What do you think about communism?

Question

nightdrot · Accepted Answer

To understate it just a hair, it does not have a great track record. It is well gone.

Socialism was a romantic reaction to the Enlightenment. To wit, the idea of the Enlightenment was that man was a spontaneously rational and social being. That he had rights, rooted in nature.
However, man has been corrupted by institutions that evolved over history but that were not inherently rational and therefore not consistent with his natural rights.

The idea behind the Enlightenment then was that man must be stripped of the illogical and irrational/pre-rational sources of his identity - i. e. religion, ethnicity, tribe, etc. - and law made in conformity with his natural rights. When law and natural rights are consistent, man will live in harmonious relationship with his fellows.

The problem. of course, was that man gets his sense of identity from religion, family, tribe, nationality, etc. When stripped of these - as the British statesman and political philosopher put it - man is "reduced to his naked shivering nature."

Into this stepped Marx. In brief summation, he combined man's need for a sense of identity with a "scientific theory." He discerned a dialectic in History - with a capital "H" - in which economics and class was the source of man's true identity and that the clash of owning and working classes would result over time in a stateless utopia where man lived in fulfillment of his nature.

This, of course, was not scientific at all. It greatly oversimplified man's nature and, in practice - and this is skipping over a LOT of important detail - conduced to the concentration of power in an elite whose job, in Marxist theory, was to guide the workers toward that classless utopia that - allegedly - History was moving toward anyhow.

Pursuant to this, as a matter of economic policy, the government would own the means of production, private property would be abolished, and the economy - all levels of production, consumption, etc, - would be centrally planned. Suffice to say, such concentrations of power and planning with no intermediary institutions between the government and society conduced to brutal tyranny.

The disconnect between what Marx prophesied - it is too much to say postulated - and what resulted from the real world application of his theory had its roots in the patent absurdity of Marx's theory. It was pure drivel.

A dialectic that magically, mystically stops at the right moment of a classless, stateless utopia. The notion that man, a complex being of many motives, was driven by one thing - class. The notion - more from Lenin to be sure - that power could be vested all in one place, the party, and that power would not be abused. Moreover, the notion that the party was needed to guide what was supposedly inevitable and would presumably therefore need no guidance.

The list goes on. Marx caught on because he sat at the nexus of two philosophical traditions. On the one hand, his was a romantic reaction against the rationalism of the 18th century Enlightenment. On the other, he purported to be in the intellectual line of that rationalism - hence the phrase, "scientific socialism."

It was pure nonsense and its results were as predictable as the sunrise, and indeed were seen early on. Stalin's purge of the Kulaks because they had the effrontery to wish to be compensated for their losses. The empty store shelves because, not surprisingly, people were not apt to be motivated by class identity so much as the desire to earn a living. (So, mutatis mutandis, "false conscience" is born to explain what Marx could not explain.)

The final absurdity being, when it became convenient to Stalin, the internationalist universalist vision of Marx becomes "socialism in one country." The only theoretical addition to Marxist theory that Stalin ever proffered - not surprisingly because it helped justify his power.

CONT.

AlexanderBrunnrgaard · Accepted Answer

I know that only hopelessly blind fools still believe in it. Stalinism, Leninism, Maoism, Trotskyism, every single attempt at communism went the exact same way. Dictatorship, shortage of goods, starvation, mass murder, national bankruptcy and nation-wide revolt. History is rarely as empirically clear with things as it is with communism.

In a communist state people are reduced to a cog in the machinery and stripped of all individual right. There's no openess or chance for you to strive for your ambitions or dreams, because any private enterprise is forbidden. And it endgenders a cruel and souless people. When Soviet reigned over Ukraine for example, Russian officers were allowed to simply walk into any house they wanted, oust the family and take over.

It's not a good idea and it does not even sound good in theory. Equal opportunity is justice, which is capitalism, not equal outcomes, which is communism. The capitalist principle is straightforward and fair. I need something, and you need something, we exchange what we need with each other based on services and agreements and thus we survive and prosper. Capitalism has also raised a third of the world out of abject poverty.

