Chambers ... umm, sorry to interrupt your anti-capitalist dunning-krugers, but have you actually read Marx?

I get it, Chambers, you hate capitalism, as you should; it's a system that exploits people. But I see a lot of people who claim to want to live in a communist society, yet have zero idea what communism is. To be fair, the internet has butchered the term "Marxist" enough to make a lot of people hate it. So I'd like to talk about the basics of Marx's idea. <br><br>**So what is communism?**<br><br>To put it simply, communism is a system that does away with capitalism and private property, and instead "collectivizes" all property.<br><br>> "The theory of the Communists may be summed up in the single sentence: Abolition of private property."<br><br>-Marx and Engels, The Communist Manifesto<br><br>Yep, you heard that right, no private property. Meaning, your house, land, cars, ... umm, everything else ... would be owned by the state. The idea is to not exploit labor, but rather to have labor contribute to the common good. <br><br>> "Communism deprives no man of the power to appropriate the products of society; all that it does is to deprive him of the power to subjugate the labor of others by means of such appropriations."<br><br>-Marx and Engels, Communist Manifesto<br><br>> "The proletarians have nothing to loose but their chains. They have a world to win."<br><br>-Marx and Engels, Communist Manifesto<br><br>But Marx's idea of communism doesn't necessarily look anything like what was practiced in the Soviet Union, China, North Korea, etc. Marx thought the eventual goal should be no state control at all, and a pretty anarchist society. <br><br>> "When, in the course of development, class distinctions have disappeared, and all production has been concentrated in the hands of a vast association of the whole nation, the public power will lose its political character."<br><br>-Marx, Communist Manifesto<br><br>> "Between capitalist and communist society lies the period of the revolutionary transformation of the one into the other. Corresponding to this is also a political transition period in which the state can be nothing but the revolutionary dictatorship of the proletariat."<br><br>-Marx, Critique of the Gotha Program<br><br>> "State interference in social relations becomes, in one domain after another, superfluous, and then dies out of itself; the government of persons is replaced by the administration of things, and by the conduct of processes of production."<br><br>-Engels, Anti-Dühring<br><br>So, to sum it all up, basically Marx's idea was a state "dictatorship of the proletariat," that would slowly be dismantled to make way for a classless, stateless society with no private property. Just to be clear, this is not exactly a popular or widely accepted system.<br><br>**And what about the economy?**<br><br>So how would the economy work? Well, Marx was all about doing away with the market, including trade and currency. He would allocate resources based on need. <br><br>> "From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs."<br><br>-Marx, Critique of the Gotha Program (originally by Louis Blanc, 1851)<br><br>For example, when you go to the supermarket in a communist society, you just pick what you want and take it. No money, no barcodes, no cashiers, just food. Marx thought that communism would give you the luxury to pursue your hobbies, passions, and interests without worrying about having a steady paycheck. <br><br>> "In a higher phase of communist society, after the enslaving subordination of the individual to the division of labor, and therewith also the antithesis between mental and physical labor, has vanished; after labor has become not only a means of life but life's prime want; after the productive forces have also increased with the all-around development of the individual, and all the springs of co-operative wealth flow more abundantly—only then shall it be possible to completely apply the characteristics of the reduced labor day in proportion to the development of everybody’s capabilities to pursue the sciences, arts, trades, etc."<br><br>-Marx, Critique of the Gotha Program<br><br>So, to sum up the economy, under communism, you don't pay for anything and you don't get paid for labor either. The state just provides everyone with food, housing, clothes, ... everything. <br><br>**Well, that sounds pretty radical, right?**<br><br>Well, it is. Communist systems have failed miserably in the past, particularly in the Soviet Union, China, Cuba, North Korea, ... basically every attempt so far. But I think the basic idea of Marx's communism should be examined more closely before dismissing it as a radical ideology. Marx's ideas about communism were based on observations of the proletariat in Europe during the 19th century. Keep in mind, this was a very different time, and Marx didn't have the same level of understanding as we do today. <br><br>**Is modern communism the same as Marx's idea?**<br><br>Well, it's complicated. So-called communist systems like China, North Korea, the Soviet Union, Cuba, etc. are not communist at all, none of them have been practiced as described by Marx. Even though Marx's idea is flawed, the way modern communism has been implemented is very different from Marx's idea. Marx envisioned a stateless, classless, equal society where labor is valued and workers have rights. And the idea was to dismantle the state overtime, to have an anarchist society. <br><br>But in reality, communism has never been practiced like that. Instead of dismantling the state, communist governments have used the state to consolidate power, oppress dissent, exploit labor, and create corrupt and inefficient systems of governance. <br><br>So, is communism inherently bad? Not necessarily. But it's not a viable system either. And I think we should understand what communism is before claiming to be a communist or a Marxist.<br><br>**TL;DR:** In short, Marx's communism is a flawed system that has been misunderstood, misinterpreted, and misused. It's essential to understand what communism is before claiming to be a communist or a Marxist.<br><br>\---<br><br>Edit: Wow, this blew up. Thank you everyone for all the messages. I will be responding to comments throughout the day.