I Work With A Communist

.... and it sucks.

The problem with communism is that nobody is willing to work hard for their money, but everyone should just get an equal share.

That's bogus. Whoever is willing to work hardest and long hours should make the most money. I'm happy working 40hrs a week and making the money I make. But if someone else wants to work harder, then let 'em. Good for them.

Back to my original point. I work with a communist. This dude never hesitates to leave early if his work is done. But ask him to stay late for an extra half hour? He demands overtime!! Ask him to, god forbid, think outside the box and you're faced with a blank stare--"Why?"

Communism doesn't work. It's just too utopian. Capitalism also doesn't always work because we're greedy (i.e. Enron) --- but out of the two, it's definitely the better option.

Communism has FAILED. The Soviet Union fell. It didn't work. I should know, I grew up 5 hrs from the Russian border, in the 1970s and 1980s (luckily, NOT on the Russian side)....SO, get over it!

Now, of course, I'll have people replying to that last remark, saying "Well, the Soviet Union was not TRUE communism. They didn't do it right. It failed b/c of that..."

Yeah, well, the point is, the Soviet Union TRIED to make communism work. And it failed. The United States and the rest of the Western World has "TRIED" to make capitalism work, and goddamn, I don't think we're doing too shabby.

 

Are you sure the communist isn't spending his whole day on internet forums preaching the glory of communism?

 

What kind of job do you have?

That's a common mistake.

Not even in the lower phase of communism (usually called "socialism" or "the dictatorship of the proletariat"), people will not receive the same wages. Some people work harder than others, some people have more education than others, and deserve more than others.

In the higher phase of communism, money will be abolished altogether, and people will (according to theory) "work according to ability, and rececive according to need".

We agree.

What's your job?

Communism has never failed, because it has never been implemented.

So what? We were opposed to the Soviet Union anyways. Why do you think the Sino-Soviet split existed? Because The Soviet Union no longer was in the hands of real communists. There was a coup inside the government. Real communists were put in mental hospitals, jailed or executed.

They tried to advance to communism, they didn't try to "make it work", because they did not reach communism, and they were fully aware of it. Why do you think the name of the Soviet Union was the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics? The USSR never claimed to be communist, only socialist.

So has much of the third world.




This is communism:

What is Communism? A Brief Definition June 19, 2003 by RedStar2000
​

Communism is a hypothetical social order in which there are no classes and consequently no state as an organ of class rule.

It is postulated that such a society will have little in the way of public authorities or "government" and that whatever is found to be useful will be "ultra-democratic" and rely heavily on internet referendums (direct democracy). These public authorities will almost exclusively be concerned with the large-scale co-ordination of production and distribution of goods and services, and most of their "decisions" are likely to be suggestive rather than compulsive.

There will be no formal "nation states" in a communist world, though many of the names may persist as geographic designations.

There will be no production of "commodities" -- goods and services produced for sale -- instead goods and services will be produced for use -- either by the producers themselves or freely given to those who will make good use of them.

There will be no "currency" as such; no money...though old currency units may be used for record-keeping purposes, they will have no independent utility.

Individual compensation will vary little, and that according to "need"...the ability to actually use what is appropriated from the public total.

People will have the freedom to gravitate to the "work" that they find most intrinsically rewarding for its own sake. But there will be considerable informal pressure to "work" at something useful. The stereotypical "lazy bum" will be an object of scorn and/or pity. Work that is so "bad" that no one wishes to do it will either be automated, shared out in some collective fashion so that no one has to do very much of it, or simply dispensed with altogether.

The social life of a communist society will be extraordinally libertarian; very few of the taboos and and even fewer of the regulations that presently exist will still survive. Religion, if it survives at all, will be in the nature of a hobby, without the power to influence people's lives in any significant way.

Prestige in a communist society will come from competence and reliability...the highest respect will go to those who've demonstrated their ability to perform especially useful work that many will want to emulate.

The most utterly detested crime in communist society will be the attempt to "hire" wage-labor for the purpose of producing a "commodity". This will be regarded in the same way that we currently regard human sacrifice or chattel slavery...as an unspeakable horror and an attempt to "bring back" an old and disgustingly inhumane social order, namely capitalism.

