What is your definition of Communism?

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Danarok

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Oct 19, 2008
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Communism is a socioeconomic structure and political ideology that promotes the establishment of an egalitarian, classless, stateless society based on common ownership and control of the means of production and property in general. Karl Marx posited that communism would be the final stage in human society, which would be achieved through a proletarian revolution. "Pure communism" in the Marxian sense refers to a classless, stateless and oppression-free society where decisions on what to produce and what policies to pursue are made democratically, allowing every member of society to participate in the decision-making process in both the political and economic spheres of life.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Communism

It has some interesting ideolgical concepts about how humanity should all be able to work together on an equal footing. Shame it'll never work; humanity is selfish, those in positions of responsibility abuse their power, and corruption spreads propagated by envy and greed, as we have seen in every communist state so far.
 

irishstormtrooper

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Danarok said:
Communism is a socioeconomic structure and political ideology that promotes the establishment of an egalitarian, classless, stateless society based on common ownership and control of the means of production and property in general. Karl Marx posited that communism would be the final stage in human society, which would be achieved through a proletarian revolution. "Pure communism" in the Marxian sense refers to a classless, stateless and oppression-free society where decisions on what to produce and what policies to pursue are made democratically, allowing every member of society to participate in the decision-making process in both the political and economic spheres of life.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Communism

It has some interesting ideolgical concepts about how humanity should all be able to work together on an equal footing. Shame it'll never work; humanity is selfish, those in positions of responsibility abuse their power, and corruption spreads propagated by envy and greed, as we have seen in every communist state so far.
Oh, come on. Using a dictionary is cheating.
 

Pikka Bird

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Mar 9, 2008
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Communism is: BS. Basically the same as nazism (which was in fact based on exactly the same writings and social ideals) with the main exception that the two can't agree on which group of society needs to be eradicated to achieve something akin to socialism.


edit:
============Disclaimer!=================
Since there's a strong trend towards coming into this thread, zeroing in on my above comment above and getting your frilly panties in a knot because of it, let me once again clarify- the avove has to do with the only large-scale application we've seen so far (The Soviet Union, and to a lesser extent China) and not the core philosophy as such. But this still doesn't change that there are similarities between nazism and communism that shouldn't be ignored, in spite of some fundamental differences.



At the core of it lies a... let's say 'beautiful idea' for lack of a better term. However, I can't see it working on a large scale, what with human nature n' all.
 

Zer_

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irishstormtrooper said:
Danarok said:
Communism is a socioeconomic structure and political ideology that promotes the establishment of an egalitarian, classless, stateless society based on common ownership and control of the means of production and property in general. Karl Marx posited that communism would be the final stage in human society, which would be achieved through a proletarian revolution. "Pure communism" in the Marxian sense refers to a classless, stateless and oppression-free society where decisions on what to produce and what policies to pursue are made democratically, allowing every member of society to participate in the decision-making process in both the political and economic spheres of life.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Communism

It has some interesting ideolgical concepts about how humanity should all be able to work together on an equal footing. Shame it'll never work; humanity is selfish, those in positions of responsibility abuse their power, and corruption spreads propagated by envy and greed, as we have seen in every communist state so far.
Oh, come on. Using a dictionary is cheating.
No, no it isn't... Communism isn't subject to opinion.
 

Krakyn

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SuperFriendBFG said:
No, no it isn't... Communism isn't subject to opinion.
Win.

Though I guess the OP is trying to show people's ignorance about communism. Why don't you just say, "I like communism. Here are some facts you may not know about it. I feel it's misunderstood."

Pikka Bird said:
Communism is: BS. Basically the same as nazism (which was in fact based on exactly the same writings and social ideals)
wikipedia said:
Among the key elements of Nazism were anti-parliamentarism, Pan-Germanism, racism, collectivism,[10][11] eugenics, antisemitism, anti-communism, totalitarianism and opposition to economic liberalism and political liberalism.
Idiot.
 

The Blue Mongoose

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Danarok said:
Communism is a socioeconomic structure and political ideology that promotes the establishment of an egalitarian, classless, stateless society based on common ownership and control of the means of production and property in general. Karl Marx posited that communism would be the final stage in human society, which would be achieved through a proletarian revolution. "Pure communism" in the Marxian sense refers to a classless, stateless and oppression-free society where decisions on what to produce and what policies to pursue are made democratically, allowing every member of society to participate in the decision-making process in both the political and economic spheres of life.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Communism

It has some interesting ideolgical concepts about how humanity should all be able to work together on an equal footing. Shame it'll never work; humanity is selfish, those in positions of responsibility abuse their power, and corruption spreads propagated by envy and greed, as we have seen in every communist state so far.
This.

Kinda like super Socialism.
 

LordOmnit

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The only thing communism is is pretty much what Danarok wrote, but there should be one thing to be added to it in that there never has nor now exists any state that is actually communist. In fact, pretty much every state or nation that has called itself communist has been almost the exact opposite, being essentially a fascist state that calls itself communist.
 

The_Valcanon_Effect

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Communism is basically this as I see it. The Government has this pie, you see... They give some pie to the people that support the whole of the nation. Athlete that represents the nation gets pie. Businessman that runs a conglomerate gets pie. No-good guy gets no pie. Communism is also based around the idea that things have value based on the amount of work it takes to make or do them.


