this post was submitted on 26 Mar 2025
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Communism in theory: A stateless, classless, moneyless utopia where everyone shares resources based on need. Communism in practice: Authoritarian regimes, economic inefficiency, suppression of dissent, and a state that never ‘withers away’ like Marx imagined.
Every major attempt, USSR, Maoist China, Cambodia under the Khmer Rouge, has resulted in centralized power, mass repression, and economic collapse. The problem isn’t just ‘bad leaders’; it’s that a system requiring absolute cooperation and selflessness on a societal scale is fundamentally unworkable. Human nature, resource scarcity, and the need for incentives all get in the way.
So yeah, communism sounds nice on paper, but history proves it turns into a dystopia instead of a utopia every time.
We need to stop idealizing communism because it doesn't work.
Unchecked capitalism also leads to bad outcomes, including ecological collapse.
We need something that isn't "a handful of people have all the power"
Totally agree. I would also say that what we have now in America is really capitalism anymore... It's something else.
Social democratic republic with heavy consumer backed regulation and woodchippers
It would be important that the regulation is constantly protected. The forces of greed will constantly be trying to dismantle it, and people are kind of stupid.
Maybe the woodchippers do some of the heavy lifting there, but you then need to make sure they don't get used for evil
Democracy requires eternal vigilance. Democracy would fall if people stop caring about elections, and the socialist policies would be dismantled along with it.
We need an overhauled political system and convince a supermajority of the country to vote infavor of a constitution that entrenches socialist values within it. (A supermajority is essential for better legitimacy, 51%-49% is very flimsy and people would doubt the results, but a 60%-40% is a very high margin and people would be less likely to doubt the results) Then we need a "Constitutional Court" with people who share those values to be seated in the court to defend the constitution.
Sort of like Germany's "Defensive Democracy", but with added socialist values.
But in the end, it still requires the people in power to actually do their job. (I'm not sure why Germany still haven't banned AfD 🤔)
Probably also need to really invest in education. People don't just magically know political theory, and a lot of bad ideas can sound good at first
Interestingly enough, it's mostly the right wing that is anti education.
Like decentralized socialism?
Couldn't you use that argument to disqualify most government types? I mean show me a type of government that hasn't been perverted. Does North Korea disprove all democratic republics? I mean they call themselves a democratic republic therefore they are a republic right? That's what you're using as a definition to deny communism right? Hell I don't even have to look at the worst example is there a good example of a government that hasn't been perverted?
No, but objectively, some governments are far better than others. For example, I wouldn’t want to live in the Republic of the Congo or North Korea. Despite the issues we face in America, I still live a comfortable and peaceful life here, and I have no desire to leave. If I were in North Korea or China, however, I would likely be looking for a way out.
Your comment does however provide great examples of the no true Scotsman and appeal to purity fallacies. Though I’d argue that acknowledging the flaws in all governments doesn’t mean they are all equally bad. Some are demonstrably worse than others.
They're saying the opposite
That's because of Vanguardism
China is in no way, shape, or form, a "Communist" nor "Socialist" country, it's just State Capitalism.
No Socialist/Communist movement could be successful without democracy. People wouldn't be able to control the means of production if there is no democracy.
So you're saying of this vanguard existed I mean as it would work?
For now. Why not keep looking and find a way to make it work?
Of course we need to continue to do this just not with Communism.
Based and food pilled
It's not psychopath sociopathic narcissists that don't allow communism not to work it's general human Nature on a large societal scale.
The Spartans practiced a form of eugenics and they were one of the greatest societies in human history and that still doesn't make them right about what they did.
I highly recommend that you go back and read through some human history before making idiotic comments like this.
All of human history is selective breeding. The lunatic desert people in the Middle East where 1 rich guy has 10 wives and 40 kids is one way of doing it. And, thankfully, post-Magna Carta cultures and ones with greater-female-human-autonomy cultures have another method of selective breeding. And what you just said about broad human nature supports my original statement because fundamentals of human nature change and not just from environmental conditions but inherited tendencies.
Side note: what was so great about Spartans? They seemed like slave-dependent authoritarian assholes that disappeared in a flash.
700 years for a society as strict as Sparta is a pretty big blip whatever a blip might mean to you. Especially since elements of their society is still incorporated in our own.
It sounds like you're using lots of 100 dollar words in 10 dollar sentences without knowing what they mean. Did you read up on any of that human history we talked about before?
What you lack in reading comprehension you make up for in smarmy quips.
Ya. That's what all you dodos say when I point out your gibberish.
At the same time you call the era of the Spartans a blip. 🤷
The ubermensch concept was very popular in the early to mid 1900s, and has even been attempted before! Refer to world War 2 and Nazi ideology for more reading on that topic.
If you mean Nietzsche type ubermensch then the broad genetic cultivation needed among most humans that I’m talking about for communism to work is very close to the opposite of that. Nietzsche strongly suggested that humanity needs to go back to a predatory morality that predates Christianity. He advocated that cooperation and communal good was a slave morality and a bad thing.
If You are cleverly hinting that purposeful breeding among humans is a bad thing because Nazis advocated it, then you should go hound people that grow rose bushes and condemn governments that have health departments because Nazis also did that.
If you are surmising that I am personally advocating these things then you have glanced over what I wrote too hastily. I will leave the details as an exercise for you reread and figure out in your own.
You sound like a Nazi. That is literally 100% out of their playbook. Musk would be proud of you.
I’ve addressed your misunderstanding in another response
I've always wondered about this. One of the Great Filter issues is that a species must cooperate together instead of destroy itself. Maybe in our evolutionary history we needed some of those narcissistic traits to survive as individuals, but now we need to evolve.