Thus, the hypothetical features of a communist society, as extrapolated from the ideas of Marx and Engels.

Since such a social order has never existed for any significant period of time, we presently have no way of "knowing" if it will actually "work". More importantly, it is really unknown what kinds of things must be done and must be avoided to successfully manage the transition from capitalism to communism...although there are many theories about this. It seems likely that there will be several centuries of "trial and error" before the human species manages this transition successfully.

http://www.redstar2000papers.com/theory.php?subaction=showfull&id=1082898978&archive=&cnshow=headlines&start_from=&ucat=&

 

Communists, when they do what they believe is right, are actually very hard working. Ernesto Guevara, for example, worked 16-18 hours a day, and more often then not, slept under 5 hours.

You are simply prejudical. We fight against parasites, we don't encourage them.

 

Yes, communism is a joke, the funniest part being the Bolsheviks were funded by Wall Street bankers. It is a false revolution for those opposed to capitalism. But what I find funnier is when people become so complacent with the way their lives are run, they mock anyone who comes up with other ideas.
If this were 1760's US, you people would have been pro-England.

 

I'll say one positive thing about my communist co-worker. He is good at what he does. I do think that. But what I don't like is the fact that he is never willing to go the extra mile, to think outside the box, to do a little extra work.

Don't get me wrong. I like to sneak out early some days too (and I do). But other days, I work a little harder. This dude does NOT. And that's why I think communism has and always will fail, because there is no incentive to work harder.

Some argue that in capitalism, nobody cares about making a good product, all they care about is making a quick buck. And yes, true, that happens. It's not a perfect system. But at least the money IS the incentive, i.e. I will build a product that people will like and need and make money off of it (example: the computer).

I think Bill Gates SHOULD be richer than the rest of us. He INVENTED the PC. A communist society could not function because there is no incentive to be smarter and more hard working than the other guy---we'll all just share in the profits, right.

I don't mind the idea of everyone being equally happy and equally rich. I just don't think it can work. Time and again, communism has failed. You keep saying "communism hasn't failed because it hasn't even been implemented.." Yeah, well that's my point... IT HAS FAILED EVEN BEFORE IT'S BEEN IMPLEMENTED. We can't even get to that point!!

If you call capitalism a FAILURE, then so be it, but it's a better "failure" than communism.

 

It's because you people have allowed yourselves to be made lazy when it comes to affairs greater then your own pety struggle. You're so used to working for your own dollar you can't picture working for the benefit of not only yourself but all mankind.
Oh, but I guess I'm just a crazy kook if I talk about that. "No incentive to be better than the other guy" that's disgusting. How about the incentive for everyone to enjoy life and for our beautiful species to be the absolute best?
This is shit, people; what we have right now is a big pile of shit.
Even you are fine with the acknowlegement that capitalism is failing.
Every system fails,
That is why there must be no system...

 

oh sure. "no system" is a great system, dude! let's just all work for the "betterment of mankind"... ladidaa!!

 

hahaha you fool

how do you think we got into this situation as a species?

its cuz of dumbasses like you who are happy where they are complaining about shit and making fun of things, but not seeing where those problems really come from.

You dont want the betterment of mankind? that includes you, you know.

Youre the perfect example of how corrupt our system is.
It creates people like you who have faith in nothing but their own selfishness.

Retard.

Try using that organ in your skull.

 

I live in the real world, KBlaze. You do NOT. And you're exactly right, we can't work for the betterment of mankind BECAUSE selfish assholes like ME exist. And there are millions of us. People always trying to fuck other people over. THAT IS WHY COMMUNISM doesn't work. THAT IS WHY capitalism doesn't work well, but works a little better!

You can thank capitalism for that computer you're using to type on. You can thank a capitalist job which earned you enough money to buy that computer (or for your parents to buy it). AND you can thank a capitalist system for allowing for you to have more money than some other people so that you could pay for a BROADBAND connection instead of a slow DIAL UP.

I want peace for all mankind too. But it's a utopian dream. So keep dreaming, buddy!

PS. And I don't go around complaining about shit. Lazy-ass peace-and-love dopeheads like you do! Me, as a capitalist, am too busy working.