I'm pretty sure the second part is right but I think I might have the beginning mixed up with Socialism or something.
 

anaphysik

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Communism in practice (such as in the early to mid USSR) is the transition state to get to 'true' socialism. It involves an elite-control trading zone of philosophy via highly centralised political control, designed to complete the socialist revolution and then disappear. That's how I'd differentiate the term from socialism.
 

fulano

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The thing with communism is that it is the successor of a socialist society.

One of the most misunderstood properties of communism is that it is some form of totalitarian state rule when in fact there is no state, there is no class, or anything related.

We attempted socialism and didn't take in most places, and certainly communism couldn't take right now. To try it now would be akin to saying that to put people in mars one doesn't need spaceships. It would be silly. BUT, people change and evolve, and while communism seems distant now one never knows. It can only be so long before mankind, with all its technological development, will eventually get bored with messing with the environment and turn its sights properly inwards.

EDIT: I edited something 'cuz I made a stupid.
 

McClaud

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The Blue Mongoose said:
Danarok said:
Communism is a socioeconomic structure and political ideology that promotes the establishment of an egalitarian, classless, stateless society based on common ownership and control of the means of production and property in general. Karl Marx posited that communism would be the final stage in human society, which would be achieved through a proletarian revolution. "Pure communism" in the Marxian sense refers to a classless, stateless and oppression-free society where decisions on what to produce and what policies to pursue are made democratically, allowing every member of society to participate in the decision-making process in both the political and economic spheres of life.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Communism

It has some interesting ideolgical concepts about how humanity should all be able to work together on an equal footing. Shame it'll never work; humanity is selfish, those in positions of responsibility abuse their power, and corruption spreads propagated by envy and greed, as we have seen in every communist state so far.
This.

Kinda like super Socialism.
More like convoluted Socialism with a sprinkling of an totalitarian oligarthy.

I hate it when most people directly equate Socialism with Communism. Communism embraces and twists a few ideas of Socialism around, but Socialists do not embrace anything Communist.
 

LordOmnit

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The_Valcanon_Effect said:
Communism is basically this as I see it. The Government has this pie, you see... They give some pie to the people that support the whole of the nation. Athlete that represents the nation gets pie. Businessman that runs a conglomerate gets pie. No-good guy gets no pie. Communism is also based around the idea that things have value based on the amount of work it takes to make or do them.


I'm pretty sure the second part is right but I think I might have the beginning mixed up with Socialism or something.
Actually, in real communism (i.e.- Marxist communism) there is no government because it has been overthrown. It more runs on it's own from there rather than being some pie based around how people work because in the end it's a warped example of, "You reap what you sow," wherein someone who doesn't do any work will piss off everyone else because they can't reap the part that that lazy one didn't sow (or sowed badly, whatever). But theoretically everyone is supposed to work together so that kinda thing doesn't happen.
 

Pikka Bird

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Krakyn said:
Wow, thanks a lot... Read into it, guy. I mean, really read into it and don't just flick through a Wikipedia entry like some crap-flinging baboon. Then you'll see the similarities, and if you look up some quotes from the man himself (Hitler, y'know) then you'll clearly see that at the very core marxism and nazism are basically the same. I know they are generally considered polar opposites, but when why and how this misunderstanding was born is beyond me, because it's extremely ignorant.

And check this out: The nazi and communist parties of Germany and Russia respectively were collaborators during the first years of WWII until Stalin reckoned he'd be better off if he could pretend to stem the tide to the east and emerge from the war as some sort of saviour.

For a great little history lesson that's generally totally ignored, check out the Latvian documentary "The Soviet Story".

Thanks for your time. Idiot.
 

fulano

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LordOmnit said:
The_Valcanon_Effect said:
Communism is basically this as I see it. The Government has this pie, you see... They give some pie to the people that support the whole of the nation. Athlete that represents the nation gets pie. Businessman that runs a conglomerate gets pie. No-good guy gets no pie. Communism is also based around the idea that things have value based on the amount of work it takes to make or do them.


I'm pretty sure the second part is right but I think I might have the beginning mixed up with Socialism or something.
Actually, in real communism (i.e.- Marxist communism) there is no government because it has been overthrown. It more runs on it's own from there rather than being some pie based around how people work because in the end it's a warped example of, "You reap what you sow," wherein someone who doesn't do any work will piss off everyone else because they can't reap the part that that lazy one didn't sow (or sowed badly, whatever). But theoretically everyone is supposed to work together so that kinda thing doesn't happen.
Ditto. But you forget that it doesn't happen right now. With the advent of technology who the hell knows what people will start doing.
 

flaxoakleaf

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Mar 20, 2009
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Not that we've seen it in every communist state so far - look at this state currently! What is it but selfishness and greed that caused the current U.S. economic, and world economic, problems. It's greed. That is the result of unfettered capitalism - nothing to do with communism. My question is, who's watching the players, and who is watching those watching the players?
 

PersianLlama

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http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1848/communist-manifesto/

That is communism. At least, according to the guys who made it.
 

fulano

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PersianLlama said:
http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1848/communist-manifesto/

That is communism. At least, according to the guys who made it.
That's the one thing people kinda forget to read when starting their attacks on what communism is supposed to be. Communism just like capitalism is an idea not a practice, and that seems to mess with people's heads.

Kinda seemed like a good ide but...can it work? Nyet.

Really, just nyet? Well, Just not right now, at the moment. Who knoes later on.