critique on communism please.?

Question

I would like the positive points,
the negative points
and any thoughts that aren't positive or negative.

there must be some little positive points hiding in their somewhere. Sure its not all good, but surely its not the complete embodiment of all evil.

Answer 1

Communism deserves a much worse reputation that it gets.

Here's the plain truth about Communism: it is a system that pervert's man's true nature, which is self-interest. While self-interest sounds bad on the surface, it is the primary motivator for the advancement of civilization throughout the ages. If people didn't want a better life for themselves and their families, they wouldn't work nearly as hard, they wouldn't take big risks, and they wouldn't use their innate intelligence to try and find some way to be prosperous.

The irony is, selfishness ends up benefitting all of society. Do you think that Thomas Edison invented the lightbulb out of compassion? Do you think Bill Gates worked so hard on Microsoft because he wanted people to be more knowledgeable?

Communism can only survive on lies and intimidation. Once people in Eastern Europe saw the truth about the West, they could no longer endure living like third class citizens while people just across the border relatively lived like kings.

Why do you think one of the first thing a Communist government does is take absolute control of the press? It's not because they want people to be informed.

Communism said it was going to create a new, selfless man. Instead, they created a nightmare. People under Communism are afraid to even speak with their neighbors, because a neighbor might betray your trust, and one slip of the tongue about not liking the government, and you are in serious, serious trouble.

Communism needs a lot of people to stay mediocre, so in school teachers will discourage bright students by always criticising their performance. It's an unstated rule that uncommon intelligence is seen as a potential threat. Therefore, if you show a tendency towards brilliance, you will be harshly treated and discouraged at every turn. Communism needs slaves, not cowboys.

My best friend in the Czech Republic is brilliant. He speaks three languages and is capable at everything. However, under Communism, he was being raised to be an auto mechanic, because that was his father's profession. Luckily, Communism ended just as grade school was ending for him, and the tests the democratic government issued showed his high intellect, so he was allowed to go to a high school that prepares people for Univeristy. Imagine, under Communism his life would have been wasted working in some dingy little car repair shop, probably less than 10 miles from where he was born.

Negative Points of Communism:
1) it perverts man's true nature, which is self interest. Self interest encourages people to work hard for themselves, creating the prosperity we know today, a prosperity completely unheard of in man's history.

2) can only live on lies and intimidation. The people in East Germany were brainwashed into thinking that workers in democratic countries were being savagely exploited, as if it were the 1930's depression era days with sweatshops. They told them the Berlin wall was for their protection, to prevent the hordes of westerners from invading their "worker's paradise". See the monstrous lies Communism needed to survive?

3) Will never have the support of the people, because everyone yearns to be free. Therefore, it can only survive in a police state environment.

4) Economically, it makes everyone poor.

5) Socially, it makes everyone distrustful. People didn't even dare talk to their neighbors under Communism. You never knew who the government was paying to snitch. In Communism, the police would stop you on the street for no reason and demand to know where you were going and why. They had ways of discovering the truth; you don't want to know. Also, socially it just made people mean. You will hear this a thousand times if you travel in former Communist countries. People always seemed to be in a gray mood under Communism. No one was polite, no one smiled. No one would help you.

6) Spiritually, it was devasting. Practicing religion was not wise, and you would always be looked on with suspicion, and denied certain privileges.

7) You couldn't travel without permission. You had to live in the housing (often small, disgusting and substandard) the government provided, and you had to live where the government assigned you a job. In essence, you were the slave of the government.

8) You could never speak out against the government, and hence Communism is like a self-perpetuating institution. You can't call for its abolition.

Now..................... the advantages of Communism (I'll bet you thought I'd forget this, right?)

1) Materialism and consumerism did not corrupt people. Since you had so little money, you couldn't waste your free time buying things you neither need nor use.

2) Abysmal poverty did not exist. You might live in a very small, depressing little apartment, but you had a minimum amount of food and social services, such as doctors in case you got sick. (Communists needed to keep the slaves healthy)

3) Everyone had a job. Even if you just passed out toilet paper in a public restroom, or swept floors at night, you had work. (this is probably a good/bad scenario; depends on whether you really wanted to work or not)

My last thought on Communism will surprise you. Even though I despise it as much as Ronald Reagan, people had to develop a self-reliance under Communism because you could never count on getting someone to fix your pipes, repair your furnace, or replace the windows in your aging home. You had to figure it out yourself. Also, it sometimes generated a spirit among the people like men in the army. They are all sharing the same deprivations, and this builds comaradarie.

Answer 2

I thought about this alot while I majored in Political Science at PITT. Communism in general is a nice concept but in today's society it would never work. You would need to start it in a country from the begining of time because thats the only way it could work. People would need to be raised on the concept of working as hard as they can to benefit the majority. But because some people want to work harder and get ahead and some people are content with what they have it cant work because its not fair for those two different people to be compensated equally. Production goes down because people figure out they are going to be paid the same no matter how much the produce, so there is no incentive to work hard. I believe capitalism is the best system because overall production is higher. So overall it's a good concept, but it isn't plausible to implement in modern times.

Answer 3

none of these people have read the manifesto and none have lived in a so called communist country. I've done both.

We really need to define communism, most of the sheep don't even know simple words like conservative or liberal, imagine them trying to understand something outside thier culture when they don't understand thier culture. There are literally hundreds of books written on the subject and i don't feel like writing a lot, i'll just correct some of the common misconceptions.

