What is Communism
Communism is an economic system in which personal property ownership is prohibited and the means of production are controlled and managed by a Central State Authority. In communism, people are permitted to own their own personal property, such as clothing, watches, and shoes, while the government owns the homes.
The most extreme form of socialism is communism.
In communism, the State assigns jobs to people and pays them a small amount, usually in kind, for their labour. From a government department, people receive rations. People cannot make their own decisions. They must accept the treatment plan that is given to them. The government provides all social services, including hospitals, schools, and recreation centres.
Understanding Communism
A broad phrase that covers a variety of philosophies is "communism." Victor d'Hupay, a French aristocrat who promoted residing in "communes" where all property would be shared and "everyone may benefit from everybody's effort," is credited with coining the phrase as it is used today. The Book of Acts describes first-century Christian communities holding property in common in accordance with a system known as koinonia, which encouraged later religious groups like the 17th-century English "Diggers" to reject private ownership. The concept, however, was hardly novel even at that time.
Chinese communism
The People's Republic of China is the only superpower in the world that is still governed by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), which has held that position ever since the communists took control there in 1949. However, Maoism, or "Mao Zedong thinking," the official Chinese form of communism, is a far cry from Marx's original idea.
The first communist leader in China and the creator of the People's Republic, Mao Zedong, claimed to have "creatively" modified Marxist theory and communist practise to fit Chinese circumstances. He did this in two ways. First, he used Lenin's theory of imperialism to explain Chinese "backwardness" and to defend a revolution in a behind agrarian country without the sizeable industrial proletariat that Marx argued was often required to spark a workers' revolution.
Second, Mao revised or supplanted important theories from Marx. Most importantly, he substituted the Marxist notion of a proletarian "country" of agricultural peasants exploited by capitalist nations like the United States for the Marxist concept of a proletarian "class" of industrial wage labourers exploited by the capitalist ruling class.
Mao envisioned the proletarian nations encircling the capitalist nations and fighting national liberation wars to sever their access to cheap foreign labour and raw materials, depriving the capitalist nations of the escalating earnings that are the lifeblood of their economies.
Additionally, Mao devised and directed a number of economic and agricultural projects that had terrible effects on the Chinese people. The Great Leap Forward (1958–60), his take on Stalin's doctrine of quick, forced industrialisation, was one of the most significant of them. It was a colossal failure. The plan was to make steel in backyard blast furnaces and other goods in hastily built small enterprises.
As Mao built up his authority, he grew more concerned with maintaining ideological purity, favouring cadres of "reds" who were ideologically devoted above technical "experts" in fields like education, engineering, factory management, and other fields.
The Cultural Revolution (1966–1966) also failed in its attempt to impose ideological orthodoxy. Young Red Guards assaulted officials, supervisors, educators, and anybody else whose commitment to their ideology was questionable. The result was widespread pandemonium, and eventually the People's Liberation Army was brought in to bring things back to normal.
What Caused Communism to Fail?
Despite the fact that the causes of communism's demise have been extensively studied, experts have identified a few common causes.
The first is a lack of motivation on the part of citizens to produce goods for a profit. Profit motivation encourages competition and invention in society. However, the ideal citizen in a communist society rarely gave thought to their own well-being and gave selflessly to social concerns.
The second chair of the People's Republic of China, Liu Shaoqi, remarked, "A party member should always pay first consideration to the interests of the Party as a whole and put them in the foremost and place personal problems and interests second."16
The communist system's intrinsic inefficiencies, such as centralised planning, were the second factor in its demise. This type of planning necessitates the granular accumulation and synthesis of vast volumes of data. This type of planning was equally hard because it involved the central planning of all projects. In a number of cases, growth data was manipulated or prone to error in order to match the reality into predetermined numbers and provide the impression of progress.
The concentration of power in the hands of a few number of people led to inefficiency and, ironically, gave them incentives to manipulate the system to their advantage and keep their position of authority. This system developed chronic corruption and sloth, and monitoring, similar to that which characterised East German and Soviet communities, was widespread. Additionally, it dissuaded those who were diligent and hardworking. The economy ultimately suffered as a result.
