed in the necessity of political revolution to achieve communism. He urged Russia’s Marxists to build a party of professional revolutionaries that would shape the consciousness of the masses and fight unflinchingly for the revolution. In time, the Communist Party emerged as the real power behind government under leaders such as Vladimir Lenin, Nikita Khrushchev, and Mikhail Gorbachev. In theory, private enterprise did not exist under Soviet communism. However, in practice, it thrived, with the tacit approval of Party authorities.The government nationalized banks, insurance companies, railroads, and large factories, forbade most private commerce, and seized grain from the rural population, undermining peasant support for the regime. Under the rigors of War Communism, inflation soared, production plummeted, and millions of urban dwellers trekked to the countryside to feed themselves by working the land. Famine, disease, and deprivation became rampant, and much of the country’s infrastructure was destroyed. In total, an estimated 7 million to 8 million people died during the Russian Civil War, more than 5 million of whom were civilians. Thousands of intellectuals perished in the terror wave of the 1930s, and smaller numbers died in persecutions. The war promoted the centralization of Communist power and a preference for force over persuasion. The party had become increasingly coercive and authoritarian, and was now a bureaucratic apparatus beginning to be dominated by a ruling elite of senior officials. In addition, the economic situation in Russia was catastrophic. Under the notorious Josef Stalin, it created a society that was long on fear and repression and short on personal initiative and material goods. Under Leonid Brezhnev, Yuri Andropov, and Konstantin Chernenko, it established a system that seemed not to care about its citizens at all. It is amazing to know about the harsh truths of the soviet life as it was actually lived and later leading to the collapse of the entire soviet structure.

Poem....

Alone And Drinking Under The Moon Amongst the flowers I am alone with my pot of wine drinking by myself; then lifting my cup I asked the moon to drink with me, its reflection and mine in the wine cup, just the three of us; then I sigh for the moon cannot drink, and my shadow goes emptily along with me never saying a word; with no other friends here, I can but use these two for company; in the time of happiness, I too must be happy with all around me; I sit and sing and it is as if the moon accompanies me; then if I dance, it is my shadow that dances along with me; while still not drunk, I am glad to make the moon and my shadow into friends, but then when I have drunk too much, we all part; yet these are friends I can always count on these who have no emotion whatsoever; I hope that one day we three will meet again, deep in the Milky Way. A poem by Li Po.

Budget for me.....

Finally, the Coalition government presented its third Union Budget and did it make any difference to our way of life. I doubt. Surprisingly there was nothing unique about the budget. Seems like our Finance Minister did not wanted to take any chances with the Leftist or the critics. This time it seems he had done a prior consultation and maybe that is the reason that disinvestment was not mentioned anywhere. It was a mediocre budget. There was nothing new to steer the economy and no unpleasant surprises. When you have a competent team like Montek Singh Ahluwalia, Man Mohan Singh and P.Chidambaram, drafting it, the expectations runs high and people expect some out of the box thing. This budget comes in the wake of a booming economy. Sensex is creating new records everyday, rupee has become easily convertible and GDP is growing at a steady rate. The finance minister could have acted, as a catalyst in this emerging market by bringing in some bold initative to boost the GDP from 8 to 10%. The economy has anyway has become an autopilot. The coalition governments have hardly played any role in the growing of economy and it was infact good that the government does not affect the market but now our democracy has changed from passive to active state. The Govt should pitch in to bring new reforms and ensure that growth is trickling down to the whole mass. This year budget brings no new taxes and thankfully, there are no dampeners this year like FBT and tax on withdrawing money like last year. FM could have infact scrapped the fringe benefit tax rather than bringing it down to 5% from 20%. Levying tax on ATM’s is not a very good idea. It affects the low middle-income groups badly but looking into the brighter side, everyone can now purchase the cheaper cars, which has become cheaper and have lots of beverage, which has also become cheaper(pun intended). For me, the budget brings no new plans. I still have to pay the same tax where some tax is deducted at the source and the rest; I only worry when the last date of filing tax is announced. Thankfully, I do not have to go through the chores of filling the long application form, which anyway the company accountant fills it. The Government could have made filing returns little easier. I am still trying to figure out how much money i will be shelling as service tax. The service tax is still a mystery , dunno when and where money slips from finger.

A New Beginning.................

Finally after giving a hell lot of thought i have decided to put my humble thoughts on a blog. I have always been very fascinated about this world of blogs but i could never bring myself to put my grumblings infront of a whole world. I hate to be judged or weighed by people. So hey what am i doing here? Actually, I have a habit of scrapping on a diary and for a change, i am trying a blog.