@sydneyfalk @pnathan there are pretty clear counter-examples to that in societies with socialist economies though! art and science and self-actualization flourished in the USSR during the times they had breathing room from US and Western European aggression. Cuba today has made incredible strides in dismantling the colonial culture of racism, sexism, and homophobia and building a truly equitable society, as have the Zapatistas. Anarchist Spain, for the brief moment in history it lived, was a shining beacon of mutual aid and communal interdependence.