Don't flamebait. In a typical Western discussion (combined with "communism is equal to Nazism" crapshit) this sounds like a blood libel. The more correct version of the statement would be "Jews are heavily left-leaning", which is largely true even today. All David Frums and Ezra Levants of North America notwithstanding, Jews are still overwhelmingly voting left-of-center, even in very North America. In 1st half of 20th century it was almost an axiom. Jew==liberal (at best) or commie (at worst).
That wasn't actually intended as flamebait, though I guess I could have phrased it better. Jews have historically been great supporters of socialism and Communism. Many of the great Soviet leaders (including Trotsky) were Jewish; the early Zionists were universally socialist, and a lot of the German Communists were Jewish. Most people think that Communism's emphasis of secular equality is what was so attractive.
To repeat a quote my grandmother told me from the 50s: "Not all Communists are Jews, but all Jews are Communists". (Please note that both my grandmother and I are Jewish, if that puts a different perspective on that particular quote)
Buddy, you do have a talent to stir the fertilizer![]()
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Actually, if you look at where the particular country starts and where it ended, commie countries are mixed bag. According to (obviously anti-communist) CIA world factbook, Cuba in 2009 sits smack-dab between Brazil and DR in the terms of GDP per capita (adjusted for PPP). However, traditionally growth in developed countries going communist (E. Germany, Czechoslovakia) had been somewhat stunned comparing to their free-market neighbours. Part of this lag can be attributed to heavy defense spendings (Communist system never controlled more than quoter of world economy but had to maintain a military parity, which caused at least three times bigger defense expenditures), but inherent ills of planned economy are undoubtedly responsible too. Simply speaking, GDR Inc or USSR Inc were too damn big to be managed effectively (said factor almost killed another supercorporation, GM Inc). How much effect this system disadvantage have we would never know. However, I would say at least 10 to 20%, may be as high as 30% systemic loss (a number I consider extremely unlikely, but still). So, all in all, France would be somewhere between Italy and New Zealand.
Right, but no "fully developed" nation has ever successfully undergone a Communist revolution. The relative economic weakness of East Germany, Czechoslovakia, Poland etc. can be largely attributed (I think) to Russia squeezing all of the delicious economic juices out. Also, one theory I've heard for West Germany's success vs East Germany is the lack of a Marshall Plan in the latter's case.