Communism, ideological farce or potential solution

“Capitalism and communism stand at opposite poles. Their essential difference is this: The communist, seeing the rich man and his fine home, says: 'No man should have so much.' The capitalist, seeing the same thing, says: 'All men should have so much.'”

Anon

Communism as an ideology, true communism in my opinion is definitely workable. The simple fundamental aspects of universal equality and no privatisation may seem farfetched however it is only the inbuilt greed of human nature that could prevent communism becoming a working reality. The best model of communism in action I can think of would be the Soviet Union, after the death of Lenin and the collapse of the new economic policy. For those of you who don’t know, the new economic policy was a communist run economic scheme that allowed very small amounts of private ownership in industry and agriculture to kick start the communist economy. After the collapse of this policy and the start of the true Communist era of the Soviet Union under Stalin, many positive factors arose. The policy of collective farming, an amalgamation of all the small farms into large, mechanised farms allowed a much greater output of grain, providing both food for the country and an export to bring money into the country. The five year plans, centrally run policies to boost economic growth helped Russia turn from a backwards, peasant country to an industrial superpower in only 15 years.

Communism as a principle is far fairer than Capitalism. In capitalism you have two opportunities to become wealthy. The first, as shown by people such as Paris Hilton is to be born into wealth. People in this situation need never work because they already have enough money to satisfy any need they ever have. The other option, more like people such as Sir Alan Sugar or Sir Richard Branson is to work, work and work until you make a success of yourself. In communism everyone is born equal to the extent that in a fully operational communist state, there would be no wealth, but as a result there would also be no poverty. Capitalist states, especially western states cannot make this claim. For every rich person there will also be somebody living in poverty. It is within the very nature of capitalism that the rich will only get richer, leaving the poor behind to continue scraping a living. Communism could never work in a western capitalist state, because the rich would never give up their fortune to be equal with everyone else. That is an unfortunate truth. However If the world were to come into some economic turmoil, starting afresh the communist method would be a much more stable foundation than the capitalist one.

The world runs on one thing, and this one thing isn’t oil, or commodities, or property. This one thing is money. Everything has a price, and it is money that causes more problems in life than anything else. But what is money? Money was only ever introduced as a token method of showing levels of livestock and material goods to make trade easier. This could have been a handful of assorted rocks, however it was not the objects themselves that made them currency, but rather what they represented. The same can be said for the currency we use today. Open your wallet or your purse and you will probably see an assortment of varying pieces of coloured paper. However this paper can be exchanged for goods and services to the same value as determined by the coloured paper. Yet what makes 10 pieces of white and purple paper (English money £20 notes) equal to an object such as an xbox 360. Well the honest answer is it doesn’t. Money is worthless, and the only thing that allows people to trade in money is the universal understanding that what that piece of paper represents is a value. If people were to refuse to sell objects for these worthless bits of paper, the value of money would drop. Money itself is supposed to be secure by the international gold standard, however the gold is what is worth anything. The paper money or credit, even if it is backed up by gold standard is still worthless. And to be honest if the worlds economy did collapse, even if we did all have our little bit of gold to fall back on, it wouldnt even matter because it would be food, not gold that would become the international currency.

As we enter a worldwide credit crisis, sparked off by the realisation that this paper isn’t as valuable as first hoped, imagine what would happen if there was financial collapse. What if the only things you had left to call your own were the objects in your possession, all savings, and equally all debt wiped out. Eventually you would need food, or water and suddenly you would realise the true value of those objects. Getting back to communism this would be the solution. Everyone would be in the same situation, with nothing of financial value to call their own. I am not a Communist preacher; however I cannot feasibly see how a capitalist rejuvenation could happen saving the world from falling into anarchy. Greed for personal wealth would soon be subsided by desperation to provide for their families or those close to them. It would only be through communism with all resources pooled and then shared out equally that a steady but stable recovery could occur. So just keep this in mind.

‘’Whatever you have is only worth as much as you think it is. As your circumstances change, so will your understanding of the true value of items. Money has no value, just a worldwide understanding. Objects have no value, only the food and drink you can trade them for in desperation. So long as we live in a stable world, the rich will stay rich and the poor will stay poor, but the day will come when the financial stability of the world will collapse, and on that day all men will be equals.’’

Richard Skelton – April 2008

Written By: Richboi
Edited By: Dr Henry
Coded By: Dark Paladin