What does communist mean?

Question

I'm reasonably well informed already so this was more a question to see what sort of answers I'd get. Some really good ones and some predictably stupid and useless ones.

Cheers everyone who made an effort.

Answer 1

Communism is an economic model -- one that advocates for community (govt) ownership of all property -- everyone contributes to the community, and from that takes what they need, theoretically in roughly equal shares.

Contrary to popular misconception -- communism says nothing about how the laws are made -- it's not the same as a dictatorship. Communism can exist just as easily under a pure democracy or republic as it can under a fascist or authoritarian regime -- the key to communism is solely an issue of who owns and controls the money and property.

Answer 2

Communism is a political ideology. Collectivization, equality, and public ownership were its main ideals.

If you look into the manifestos and writings of Marx and Engels, communism is a very good system in itself and promises a political utopia. All people that lives under this system are all equal. Any one person is equal to any other person. This means that discrimination is virtually non-existent when it comes to racial, religious, and social outlook of things. There is no such thing as rich people and poor people because everyone is equal.

However, in the real-world situation of the so-called "communist nations" of today, the above-mentioned ideals are not being practiced at all. The very intention of communism had become so warped and obscured through time, that its present meaning became synonymous with repression, human-rights abuse, and evil rule.

Answer 3

These guys have got it pretty much nailed. Everything including your children belong to the State.
The State will have no hesitation in taking from you and giving it to someone else.

The Manifesto of the Communist Party (German: Manifest der Kommunistischen Partei), usually referred to as The Communist Manifesto, was first published on February 21, 1848, and is one of the world's most influential political tracts. Commissioned by the Communist League and written by communist theorists Friedrich Engels and Karl Marx, it laid out the League's purposes and program. The Manifesto suggested a course of action for a proletarian (working class) revolution to overthrow the bourgeois social order and to eventually bring about a classless and stateless society, and the abolition of private property.

Answer 4

A theoretical economic system characterized by the collective ownership of property and by the organization of labor for the common advantage of all members.

US Army 15 years
OIF 2003

Answer 5

collectivism. from each according to his ability, to each according to his needs.

according to wiki, "Communism is an ideology that seeks to establish a classless, stateless social organization based on common ownership of the means of production. It is usually considered a branch of the broader socialist movement that draws on the various political and intellectual movements that trace their origins back to the work of Karl Marx."

Answer 6

No free speech, No free press, No freedom of assembly, No ownership of property, NO freedom of travel, Prison time for speaking against the government, No Freedoms of anything!!!

Answer 7

All resources in a country belong to the community!

Answer 8

Ideally, it means equality to all.

In practice, if you don't work, you don't eat. So elderly, orphans, disabled were all vicitms of the system.

Answer 9

If you want to know what communism does to a society, read "Animal Farm".

Answer 10

technically, - it's a PERSON that advocates the ideals of communism.