Is Communism Dead?

[rikzilla]

There are many here who seem to believe that communism is dead. While it's true that the USSR fell apart, and the wall came down, it's also true that all the old communists did not suddenly evaporate into thin air.

Although communism is an utterly bankrupt philosophy, there are still many true believers who keep it alive. Not just in NK or Cuba either.

Every time I attempt to talk about it,...or JK posts about it we are shouted down by people who shout "McCarthyism" as if that term is a magic spell that will make our arguments go away...or be laughed off. However, it remains that these arguments about communism have never been met by reasoned debate.

What I am attempting to do with this poll is foster a debate of the facts concerning the geopolitical health of communism in general...and communism's influence on the western peace movement in particular.

Thanks in advance for your participation.
-zilla

 

[DanishDynamite]

No, it is unfortunately still alive.

 

[Jedi Knight]

There are many here who seem to believe that communism is dead. While it's true that the USSR fell apart, and the wall came down, it's also true that all the old communists did not suddenly evaporate into thin air.

Although communism is an utterly bankrupt philosophy, there are still many true believers who keep it alive. Not just in NK or Cuba either.

Every time I attempt to talk about it,...or JK posts about it we are shouted down by people who shout "McCarthyism" as if that term is a magic spell that will make our arguments go away...or be laughed off. However, it remains that these arguments about communism have never been met by reasoned debate.

What I am attempting to do with this poll is foster a debate of the facts concerning the geopolitical health of communism in general...and communism's influence on the western peace movement in particular.

Thanks in advance for your participation.
-zilla

Communism is an even nastier ideology than Nazism--the difference being that Communism is still portrayed to be "cool and fashionable", while Nazism is portrayed to be the evil of all evils.

Communism should be handled the same way that Nazism is by all institutions--shunned, mocked and disparaged. That won't happen however, because most colleges around the western world are infatuated with the ideas of Marx and Lenin, and shamefully forget and dismiss the outrageous crimes of humanity that Communism is to blame.

The laughable thing about modern university leftism is that they do not preach Soviet Communism anymore. Soviet Communism failed, so they form their little Bolshevik groups on American universities and preach that that was not the "real" Communism, while at the same time pushing Marx and lenin lol.

No, they push Communism, but not "Soviet" Communism, as if they seek to wash their hands of the 150,000,000 dead last century caused by Communism and make it "cool and fashionable" again.

Whenever you think of a Communist, think of a Nazi. While on opposite sides of the political spectrum, they both are a perversion of history and a perversion of ideology and deserve no intellectual respect whatsoever.

JK

 

[Kodiak]

Communism is all but dead (NK, Cuba. etc...).

Socialism, OTOH, is alive and well in the modern environmentalist movement...

 

[Guest]

Is communism dead?

--------------------
Dead as a doornail.
Alive, but only in NK, and Cuba.
Alive in most countries...attempting to expand it's influence.
Alive and well...co-opting pacifists worldwide!
---------------------

Alive, but having evolved into a new form. There is a new breed of political animal who has got beyond the left/right dichotomy and is striding ahead into a future where the best parts of both idealogies can be taken.

 

[rikzilla]

Communism is all but dead (NK, Cuba. etc...).

Socialism, OTOH, is alive and well in the modern environmentalist movement...

Interesting....so how does socialism equate to communism? Are they merely the same philosophy dressed in different clothes? I believe in many enviro causes....but have not been exposed to any political philosophy from enviromentalists.

-zilla

 

[rikzilla]

Is communism dead?

--------------------
Dead as a doornail.
Alive, but only in NK, and Cuba.
Alive in most countries...attempting to expand it's influence.
Alive and well...co-opting pacifists worldwide!
---------------------

Alive, but having evolved into a new form. There is a new breed of political animal who has got beyond the left/right dichotomy and is striding ahead into a future where the best parts of both idealogies can be taken.

Can you elaborate on this Geoff?
-zilla

BTW: You do know that the elephant is the symbol of the American Republican party right??

 

[Guest]

Interesting....so how does socialism equate to communism? Are they merely the same philosophy dressed in different clothes? I believe in many enviro causes....but have not been exposed to any political philosophy from enviromentalists.

-zilla

If you want to protect the environment, ultimately you must accept that it must be SHARED and BELONG TO NO-ONE.

That isn't communism. It is basic common sense. However, it would appear to be the same idea as communism. Materialistic capitalism will ALWAYS lead to environmental destuction. You can compete, and compete, and eventually there will be no resources left to compete for and everyone will die.

Or you can share.

Oops...I'm a red.....

 

[Victor Danilchenko]

How about a 5th option:

I have no clue about what communism is.

When you speak of communism, you obviously associate it with USSR and somesuch. This is of course utterly wrong -- even USSR itself never claimed to be a communist country.

 

[rikzilla]

How about a 5th option:

I have no clue about what communism is.

When you speak of communism, you obviously associate it with USSR and somesuch. This is of course utterly wrong -- even USSR itself never claimed to be a communist country.

The land of Marx and Lenin was not a "communist" country???

I have the same question then for you as I do for those people who make "I Can't Believe It's Not Butter" Listen, if it's not butter then what the f&ck is it??

-z

 

[Jedi Knight]

How about a 5th option:

I have no clue about what communism is.

When you speak of communism, you obviously associate it with USSR and somesuch. This is of course utterly wrong -- even USSR itself never claimed to be a communist country.

