What is your definition of Communism?

[CIA]

Wow you just dropped me into a stereotype that doesn't fit me at all. I'm insulted.

That paragraph was a pretty general statement directed at noone in particular...

I want to call BS here but I don't know.

You're "sorta" drawing parallels? You apparently shit parallels and the thing about shit, it doesn't smell good. See the parallel I just made? Childish, I know.

Keep in mind that comparisons can be made with anything, if you look hard enough.

The thing is that I've actually provided a bunch of reasons why this parallel of mine actually holds, and all I've had in return has been "nah". Oh, and how I love those analogies about shit. Yours was about as relevant as that "opinions are like assholes"-bit.

You missed the point of the analogy. It was to draw attention to the absurdity of your comparison.

I can also draw a parallel between Hitler and a light bulb. It will be about as convincing as your argument. In any case we aren't dealing in the practical application of communism(that isn't communism) we are dealing in abstractions, therefore your argument is completely useless in this discussion. This is because there are very few successful world leaders who are actually in it for the good of the people.

Speak in the true definition of communism, a nation where everything that a person needs is provided by the community for free, with no massive burocracy(how do you spell that?) or, indeed, any government that everyone in the nation is not participating in.

You are now dwelling in the realm of "I can't go to sleep, somebody on the internet is wrong"

 

[Bachanomon92]

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.

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.

Wait, I'm pretty sure that communism is at the opposite end of the spectrum from fascism; and isn't that what the Nazis where all about?

P.S. Idk if Nazism is a word dude..... but then again I confuse words alot so w/e

 

[einenKleinenGleichschaltung]

Alright
hiks89: first, I'm with CIA; stop typing like that.
Second, your version of Christianity (to which I don't adhere) is total bullshit.
To the question more generally...
Communism is extremely hard to define, because people have defined it differently and it became a common label to hang on one's political party or government during the 20th century, regardless of how much sense that label made. Originally, in Marx's writings, a communist society was what would exist when society had progressed sufficiently to be completely socialist and to not need a government.
I think it seems unlikely to ever happen, but Marx did point out (as I understand it; I haven't read the originals) that it would occur when technology had advanced to the point where labor wasn't, generally, a burden for most of the population. Since that obviously hasn't happened yet, I don't think it's fair to say communism is impossible.

 

[Pikka Bird]

You are now dwelling in the realm of "I can't go to sleep, somebody on the internet is wrong"

Haha, actually I have been putting off going to bed. Not for this, though.

Aaanyways- Remember this?:

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.

I know what communism is, and this is what I think of it. I did focus on the only large scale attempt at applying the concept in my previous posts because I feel like the original question had been answered (In short- "does anyone know what communism is?", and someone did). To summarize my posting history in this thread:
Communism can never work on a large scale because human leaders can't be trusted not to get drunk with power or be stark raving mad from the get-go, and furthermore even if they were sane and benevolent, the people can't be expected to submit to such massive changes within anything less than several generations. The rest of my arguments have been about this: When someone tried to start it up they messed it up bad and quickly ended up with something worse than nazi Germany (where the people actually had a pretty good thing going, as long as they weren't jews).

I want to call BS here but I don't know.

Feel free to calls it as yous sees it. I have no reason to offend you, stranger whom I've never met. It doesn't really matter that much to me that I can get wound up over it.

 

[CIA]

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.

We agree. How the hell did your opinion get so muddy? Must have been that Hitler crap.

Although, to be fair, Nazi Germany was a war zone for a bit so the people who weren't Jewish couldn't have had it that good.

In other words...

Pikka:
I disagree with your point on Nazi Germany; if you weren't Jewish, strongly religious, Communist, liberal, homosexual, socialist, Roma or another ethnic minority, and didn't piss off the SA (or, later, the SS or Gestapo), things were okay for a couple of years. But, it still wasn't all roses by any stretch, and lots of Germans were still poor, and living standards were barely rising, even before general war.

 

[einenKleinenGleichschaltung]

Pikka:
I disagree with your point on Nazi Germany; if you weren't Jewish, strongly religious, Communist, liberal, homosexual, socialist, Roma or another ethnic minority, and didn't piss off the SA (or, later, the SS or Gestapo), things were okay for a couple of years. But, it still wasn't all roses by any stretch, and lots of Germans were still poor, and living standards were barely rising, even before general war.

 

[fulano]

The most funny thing about the whole thing, and one sure to muddle things up even more for those that haven't read either about socialism or communism (this is a shout out to you Pikka Bird) is that tha nazi party official name was this one: National Socialist German Workers? Party.

Yeah, I know...

 

[einenKleinenGleichschaltung]

Yeah...funny, isn't it? Actually, the socialist program was pretty big, in idea if not in execution, right to the end. I read a book that made the point that Hitler was a lot like revolutionary communists, but instead of social class being the deciding factor of history, race was.

 

[Pikka Bird]

CIA: Fabulous. I too was wondering why and when it became unclear... Maybe I should add "This post refers to this-and-that" to the beginning of everything I type instead of just assuming people know when I cross over onto a different branch. I'm used to verbal communication, see...

The most funny thing about the whole thing, and one sure to muddle things up even more for those that haven't read either about socialism or communism (this is a shout out to you Pikka Bird) is that tha nazi party official name was this one: National Socialist German Workers? Party.

Yeah, I know...

Hooray, a shout out!

Pikka:
I disagree with your point on Nazi Germany; if you weren't Jewish, strongly religious, Communist, liberal, homosexual, socialist, Roma or another ethnic minority, and didn't piss off the SA (or, later, the SS or Gestapo), things were okay for a couple of years. But, it still wasn't all roses by any stretch, and lots of Germans were still poor, and living standards were barely rising, even before general war.

