I own physical proof that capitalism can’t compete on an even playing field with communism unless it cheats. Have you ever considered what it might be like to live under an economic system where things are built to last instead of built with planned obsolescence in mind? Well, I don’t have to wonder. I have it in my hands. I happen to be an amateur musician and I own about 10 guitars and have played a whole lot more. I’ve been playing for almost a decade and a half too and released half a dozen albums. I’ve got the kind of experience it takes to actually know what you’re on about. Well, over the summer I decided to do a project to fix up all my old guitars and bring them back into repair. I easily ended up spending over $200 in parts and labor to get just a couple of my guitars working again. My first guitar was about 15 years old and needed pretty major repairs. Almost all the electronic parts needed replaced and it needed serious rewiring. After that project was done, I was looking for another and I happened to come across a couple Soviet era guitars; a matching pair of electric and bass. I picked them up figuring it would be a fun little project to try to get them into working order again. They weren’t expensive either, I did the math and I paid about what you would have paid for them in Soviet Russia, adjusted for inflation. We’re taking about roughly $200/piece plus shipping.
However, to my surprise when they actually arrived despite being significantly older than any other guitar in my collection, they were in perfect working order. They didn’t need any work at all. Even more surprising though was the fact that they were so solidly made I feel like you could drop them off a truck and they’d barely take a scratch. Even more surprisingly though, they actually sounded better than any capitalist made guitar in my collection at any price point, and were easier to play too. I was blown away. An entire lifetime of capitalist propaganda and assumptions that had been drilled into my head since childhood obliterated in an instant. I was holding the proof that it was nothing but lies right in my hands. What could I do but accept the truth right in front of my face?
Know what else I can’t get over? The bloody things are so good at holding their tuning that I only have to tune them about once a week, whereas every other guitar I have to tune every time I pick it up if not more often. Talk about engineering!
Get this; the Soviet economy was so stable, they printed the prices directly onto the guitar, alongside all the other information on the back label. I didn’t have to guess at what these originally cost, or have to go digging in dusty old economic records to find it. I just look at the back and there it is: 145 rubles. Yeah, imagine living in a system so economically stable that there’s virtually no inflation and so you can print the price directly on the product instead of having to use a sticker so you can keep changing it. Plus, without a profit motive, you don’t have to wait for a sale to get a fair price, stuff just costs what it costs from the start. Imagine that! Kinda makes capitalism seem whacky and unstable by comparison doesn’t it?