“Oh no, the Collective Farm Policy was a terrible struggle… Ten Million (he said holding up his hands).” It was fearful. Four years it lasted. It was absolutely necessary.”
– Joseph Stalin
Written by Bryan Lutz, Editor at Dollarcollapse.com:
In with a bang, out with a fist in the air!
That was Stalin as he passed away on March 4, 1953.
Stalin is our do-gooder of the day.
Now, it should be said, dear reader, that you and I both want to do good. We want things to change, we want things to get better, but the how, as we will soon see, is just as important as the what.
And doing good is much different than our conviction to what we think the world should look like. But which one must come first…?
For the do-gooder, conviction comes first.
That is what happened after Lenin died. Stalin consolidated power and with the force of conviction, the Russian peasants would see Lenin’s promise of “Peace, Land, and Bread” fulfilled by any means necessary.
In 1917, Lenin had won the hearts of the peasants with the vision of land re-distribution, which had largely been owned by the Czar. Soon, the land (and the farms), would be used to support the Red Army. But the forceful seizure of the land only caused more growing unrest until the end of WWI…
Then Lenin introduced the New Economic Policy (NEP) in 1921. This policy marked a temporary retreat from socialist policies to allow a degree of private enterprise. Under the NEP, the policy of grain requisitioning was replaced by a tax in kind, which was less burdensome for peasants.
Then came Stalin.
Stalin surmised that in order for the socialist state to persist, it would need rapid industrialization.
Stalin transformed the ownership of Russian agriculture from individual peasant farms into large, state-controlled collective farms and state farms. He thought the move would increase agricultural productivity and provide grain for export to finance industrialization.
The problem with this was that the city needed a large labour force to industrialize the nation, but food was also needed. It was a double-bind, but for Stalin, it simply required more management.
So an internal passport system was introduced in the Soviet Union in the 1930s.
The internal passport system effectively tied peasants to these collective farms. Without a passport, a peasant could not legally register for a job, residence, or ration cards in a city. This restriction meant that peasants were compelled to remain in rural areas and work on collective farms.
The passport system gradually declined until the 1970s, when collectivist’s were allowed to obtain passports to leave their farms to access the cities.
Stalin’s conviction worked, but it forced the death of tens of millions from labor camps to famines (the collectivist farms produced poorly at first)…
All intended to revive an economy and people in crisis.
Today also, the economy, and apparently the land are in crisis.
Once again, the land and the economy are intertwined through climate.
To fix this, planners in many countries around the world have come up with an important solution.
But some astute individuals are calling their bluff.
The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation reports:
“The 15-minute city concept at its core is an urban planning framework intended to set up communities in such a way that they would have access to all their needs within a 15-minute walk or bike ride from their homes — so, easier access to the grocery store, the bank, medical care, jobs, etc…”
The concept for 15-minutes cities doesn’t mention the urban planner’s priorities, but it does mention all the benefits. Those that are astute may recognize the parallels between our planner’s past projects and today’s newest act of Leviathan.
Those people with an ounce of history may recognize what’s happening. Some see too far into the third act. Those that are too keen of observers are called conspiracy theorists.
“It’s also been embedded in a lot of other conspiracy theories related to QAnon and the Great Reset, associated with fears of tyrannical takeovers.
Celestini explained that after years of COVID restrictions and lock downs, ideas like 15-minute cities can sometimes seem more frightening than they are in reality.
Even the Canadian Institute of Planners issued a statement earlier this month to say that the scrutiny and misunderstanding of 15-Minute City objectives “has resulted in alarming instances of hostile behaviour and threats toward planners and public servants, disruptive conduct in consultation meetings, and the need for law enforcement interventions.”
It is a terrible thing when average citizens of good will, and good intention are put in subjection to hostile behavior and threats uttered.
Who wouldn’t want to live in a place where community and culture are offered, where he could walk to his local butcher, baker and grocery, or meet the same families at the park on a regular basis seems silly?
And as far as food goes, optimal food intake can be calculated and distributed according to need, right where you are.
But that is the vision of the do-gooder. It requires the acquisition of power.
On the subject, Friedrich Hayek, author of ‘The Road to Serfdom’ writes,
“…it was largely people of good will who, by their socialist policies, prepared the way for the forces which stand for everything they detest. Few recognize that the rise of fascism and Marxism was not a reaction against the social trends of the preceding period but a necessary outcome of those tendencies…
Many socialists have the tragic illusion that by depriving private individuals of the power they possess in an individualist system, and transferring this power to society, they thereby extinguish power. What they overlook is that by concentrating power so that it can be used in the service of a single plan, it is not merely transformed, but infinitely heightened.”
After almost 80 years since the Road to Serfdom was written…
And over thirty years since the official collapse(1991) of the Soviet Union, what planners may not see is that this road has been travelled…
The legacy foreseen…
Will this time be different?
Will planning and management of the land fix the economy?
Will 15-minute cities be a solution for the problem of climate change, fiat money… folly?
In a digital world, planning seems more efficient, more likely possible, like science fiction become real.
Especially with the emergence of Artificial Intelligence. The future seems happy…
For the planners, maybe.
And for the rulers, even more so.
But will the legacy be the same?
