The Basic Understanding of Communism
Communism was a feared and dangerous word in the mid-1900s, with red-scares and the Cold War causing average citizens to point fingers and accuse others of being a cold-blooded communist. Communism is a social theory that has been put into practice and largely failed, yet it still causes unrest in American political circles.
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Features
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Communism is a state-controlled economic system in which property is collectively owned and work is performed for the advantage of all members of the society. Communism is a type of totalitarian government with characteristics such as one-party rule, repression and censorship.
Significance
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Karl Marx believed that communism was the ultimate form of society, one in which capitalism no longer exists and people live together in classless peace. Communism has not proved to be peaceful, however, as it rejects freedom, law, and democracy and punishes those who transgress.
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Effects
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Communist theory aims to end the inequality between the rich and the poor, end racial discrimination, make men and women equals, and often shuns religion and other institutions that cause divisions and social inequality.
Geography
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The Soviet Union practiced communism from 1917 to 1991 and in Eastern Europe from World War II to 1990, although it failed in these cases. Modern communist countries include China, Vietnam, North Korea and Cuba.
Expert Insight
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In his article "Totalitarianism and Human Nature: How and Why Communism Failed," Carlos Alberto Montaner writes that communism failed because it is contrary to man's natural desire to be free. Communism represses the ego, demands abstract universal altruism rather than spontaneous selective altruism, gets rid of material rewards for hard work, breaks down family ties, and uses fear as a means of coercion.
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References
Resources
- Photo Credit Image by Flickr.com, courtesy of Bob Bobster
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Comments
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Let's not be naive. Marxism was eclipsed by Leninism, who viewed Marxism as, at best, needing a push, called the revolution. But Marx and Lenin both looked forward to the end of capitalism. Whichever way you slice it, those who prefer capitalism would be reeducated or eliminated (by nature or by force). The main complaint against Communism is the same as that against Shari'a Law - it's at the point of a sword. Very few will choose Communism willingly, and those who do have been manipulated: their poverty vs. the wealth of others. Class warfare. "Fairness" as a weapon. Coercion. Force. Death.
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juggleandhope
Aug 30, 2010
A startlingly inaccurate description of communism which fails to grasp, much less communicate, fundamental differences between communism, socialism, capitalism, democracy, and totalitarianism. Communism, as described in the Communist Manifesto of 1848, was all of the following (note, I´m summarizing Marx´s argument, not advocating it as perfect truth): a. a society based on grassroots coordination of economic and political processes b. the inevitable result of the dialectical collisions of economic forms, in which capitalism´s unavoidable tendency to impoverish workers and lead to economic collapses would lead to worker movements that would capture state power and rationally organize society and that rationally organized socialist government would gradually "wither away" into a purer and more authentic socialism - communism, in which true human history - free from tyranny,...
