Why Large Scale Communism is Impossible

For purposes of this discussion, communism a method of of social and economic organization such that all means of production is controlled by the public.  Socialism is quite different, in that some of the means of production is publicly controlled, but some is controlled by individuals or limited groups.  Laissez faire is a form of society where none of the means of production are controlled by the public.   Capitalism is a means of doing trade, and is at least nominally a part of all of these.

Just as there have been no successful large scale societies that have been Laissez faire, there have been none that have been communist.  The nearest are Castro's Cuba and Mao's China.  Provided that the dictator is benevolent, people can have good lives in them, and if the dictator is willing to share most of his or her power, they can even be successful at some level.  But without a strong leader, there are too many people in a large society that lust for power, that benevolence cannot last long.  All successful communist societies, such as the Kibbutzes of Israel or small communes around the world, have been small enough that the lust for power can be overcome...generally by a leader who is both strong enough and benevolent enough to keep it in check.   Just about all communist groups have a dominant leader--whether life in the commune is good or bad depends almost entirely on that person's benevolence and degree of influence.   I am far from the first to make this point. The earliest I know of is Will Durant, writing about 100 years ago about the then brand new Soviet Union, but I'd be surprised if he was the first.

Laissez-faire is even worse: an excess of Lassez-faire quickly leads to corruption and banditry.  Individual groups attempting to create something useful invariably need to put a very large share of their resources into basic security, and there's nobody building basic infrastructure.  It is fair refer to Laissez-fair as equivalent to Anarchy or a Dark Dark age.

What I'm calling socialism is the only compromise that can work for a group of more than a few hundred individuals or the political lifetime of an individual.  All successful societies, ancient and modern, have some central authority providing security, standards of trade, judiciary, etc.    How much of that is optimal varies with history and psychology.  All we really have to figure it out is trial and error.  When there are market failures, we need a little more government intervention.  But when this happens, there are losers, so we want to minimize this intervention, and where possible, realign things so that the old participants play fairly and productively without losing too much.


There are lots of cases where this was successful: the consent decree that allowed AT&T to retain a strongly regulated monopoly, the USRA that rebuilt the railroads and restored them to profitability during WWI, the breakup of Standard Oil, many, many more. 

Is it Duct Tape or Duck Tape?

One of the most useful inventions ever is called Duck Tape or Duct Tape.  The earliest version appears to have been made from cotton duck cloth sealed with linseed oil and used to water proof things, and first appeared in the 1890s.  Later versions used rubber or various other flexible, water resistant coatings, mostly over cotton duck.  The Revolite division of Johnson and Johnson made a version that was easy to tear, so you didn't need to use scissors or a knife, and was used to waterproof ammunition cases during World War II, and became widespread among the troops for this and many other uses.  This stuff was found to be so useful that other manufacturers started making copies.

The fiber reinforcement makes the tape very strong, and the plastic or rubber makes it relatively water resistant, depending upon the adhesive used.  It's traditionally shiny grey although it can be obtained in just about every color imaginable, including transparent, and printed patterns, and it's usually 2 inches (50 mm) wide, although other widths are available.   Some time around 1960, the name somehow became conflated with the tape used for sealing furnace ducts.  This is one of the very few things it's not particularly good at: the heat tends to make it dry out and become brittle over time.   There is heat resistant foil tape which is actually the right thing for this.  Nevertheless the name change stuck, and a company was able to copyright the name "Duck Tape".

Present versions are usually based on a thin "scrim" which is a loose weave of some sort of fabric--all sorts, cotton, rayon, nylon, even fiberglass, depending upon the strength needed, and the grey part is usually Low Density Polyethylene (LDPE--type 3 plastic) colored with aluminum powder.  The adhesive is generally relatively strong, but relatively cheap, and tends to leave a sticky residue behind when it's removed.  Gaffer Tape is a variety that doesn't leave a sticky residue and is reinforced by stronger fabric, so it needs a knife or scissors to cut.   Preservation Tape is a variety that doesn't leave the sticky residue and doesn't have much or any reinforcement, so it's easy to tear.  Speed Tape, sometimes called Racer Tape,  is a variety that has a smooth surface and strong enough adhesive to tolerate the high wind of a racing car or airplane.  There are 100mph, 200mph, etc., versions.   It's sometimes used to make temporary repairs to airliners before a more permanent repair can be made.

There has been at least one roll of Duct tape on every US manned space mission since Gemini, and it played a major role in the rescue of Apollo 13.  It was also used to extend the fenders on the moon rover on Apollo 17 when they sprayed too much moon dust around.   It works, at least for a little while, in the vacuum of space.

It is most correctly called "Duck tape", although because of the copyright, it might have to be called "Duct tape" sometimes.

It is, as Red Green says, the Handyman's secret weapon.