Professional sports in communism

[OnFire]

This might be a rather easy question for the more knowledgeable Marxists:
I was never quite able to wrap my head around what would happen to professional athletes like football players, boxers and tennis players etc. under

- a socialist state, meaning the dictatorship of the proletariat, central planning, etc. and

- communism, meaning the classless and stateless society based on common ownership and control of the means of production

First of all, would an athlete be considered a proletarian? Would an athlete theoretically be part of the revolutionary working class, seeing as how his relation to the means of production is the same as that of the worker and he essentially has to sell his own labour?

After a revolution, another question comes to my mind. How would the newly proclaimed workers state treat the athletes? Would an athlete still be allowed to play as a professional? In what way would the state control or even prohibit the large-scale athletic pursuit?

Then there is another question to be considered, the athlete in a communist society. I am well aware of the fact that this part of Marxism is a rather unclear one, so there will be no definite answer for that question, but if I recall correctly, there would be no division of labour.
Would the athlete as a job in itself then vanish? Would everybody have the possibility to be an athlete? How would the athlete play (if it continued to be a profesional pursuit)?

[Danielle Ni Dhighe]

Sports as commodity would no longer exist. I would imagine sports would be something people partake in for fun at a community level.

[BIXX]

Sports as commodity would no longer exist. I would imagine sports would be something people partake in for fun at a community level.
To add on to this, the people who could be called professional athletes (and when I say this I am referring to folks who can sustain themselves just from their sport) is pretty slim. Most athletes have to get a job until they are pretty famous, so yeah most athletes are proles.

On an unrelated note I'd love to make a living off of my mma. Thatd blow my mind.

[Slavic]

Sports as commodity would no longer exist. I would imagine sports would be something people partake in for fun at a community level.

I don't know why sports would have to be retained to the community. I enjoy watching several types of sport competition as do a large potion of the globe. I'd much rather watch a regional team that is made up of the best athletes in the region competing, then some Joe Schmo down the road in some backyard league.

I'd imagine that the pool of competitive athletes would increase significantly in a post-capital society since money will not restrict the discovery and training of athletic talent worldwide.

[Sewer Socialist]

I would say that in the structure of, say, soccer, we can already see the gradient of abilities in the English Premier League; which is a many-tiered system (about 20) resembling a pyramid. There are about 140 soccer leagues in England alone. At the top, we find the most elite athletes, people with exceptional abilities. At the bottom, we find people who take the game seriously enough to join a formal federated league, but don't spend much time on it, in addition to the non-federated Sunday leagues, which are more or less playing for fun before downing some beer on Sundays, and the even more informal activity of kicking a ball around a park. Teams within this federation are promoted and relegated between leagues depending on performance.

Of course, people won't be paid to do this in socialism, so it's unclear if that means sports will be more competitive or less.

I disagree however that the number of athletes would certainly increase significantly. It seems to me that in present day, most people who want to play are accommodated. However, with more free time being available, the quality of athlete may increase, and opportunity will not simply favor those with wealthy parents who can afford to provide more for their children.

On the other hand, society may change when the big business that is professional sports isn't making money anymore and promoting itself, and professional sports isn't a way out of the dismal future of wage labor for the weary proletariat. On that subject, there are indeed currently millions of proletarian youth who dream of making it big, of escaping the daily grind, who work shit jobs just enough to pay the bills, and put themselves through the wringer physically, for a shot at professional sports.

Some make it, but most do not, and often give up when they figure out they've gotten as good as they're gonna get and that they're not going to do anything new.

[G4b3n]

The dotp is not a socialist state. It is task of the workers' state to transition society into socialism.

[tuwix]

Would the athlete as a job in itself then vanish?


I don't think so. Only in the higher phase of communism such job will be unlimited to perform.



Would everybody have the possibility to be an athlete?


Yes.



How would the athlete play (if it continued to be a profesional pursuit)?

I think in the same way but without money. There will be clubs and competition between them. But all without money.

[Tim Redd]

...There will be clubs and competition between them. But all without money.

In socialism and perhaps during communism, professional athletes whose lives are mainly based upon sports will get paid but not exorbitantly. Their salary should be in the median social income range.

In both socialism and communism sports should operate according to the the maxim that friendship is first and competition is second. This was applied to sports as practiced in China while Mao was the leader.

[Artiom]

To add on to this, the people who could be called professional athletes (and when I say this I am referring to folks who can sustain themselves just from their sport) is pretty slim. Most athletes have to get a job until they are pretty famous, so yeah most athletes are proles.

On an unrelated note I'd love to make a living off of my mma. Thatd blow my mind.


And since most athletes today have to combine theire sports career with a job, that will be most likely be the same in a socialist world. But with more ppl sharing societie's burden I can see how more would have the oppurtunity.

[The Intransigent Faction]

Sports as commodity would no longer exist. I would imagine sports would be something people partake in for fun at a community level.

Pretty much this. It wouldn't carry the same chauvinistic overtones of, say, Canada-Russia '72 in which a bunch of people are glued to their TVs/laptops/whatever due to some notion that the victory of a team of strangers in a sport somehow demonstrates the superiority of one nation/state over another. Any collective effervescence involved would be built on a genuine, inclusive sense of community rather than vicarious international one-upmanship involving rallying around national symbols.

[newdayrising]

I see communism as the abolition of professionalism.