Communist Manifesto
The "Communist Manifesto," written by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels in 1848, is regarded as the foundational work of modern communist doctrine, which first emerged during the French Revolution. That essay laid out a materialist and, according to its proponents, scientific examination of the past and prospective course of human society, rejecting the Christian tone of earlier communist doctrines. Marx and Engels stated that "the history of every previously existing society is the history of class struggles."
The Communist Manifesto portrayed the French Revolution as a significant historical turning point in which the merchant class, known as the "bourgeoisie," which was attempting to consolidate control over the "means of production," overthrew the feudal system of government and brought about the modern, capitalist era. With the revolution, the traditional class conflict between the aristocracy and serfs in mediaeval times gave way to the "proletariat," or the working class that sells its labour for money.
Marx, Engels, and their supporters promoted (and anticipated as historically inevitable) a worldwide proletariat revolution that would usher in first a period of socialism and then a period of communism in the Communist Manifesto and following writings.
The end of class conflict and, by extension, history would occur at this stage of human progress, when everyone would live in social harmony free from differences based on class, family, religion, or property. The state would "wither away" as well.
According to a well-known Marxist phrase, the economy would run "from each according to his capacity, to each according to his needs."
Advantages and Disadvantages of Communism
The Advantages of Communism
The benefits of a communist economic system are as follows.
Elimination of Resource Waste.
A comprehensive state planning strategy rigorously bases production of goods and services on demand. The cessation of extensive resource waste is another advantage of the communist economy. Additionally, the expense of advertising and unethical commercial tactics is completely eliminated.
Elimination of Concentration of Wealth.
Elimination of Wealth Concentration No one has any other source of income than the pay that each person receives to meet his or her personal requirements. National wealth cannot be constrained to a select few.
Abolishing exploitation.
The exploitation and economic robbery of the weak are eliminated in this system because there is no chance to make a private profit.
Elimination of Unfair Wealth Distribution.
There is no opportunity to amass wealth through rent, interest, or private gain in a communist economy. Every person in the society works for a predetermined salary. Therefore, there are no unjust gaps or disparities" in the allocation of income.
Provision of Life's Essentials.
In this system, it is the duty of the State to ensure that every citizen has access to the necessities of life. The State has a duty to ensure that everyone has access to the needs of life.
Protection from the economic crisis.
In a communist economy, products and services are rigidly produced in response to domestic demand. Therefore, under this system, overproduction is not a possibility. Economic depression as a threat is entirely gone. Additionally, the absence of interest protects the economy from a number of deadly diseases.
Getting rid of unemployment.
In communism, the industrial process is maintained in accordance with a detailed plan, allowing the government to offer positions to deserving individuals.
Disadvantages of Communism
The following are some disadvantages of the communist economic system.
Liberty's end.
Man is treated like a slave under this system. Government holds a disproportionate amount of economic and political authority, and people have no access to any form of personal autonomy.
A decline in the desire to work
Lack of a business motive makes people less motivated to consider and learn new working methods. Invention and discovery processes are negatively impacted.
Planning blunder.
In a planned economy, products are produced in the public interest rather than taking into account individual preferences. Similar to this, the capability and convenience of persons are not taken into consideration while setting the planning's goals. People are compelled to reach government targets, and all choices on planning-related subjects are made in accordance with official priorities.
Materialism as a way of life.
This system is founded on a materialistic view of the world. It views matter as the origin and destiny of the universe and as the ultimate reality. Therefore, satisfying one's material desires and urges is the true challenge facing man. In addition to being false to reality, the materialistic understanding of life reduces man from his exalted celestial position to that of a beast. Man becomes a slave of his senses as a result. High moral ideals are lost from human life.
Failure in actuality.
In actuality, the Communist regime has fallen short of its goals. Despite the reign of terror, persecution, and lack of freedom in a model Communist nation like Russia, the level of productivity has decreased relative to that of capitalist nations. There are still wealthy and impoverished people in society. In some form or another, interest-based systems were also used in this nation. The institution of state did not only not disappear, but it actually increased significantly in authority and strength. As a result, personal freedoms came under increasing pressure.
KEY LESSONS
· A classless society in which all property and riches are collectively owned rather than being owned by individuals is what communism calls for.
· Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels created the communist ideology, which is the antithesis of a capitalist one that depends on democracy and the creation of capital to create a society.
· China and the Soviet Union were two prominent examples of communism. The former's economic system collapsed in 1991, whilst the latter significantly altered it to incorporate features of capitalism.
