Common Questions

----Common Questions----

Didnt communism kill 1.7 million in USSR and 50 million under Mao?
Communism requires no state, money, or social classes. USSR and China had money, state, and social classes. They were not Communist, more like State Capitalists. Many of us condemn Joseph Stalin, however many support Vladimir Lenin's Vanguard party, the Bolsheviks. These people are usually called Marxist-Leninists.

What does Marx mean by "abolition of private property"?
Chapter II of the Communist Manifesto: "The distinguishing feature of Communism is not the abolition of property generally, but the abolition of bourgeois property". Under Communism, there is a distinct difference between private property (a factory or business etc owned by a small number of people or even one person in order to increase personal profit) and personal property (your tv, house, pokemon cards, etc.)

What about human nature?
People’s thinking, behavior, and values are shaped by the economic structure and corresponding institutions and culture of a given society. Ancient Greek society and America’s “founding fathers” regarded slavery as perfectly “normal.” Capitalism is organized around the private accumulation of profit and economic competition. Selfishness, greed, and individualism are rewarded by the workings of capitalism and promoted by the institutions of capitalist society. They are not “hard-wired” into our genes, and neither is racism or male supremacy.

No money? How does that work?
In a socialist society, there will be no money and no barter. Goods will be voluntarily produced, and services voluntarily supplied to meet people's needs. People will freely take the things they need. Other forms of socialism and communism support "labor vouchers", where you work, get a slip indicating how much you worked, trade it in for a product. How is this different from money? You cannot give someone your labor voucher, it is yours and yours only. Also, upon completion of the transaction, the labor voucher is destroyed.

But why will people work if they don't have to?
People will have to work, but it will be voluntary. If people didn't work society would obviously fall apart. To establish socialism the vast majority must consciously decide that they want socialism and that they are prepared to work in socialist society. Work is part of human life. Today rich people work when they don't have to, because they, like many of the rest of us, enjoy working. Many people work harder at their hobbies than they do at work. It is the nature of employment that makes it "work" instead of pleasure. Work needn't be a part of the day that we wish would end. People enjoy creating useful things. Instead of producing junk that people only buy because they can't afford quality, every worker will be able to produce quality products for themselves and others, and know that other workers will be doing the same. The workday will be shortened. Many jobs (such as those dealing with money, or war, or poverty) will not be required at all. The people doing those jobs now, will perform work that actually produces goods and services that people want. People will gain respect for doing jobs that others might find unpleasant, or the unpleasant jobs might be shared around. Many of the unpleasant jobs could be made more pleasant and some could be done away with.

Does socialism mean equal shares for everyone?
No. People are different and have different needs. Some needs will be more expensive (in terms of resources and labour needed to satisfy them) than others.

A society without government might work on a small scale, but we live in a globalized world with a population of billions.
Let no one speak of a problem of scale without attempting to expand the autonomous spaces and struggles that exist today. We will find out what is possible in practice, not in idle speculation. There are horizontal networks, such as peer-to-peer sharing, that span the whole globe; if there are not more, it is because most of them have been deliberately stamped out. The problem of scale is not that anarchy is impossible outside small groups, but that we are taking on the most powerful regimes in the history of the solar system.

But isn’t communism outdated—with globalization and new technologies leveling social differences and eliminating the working class?
The need and basis for communist revolution is greater than ever. The gap between rich and poor in the world has widened enormously since Marx wrote “The Communist Manifesto.” The three richest Americans have assets that exceed the combined gross domestic product of the 48 least developed countries. Ten million children die each year of preventable disease and malnutrition. AIDS plagues the world while pharmaceutical companies guard their intellectual property rights and profits. An exploited working class is definitely not disappearing, including in the U.S. Look at the labels on your sneakers and shirts, or at the components of your computer. They are produced by exploited and superexploited labor in all corners of the world.

Will people be able to practice religion under socialism?
Yes, there is even a faction of people called "Christian Socialists" and "Muslim Socialists" and even "Buddhist Socialism".

What do you all think of ANTIFA?
Some of us do support ANTIFA, some of us consider them to be too violent. It depends on who you talk to