Communism....good or bad??
340939
Good, for the leaders, bad for everyone else.  It's a BIG lie.  It has never worked.  Communist countries have all had to keep people from leaving.  If they had been allowed to leave they all would have.  Communist countries have mostly failed.  They couldn't feed their own people.  China is getting away from Communism, Cuba is barely hanging on.
185266
Communism will never work.\n\nHumans all have different strengths and weaknesses.  In a capitalistic, you are able to discover and take advantage of those strengths.  You are compensated commensurate with amount of effort, education or innovation you apply to a specific task.  You are rewarded for creativity.\n\nNot so with communism.  Regardless of your efforts, you are compensated the same as everyone else.  Take the day off; get paid the same as someone that worked a double-shift.  What do you think you'd do?  Work or relax?\n\nThe Soviet Union was the classic example.  They would set quotas for steel pipe production.  They could crow they were the top producers in the world, and they were.  The problem was, no one would buy their pipe, because the quality was horrible.  There is no incentive for excellence, and that is required in today's world.\n\nThe responder that mentioned China is a bit disingenuous.  They have started modeling capitalistic standards after decades of being passed by the west.  More and more, they are allowing private enterprise to flourish.  Even in state owned industry, managers are given bonus' for meeting quality and production goals.  Clearly, not Marxist dogma...
887069
No.!!!\nNobody has ever practised Communism the way that Karl Marx visualised, as they say my donkey stays my donkey.!!!\nWhat is yours is mine. what is mine stays mine.\nHypocrites is what they all where, thieves and liars while the people suffered.!!!
625012
The answer to social problems is not capitalism or communism, it is somewhere in between ... ideally humanism  applied in governmental form. Sadly power and corruption at the top level generally ensures that which ever system is in operation is mis-used to the detriment of the masses and therefore doomed to eventually fail .... bummed out  millions versus bunkered government ... no contest, if you see what I mean.
500687
It's a great book.  It's about communism.  Under communism the workers are worse off than they were under capitalism.
1127294
I am not a communist but in know this.\nCapitalism and Communisima are in a fight to the death.\nCaptilism has better PR.\nWhat we call Communism like Russsia Cuba China is not real communisim its not close, it is pretty much Fascism with the rehtoric of the worker, people ect. Those were horrible, Capitlism is horrible too but not as bad, depends on where you are in the food chain....\n\nIn theory shouldn't everyone be equal. Wouldn't god want that. isn't that what Heavan in our Christian doctrine is all about.\n\nHumor me now.....\nImagine if Heavan were physical place, during the 50 we would be threating to Bomb them....
608827
Absolutely not. Communism is a political ideology that seeks to establish a future classless, stateless social organization based upon common ownership of the means of production.  In theory, wouldn't it be great to live in a society where education, medical treatment and living costs were all free?  Greed is what causes communism to fail when it is put into practice, but then greed is also what causes democracy to fail in its own aspects.\n\nHowever, many of the major Communists like Marx, Stalin, Mao, and Lenin were all very intelligent people.
290333
Capitalism at least gives people the chance of getting out of poverty.  Communism only the upper party leaders have money.  In communism everyone is poor, everyone has to wait in lines for goods, merchandice is poor quality.\n\nMillions have died because of communism.  Freedom of speech is non-exsistent.  Famines due to government controls.  Communism essentially makes government god.  Give me capitalism and give me freedom.
1148615
Communists are cool because they make every shmuck as miserable as the next schmuck :).  And by the way, communism has never reached the strides Capitalism has in terms of wealth and common good.
1046966
Please!  We all know the definition of Communism in its true since, but China, Cuba an others are still considered Communist countries.  America is a Capitalist/Socialist country as well given that we supply benefits to the elderly and many, many, many other services.\n\nRepublicans like to label Socialism as horrible as if it were a third world country democracy.  Socialism does what a government is suppose to do and that is Protect freedom, and offer services to its people.  Does this not sound like America!!!  Most Socialist countries might pay higher taxes, but there citizens dont pay for health care, retirement and many others we pay a fortune for.  Many citizens in socialist countrys live better lives than we do in America.
584375
They're trying to stir up trouble just like the people who post topic after topic spouting "Bush is Hitler!" and "Should Bush be impeached?".\n\nBuncha flamers.\n\nBy the way, Communism 99% of the time won't work unless it's a very small, agrarian community. When it comes to larger, more prosperous countries it won't work. There will always be people in the government that are greedy and feel they are better than everyone else, plus don't you think Communism is unfair? A server at McDonalds would get the exact same amount of everything as a doctor or lawyer, do you think anyone would be motivated to go to college anymore?
