Communism is a form of socialism, which seeks to create a classless society by eliminating private ownership. Thus, the government controls everything to ensure that the society stays free. However, in a “pure communism” society, the government has the best interest of the people in mind (unlike how most communists in history have ruled).
Karl Marx, known for his socialistic ideas, believed that communism would follow socialism. In 1848 in his “The Communist Manifesto,” he taught that this could be achieved once a superabundance of goods and services was attained. Further, he believed that “pure communism” would offer basically, the truest form of democracy, in which every member of society would help make decisions about what to produce and what policies to enforce. There would be no oppression, no poverty, no wealthy, no classes of any kind, a state of equality. Although, Marx professed to believe in this type of society, he never defined how an economy based on these ideals would function from day-to-day.
Forms Of Communism
Typically, the forms of communism vary with each political party or figure. As a result, the names of government are different, though each of them make a claim to following / sustaining the Marxism-Leninism form of communism. Some of these include: Stalinism, Trotskyism, Maoism, Hoxhaism, Titoism, Eurocommunism, council communism, Luxemburgism, and Prachandapath.
Problems With Communism
The problems with communism in the past and currently are that putting the control in the hands of the government has proven to be too much power. Typically, the communist societies have fallen, because they ran under dictatorships, a branch of communism, which claimed to promote “pure communism” ideals but clearly did not. These dictators (i.e. Joseph Stalin, Adolf Hitler, etc.) sought to rid society of its problems by eliminating groups of people (i.e. the Holocaust, other genocides declared against individuals), which were blamed for said problems. Aside from these mass murders, while a superabundance never existed, and in fact, these countries remained poverty-stricken, the government enjoyed the fruits of the nation’s labors. Unlike a purely socialistic economy today, communistic economies are looked at as the government not having the best interest of the people in mind. Again, too much power was given to individuals.
Another issue, which surfaces in communist societies is that individuals who work these jobs, which push production (i.e. factories and farms), have no mindset to go above and beyond. There are no goals, and no means of rewards, and so labors become fruitless in a Communist economy.
Yet another argument is in the fact that because people feel oppressed, the government fears a revolution of some sort. Thus, secret police are formed. This was true in Germany, the former USSR, and in China under Mao.
Karl Marx & The Communism Economy
The ideals, written by Karl Marx sound perfect. Who wouldn’t want to live in a perfectly balanced / equal society, where really no problems existed, because everyone’s needs were met? Many, many issues facing our world today would crumble. There would be no war, no hungry, no poor, none of that. People could co-exist in harmony. However, the fact remains that thus far, this is unattainable. This form of government, when put in the hands of a leader, has proven detrimental to the society it was practiced upon. During the centralization of ownership, that centralization was turned over to the hands of those in power and used inappropriately. While the world has never seen a “pure communism” form of government, it would be an interesting and fascinating government / economy to behold.