 

Oh I totally agree.
I think everyone agrees with that.
But you know, when Marx wrote that he was under the pay roll of higher powers that wanted to calm restless masses. Why do you think it has all property to the state? It's power consolidation. It's a false revolution.
It's a sham.

But so is present society.

 

Bill Gates didn't invent the PC, he stole other peoples work, the company MITS invented the PC and the company IDR invented CP/M the first OS for PCs that Dos is based off. Now Microsoft uses strongarm tacticts to crush threats to its monpoly so MS doesn't have to innovate.

The incentive is there would be more wealth for you and your comrads. For me, I value time more then wealth, why bust your ass for a bit more wealth when you can just get the work done and have fun, work is just a means to get what we want out of life, I am not into comsumerism and being stuck with 8-tracks and LPs wouldn't bug me if I could enjoy life.

 

Communism sucks,
I'm sorry to say.
Capitalism isn't awesome,
But at least it's OK!

 

I love LPs, dude!

 

No, actually I live in the real world.
You've been trained to think this green paper has value, which it currently does, but only conceptual value, it is not real.
I love it when people like you tell me I don't live in the real world. You only see from your perspective. I'm looking at this from a broader view, seeing the people of Earth running around like ants back and forth for money, this central trade item that, when it's system is in place, creates every crime that happens.
But dude, you care about yourself and that's great because we all have to, but the selfishness is made by capitalism, it's made by currency. You didn't start out like that, you have been trained all your life to work for yourself. With what I'm presenting, do you realize that I'm offering you anything you've ever wanted, or are you too busy creaming your pants at the thought that you can have more money than someone, more little fake points in your fictional "worth" as a person.
And while yeah I can thank capitalism, I can more so thank the people who designed it and the minds that brewed up this wonderful machine.
What if you didn't need to pay for broadband or dial up?
Don't give up on yourself, man. You deserve everthing the world has to offer.
Money doesn't think so. It thinks you should only get a finite fraction.
Maybe we should go back and tell MLK to keep dreaming, or Ghandi, or Washington, or christ. Keep dreaming, guys, haha.
I want you to succeed. I want us all to succeed.
I'm just trying to think of how we all can because, why not?
Peace.

PS I'm not a hippy I have a job.
The hippies didnt do shit.
Trust me im sick of people making a big deal out of them like they did something.
But you can have fun being a capitalist, being a label, a term, being a semi-slave to the dollar, being an expendable tool to your bosses who are made not to care about you.
Too busy working? youve got 226 posts and youve been here for a month.

 

KBlaze... Like I've always said, it's nice to think like that. Trust me, I want the same shit as you--for everyone to be happy.

But this present humanity cannot do it. There aren;t enough of people like YOU out there to do it. We need to hurry up and EVOLVE.

 

Something other than money is needed as an incentive. As Tigerlily said in another post, communism can work in smaller groups, especially where people have a religious or philosophic ideal that commits them to work. She mentioned communes. I alluded to the Amish and Quakers a while back where people feel compelled to work and help their neighbor but not out of love of money. Looking at it solely within the context of a capitalistic society, communism often appears to be a hopeless system.

.

 

Everyone can be happy, the problem is the rat race so I wouldn't worry about workers not feeling like putting in overtime since I'd rather have a society were people value life more then work.

On your deathbed are you going to worry about how many hours you put in at work? Or are you going to worry about how much of life passed you by while at work?

 

Exactly, Psy Fox.
But what if your work was your life? And you look back on all the accomplishments you made and how you were an integral gear in the universe.

appollo youre right on track.
We totally need to evolve. And thinking of ways to solve the problems slowing that evolution is how.
Present humanity does look like crap. But that's because it's been made to. So that we become faithless in ourselves and look to our knight in shining armor government to protect us and keep us in line.
Everyone, I mean everyone I talk to and even you probably talk to says we need to evolve and society needs a redo.
This is the beginning.
As soon as the bogus war on terror is exposed and the tyrants worldwide are dethroned, that is when a new idea will be needed.

 

And that is different from Capitalism how? The only difference is with what I'm talking about we have the chance to put the minority in its place and bring all the power to people.