Communism: Bad idea, or good (albeit naive) idea that has been implemented badly many times? Smurfs communist?

Question

Here in the US, many people say communism is bad. I want to state that I am not a communist myself, but I'm curious to learn more about people's opinions of this system of gov't.

Do you feel that the idea of communism itself is bad?

Or do you feel that it's a good/cute/naive idea that could actually work if people weren't greedy/powerhungry/etc, but since we are naturally those things, the *implementations* of communism in USSR, East Germany, Cuba, N Korea, etc. are/were bad?

India is a democratic country with a multiparty system. In one state, Kerala, the communist party is the one that gets elected to state-level gov't more often than not, and that state is very peaceful, prosperous, and has the highest literacy rate in the country. Your thoughts?

Lastly, for fun: In the smurfs' society, everyone worked according to their abilities, and everybody shared everything. Obviously fictional, but would you classify this as a communist society? Why or why not?

Answer 1

Communism degrades the quality of peoples lives as well as the quality of just about everything else.  In communism skill doesn't matter and neither does hard work.  Communism itself is just a method for government officials to get more power out of the people.  There is nothing cute about it if you know what it really is.  Smurfs are communists too.  It would suck to be a smurf, not only would you be stuck in a communist society, but you'd also be blue.

Answer 2

Communism sounds great on paper, everyone working together for the "common good", sharing equally, blah blah blah, workers of the world unite, blah blah.  That's what the socialists/communists fall in love with and refuse to let go.  Now we have decades of empirical evidence that communism doesn't work and in fact chokes the human spirit, as it is simply naive to think that people will ignore their self interest and give their property to another person who hasn't earned it.  However, the staunch defenders of communism STILL believe that it is simply an issue of "the wrong people being in charge", which is absurd.

Answer 3

I have addressed this many times before on YA...

FIRST AND FOREMOST true communism has never been "tried."  It has been implemented, but it has never emerged in the way that Marx wrote about.  True communism is a natural force, it emerges without any effort or resistance.  Remember that capitalism was not a theory that was written about, and then implemented.  It was occuring long before anyone realized what was actually taking place. It was the observers, after the fact, that noticed the changes from feudalism to capitalism, that put a name on the what was occuring within the economic, political, and sociological spheres of influence.  

The interesting thing, and the subject of intellectual debate taking place right now, is capitalism shifting to remain capitalist, or is it slowly shifting to socialism, and then to communism like Marx described.  The neo-marxists are split on this issue.  (btw...neo-marxism is NOT marxism and it is not communism either).  One of the most prophetic neo-marxists identified the strength of capitalism within the structure of society which recognized that capitalism will always survive because of the internal structures within a capitalism society, regardless of the structure of the government or the military.  Others say that the internal structures themselves are always shifting towards the inevitable socialist structure that cannot be avoided.

There is NO WAY to tell what will eventually happen, only ways to measure what has happened, and subsequently theorize about what might take place.

The smurfs were cool.

Answer 4

real Communism is great.......for the ants or any form of life that is not like humans..

why because humans have individual needs that would not be satisfied in a Communist state...making all humans living in it very unhappy!

Answer 5

I think the type of communism that is subject to Theocracy is ideal for this dispensation. Similar to that which is practiced by the Underground Roman Orthodox People.

Answer 6

True Communism is a governmental cycle: Simplified:

The people all work together for the common good and share equally.

However, a leader is chosen to co-ordinate the cooperative efforts.

The leader appoints others to help co-ordinate the cooperative efforts.

The leader and his group no longer actually work; they are too busy coordinating, and living off of the efforts of the people.

The people revolt; a new leader assumes power, ad nauseum.

Again, communism was not supposed to be a form of government; merely an observation by Marx and Engals concerning the cycle of many governments.

Answer 7

Bad idea because it ignores the commercial history of mankind. The first capitalist was a farmer. The second was the person who supported his endeavors with tools, seeds and the like. State ownership of all means of production destroys the initiative of people to work for a better life for their children then they had for themselves. And that is the commercial history of mankind (all tribes and cultures) which the Marxists ignore in their theories. As for Kerala State in India, try to find out the migration rate of those in that State to other States in India and to foreign destinations.

Answer 8

It can't work because there's always a corrupted ruling class and then the lowly people daunted from any real achievement and powerless.

The smurfs are an unfair comparison. Communism in theory could work for that small of a group in which everyone knows and respects each other and works towards community goals. In large scale communism the rulers don't care about the people at all.

Answer 9

It doesn't work in reality