What I don't get...

[Domino]

OK, it's simple. I've been here for quite some time and I see so many 'communists' that say communism doesn't work. Isn't that stupid? How can you call yourself a communist if you think it won't work in our society? Why attach to the ideal of something you don't believe in?

I don't have an examples, but I know I've read it at least 15 times in this boards. Can someone explain it to me cause I don't get it.

[Pete]

Communism is the utopian Ideal of Marx. Most people use it as being the same as socialism, which is not as utopian.

[canikickit]

Communism hasn't worked. I also think it won't work, at the moment. People are too wrapped up in their make-money lifestyles. People need education on reality.


How can you call yourself a communist if you think it won't work in our society?

Just because you would like to see something take place, doesn't mean you think it is remotely feasible.

[Domino]

That's what I mean. Why believe in something you think won't work? I mean, I think it can't be done at the moment, but I like to think someday it will be done.

[Smoking Frog II]

Quote: from canikickit on 4:33 am on Mar. 10, 2003
Communism hasn't worked. I also think it won't work, at the moment. People are too wrapped up in their make-money lifestyles. People need education on reality.


How can you call yourself a communist if you think it won't work in our society?

Just because you would like to see something take place, doesn't mean you think it is remotely feasible.


quite right. I believe that communism can work. It works in Cuba, right? It just didn't in the union.

[CruelVerdad]

People beleave in communism and think it will be a great thing if it worked with no problems, but if we face reality we are all socialists, socialism works!

[canikickit]

Why believe in something you think won't work?

piiiiiiiiiiissssssssssssh!!!!!!!! Why not?

I believe in it, because it beats just accepting capitalism.

[peaccenicked]

Communism works especially for children it is better to share things than to be a spoilsport. The trouble is that as an advanced system it has never been tried and primitive communism was never recorded as it happened.
Sharing the world might have what the post-moderns call ''a utopian impulse'' but it is the only game in town
bar hogging the ball for yourself.

[Guest1]

Communism can never work, neither can any society.

Communism in the form you're thinking of, where everyone is equal and there is full justice is a dream.

Only when we admit that can we be true communists.

To be a communist is to believe in the dream, not to say that you can ever live it, but to try to attain it.

Real communism is a process. The process TOWARDS equality, not the goal. To set it up as a goal would be to say that it is the end of something. It is not. Forever we will continue on the path of communism, forever improving on social justice, because sitting still, for humanity, means death. And because there will always be improvements to make in society. It is as with the justice system, it may not catch every murderer, and it may need improving, but justice is the ever-improving PROCESS of attempting to catch criminals and provide fair trials.

(Edited by Che y Marijuana at 1:13 am on Mar. 11, 2003)

[peaccenicked]

Communism might not work, but the struggle for it is
and will be as eternal as humanity. All we need is the world to learn this and take it to heart.

"This I believe: that the free, exploring mind of the individual human is the most valuable thing in the world. And this I would fight for: the freedom of the mind to take any direction it wishes, undirected. And this I must fight against: any idea, religion, or government which limits or destroys the individual."
John STEINBECK



(Edited by peaccenicked at 7:11 am on Mar. 11, 2003)

[redstar2000]

Part of the problem, tetelives, is that there really is a lot of "fuzziness" about words like socialism, communism, anarchism, etc. People use the words in an off-hand way to mean somewhat different things at different times.

Part of the problem is likewise in the historical examples; what does it actually mean to say that "communism didn't work in the USSR"?

And much of the problem, I think, lies in the fact that the future, in useful detail, is unknowable. We're pretty confident (at least the Marxists amongst us) that capitalism will not last forever or even necessarily the rest of this century...but the details of what will replace it are conjectural.

We know that communism will not be "Heaven"...some kind of unchanging, blissful, totally harmonious realm. That is beyond the ability of humans to create...fortunately, because it would be boring as hell.

A society without classes seems to me to be attainable...but trying to imagine how it would actually work is rather like a philosopher in the Middle Ages trying to imagine how modern capitalism works.

I wouldn't worry too much when you see people on this board sometimes say "such-and-such will never work" -- but if it bothers you, ask them directly in that particular thread, what they mean by their statement. You might provoke some interesting discussion.

:cool:

[mentalbunny]

Any serious communist in this place will say "communism can't work at the moment" rather than "communism will never work". Don't listen to the bullshitter, do listen to redstar2000 (but not when it comes to religion, unless he's changed his views!)!

[thursday night]

I am a Marxist-Leninist and I believe that socialism can, has and will work well for the working-class in their struggle against capitalism. Socialism works very well today in Cuba where the people of that free island enjoy the benefits of freedom from capitalism. I also believe that it works in the Socialist Republic of Vietnam where life is better for the working man than it is under capitalism. Some would argue that the DPRK is another example of working socialism, though I have a few qualms with this.

Regarding the Soviet Union, whatever the final outcome the blatant fact is that life was better under the USSR than it is under the Russian Federation and also the economic model (again, whatever the outcome) of the Soviet Union was more ethical than the American economic system.

[Domino]

Thank yall (specially last 3 replies) :)

[sc4r]

Quote: from Che y Marijuana on 6:11 am on Mar. 11, 2003
Real communism is a process. The process TOWARDS equality, not the goal.
(Edited by Che y Marijuana at 1:13 am on Mar. 11, 2003)

Superbly said comrade.

[Pete]

The time frame the movement looks at..overly simplified

Right -> Past
Centre -> Present
Left -> Future

As a socialist I agree with mentalbunny. She has said it the best. Communism looks forward for what it wishes to accopmlish, well the centrists look at today and the reactionaries at yesterday. You cannot predict the future as it is always changing.