Anonymous · Accepted Answer

A) Communism was NEVER achieved, due to basic human flaws - greed, selfishness and stupidity.
I always laugh at ignorant people who mistake socialism for communism - it's NOT the same.
Right-wing extremists should know that communism was NEVER "tried in practice" (that was in fact Socialism).

B) Stalinism is also NOT communism, it's a totalitarian dictatorship started by a crazy egomaniac, who was no better than Hitler... his bad example was later followed by Mao and many other so called "communist dictators" (none of them ever followed the ideals of communism).

C) USSR was a socialist country (Union of Soviet Socialist Republics) - NOT "communist republics".
Religious freaks should know that communism originally doesn't forbid religion.
Communism wasn't invented by Marx & Engels... Communism was actually invented by the Catholic philosopher Victor d'Hupay.
His ideas were partially inspired by Thomas More (the one who wrote "Utopia") - he was also a Catholic.
Communism was named after ancient Christian communes (communities).

D) Communism is:
- Classless society - Did we ever have that? Nope, never (members of the so called "communist party" were privileged compared to other citizens).
- Moneyless society - Did we ever have that kind of society? Nope, USSR had Rubles, that's money, every Socialist country had their own currency.
- Stateless society - Did we ever had it? Nope, never, USSR was a state, there are no states in real communism, therefore, dumb people should learn that there never were any "communist countries", because communism is an utopian society without the countries - The whole world would be united.

E) That's why your comic fails miserably, because we actually never had communism.
In real communism (which was NEVER achieved) - Everyone would work according to their abilities, and get according to their needs (and needs of their families)... there would be no need for money.

F) So, when you talk about communism, first thing you need to do, is to realize what communism really is...
It's NOT what capitalist propaganda claims it to be;
It's NOT what nazi-fascists are barking at;
It's NOT what corrupted priests are lying about.

G) If you want to realize what communism really is - It's the society of the future, perfectly displayed by Gene Roddenberry in Star Trek.
No countries nor borders - the Earth is united.
No money - At least not on Earth and other Federation planets.
Ferengi still have it, they are a parody of capitalists.
Jean-Luc Picard: "The acquisition of wealth is no longer the driving force in our lives. We work to better ourselves and the rest of humanity; We’ve overcome hunger and greed, and we’re no longer interested in the accumulation of things".

H) Of course, we all need to realize that... humanity first has to evolve beyond greed, selfishness and stupidity, because a society closest to perfection - can't be achieved by masses of ignorant, indoctrinated, money-driven and corrupted people.

pleasestopthis · Accepted Answer

It only looks good on paper. In practice is just a pile of sh*t because human nature doesn't allow it to function as it should. We have the perfect examples in North Korea (starving and malnourished people, except some priviledged ones) and Venezuela (starving people running off to every country in south america).
I don't trust communists either. They take advantage of people's anger and lie to them with promises of a better world and social justice.
In the last presidential elections I voted for a conservative asshole because he's still better than a communist that's full of BS.

CountessSarah · Accepted Answer

My experience with this has been that the vast, vast majority of people have no idea what communism means - It's just a buzzword rightwingers throw around hamfistedly to scare people who know as little as they do.
As an economic system it's fine, I just prefer capitalism.

WhiteSteve · Answer

I’d agree that it’s not been carried out correctly.

My problem with democracy is that “one person, one vote” sounds great on paper, except I don’t believe the majority of people are all that intelligent... so leaving decisions in their hands is questionable at best. Also, people generally vote out of self-interest, which isn’t all that respectable.

My thing with government and allegiances... it’s gotta be all or nothing, I’m not taking anything in the middle. I’ll either be totally allegiant to a government that funds every aspect of my life and I don’t have to lift a finger, or I’m completely independent and exercising the supposed-to-be unlimited freedom everything on this planet with a pulse is supposed to be entitled to, per Orders of nature, which outrank any desire of any being within nature.

