Originally posted by Comrade
[email protected] 24, 2006 07:26 pm
I just want to know whether all those horror stories floating around made by the opponents of communsim actually have any foundation in communist theory. Thank you.
Like baseball games, would there be professional athletes?
Hmm, I cant pretend to know the psychological or economic foundations of sports. I would guess that sports would still exist and would still be very popular, there would likely also be very famous good players, but they would not be considered above other individuals or have such out of proportion wealth that they do now.
Video games, computers, nice cars and houses, vacations, products made only for fun?
Products made only for fun: most definitely, although the entire nature of how they would be produced would change. As far as "nice cars and houses", the revolution would likely entail some sort of shift in production to make sure that everyone who needed one could have a car and everyone could have a home. This would take precedence and would likely mean that these may be more standardized or that their would be no luxury cars. As the new economic order settles, the quality of these should go up for everyone however.
Would I still be able to drive to an airfield and fly around a little Cessna for fun?
Yes, I think so.
And would the elimination of private property and inheritance apply to absolutely everything, e.g A little toy or a watch my dad gave me when I was young, would items that are totally useless except for their "sentimental value" be taken away from everyone?
Nope, these are small personal items and would remain personal to a person. Private property is in reference more to capital, means of production, and wealth of that order.
Would people be allowed to follow their own religions and/or personal beliefs if they do nothing to interfere with communist society?
They would be allowed in that they would not be stopped, they would likely be looked down upon however. Believing in supernatural existence does not coincide very much with the materialist viewpoint that allows us to examine history and remake society for ourselves. Debates over the nature of meaning or value of the material world and over spirituality of that nature may be more contentious however.
And would there still be individuality, or would life become being basically a tool in a factory?
There is very little individuality today, while there would be an explosion of it in everyday life under communism. No one would live as a tool in a factory as we would abolish work as we know it itself, and remake the way society produces things.
I just want to know whether all those horror stories floating around made by the opponents of communsim actually have any foundation in communist theory. Thank you.
No, those are nearly all based on the experiences and history of the Soviet Union and People's Republic of China. Communism has never existed on earth. Communism entails the working classes rising up and taking over society from the bourgeois class (which in turn took over society from the aristocratic classes in revolutions such as the French Revolution). However, the nature of the working class means that we will abolish the class system entirely and create communism: a classless, stateless world society. Freedom!