Communism and Why It's Bad

[Sylvia727]

I don't like communism because it eliminates my freedom to choose how to live my life. I want to live my life how I see fit, not how the government thinks I should live it or that they know better than me.

In a utopeian world, you would have the freedom to immigrate to a country with a politcal/social/whatever system you agreed with. So in this world, the only people living in a communist society would be the ones who chose to live this life. Communism would be how they saw fit. </devil's advocate>

[BlackIronCrown]

America was built on the idea of equal and fairness. Communism is actually making everything equal and fair for everyone. I mean, capitalism rewards the rich and screws over everyone else. And no one finds this evil apparently?

Ah ha! One I can sink my teeth into.

Communism - both pure Marx and Marxist-Leninism Communism - relies on one thing to make it work: That everyone has the best interests of everyone else at heart.

That's the only flaw. No, really - that's it. It relies on you having the best interests of your fellow humans at heart. Essentially, it requires everyone to be idealistic.

Now, take a look at the people around us IRL and let that sink in.
Your boss - he totally has your best interest in mind, right?
Your political leader?
The neighbor across the way?
Etc?

Unofrtunately, a political system based on idealism hitches up. So do economic systems based on idealism. They forget that we, as humanity, are regularly selfish little bastards.

As for capitalism, it works the other way around. It's based on you being a selfish bastard. Thus, it tends to work fairly well.

[ArenaBoy]

"In every language, the first word after "Mama!" that every kid learns to say
is "Mine!" A system that doesn't allow ownership, that doesn't allow you to
say "Mine!" when you grow up, has -- to put it mildly -- a fatal design flaw."

"Communism doesn't work because people like to own stuff."

Frank Zappa.

[protege]

Communism stifles innovation because it means government has total control over all resources. When government has total control over all resources, they must ration them.

That was why most 'companies' under communism didn't last long after the late 1980s. Take the company that made East Germany's infamous Trabant car. Those things sold, along with Ladas, Zapos, and similar vehicles, simply because they had a captive market. They didn't sell very well outside of the Eastern Bloc nations...mainly because they were pretty crude compared to Western offerings. Needless to say, once the Wall came down, the companies that made those vehicles, suddenly found themselves without customers! By then, everyone wanted a 5-year-old BMW, VW, or similar vehicle...and didn't want to wait for it!

When the first Trabants came out in the 1960s, they were simply a way to get the Bloc mobile. As such, they were pretty crude and basic. Three-cylinder, two-stroke engine, etc. (I should mention here that the Trabant's emissions were pretty bad. This wasn't the fault of the design, but that of the owners. For those who don't know, a two-stroke requires oil added into the gasoline. At the time, it was common belief that if they added twice as much...it would last twice as long. Sadly, all it did was spew out pollution.) Anyway, what happened with the Trabant, is that even though they sold well...the company never made any money on them, but there was never any left over to develop the product.

Why was there never any money? Simple--it all went back to the government, who divided it up to various other enterprises, including a fair chunk back into the higher-ups in the Communist party. (Kinda ironic when you think about it--structurally, it was almost *exactly* like capitalism. That is, a few well-off people at the top, and a huge "middle class" below them....) Money, along with all resources were rationed by the government. That eventually caused shortages, and multiple-year-long waiting lists, simply because the government couldn't move fast enough to prevent them.

[Slytovhand]

"In every language, the first word after "Mama!" that every kid learns to say
is "Mine!" A system that doesn't allow ownership, that doesn't allow you to
say "Mine!" when you grow up, has -- to put it mildly -- a fatal design flaw."

"Communism doesn't work because people like to own stuff."

Frank Zappa.

I thought the next word they learnt is "no!". "Mine" is merely a word they say (repeat, parrot etc) until sometime after 2 years old when they start to get an identity of 'self', so that 'mine' has something it can relate to...???

Anyway - a bit more on track... humans are the way they are because that's the way they've been brought up. (take abused kids as an example - why do so many turn into the abuser later in life? Because that's what's 'normal').

You bring someone up in a utopian way, they're far more likely to develop utopian ethics - presuming they don't have 'interference' from other cultures/societies.

So - communism will work well - when people don't get the idea of ownership and screwing other people over. And the country can make it happen..

Russia and China's problems with 'communism' was also the massive amount of people to look after across a massive amount of country - and without either the infrastructure or primary industries to deliver. That's why either England or France would have been his designated targets - they have a smaller population, a good enough infrastructure, across a smaller land base with fairly good rural pastures. And, at the time, had a ruling class walking over the workers (just for the added bonus of revolution )

So.. my boss might not have my best interests at heart, but neither does anyone else in this day and age... that's the culture that I've been brought up in.

Those 'undesireable' jobs are only 'undesirable' because we put jobs into a heirarchy... when it comes down to only doing about 4 hours a day helping out society, and spending the rest of the time pursuing our own passions, that won't be a problem (I mean - just think of yourself now... if you could do just 4 hours working at a job you hate, but get everything you need to pursue that which you dearly love - wouldn't you do it??)


Slyt