Oppressing the minority by the majority?

[Issaiah1332]

I am often faced with this: In communism, there is still opression. This time it is by the majority oppressing the minority.

Will there be voting on things need to be decided, ect.

[Issaiah1332]

Originally posted by TheGreenWeeWee@April 07, 2007 11:35 pm
In a true communist society there would be no oppession of anyone. No looking for capitalist under the bed and every need would be met that people would living really happy lives and such that would be beyond our understanding. Actually, no one really knows what a communist society would be like. There are a lot of ideas but we really don't know what the inter-personal relationships would be or what sort of cooperation society would agree on. If there is oppession then the society has failed. There is also the possibility that no new society comes and we end up with barbarism seeing that everything ends in tears.

Then what do you do when something has to be decided? Do you vote? If so than the minority are being oppressed, in some sense.

[The Feral Underclass]

Who is this minority?

[Kwisatz Haderach]

In most cases, it is impossible to reach a decision that satisfies everyone. If it is impossible to satisfy everyone, what is the next best thing? Satisfy the greatest possible number of people - the majority.

Communism will try to satisfy everyone whenever that is possible. When it is not possible, communism will satisfy the majority, which is far better than satisfying a minority.

[( R )evolution]

Originally posted by Issaiah1332@April 07, 2007 11:23 pm
I am often faced with this: In communism, there is still opression. This time it is by the majority oppressing the minority.

Will there be voting on things need to be decided, ect.

I think you have the wrong idea on when the majority will oppress the minority. During the dictatorship of the proletariat the majority (workers) will be fighting and trying to put down the remaining capitalist class. I guess this could be seen as "oppression" but I believe we our trying to defend our revolution against aggressions by the remaining capitalist class throughout the world. In communism, when we have eradicated the bourgeois class, everyone will be equal. As, the comrade above me stated, if we cant please everyone then we should try to please the majority but this is hardly seen as oppression unless there is an obvious biased towards 1 group of people but that will also be fought against during communism.

[The Feral Underclass]

Originally posted by Edric O@April 08, 2007 01:09 am
Communism will try to satisfy everyone whenever that is possible

No it won't.

[Rawthentic]

It won't? Do you mind clarifying?

Or let me guess: you mean that we are going to take care of ourselves by controlling society right? Then yea, absolutely.

[Rawthentic]

What I meant is that we will be in control of our lives, of our communities, everything, and by coming together and solving our problems as they come up, we can satisfy ourselves to the best of our abilities.

If we are talking about democracy, that is another subject.

[RGacky3]

In a communist (Anarchist) society, the only desicions made will be by those involved, its impossible to oppress anyone unless you can enforce your desicions on them.

All desicions will be voluntary, voluntary associations.

[Kwisatz Haderach]

Originally posted by TheGreenWeeWee@April 08, 2007 03:11 am

QUOTE (Edric O @ April 08, 2007 01:09 am)
Communism will try to satisfy everyone whenever that is possible.

Anarchist Tension wrote: No it won't.

hastalavictoria wrote: It won't? Do you mind clarifying?

Or let me guess: you mean that we are going to take care of ourselves by controlling society right? Then yea, absolutely.

AT is correct because there would be no pleasing everyone. Look how you responded. You were not pleased with his response. People will do the best they can as they do now and problems will exist as well. It's not going to be the 1,000 year reign of Christ (or Mosiach) don't you know.

And that was precisely my point (before I was quoted out of context). If we can please everyone, great, but don't expect that to happen too often.

[Demogorgon]

Having a vote and going with the majority decision isn't oppression. Say for example we are having a vote on what side of the road we are going to drive on and vote to drive on the left. There will obviously have been some people who want to drive on the right, and they will have lost, however they have not been oppressed, they have been allowed to make their case and have a fair shot at it and the people have decided otherwise. They will have to go along with the decision but it was coem by in a way that did not oppress them.

Of course if the people were to vote to say, enact sodomy laws, that would be oppression, because it would be encroaching into private behaviour, which should not be regulated unless it causes public trouble, but for pubic issues, there is no oppression in going with the majority.

[Chicano Shamrock]

Originally posted by TheGreenWeeWee@April 07, 2007 06:24 pm
RGacky3 wrote: In a communist (Anarchist) society, the only desicions made will be by those involved, its impossible to oppress anyone unless you can enforce your desicions on them.

All desicions will be voluntary, voluntary associations.

All decisions would have to be based on one person-one vote which means there will be losers which translates that not everyone will be happy with decisions made by the majority. They will moan. complain, cuss, or perhaps a fist fight would break out but that don't make them reactionaries, counter revolutionaries or Aries himself.

Why would all decisions have to be based on a one person one vote democracy? That is not true. No decisions would "have" to be based on anything. The decisions could instead be made without democracy where one group wins and the other loses and just be made by a discussion and compromise between comrades.

Surely we wouldn't want mob rule. At least I don't.

[Rawthentic]

It is not "mob rule", it is democracy that works for those who work.