Communism

Communism

The word communism comes from the word "community," because "it takes a village." Communism is rule by the people (working class, which is supposed to include anyone who works), who also own the means of production. Each citizen votes freely for their elected officials. Those higher up are appointed from those elected. In Russia this was part of their constitution, which said, "All power belongs to the people." There were two main problems with Russia. First, they didn't even follow their own communist-based constitution, which was really only a symbolic document. The people got to vote but there was only one uncontested candidate running for each position! And second, less than 10% of the country belonged to the Communist Party at any given time. So instead of collective rule by all the workers of Russia, the country was controlled by a limited elite of party members, and an even more limited number of government officials, which is NOT communism. Not to mention that for 26 years shortly after the Bolshevik revolution of 1917, Russia was ruled ruthlessly by Josef Stalin, a murderous dictator at least as bad as Hitler. So the ideals of communism got stomped under the iron boot of fascism. And the rich capitalists continue to pretend that Russia was communist because it makes communism look bad; and they don't want people to realize that communism is fair, because then they'd have to give up all the money they stole from the workers by selling the workers' products and keeping the profits for themselves.

So Russia, despite incorporating some of the ideals put forth by communist intellectuals, was NOT Communist. In the United States, we the people, under the Federal and State governments, own 40% of our land. Some of it is National and State parks, because we don't want private industry turning Yosemite into Las Vegas. The rest is land for government buildings, and other public lands such as waterways and roadways. Plus, our land is blanketed by zoning laws, which is pure communism. We want neighborhoods where our kids can be safe, so we don't allow people to run businesses out of their garages that cause pollution or create traffic. Profit-sharing is another method of communism, such as The Saturn car company in the United States, and for good reason. Because when people "buy into" and "own" their responsbilities and resources, they are more involved and work that much harder than if they are doing everything for someone else who is making the decisions for them. The main problem with implementing communism is that unless the majority of the people agree on the principles, they have to be imposed by force, which is defeating the original ideal, that the people control everything. It is also more difficult because a consensus has to be reached on every decision. And the half that always has more than the other half never wants to share. And there is also a risk that the mob, majority, "sheepish" mentality will quash innovation and progression. Which does also happen in the Unites States though, in that you can't implement any innovations which aren't sanctioned by the system. So what's the difference? Greed or collectivism?

Learn about the Communist Party of China and info on China on the China Today site.
Visit the site of the Communist Party U.S.A.
See this platform of the Cyber Communist Party (CCP), which includes the following tenets:

The CCP, being a Party of all people, regardless of gender, ethnicity, race, sexual orientation etc., etc., is all-inclusive. We the members of the CCP strive to realize equality for all and in all spheres of life.
We believe that the world will be better when the sum of its parts, not just a few privileged individuals, are allowed access to all knowledge, by way of free education, in an attempt to realize their individual potentials.
We believe that all people should have free access, unimpeded, to the product of their labor.
We believe, upon the attainment of a communist reality, in the abolishment of all currency as a means of exchange.
We believe in the advancement of technology and the use of technology for the application toward the betterment of the whole.
We believe in free speech, freedom of religion, freedom of the press and freedom of the individual to realize their potential.
We believe in the abolishment of private property.
We believe in the communal ownership of all property such as the means of production all land natural deposits, waters, forests, mills, factories, rails, all transport and means of communication. We believe that all of the world's resources are the communal property of the whole of humanity.
We believe that all have the right to work.
We believe that all have the right to rest and leisure.
We believe that all have the right to maintenance in old age.
We believe in the inviolability of the individual.
We believe in the separation of the church and the body of administration.
We pledge allegiance not to any one republic, state or nation, but to the whole of humanity, as citizens of the World.
We pledge to support the workers of the world in any and all struggles that forward the interrelated global causes of socialism and communism.
We are diametrically opposed to fascism and all things fascist.

Here is a more complete description of some main points of their platform, from their site as linked on the Politix page.

Put people's needs before corporate profits and greed. Full employment with decent jobs at
good wages for all. Massive public works jobs programs to rebuild the country and put
everyone back to work. Fund this program with drastic cuts in the military budget and a
sharp increase in taxes on the corporations and the super rich. Eliminate all taxes on working
people making less than $60,000 a year.

A militant fight for the needs of the working class and people. Free quality universal health
care for all. Massive low cost housing programs. Free universal 24 hour quality child care for
working parents. Free education from preschool through college including skills, vocational
and continuing adult education. Make the corporations pay to clean up the environment and
put a clean safe environment above the profits of the monopoly corporations.

For a strong labor and trade union movement to protect the interests of all workers. Outlaw
scabs and union busting, guarantee all workers the right to freely organize and bargain
collectively.

For full equality and against all forms of racism, chauvinism and discrimination. Full equality
for all immigrants no matter their legal status. The US working class is multinational,
multiracial, men and women, young and senior, skilled and unskilled. Only full equality and
unity of the working class can beat the power of the capitalist class.

For peace and international working class solidarity. For drastic reduction in the US military.
Bring all US troops home and close all overseas bases. Full support for national liberation
and anti-imperialist freedom struggles around the world.