OlderAndWiser · Answer

I think that the ultimate ideal concept of communism is great when applied to relationships: each partner contributes according to their ability and each receives what they need from the partnership. In the world, every attempt at communism has resulted in a dictatorial, totalitarian regime.

ADFSDF1996 · Answer

A failed ideology that only brought misery and fear to millions around the world.

ladsin · Answer

Failed and presumably always will.

WalterRadio · Answer

Communism is the endgame for Warren, Sanders, and their ilk.

They are far more concerned about their own lust for power to control other people than they are about increasing prosperity for anyone. They can control the lower class now because they are depending upon the government, but they cannot control the upper class, or even the upper middle, because they do not need government benefits until they retire, and then it is not the same grip as they have on the lower classes because they have their own assets. They are trying to change that of course and force everyone onto government benefit programs.

If these Communists are successful in implementing their "free" entitlement programs, they will have to either print the money or take it. They cannot obtain that kind of money from just taxing the "ultra wealthy" because their wealth will move, be hidden, and evaporate. The only way they can redistribute wealth is to directly confiscate businesses, commercial and industrial real estate, and homes and apartments. They will meet violent resistance of course, and must therefore confiscate people's guns first.

Wake up people.

Deathraider · Answer

I don’t think many people have read works of communist to know what they stand for. While I don’t agree entirely with Karl Marx, I see his observations more and more in the modern world. Corruption is everywhere, it’s just now that the pandemic is exposing the sins of our society. It’s time we need some reforms. The access to food, housing, and healthcare shouldn’t be dependent on who has the wealth, nor should it be a limiting factor to someone’s growth. I’m not denying capitalism is bad in all circumstances. When there is perfect (so each seller is selling identical products) or monopolistic competition (brands of clothes type of stuff), capitalism works well. But in this economy, there is a lack of competition and the most profitable route often is the exploitation of workers and consumers.
When people talk about communism, it’s a rather broad philosophy with many people that have different views. So when someone say that a communistic state failed, what were the philosophy of the leader in charge? Many of them took Marx’s philosophy and changed it.

SkipStop · Answer

I think very negatively about it. My family and I are from the Soviet Union. My grandfather told me so many stories about how life was like back in those days. From the end of world war two all the way until the collapse. And man, it's horrific compared to what I experience in the USA. The policies, the way of life, everything. Hard to believe. Wanna buy a new home? You can have one but you won't be able to see it first. Whatever we give you is where you will live. And things like faucets and showers are not included. Wanna buy some food? Especially bread, milk, sour cream, and more? Be ready to wait 24 hours in line. And there is no guarantee there will be enough left. You might go home empty handed. Create something new and incredible? No million bucks for you. We (Government) will take the money your invention is worth and you get a cheap gift like a new coat or a rug. Wanna visit other countries? Forget it. You ain't going nowhere. And so many other horrific stuff.

loveslongnails · Answer

"Communal-ism" has worked... Communism does not. In fact, it's hardly different from pure capitalism at the highest levels, but it eliminates your chances of advancing due to merit on the lower levels. Think about it... every Communist regime is run by corrupt dictators or rulers who themselves are wealthy while most of their population remains poor or just getting by. Hmmm... not much different from capitalism except there's "elections" and more general freedoms, less censorship, and the like. It keeps everyone occupied, but the top 1 to 3% still rule us remaining peons. Don't get me wrong, I choose the poison of capitalism over communism any day, but I delude myself by thinking it's honest and the leaders are not corrupt.

Aethereal · Answer

On paper, it's the best form of government in my opinion. However, it has the same weakness as Capitalism: failure to account for human nature. This failure makes both systems deeply flawed and unworkable. Lenin recognized the problem, but his solution (a vanguard party) was also susceptible to the same problem he was trying to solve.

(sigh) I really want to say a great deal more about this because I imagine anyone who reads my answer might not understand why I feel that way. But properly scratching the surface would probably cover the length of a Master's thesis. A good, concise, and impartial summary within the context of a GAG opinion/answer would be extremely difficult to do. I'm not qualified enough to try, sorry.

SirRexington · Answer

I think we first need to understand what we are talking about because the majority have no clue.

