Being a Communist

[Spiffor]

Re: Being a Communist

Originally posted by notyoueither
I mean in its day the red peril could make many a powerful man take certain things into account. But today it seems it is simply an almost forgotten creed that is aped with imperfection by modern day rebels with very few clues.

There are several forms of communist engagement. You can have the Chegitzes, who have undergone a really serious political education in marxism. You can have people like Azazel or myself, who think of an actual socialist / communist model, and how it'd work. You can have rebels without a clue. You can have people whose whole family is communist, and who further the tradition. And probably other forms of engagement as well.

There are still some thoughtful individuals who seem to have a grasp of the underlying issues, but Che will get old. Sooner or later all you'll be left with will be the wannabe rebels who think that pictures of Stalin or Hammers and Sickles are cool because they cause a stir amongst the old folks.

I disagree. I don't think they'll become far more numerous. There is something strong in the communist idea, something that can be very attractive for some people having serious political ideas. And unless another generous idea of a political system emerges to replace communism, it will continue to exert its attractiveness.

I wonder what it is like to subscribe to an ideology that has been consigned to the ash bin of history. Can some of the communists resident let us know how it feels?

Even though I depict myself as a Socialist, I do belong to the Communist Party. I hear that argument very often: "you belong to the past", "you're history" etc.
Maybe that's because I'm still a naive young guy, but it feels extremely sad, for one reason: our message is NOT a message of the past. The Communist Party works on many today's issues. In the few places where we are at the helm, the economy serves the people as much as possible, and we do a good job at it.

But our image is extremely bad. We encouter throngs of people who, like you, are prejudiced into believing our political message is stuck in the 20s. It takes a long, long time to explain. And many people, even when interested by the explanations, won't change their prejudices.

[Harovan]

I wouldn't call myself a Socialist either, just to create some distance between me and the crooks in power in my country. When it comes to polls, I vote differently. In the election to the European parliament, I will vote communist, simply because I believe, that democracy needs a good mix of opinions, and communists are underrepresented. In the next Bundestag election, I will vote conservative, because those economically completely incompetent idiots we have in power shall not get a third term by all means. Elections for the state of Bavaria I ignore. I can't be arsed to vote for that crook Stoiber, and there's no viable alternative worth of my vote in sight. When it comes to Communal elections, I vote for those with the best program, no matter what party they're in.

[MikeH]

As long as people have Star Trek, the ultimate Communist society, to aspire to it'll never be dead.

[Theben]

Part of it is for balance. I feel the country is too far to the right, so my ideology helps move the total to the center. If we were an extremely liberal society I might very well be a conservative.

[Tingkai]

Marx argued that communism would naturally follow captialism. The problem with the early communists is that they tried to force communisim into agrarian socieites.

Communism will be the choice of the future.

We can already see that capitalism is eating itself up. The rich are getting richer. The middle class and the poor are becoming poorer. Megacorporations are squashing entreprenuers. It's a system that is bound to collapse.

What we need is a system where the workers become the owners of production and that is already starting to happen.

Edit: what's happening in China is that they are building a capitalist state knowing that it will eventually lead to a true communism. They're taking the long view, which is something that capitalists are incapable of doing, and that's another reason why capitalism is doomed to failure.

[Arrian]

We can already see that capitalism is eating itself up. The rich are getting richer. The middle class and the poor are becoming poorer. Megacorporations are squashing entreprenuers. It's a system that is bound to collapse.

The same tune has been sung for quite a while now (since Marx wrote about it, in fact).

The thing is, "capitalist" societies have adapted, making compromises with socialism that have brought a measure of stability to the system. So the system Marx wrote about has evolved some. Given that, it is certainly reasonable to ask whether his analysis is still applicable (and that's even assuming it was applicable in the first place, which we capitalist pig dogs do not concede ).

-Arrian

[Saras]

--"what's happening in China is that they are building a capitalist state knowing that it will eventually lead to a true communism. They're taking the long view, which is something that capitalists are incapable of doing, and that's another reason why capitalism is doomed to failure."

[DinoDoc]

Originally posted by MikeH
As long as people have Star Trek, the ultimate Communist society, to aspire to it'll never be dead.

That's why I like the capitalist Original Series better.

[bipolarbear]

Originally posted by MikeH
As long as people have Star Trek, the ultimate Communist society, to aspire to it'll never be dead.

We will overcome!

[chequita guevara]

Re: Being a Communist

Originally posted by notyoueither
I wonder what it is like to subscribe to an ideology that has been consigned to the ash bin of history. Can some of the communists resident let us know how it feels?

Not so bad. It may be that we will ultimately fail to change the world, in which case I feel sorry for not only our species, but the others as well. The flip side is, our movement has had ebbs and flows. We're in an ebb right now. Doesn't mean we won't flow again.

In 1912, there were 50 members of the Bolshevik organization. Five years later they overthrew the Russian government. In 1952, Castro led an attack on a Cuban police station and was thrown in prison. Seven years later he marched into Havana. In 1927, Mao was being led off to face a firing squad with most of the rest of the leaders of the Communist Party of China. Twenty years later he took over China.

Those kind of stories can help us to "keep the faith" inspite of overwhelming odds.

[Al B. Sure!]

chegitz:

the same things could be said about the beginnings of fascist and democratic states though...

[Nubclear]

I feel just fine.
The oppression that people are suffering under capitalism is just....Most people think of oppression as the state surpressing your ability to speak. However the oppression I see under the United States is much different. Corperations and government become on in the same, and instead of surpressing the ability to speak, they surpress the ability to hear.
Economic oppression is, IMO, worse than political oppression because its difficult to (get others to) see and even more difficult to stop.
Perhaps utopian communism will never be reached by humanity, which is incredibly sad. However, even if we are in a superminority, we must continue to at least try to reform capitalism. If everyone tells themselves "Its not possible, so lets not even aspire for it" then it will become as such.

[Bereta_Eder]

communism will always be relevant when causes which created it exist. it has influenced hugely the european political systems, it does signify and is linked to fights for wider justice and i dont see it eclisping any time soon. it IS in power in some european countries either on its own or in coalitions and its offsprings like the socialists are gov. in lots of countries as well.


so no, as long as there are issues there will always be communism. it also serves to rally people under a banner to fight for matters of justice, it goes splendindly with antiamericanism too.

no communism hasnt died, hasnt even withered. talking about european communism. which i dont like but i am with it in matters that demand justice, autonomy, and other worthy causes

[chequita guevara]

Originally posted by Albert Speer
chegitz:

the same things could be said about the beginnings of fascist and democratic states though...

Yup.

[Imran Siddiqui]

Communists amuse us, which is why we'll keep 'em around .