can someone explain communism to me?is it a good idea?

Answer 1

The "idea" of communism is a good idea, but it is impossible to ever have true communism.

Communism can not be achieved, and is therefore a bad idea to attempt.

The idea behind it is that everyone in the community is equal. Everyone has the same wealth. History shows us however, that the leaders are the upper class, and everyone else is lower class. Furthermore, how can you ask someone to work a more difficult job for the same pay as someone who has a simple job? Offering the same pay to someone who performs brain surgery as the guy that works in the bait shop is rediculous. Who wants to clean out the septic system when they can be a lifeguard at the beach?

Capitalism is the only thing that fairly works. The harder you work, the more you are rewarded.

Answer 2

Communism = the model where all activity is centrally planned and controlled and marshalled for the good of all of the people. Its basic premise is that the obvious alternative, capitalism, enriches the few and enslaves the many. In many ways that was true when Marx dreamt it up, and in many places it's still true.

So far so red. Two problems.

First, and Marx knew about this, which is perhaps why he didn't fight on any revolutionary front lines. Human nature is not of a sort to let The Good Of The Many override individual greed. An entire nation in one big hippie love-in isn't going to work, because some smart alec will play the system to his/her advantage, and what you're left with is the same old exploitation you were trying to get rid of.

Lenin's solution: you have to coerce the people into obedience, so that they simply don't have the opportunity to rip off their neighbours. Thus we have the birth of the idea of communism as oppression, suppressing of freedom, etc.

Second problem is inefficiency. It just doesn't work too well. Stalin came into power when soviet agriculture was basically running a free market, with degrees of serfdom and so on - kind of messy subsistence capitalism. So he combined all the small farms into huge collectivised farms which would be worked as co-operatives etc. Didn't work. Tens of millions died of famine. That was a big part of what made Stalin either the number one or two mass killer in history (the other being Mao, for stupider reasons).

Which is why I believe in a model that I would call "constrained capitalism", in which the free market is the engine of the economy (and it makes one heck of a good go at that), but it isn't the steering wheel, because capitalism is crap at that. Democratic government's job is to bend and stretch capitalism to achieve the wider objectives of good government. Whence carbon trading, taxes on pollution, laws against insider dealing, laws against false accounting, health and safety law, human rights, environmental rules about what you can make and how.

In today's world I'm kinda getting what I want. Just not enough of it.


PS I like Dave T and saquatch jr's take

Answer 3

Communism is a political system (in contrast with socialism, which is an economic system). In the US, of course, we have a democracy (or more accurately, a democratic republic) for our political system, and capitalism as an economic system. Communism is based on the idea that the collective members of a community ought to have joint ownership of the property in the community. In the modern era, communism has been espoused most loudly by Karl Marx and Vladimir Lenin, and for the majority of the 20th century, the Soviet Union and China represented the two largest nations employing a communist political system.

Is it a good idea? Well, any answer to that is going to be very subjective, but here's my opinion: human beings are inherently selfish and competitive - we want our own property and if we work harder than someone else, we expect to be rewarded for it. The success of communism is dependent upon the willingness to make self-sacrifices for the "greater good", and (in my estimation) our nature simply doesn't allow for it. The communist nations today are often marked by rampant corruption (then again, what political system isn't?), and this likely stems from our innate drive to be more successful or prosperous than the other guy.

Answer 4

I live in China... so listen to someone who lives in a working communist environment...Here, it's the only system that can work due to the size of the population... from a very early age in primary school they are exposed to the virtue of working together for a better China.. they are very proud of their country and will fight tooth and ail to protect it... the main pint aboutthe government here is continuity...CONTINUITY... in democratic system where you could get a change of governemnt from left to right every four to five years they willspend the first two years trying to undo what the previous government did.. how many people are there inthe Chinese communist party.? I always thought it was allof them... all 1.4 billion...no it isn't not sure of the figure now but last time I looked it up it was said to be about 67 million?

I am writing this frm China now on an open forum there is even a yahoo answers in chinese..

Answer 5

The previous answer was okay, but incorrect in that communism has never been attempted on a large scale in real life. Plenty of people have claimed to be communists, but there is always a high-powered ruling class who have wealth and power far beyond the other people in the society. China is, and always has been ruled by an emperor. Mao just changed the name, and it's no longer transmitted from father to son, that's all.

Answer 6

ive heard that Sweden is a communist country.

people live at pretty much the same class, in the same kinds of houses, with the same income. a little difference of course. but the government takes care of everyone. if you are unemployed the government will take care of you.

people become doctors and lawyers or whatever because they WANT to, not because of the money they could make.

also i believe college is free and healthcare is paid for. it sounds really good if you ask me.

but more often than not when you hear of communism it is very ugly. Just thought id give you a positive example.

Answer 7

We've had every type of govenment situation throughout the centuries. Kings, Queens, Monarchs, Prime Ministers, Marxist-Leninist, Communism, Democracy, ect, ect, ect.
No, Communism is not any better than the others, Man will forever continue to govern people the way they think best. The best solution is the Government of God. Jesus is the Way, the Truth and the Life. Follow Jesus.

Answer 8

Let's start with the definition of Communism: From each according to their skills, to each according to their needs,
Sounds great, eh?
Here's why it doesn't work. Let's say you are in a class and the teacher is giving the final exam - but here's the catch. The teacher figures up the AVERAGE grade, and everybody gets the same grade. The honor students howl because they won't be able to enjoy the fruits of their own labors, and the slackers love it because they know that they are getting a free handout.
Get the picture?

Answer 9

Communism, in the easiest explanation, is a form of government that rules its people, literally. A communist government may tell you where you work, what you eat, where you live, how much money you will make and how you will spend it, etc. Is suppose the pro's would be national healthcare, low unemployment, better economy, more civilian equality. None of which are worth it in my opinion.

Answer 10

The original concept was good. Sort of like putting everything into a pot and dishing it out evenly. But soon it began to be full of corrupt people and it wasn't what it was originally intended.
Then people like McCarthy threw Fear into the whole thing and it really got bad. You might do a search on the history of Communism.