For socialism, a system that puts the working class and oppressed people in power.
Abolishes the large monopoly corporations and puts the basic resources of the country
including energy and the basic industries in the hands of the working class through public
ownership and democratic controls.

Fallacies and Misconceptions

Freedom From Religion

Communism only developed theories against religion as a result of the church's behavior during the preceding centuries. Throughout the middle ages and even into the not-so-distant past, the various churches in power, including the Catholic and Anglican Churches, used their influence to conspire with the kings and dictators to oppress the people, especially the serfs and peasants. The King or ruler was acknowledged by the church to have power bestowed directly from God, and both the church and state got rich off the poor peasants, who were basically stomped on and treated as slaves. The church also oppressed the people directly, which is partly why services were held in Latin, and why the Catholic church developed doctrines such as penance, so that the poor would have to pay in order to get to "heaven," and were not allowed to participate in their own salvation or even read the Bible (because they couldn't read, let alone in Latin). The influence of these oppressive, yes even evil, practices, lingers to this day. Marx and other political intellectuals saw that the Church was used more often than not to oppress and crush the will of the people, so the communist theorists discouraged or prohibited organized religion because they saw it was almost always used as a weapon of oppression. Something smelled to high heaven and it was the rotten fruits of Christianity. If we realize how horrible the church was, can we blame anyone for thinking that religion is evil? I've said it elsewhere on the site: most of our laws are on the books to prevent abuses that occurred in the past. Criminals get protection because of past abuses by the police, we have to fund government regulation because of the prior and current abuses of industry. Communism rejected religion because religion had become evil. "You will reap what you sow." Galatians 6:7

Russia: Communisnotm

I mentioned near the top of the page that Russia wasn't communist. More details to follow here about the specifics of Russia's government, past and present, the internal mechanixms of their society, and the differences with various communist and socialist ideologies.

Gorbachev on Mt. Rushmore

The idea that Ronald Reagan won the cold war is so ludicrous as to be pitiful and pathetic. I am demeaning myself by even acknowledging that that idea has ever even been thought of. Remember when Carter was president and we sold Russia some million or billion tons of wheat for a bunch of money? Our arch-enemy would not have come to us to beg for food unless they had to. Russia was ALREADY STARVING TO DEATH before Ronald Reagan even got elected. All Reagan did was continue the cold war policies of the last several decades. It was SOLELY MIKHAIL GORBACHEV who was young and progressive and powerful enough and who had the understanding and vision to initiate perestroika and glasnost, ending much of the Oppressive Soviet Imperialist state and leading the way towards freedom and democracy. If we are going to put anyone's face on Mt. Rushmore because the cold war ended it should be Mikhail Gorbachev's. And Reagan has no other reason to be there either. If his face ever appears there I just might blow it up with atomic weapons. :) Gee, I didn't recall that destruction was illegal. And his stone face R.N.I.P.

Capitalist Pigs Invade Russia

Great. Russia is now a free-market economy. Guess what happens? Everywhere that capitalism goes, greed is sure to follow. Free enterprise has strangled the common Russian in an iron grip of black-market exploitation. It's just made worse because the average Russian is not used to being self-sufficient and enterprising. Also the government juggernaut has been staggeringly slow in updating the now-outdated bureaucracy and its archaic system of laws. We need to help them as much as we can.

Progress?
There is a progression to political systems. Totalitarianism and central control (as in Russia) is easiest for the people, because they don't have to think; they are told what to do and even forced to do so. However, it is hard on them because they are oppressed and can't do what they want, having no input into the process. Democracy and republicanism are harder because the people have to think, even though the elected officials end up making many of the actual decisions and doing much of the actual direction and implementation. But it is easier on the people because they have supposed control over the process, except for any inherent inequities in the system. The less thinking a person has to do and the less responsibility they have, the less likely they will be motivated to succeed. True socialism and communism are that much harder because the people have to do everything. They not only have to figure out what they want and how they want it, but they are supposed to have to plan and execute as well, not to mention come to an agreement on everything, which is not how the Soviet Union worked. The difficulty with this system is it requires the general populace to be smart, fair and altruistic, which as a species we are very regretfuilly not. And the fact of existence is that at any given moment, half of the people are richer than the other half. And the rich don't want to give control to the poor, because the poor will want their equal share. And people are greedy. Not every society is ready for democracy, and not every society is ready for socialism or communism. Because in communism the people control everything. But much of the time we can't even control ourselves. Plus, if we could be truly altruistic, then we might also be able to eliminate the inequities of capitalism and democracy as well.

Communist ideologist Karl Marx thought that the inequities of capitalism would eventually lead to social upheaval and result in socialism, and then communism. I think that in America, Europe and other contemporary democratic societies we are doing a much better job of compromising than Marx originally forsaw in his theories. That is, the people who own everything (bourgeoisie) and the people who do all the work (proletariat) may be doing a better job of cooperating, and the classes are not quite as separate, than originally forseen by Marx, even though a widespread amount of class-separation and exploitation still exists, and it is getting worse. Unless we make capitalism fair, it will result in a dialectic war of the classes just like Karl Marx predicted. Which is why we have adopted various socialist and communist mechanisms, integrating them into our society in order to balance the inherent inequities of free competition, which is that the rich get richer and the poor get stomped.