For one the hasn't been a actual communist nation ever if not in a really really long time, like before recorded history long time. Just as there has not been a democracy since rome circa 0 BCE, but people still call the republic a democracy. IDK why they do this, i suspect they're trying to take advantage of you by making themselves seem better and free'r than they are.

People say there's no motivation, and they imagine all wealth is shared equally, it's simply not the case. I'm not sure what part of russia they were in but they apparently didn't see the class divisions between the powerful and the workers. Even in theory, Marx uses the term Proportional representation, this means you get paid on a scale equal to your work or importance. People who go to college and such are compensated for thier learning and make more money. Also those who don't work cause they lazy or criminals don't get any money. It's really the same as anywhere.

Also our entire concept does not match any so called communist states, russia and china for example are barely communist, the only thing the govt controls is the major utilities, gas, electric, water, that's it. And in all reality, that's all the govt does. There's barely even any laws, you are free to open businesses and factories, doughnut shops, retail stores, schools, whatever you want. I say to thier face, you're not communist, in what way or stretch of imagination makes you communist. Well we take care of people, BS BS BS, what about that man with no legs sleeping on the street, he's dying in downtown beijing. No ones taking care of them.

In my view, the USA is more communist than russia, china and cuba put together, USA has more social services, welfare, and workers rights than any of these communist places. Workers of the world unite, so we can work for 10 cents an hour for international corportions in poor dangerous conditions. No, Everyone whos anything is in name only, the ideals don't matter, what it is doesn't matter, it's just a fashion statement or a place to draw the line for wars but no one practices thier ideologies.

and some meaningless statement like socialism is slavery is entirely unsupported, i could just say corndogs are slavery and it has as much logical validity. Obviously socialism is a word with a meaning and so is slavery, by any rational standard they do not equate to being the same thing, it may be an aspect (which it is not) but it is not is. It is like saying hair is a dog. And i'm quite sure a dog is not just hair.

Answer 4

Oh boy, where can I start. Sadly there are many more negatives than positives, but here you go.

Positives

Works in very small communities
Works in theory
Some governmental programs and ideology are beneficial (Free Education, Labor Rights, etc.)
If man was naturally good, it would be the perfect form of government.
No Income Gap
Government can adapt quickly to situations (power is in one party)(No differing opinions)

Negatives

A.) Sociology and Philosophy
Depends on the thought that man is naturally good, which is inherently untrue
Depends on the ideal that man would sacrifice himself and his lifestyle for the community.

B.) Liberty
Stifles all economic liberties, no new innovation
Puts all government into "community liberties" while democracies are found upon individual liberties. (Stalin killed millions of people to protect "community liberties")
State runs everything

C.)Economy - This is communism's biggest flaw
Acts as if supply and demand does not exist (govt. controls supply and demand)
No new innovation (See liberty)
No entreprenuarship
Everyone gets the same paycheck no matter your job. (This creates a lack of motivation to attain good jobs or produce the best product you can, while if this is done in a capitalist economy, you would get fired)

Hope this helps.

Answer 5

Well lets start off with percieved positives as these are the only kind when dealing with communism.

In theory, the redistribution of wealth will leave the people with a higher standard of living and more people will be able to afford more things. This means no lower class which could possibly drop crime rates to an almost non-existant number as nobody would NEED anything. Everyone is seen as the same in the eyes of the government because there is no rich no poor and no middle. Everyone has the same social standing if you will.

Now as nice as all that may sound, lets throw in the one thing you cannot have this discussion without and that is human nature. Communism goes against almost every aspect of human nature. We do not care about our neighbors and we are not supposed to support our neighbors. It is our nature to destroy others so as to make ourselves look better, not to help out our brothers.

Also, the power with which those in control runs things is not something they are just going to give up. People who are in power tend to want to stay there and thus they will do whatever it is that is necessary to do so. This could even mean killing the opposition, and widespread executions of your own people a la Stalin.

Also with communism there is no personal property rights, which is a pretty serious downfall if you ask me. If people have nothing to strive for as in owning their own little piece of property, then what's the point in trying. Communism is great for lazy people who do not want to work for what they get, and it is absolutely horrible for contributing members of society, people who work 40-50 hours a week and want to see some return on what they put in.

As far as I'm concerned, in theory, communism is kind of 50/50 in my book. It would be nice for their to be no poor and no hungry, and it would be nice if the THEORY of communism worked. However, and as we've seen from multiple sources including but not limited to the Soviet Union, China (who is still communist yes, but they have opened their economy to being much more independent of the government and more capitalistic) it is kind of obvious that it just doesn't work. Absolute power corrupts absolutely and those at the top in this form of government have that. It is just as bad as fascism in my book because it takes the decision making out of the hands of the people and gives it solely to those in power. As I said, in theory its a nice thing, but once put into effect in the "real world" it does not do very well. Thanks and have a nice day.

Answer 6

Socialism is slavery. Some people must be sacifriced for the good of others.

The slavery of the US pre civil war had it's good points. Cheep labor helped build the cities in the south. However is this the correct moral stance to take?

Answer 7

communism only works good on sports teams. One for all, all for one. But when you have one team member who out shines the rest do you bench him? Oh heck I don't know I just know it has never worked as a form of government. But the liberals in the U.S. only believe it hasn't worked because the right people haven't tried it yet. lol

Answer 8

communism operates on the mistaken belief that people can be treated like insects. The hive is all. Sounds a little like the Borg doesn't it?

Answer 9

I think that communism is contrary to human nature. When imposed, it takes away the will of individuals to do their best and succeed. This is evident in every place it has been attempted.

Answer 10

It would be a great system except that it doesn't take into account that people are generally lazy and won't perform when there is no incentive.