What USSR managed to do is certainly incredible, especially in space explorations and technology. As a Slav, Russia/USSR will always have my sympathies. What I'm pointing is the difference between the pre-WWII communism and post-WWII communism.
In pre-WWII era, Russia, USA and Western Europe were pretty much parallel in their growth of GDP. USA suffered heavily during the great depression.
What we see in post-WWII era is that other countries have increased their lead (ESP, FIN, JAP...). In comparison to Western Europe, the lag increased from 20 years to 30 years.
Also interesting, in 1950, GDP per capita of USA was 9.5k $, SWI 9.0 $, Venezuela 7.5k !!! And now it's in ruins :(
http://www.nationmaster.com/country-info/stats/Economy/GDP-per-capita-in-1950
I'm very sceptical how applicable this system is in XXI century, especially because we are having all sorts of competition on a global level from manufacturing to IT.
I'll give you an example from Yugoslavia.
During the 80's we started the production of the tank M-84, YU variant of Soviet T-72.
It was produced in 250 factories + 1000 other cooperate?!
People had some jobs - YES
The tank was good - Well, it was solid and competitive
What this sustainable - No, Not after the breakup
Or, the famous Yugo. Yugoslavia was paying the salaries for many thousands of workers. It costed more to produce that Yugo than it cost after the export in the USA?!
The results were tragic. A non-competitive economy that was not based on real rules of the market simply disintegrated when the new tech revolution came and paved the road to war.
Would I be a communist in 1900 - 99% that I would be
Would I be in 2020 - almost certainly not
Would I like to see something better than "West" - absolutely
RE: great new philosophy tube video