Just discovered that admins are removing resource-content on the subreddit. Both the DPRK and China megathreads that are in the sidebar have been removed, probably others too.

I doubt this is unique to only /r/communism, /r/communism101 is probably going to be hit as well.

  • SoyViking [he/him]27•3 years ago

    I was banned for comparing the common estimated number of gulag inmates with the US prison population.😁

    • spectre [he/him]13•3 years ago

      Doesn't it come out looking better for the gulag though?

      • SoyViking [he/him]25•3 years ago

        It does. That was an antiamerican argument. I was banned simply for mentioning the number.

        • JoeySteel [comrade/them]15•3 years ago

          Er no bud the US locks up more people than the height of the Soviet gulag period (which was just before ww2)

          It imprisons more people than any civilisation that has ever existed: China, Iran, russia or DPRK and yes Soviet Union at height of the gulag period

          Over all, there are now more people under ‘correctional supervision’ in America–more than 6 million–,” writes Gopnik, “than were in the Gulag Archipelago under Stalin at its height.” Correctional supervision means adults on probation, in jail or prison, and on parole. Zakaria follows Gopnik’s incantation of Stalinism with some horrifying figures:

          https://srbpodcast.org/2013/05/11/us-prison-industrial-complex-versus-the-stalinist-gulag/

          Over all, there are now more people under “correctional supervision” in America—more than six million—than were in the Gulag Archipelago under Stalin at its height.

          https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2012/01/30/the-caging-of-america

          non paywall archive https://web.archive.org/web/20200115083649/https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2012/01/30/the-caging-of-america

            • JoeySteel [comrade/them]12•3 years ago

              Surely it's the same though as there were varying degrees of gulags - some for petty criminals and thieves were essentially just small villages miles from anything in Siberia where they led relatively "free" lifestyles and were allowed to take their families etc.

              Probation/parole can hardly be considered freedom as you're still undersupervision and required to check into a police station or have a parole officer visit you etc.

              • spectre [he/him]13•3 years ago

                I think it's a fair comparison, but I'd want to make sure the net is just as wide on the Soviet side, and includes non-gulag jails and such (if that's a thing, I know nothing about their prison system)

            • Awoo [she/her]5•3 years ago

              I actually wrote a comment on this here in the past: https://hexbear.net/post/22867/comment/168034

              Copying it because for some reason I can see that post in my post history but it won't load?

              When ignoring the period of 1941-1944 (nazi occupation of the soviet union and ww2) where 70% of all deaths in gulags occurred, the program actually had an incredibly low death rate for its time. In fact, by 1953 the gulag system had a LOWER death rate than current modern day US prisons have. Fact.

              According to this study the gulag deaths were approximately 830,000 from 1934 to 1953. As I said above however, it is important to know that 70% of all these deaths occurred between 1941 and 1944 (included) so they can be attributed to difficulties from the War Period and nazi occupation. Also, it's important to note that antibiotics didn't become available until after WW2, this contributes significantly to earlier higher death figures.

              To put things into perspective. Using the same source as above for the USSR, and this report from the Bureau of Justice Statistics we can say that Mortality in the gulag in 1953 (236 deaths per 100,000 prisoners) was lower than mortality in US prisons today, both in state prisons (303 deaths per 100,000 prisoners) and federal prisons (252 deaths per 100,000 prisoners).

              Feel free to double check these numbers(you should check anyone's numbers always). I know it's surprising to hear that as far back as 1953 they were better, but it is absolutely correct. I had to double check it too.

                • Awoo [she/her]7•3 years ago

                  Loads for me

                  Weird, it gives me "Something Went Wrong" and asks me to submit a bug.

                  Anyway, a common complaint from a liberal is going to be that “the Soviets released very ill and dying prisoners in order to keep death count relatively low”. What say you?

                  All prisons do that. Prisons are for people that are a danger to others in society not for the terminally ill or dying. The idea that the Soviets were engaging in a method of falsifying their own private and internal documentation for their own archives because some libs might read those archives after the ussr is gone is a bit bizarre though. Why would they do that? It's data for them and you don't operate a state's internal data gathering that nobody will ever see on the basis that you expect your state to eventually end in a coup by traitors.