Its a futuristic society where everyone has access to resources and benefits from the means of production. Work as we see it today is less common as automatef businesses have made it obsolete. People are free to pursue their interests without fear of missing capital and there is no ruling or lower class. Money has been done away with as it's no longer necessary.

It's a society that on some form or another will exist in the future, its inevitable.

No, North Korea, Venezuela and China are not communist. If you claim this you clearly are uneducated.

Bananaman177 · Answer

It sounds good when you have a child's level of understanding about the world.

FakeName123 · Answer

I come from a formerly socialist country. Not even once. It is flawed at it's very core as it requires humanity to be perfect while ignoring basic human needs and drives.

Thus it is doomed to be a failure. It's not a coincidence that every time a communist regime was attempted - it turned into a massive authoritarian shitshow. Even if people try to argue "but muh this wasn't real communism". No shit, Sherlock. Your Utopia didn't work out but anytime you try to attempt it, it goes the same path.

sparke328 · Answer

Horrible. The idea sounds great based off the Communist Manifesto, but communism is actually a very destructive and horrible force that causes countries to fall apart socially, economically, and religiously (because it prohibits the practice of ANY religion).

Wolkmi · Answer

Communism works perfectly as demonstrated by the USSR, China, Vietnam, the Middle East and some parts of Africa last century. Those countries began to go wrong when they left communism for a strange mixture of socialism, liberal socio-democracy with a lot of corruption, which in the end was neither socialism nor free market nor state economy. Of course, most of these countries socially and economically destabilized thanks to the wars and the friend USA The only communist country as such is North Korea, I do not defend the lack of freedom or its conservatism (although if the capitalist countries did not send spies) but to be so closed, maybe without amenities but it works

viajen · Answer

Funny that it tries to explain communism failing every time with rockets, even though Russia was beating the US through every step of the space race up to a man on the moon.

Communism isn't good.
Capitalism, despite being an unpopular opinion, is good.

TadCurious · Answer

It's an ideology the practitioners of which murdered and purposely starved (which is the same thing) tens of millions of people. It's a very dishonest ideology in the sense that the promised "withering away of the state" as a progression to utopia never occurs. The thing that never "withers away" is the brutal and murderous dictatorship.

NyfikenSyd · Answer

While I'm not a proponent of Communism that cartoon is just stupid. If you want a real discussion on why Communism is talk about the actual basic ideas and how they can cause issues/be abused.
Can't say rampant captalism is much better though - just other forms of issues/abuse.

0112358 · Answer

Communism isn’t scalable beyond a group who is personally and individually emotionally attached to each other member.

Z3ID366 · Answer

From all the ways of government checked communism is the worst, it takes away all the freedom from an individual and in the long term it harms the group because no one wants to be better, there is no motivation

Sixgun77 · Answer

Communism is bad because it goes against personal liberty, and it's a form of statism. I'll take personal sovereignty and property rights instead. Organized labor is about the only thing Marx gets right, and even then it should only be in the private sector.

slipperydip1994 · Answer

I love the state owning and controlling everything, under the right circumstances and caring/compassionate intentions.

Some commies give other commies a bad name. Best to not let a bad apple or two, ruin a nicely picked bunch of apples, aye? :)

nuberu17 · Answer

Biggest piece of shit ever invented... genius because work with idiots and there is a lot of idiots out there... make everyone dependent of the state so they have absolute control... nahhhh not a fan... i have fought comunism in the past and it is worse than a cancer...

xyz94 · Answer

Briefly, it doesn’t work, as demonstrated by Russia.

_Jay_ · Answer

It is not something i would like, but it might work if everyone wants it to work. Thus if we created a country where only people, who want communism, would live, the probability of it working is higher.