Yeah, but I still say the Soviets had it worse... Take the Holodomor, or Ukrainian famine of 1932-33, for instance. That can't have been nice.

 

[fulano]

Yeah...funny, isn't it? Actually, the socialist program was pretty big, in idea if not in execution, right to the end. I read a book that made the point that Hitler was a lot like revolutionary communists, but instead of social class being the deciding factor of history, race was.

Ahem...in what espects were they alike, exactly, just for the sake of argument.

 

[CIA]

CIA: Fabulous. I too was wondering why and when it became unclear... Maybe I should add "This post refers to this-and-that" to the beginning of everything I type instead of just assuming people know when I cross over onto a different branch. I'm used to verbal communication, see...

Nah, just don't compare stuff to Hitler and the Nazis even if the point is valid. It makes people crazy.

The "I can't go to sleep, somebody on the internet is wrong" wore off. Peace out

 

[einenKleinenGleichschaltung]

Yes, life in the USSR (especially under Stalin) was not flowers & sunshine. Especially if you weren't a Great Russian, and especially if you were Ukrainian. I dunno about "worse;" by the end of the war, Nazi Germany was pretty shit too.
Also, Stalinism (just to toss around another ism) is generally separated from straight-up communism, however you define it, since Stalin's political views were generally dependent on who he was gearing up to eliminate at any given time.

 

[einenKleinenGleichschaltung]

unabomberman:
Nazi program was very big on providing jobs, security, and organization to the German people. Gleichschaltung was a concept of "organization," with the idea being that everyone would be made to feel to belong to the Volk. There was a strong element of economic opportunity (if you were German), job availability & security (if you were German), direction of everyone's labors towards universal (for Germans, anyway) national goal, etc.
Hitler said something to the effect of, 'we don't socialize organizations; we socialize people. If everyone is directed towards the national goals, it doesn't matter what the surface structure is."
...gleichshaltung is in my name due to an inside joke, not because I'm a Nazi.

 

[fulano]

Yes, life in the USSR (especially under Stalin) was not flowers & sunshine. Especially if you weren't a Great Russian, and especially if you were Ukrainian. I dunno about "worse;" by the end of the war, Nazi Germany was pretty shit too.
Also, Stalinism (just to toss around another ism) is generally separated from straight-up communism, however you define it, since Stalin's political views were generally dependent on who he was gearing up to eliminate at any given time.

I don't think it is quite as easy as to say that life in the U.S.S.R was no flowers & sunshine just based on the things you say. I agree it was definitely a tough gig, but a lot of people kind of agreed with the system. It's just not as cookie cutter as saying that they all suffered under the terror yoke of the evil red party hell bent on oppressing their civil rights for great justice and grace of super awesome comrade Vladimir Ilich Lenin.

And yeah, I suppose you do know what Great Russian and Little russian and are referring to the long standing situation with the Ukraine. Shitty stuff is that when kruschev took power, things began to look a little better for the Ukraine, but years went by and the shit the fan, and brezhnev took over, and they gave it another crack at russificating the region.

I'd say situations varied widely, though, but it was no cakewalk, that's for sure.

 

[Plauged1]

Thanks, I could use this thread. Seriously, teachers and schools won't tell me what it is and does FOR REAL. They treat me like some 2 year old who won't be able to wrap his head around it and leave me in the dark about an imporatant part on world history. I'll read on.
(And yes, I'm serious. The school officials, even the history teacher, won't tell me any truth about it.) I can't contribute to this, but I won't mind learning about it.

 

[fulano]

unabomberman:
Nazi program was very big on providing jobs, security, and organization to the German people. Gleichschaltung was a concept of "organization," with the idea being that everyone would be made to feel to belong to the Volk. There was a strong element of economic opportunity (if you were German), job availability & security (if you were German), direction of everyone's labors towards universal (for Germans, anyway) national goal, etc.
Hitler said something to the effect of, 'we don't socialize organizations; we socialize people. If everyone is directed towards the national goals, it doesn't matter what the surface structure is."
...gleichshaltung is in my name due to an inside joke, not because I'm a Nazi.

Hmmm...I think I get your point now.

On the flip side, did you know that VOLK in russian means WOLF? Creepy, huh?
So you are no nazi? Bummer...wait, what about a grammar nazi?

 

[Sane Man]

Thanks, I could use this thread. Seriously, teachers and schools won't tell me what it is and does FOR REAL. They treat me like some 2 year old who won't be able to wrap his head around it and leave me in the dark about an imporatant part on world history. I'll read on.
(And yes, I'm serious. The school officials, even the history teacher, won't tell me any truth about it.) I can't contribute to this, but I won't mind learning about it.

Does not surprise me, public schools in America are certainly in trouble. I've even heard people tell me when the Great Depression was taught, that farmers were the cause, and The New Deal got us out of the the depression. It does not take a lot to get a teaching degree, nor to be a teacher. It does, however, take a lot to be a good teacher, which you will mostly find at private/charter schools.

Of course there are always exceptions, both ways (bad teachers in private/charter and good ones in public) but again, they prove the rule. I usually always have to add the exception bit, it seems arguing exceptions is a favored tactic on the internet...

 

[ae86gamer]

communism=msinummoc

I don't actually know what communism is but I did spell it backwards if that helps at all......which it doesn't.

 

[implodingMan]

Communism is, simply put, poorly thought out. The usual defense of communism is that "it has never actually been done", and that these totalitarians are just perverting the perfect ideas that Marx had.

While true that Soviet and Chinese communism are about as close to Marxism as I am to finishing the essay that I am supposed to be writing right now, it doesn't change the fact that Marx's ideas were just as poorly thought out as all these other communists. Marx's ideas don't stand up to rigor, and they don't satisfactorily explain the apparent problems with capitalism.