CAPITALISM AND CORONAVIRUS

It is interesting to observe the events in the capitalist countries, and in the Russian Federation too, first caused by a seemingly purely medical reason - the emergence and development of the global epidemic of coronavirus. The role of economic and political factors in this process was growing rapidly and now they are "head to head" with a purely biomedical factor. Coronavirus has a huge impact on the capitalist economy. It is estimated that at least 500 billion euros will be required to stabilize the countries of the European Community. The decline in economic production in 2020 in the EU will be 7.5%. The situation in the USA is not better. The US national debt increased by another 4 trillion dollars. The employment situation is catastrophic - the number of unemployed in the United States approaches the number of unemployed during the years of the Great Economic Depression. Entire sectors of the economy, primarily those associated with displacement and placement of people, are close to economic collapse. Riots are growing, meanwhile local in character. In the United States, the main reason for rallies and pickets is President Trump's demand for self-isolation of the entire population. Demonstrators shout: “How is this so? After all, this contradicts the constitution, our right to freedom of movement! ” Caring for their own lives, they seem to care little.

Trump’s reaction to the events generated by the coronavirus pandemic is twofold - the state governors and the New York mayor react to his demands for self-isolation “as they see fit,” and, on the other hand, “you can’t go too far” - the entire capitalist system will collapse. The solution so far is simple - the Federal Reserve printed and put into circulation over the past month and a half as much as two trillion dollars - you need to hedge the current political situation - no matter how it “flared”. The situation in industry and the actions of the US government with particular clarity show that capitalism has a limited margin of safety. The "coronavirus crisis" is similar in its role and significance to the events after the end of the 1st and 2nd World Wars.

Let us compare the current coronavirus events with the struggle against the epidemic of smallpox in Moscow in 1959-1960. In December 1959, artist Alexei Kokorekin returned to Moscow from a trip to India, and he contracted smallpox in India. December 29, Kokorekin died at the Botkin Hospital. Pathologists diagnosed with smallpox. They quarantined the infection department. The KGB began tracking Kokorekin’s contacts. It should be borne in mind that the infectiousness of smallpox is orders of magnitude higher than that of coronavirus. When the emergency was reported to the country's leadership, the forces of the KGB, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Soviet Army, the Ministry of Health and other departments were involved to localize the outbreak. One of Kokorekin’s acquaintances, who went to Paris, was decided to take off the Aeroflot flight when the plane was already in the air. The plane was deployed, and the dangerous passenger and all who were on board were sent to quarantine. One of Kokorekin’s acquaintances taught at the institute and took exams from students; hundreds of people were immediately quarantined from this university. The Botkin Hospital was quarantined with all patients and medical workers. To supply it, trucks with necessary products and materials were sent from mobilization depots of the State Reserve.

Moscow was also quarantined by canceling rail and air services and blocking roads. The government ordered to urgently deliver smallpox vaccine for total vaccination of the population of Moscow and the Moscow Region. For vaccination, 26,963 health workers were mobilized, 3391 vaccination centers were opened and 8522 vaccination teams were organized to work in organizations and housing offices. By January 25, 1960, 5,559,670 Muscovites and more than 4,000,000 residents of the Moscow Region had been vaccinated. This has become an unprecedented action in the world to vaccinate the population, both in scale and in terms. As a result of the outbreak, 45 people fell ill with smallpox, of whom three died. Anti-vaccine vaccinations persisted in Soviet health care until the early 1980s.

The events described above vividly testify to the power and will to fight of the Soviet Stalinist system, characterized by complete centralization, a unified will in decision-making, and the immediate execution of all resolutions adopted "from above." Of particular note is the huge mobilization resources of Soviet free medicine. Throughout the Stalin decades, the Soviet socialist system was characterized by a dominant quality - development, overcoming difficulties, labor and military victories.

S.V. Khristenko