problems

[trad]

i've been reading some Marx in the past few months and agree with his criticism of capitalism, but i'm not so sure i agree with communism. it's supposed to be direct democracy right? so what protects against a "tyranny of the majority"? and if the point of getting rid of capitalism is to prevent a parasitic class, why would we make a wageless society, wouldnt that make it easier to have "parasites"?

[mykittyhasaboner]

it's supposed to be direct democracy right? so what protects against a "tyranny of the majority"?
First, its important to realize that in a communist society, no votes or decisions are final. Every law, policy, occupational position, etc. would be re-callable, and changed if deemed necessary. Second, if a minority of people who are being oppressed by the decisions of the majority, it is likely that the majority and minority would agree upon a consensus, or compromise. People can work things out, to put it simply.


and if the point of getting rid of capitalism is to prevent a parasitic class, why would we make a wageless society, wouldnt that make it easier to have "parasites"?Well no, because in a classless society (or as you put it, a society without wages) there are no capitalists who exploit the workers, and buy their labor with wages. Rather than being exploited by the parasites (capitalists), workers would consciously decide how, they themselves, would be compensated for their labor. This prevents people from exploiting others, simply because nobody would knowingly rip them selves off.

[Kukulofori]

The workplaces of the communist future will be more akin to hobby groups. They won't be as unpleasant as there are now, there will be almost no reason not to have some kind of work.

Also, Marx isn't the holy bible of communism, and he's not infallible. To ignore the mistakes made by people like Lenin and Mao, and the ideological advances like those of the Black Panthers, would be foolish.

[ernie]

i've been reading some Marx in the past few months and agree with his criticism of capitalism, but i'm not so sure i agree with communism. it's supposed to be direct democracy right? so what protects against a "tyranny of the majority"?
I don't think this will be much of a problem. In communism, most decisions made by the community as a whole won't be restrictive; that is, people won't be voting on "gay marriage" or "drinking age", like they do now. In general, people won't have to be worried about their freedoms being restricted.

I suppose some cases could arise where some minority might be significantly affected by a majority decision...in that case, perhaps something like consensus might be used. I don't think these cases will be so frequent that we need to worry about it too much right now.


and if the point of getting rid of capitalism is to prevent a parasitic class, why would we make a wageless society, wouldnt that make it easier to have "parasites"?
Communism is based on the observation that humans are productive beings; we don't need someone with a whip behind us in order to do useful stuff. I think that this observation has plenty of evidence backing it up. Even on a personal level: have you ever just sat around doing nothing for more than a couple hours? It's really boring!

Under communism, we will all be able to do work which we really enjoy, and it will be, by far, the most productive era of humanity.