SupremeIncelman · Answer

Americans who dont know what communism is say it has never been tested and needs a chance

People like myself who emigrated to the states from Communists countries that were crippled by US regime change civil wars know what Communism is and wouldn't like to see it in the US

crazy8000 · Answer

Most ideologies work until corruption and manipulation occurs. in plain English uses the system.
Capitalism isn't an exception. It's more fucked up then all communistic countries combined from our history.

wankiam · Answer

in theory its great but in reality it has never worked... mind you i dont see this age of western late stage capitalism working so well either

lightbulb27 · Answer

Bad. people at top have full control and take all. workers don't get as much, opportunities are limited... lack freedom and individuality. bad.

Snakeyes7 · Answer

An ideology that sounds good as a dictionary definition but it leads to tyranny and millions of people murdered or starved to death in practice because of course the dictionary would never tell you that.

BCA6010 · Answer

Doesn't work, and won't ever work no matter how many times it's tried.

_SOARER_ · Answer

Waste of time.  Problem with communism is that it lacks God, morality, and Culture.

SMPlSl · Answer

Communism doesn't work because it enslaves the people to the government.

Miristheiss · Answer

Evil, oppressive, theft, bondage, destructive, corrupt, unjust.

AmeerX · Answer

Communism and Capitalism is a lie. What you need is societies not governments. These are just tools to enslave majority by the minority

SlimeC0RE · Answer

A good concept in theory, an unattainable status in reality. Socialism is a better compromise.

zagor · Answer

It oppresses the individual in favor of the supposed common good, but in reality is used to concentrate power to an elite few.

SuccessfulHornDog · Answer

I couldn't agree with you more. Communism is a deadly and oppressive form of government but for some reason Antifa supports it. I guess they support oppression as long as its by their colleagues

lernulo · Answer

Give all the power without limits to a government is a bad idea on itself. And I know it isn't supposed to be the basic idea, but, are you able to say me one which doesn't make?

13IsALuckyNumber · Answer

It’s a great idea In theory. You see communism could be amazing for everything be in a country run by it, but in actuality the governments become corrupt and keep everything for themselves.

Oeuvre · Answer

"patria, socialismo o muerte"

Wolframium · Answer

Ideology from times passed. Which also didn't count with human greed.

Matt57 · Answer

Alaska Thunderfuck said it best

Therisinghero12 · Answer

What works in your head doesn't always work in the real world, I don't know what's so alluring about the concept, if someone can explain I'd like to hear.

Hispanic-Cool-Guy · Answer

Complete stupidity. Only a select few get to live a life luxury while the rest of the population doesn't have a right to ownership and fully get to live out their dreams and desires.

Anonymous · Answer

I may be a little biased since my home country used to be controlled by the ussr (not really part of it though) but communism is good in theory but realistically, it sucks

broncobryan · Answer

Communism is great if you believe in working for free and getting food rations to survive, and living in government supplied homes.

Burtonfan · Answer

I believe it's a great theory. Just like we should all treat people how we want to be treated. Everyone knows that one right? Right?

DiscomfortZone · Answer

Communism begat femininazism and the female filth and germs of the modern cult. That's all the reason one needs to know that it's shit.

Anonymous · Answer

Death is a preferable alternative to communism THrow em from helicopters

YHL6965 · Answer

Sounds cool on paper, does not work in practice unless it's on a really small scale and nobody is abusing the system.

DDpsy · Answer

I feel intense justified personal hatred for absolutely everything it stands for and it's followers.

CaptainSmartass · Answer

Nyet. It's very bad, and very scary. I would happily join the fight against communism. Simples...

name_is_eric · Answer

Worst system ever introduced to man. A system of mass murder.

Hypnos0929 · Answer

Its perfect in an ideal world where humans aren't selfish, greedy or toxic.

theFantasticJayy · Answer

Don't you mean, what do WE think about communism?

Jerre · Answer

Look at the people of China! Do they enjoy living in a Communist State? Fuck no!!

Shahax · Answer

Okay on small scale, disaster on large scale

grega239 · Answer

WE should try it again... maybe we won't have to genocide millions this time

DeeDeeDeVour · Answer

Terrible. Mainland China & North Korea? Brutal.

Anonymous · Answer

My dad knows a communist. She's black too. Lives here in the U. S. very nice girl, just happens to be communist

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