603553
If the Soviet Union were the only remaining superpower, the world would be a living hell.\n\nThe problem with the Communist system is that it perverts man's true nature.  The Communists said they had a noble ideal, that they were creating a selfless man, so that everything would be shared, everyone could live as equals, and poverty would be eliminated.\n\nHowever, Communism only creates poverty for everyone. People generally despised their jobs because they knew that putting forth more effort would give them and their families nothing in return.\n\nTwo common refrains were:\n\n1)  They pretend to pay me, and I pretend to work.\n2)  If you don't steal from the State, you are stealing from your family.\n\nCommunism was just another word for slavery.  You had the top Communist bosses who enjoyed luxuries forbidden to the masses.  The State told you where you could live, and what kind of job you could perform.  You had no voice.\n\nIf the old, Communist Soviet Union were in charge of the world, everyone would blame their problems on them, but not openly, or they'd have tanks running through their streets like 1968 Czechoslovakia.\n\nIf the old, Communist Soviet Union were in charge the world would be more backward, unstable, and poorer.\n\nIf you want to see the true evil face of Communism, rent this movie in the Foreign Films section of your local rental store:  "Dark Blue World" (Tvamomodry Svet).  You will see the absolutely vile nature of Communism.  The movie recounts how Czech pilots fled to England to join the fight against the Nazis.  After the war, the Communists occupiers sent these heroes to prison because they feared  these men had been to exposed to Western ideas about democracy and freedom.
154515
Communism is not all bad, America and many countries just don't like it because it's pretty much the opposite of freedom which is what America value so much.\n\nIn China, before they turned communists, there were a lot of starving people who became sick and died because there was shortage of food, shelter, and medicine.  The aristocrats were wealthy and it was easy for them to make money because they had connections.  \n\nAfter that there was a group that turned the country into Communism, that's when all the food, and other necessities are taken from aristocrats and are devided among everybody.\n\nYou can see that communism saved lives in this situation.
984758
Well besides my Avatar and screen name saying it all I'll elaborate.\n\nCommunism is so damn romaticised todays as been a form of liberation and equality for all but what most people don't realise is that in communist societies everyone is equal but not in a good way. You work equally as hard, you get equally as little money and in the end Party members are more "equal" than everyone else.\n\nPeople (like here) ramble on about how great communism is on paper and how wonderful it must be in it's purest form. What I want to point out here is that EVERY communist country hasn't followed communism 'by the book' and have always turned into a terrible society where everything is collectivised, the Party rules all with an iron fist and all suffer and work insanely hard and in the end get lied to. This is what communism is and has become synonymous with. \nWhat it isn't synonymous (for most) is utter evil. It has claimed more lives than anything else in the world. Around 100,000,000 people have died because of communism. Add up the death tally for China, USSR, Cambodia, Vietnam, Myanmar, Cuba, etc and it will reach this total but everyone calls Nazism the epitome of evil. Communists did everything the Nazis did but still communism is so romanticised.\n\nLets look at Russia to answer your Q of people wanting it's return. Go to the link (political parties in Russia now) and you'll notice that so many have the word "people's" or "communist" or "red" or even "bolshevik" in the title. It could really happen there but never like they once were.\nI can sort of understand the desire of so many Russians for communism's return. Think about it... under communism Russia was a world power that equalled the US. Now they are a shadow of their former selves. I hear crime and corruption is rife in Russia, neo-Nazis are running around all over and the quality of life isn't so good (heard this all from Russians myself). People there probably see communism as a way to regain that lost political power and restore control over everything like in the days of the Reds.
694940
First, I don't think all Liberals are "Commies."\n\nBecause Rush took drugs, is it fair to say that ALL conservatives are drug addicts?  Because ... well, there are so many things liberals and conservatives have done that could never label the WHOLE party/lib.con.agenda.\n\nSecondly, the fundamentals behind Marx's idea of Communism are actually inspiring, and were meant to make the people free and equal.  You should read them.  I know we've been practically bred to shudder at the word "communism," but if you really knew what it was all about, you wouldn't quake quite so much.\n\nIt hasn't worked yet, I'll agree with you on that.  Countries that have embraced communism have seen huge economic failure.  I think part of the reason is that they are not supported (for aforementioned fears) and also because the nature of "leaders" is so often corrupted.  Sad, but true.  When someone takes control of a country or takes office, the powers they wield make them do crazy things.
1071757
You should read Karl Marx's book.  I read it in 9th grade, and was supprised by how differently it was portrayed.  The idea of communism in it's simplest is perfect.  Every one has food, clothing, and more than enough to thrive.  Communism would be the perfect government if we could find a ruler who wasn't self absorbed and greedy.  Unfortunately, that's not how most humans function.  (In enland, with the Monarch, Parliment was established to make sure that the King/ Queen wasn't abusing his/her powers, and I bet something similar would function well in a Communist community).  Communisim is only condsidered bad or evil because dictators in the past have proven to be bad or evil.
399309
But it DOES have a moral! The moral is that Communism does not work. Communism seems like a great idea at first, but eventually natural heirarchies evolve and the government becomes autocratic.\n\nIn Animal Farm the pigs incite a revolution against the tyrannical Farmer Jones, but by the end of the book they themselves have become the tyrants - indistinguishable from humans.\n\nMost of the characters in the book represent real individuals or organisations from the Communist Revolution in Russia. \n\nFarmer Jones is Tsar Nicholas, Old Major is Marx, Snowball is Trotsky, Napoleon is Lenin or Stalin, Squealer presents the propanda machine, the horses are the people (Boxer representing the working class Proletariats and Molly representing the aristocratic Bourgoise), the raven represents the church, the dogs represent the Red Army, and so on.