LOL. This is exactly the point I was making about the new leftist communist approach and the nonsense being pushed in leftist universities now. No, the Soviet Union wasn't communist, gosh no.

HAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAAHHAHAAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

That is hilarious! But Gosh, the leftists think they will get away with saying that so they can dismiss the 150,000,000 dead last century as the result of Communist perversionist ideology.

JK

 

[Jedi Knight]

Is communism dead?

--------------------
Dead as a doornail.
Alive, but only in NK, and Cuba.
Alive in most countries...attempting to expand it's influence.
Alive and well...co-opting pacifists worldwide!
---------------------

Alive, but having evolved into a new form. There is a new breed of political animal who has got beyond the left/right dichotomy and is striding ahead into a future where the best parts of both idealogies can be taken.

You are a woo woo. I can't believe you are using the "let's blend those ideologies together" leftist drivel.

Tell me woo woo, what are the good parts of Communism? The atheist part? The slavery for the state part? The gulag part? The genocide part? The block commander part? The elimination of private property part?

What parts of communism are good?!?

JK

 

[Jedi Knight]

I am going to write a new Manifesto, a Capitalist form of Manifesto.

JK

 

[rikzilla]

I am going to write a new Manifesto, a Capitalist form of Manifesto.

JK

Take a lesson from the Unabomber and keep it short man!


-z

BTW: Keep it coming guys....this is all interesting stuff. I think the consensus seems to be that communism is re-inventing itself. But what is it re-inventing itself into?? And is it REALLY re-inventing it's philosophy, or just putting lipstick on the same old marxist pig??

 

[tedly]

Local commies

I think you need to make the distinction between communism and Kom-oo-nism which is a largely unreal indigenous threat in the US.

Here in the Canadian prairies communism is alive and well in the form of Hutterian colonies, where the means of production are communally owned, increase of wealth is held in the colony, and tasks and jobs are assigned by a vaguely democratic process.
One of my neighbours on the James Valley colony went to Europe to visit a colony there. As a carpenter he found their renovation of an old house fascinating. The stone walls were centuries (4?) old, and the interior that was gutted and replaced was over 100 yrs old. They were building the new interior to last as long.
James Valley colony, where family farms are roughly 1000 acres, supported 15 families on 7000 acres, and saved enough to start a new colony.

By the bye, the Canadian prairies are the birth place of socialism, due to the sport of curling, and the wearing of toe rubbers. I should explain toe rubbers. These are coverings for shoes that slip over a dress shoe and provide a minimal protection from mud and snow for the shoe. They are mostly one size fits all. So every one wore rubbers to the curling rink, and home from the curling rink, but not necessarily the same ones. From each according to necessity, to each according to speed.
I cannot explain curling.

 

[Kodiak]

Re: Local commies

I cannot explain curling.

As a metro-Detroiter. let me say that thanks to CBC 9 from Windsor, I'm able to enjoy not only Hockey Night in Canada, buy the Briar, and Scott's Tournament of Hearts...

 

[corplinx]

I think the biggest problem is defining what communism is. Most people associate communism with military regimes that involuntarily make all citizens work for the government (like the Soviet Union). To me, these totalitarian states do not reflect the true spirit of communism. In modern "communist" countries, the means of production is controlled by an unelected military regime.

Do these regimes still exist? Ask Tibet if they think China is one.

 

[Victor Danilchenko]

rikzilla

The land of Marx and Lenin was not a "communist" country???

And confused you are.

The Communist party was called communist because it was supposedly striving towards communism. The country was actually socialist (not even really that, but that's a different topic) -- hence USSR, "Union of Soviet Socialist Republics". Not even the communist parties of different 2nd-world countries ever claimed to have attained communism, although they kept promising it in the near future.

Communism is supposed to be an economic state where all means of production are owned by the workers (= socialism) and scarcity as an economic factor has been overcome. The slogan of communism is "from each by his ability, to each by his need" (vs. socialism, which is "from each by his ability, to each by his work"). Obviously no communist state has ever existed, and it's not clear that it can exist.

One thing that is clear is that communism inherently has nothing to with USSR-style dictatorship, nor does socialism for that matter.

I have the same question then for you as I do for those people who make "I Can't Believe It's Not Butter" Listen, if it's not butter then what the f&ck is it??

USSR was an oligarchy (gerontocracy, as some jokingly called it) with a mixture of socialist and state-capitalist features.

Note that it's americans who called USSR "communist". Originally this surely was caused by the name of the party ("communist party"), but it ended up confusing folks like you into making totally wrong assumptions about communism as actually being that which USSR practiced.

Is communism dead? perhaps; but if it is, it's for reasons having nothing to do with what you posted. Initiating the discussion with such fundamental ignorance of what communism actually is, is certainly a non-starter.

 

[gnome]

Every time I attempt to talk about it,...or JK posts about it we are shouted down by people who shout "McCarthyism" as if that term is a magic spell that will make our arguments go away...or be laughed off. However, it remains that these arguments about communism have never been met by reasoned debate.

I expect the reason people are reminded of McCarthysim by JK is because he's as quick to label someone who disagrees as a communist, as Franko is to label someone an "A-Theist". In such cases it is more an ad-hominem than a true attempt to discuss the problems of communism -- which, by the way, I expect 99% of the board would agree on.

 

[JAR]

Communism isn't dead

Communism isn't dead. My younger brother knows a person at school who is a communist. I remember several times where my brother and his friends got in huge arguments with him. One time the communist said to them, "Come on guys, wouldn't our lives be so much easier if we let the government run everything."