North Star Compass Notes

From North Star Compass, dedicated to the restoration of the USSR as a socialist state, a few articles.

The first points out that Bulgarian seniors had their pensions cut by 50% in the late 1990's, such that their pensions are now way below the poverty line.

I don't know how much Social Security pays, but could you imagine if the US government cut Social Security by 50%? Actually, they want to cut it by way more than under the Republicans' SS privatization plan (which seemed to be supported by 100% of the US "free press").

Imagine if US seniors had to live on, say, $500-600/month for a single person? I think they must get more than that, don't they? Surely SS must pay $800-900/month? And now after the capitalist "reforms" of 2000, health care is no longer accessible to the majority of Bulgarians. This article was from last year, so I doubt anything has changed.

One thing is for sure, you won't see any articles like this in the US media. Keep in mind that these changes were supported by the entire US media and by both the Democratic and Republican Parties of the US. Isn't it amazing what kind of evil shit our entire media and both of our political parties support? And the citizens don't have a clue about any of this.

The next article by Irene Malenko puts North Korea in perspective. I've already written about North Korea on here before in a long article. She notes that North Korea is being subjected to the same sanctions that are currently destroying Zimbabwe, so it is really amazing that they are still afloat after all.

North Korea lost 80% of its trading partners overnight in 1990. She asks how Holland or Germany would react if they lost 80% of their trade overnight. Also, the price of oil went up by 10X in less than a year. Let's see how any capitalist society can handle a 10X increase in the price of oil in only one year.

She also notes that there is almost no crime in Pyongyang, and it's not due to the secret police either. It's a whole other mindset there. The streets are clean, with no litter and graffiti.

You find something similar in Belarus, which is still a more or less socialist country: clean streets you could practically eat off, no graffiti, no homeless, almost no unemployed. The absence of drug-sniffing gangs of homeless youth alone (epidemic in the capitalist paradises of Latin America) would seem to be a good thing.

She's correct that the residents of Pyongyang are well-fed. The "Stalinist" (for lack of any better term) distribution system for food and goods has long since pretty much broken down. I'm not sure what has taken its place, but there are farmers' markets and small peddlers everywhere.

The last article deals with the changes that have taken place in the capitalist Ukraine that the Ukrainian nationalists love so much. Ukraine privatized all of its coal mines recently. (What for? Why privatize a coal mine? The state can run coal mines perfectly well.)

Since then, Ukraine has some of the most dangerous coal mines in the whole world. Most health and safety standards have been eliminated, and most of the mines have been bought by foreign vulture capitalists, who according to Ukrainian ultra-capitalist laws, are not liable for any health and safety regulations anyway, even those that might still exist.

Labor unions have been outlawed in most of the mines, and those that remain are completely controlled by management. The last phrase is a jibe at some of my readers who think that "class collaboration" is the way to "end the class struggle" and make workers and management both happy. Further, there's an inhuman speedup regimen going on that is probably also helping to kill these workers.

The last election that was characterized by an Orange Revolution (yet another US-funded color revolution) pitted the pro-US party (responsible for the coal mine horror) against a pro-Russian party coded as evil by the entire US media and the Bush Administration.

The color revolution that the US media cheered on so much (and I assume was supported to the hilt by the Democratic Party too) was all about making Ukraine's coal mines among the deadliest on Earth and other ultra-capitalist miracles, and it had little other purpose. Amazing the chocolate-covered shit the US media sells as the latest and best See's Candies, huh?

The Heroic Protests of Senior Citizens of Bulgaria
By Dr. Ivan Angelo
October 2007

In the late 1990’s the pensions of the retired people had been cut by 50%, so that now most of them are living way under the poverty line. Then after the reforms in year 2000, heath care is not accessible to most of the retied people.

DPRK: Where Every Day Is Like May Day
by Irina Malenko
September 2007

Shops are full, and plenty of people are buying. Juvenile delinquency is far lower than in Russia; there are no gangs of glue-sniffing, smoking and drinking kids on the streets. The streets are clean and litter-free; you don't even see trash cans on the street. People are friendly and quiet, as opposed to being rude and loud in capitalism.

Pickpockets are nonexistent, and you can probably leave your bag anywhere in Pyongyang and no one will steal it. There is little hunger in Pyongyang, but unfortunately there is still quite a bit in the rural areas. They lost 80% of their trade partners overnight in 1990 - we have to ask how Holland or Germany would cope with the overnight loss of 80% of its trade partners.

There are also very serious problems due to US sanctions which have hit the economy very hard - these are the same sanctions that have destroyed Zimbabwe - as such it is amazing that N Korea is still on its feet.

Mounting Tragedies in Capitalist Ukraine
September 2007

A methane blast in the coal mine killed 63 miners and injured scores more. 360 miners that were trapped in this mine at more than 1,000 meters deep had to struggle against a raging fire. This tragic accident again and again highlights the tragedy of the present privatized mines that lack even elementary standard safety features.

Ukraine now has some of the most dangerous mines in the world, forced to working at high speed and, since most of these mines are foreign owned, they are not responsible for any safety regulations that might still exist. There are no trade union allowed in these mines and, many of the so-called leaders of those that still have a trade union, are bought by the management.

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