Communism

I cannot express how distressed I feel at the very thought of this subject.

I feel compelled now to write about it because of a recent incident that i still feel the lingering effects of. For the sake of readability and gossip, i suppose before i go expressing my views on communism, i should firstly relate the events that have lead to this post; although I'm not sure how much i will be able to separate the two. I am hoping one will lead naturally into the other.

So i an researching Che Guevara for a school assignment, and i was on YouTube looking for a good documentary, as one of my favourite ways to study is to watch documentaries and knit. Naturally, it is only a beginning, but it gives me the gist and ideas for further study once i am in the mood to look into things more deeply.

Anyway, I came across a music video by a musician called Natalie Cardone. The song itself is not important, but rather, I made the stupid mistake of reading the comments on the video. There was, at the time an argument going on, in which someone was arguing the evils and immorality of communism and the sanctity of capitalism.

Now anyone who has ever had a politically fueled conversation with me will already be getting ready for what is to come. I am not an advocate of communism at all. But i am also a very ardent critic of capitalism and anyone who makes the very rash and ignorant statement of:-

"Innocent deaths attributable to capitalism: 0

Innocent deaths attributable to communism: 150,000,000+ (and counting)"

is certain to get an earful from me. I am of the opinion, that there have been few political and economical ideologies that have not been responsible, in practice for the death of many innocent people. And capitalism, is, by far, one of the worst. Countries who go to war for access to resources, or suppl;y the means for war to boost their economies, such as the united states, are a perfect example of this. That aside, if anyone cares to remember the cold war, how many innocent people were killed in the name of democracy, capitalism and 'freedom'?

At least the ideology behind communism was fairness, justice and equality, unlike capitalism, behind which the ideology was economy, competition and profit. I will give it to capitalism though - It really succeeded in reaching its goal, and even went so far as to render all other ideologies useless, because it is so ingrained in the minds of the people who live within the societies that there is little hope of change.

Communism clearly didn't achieve what it was intended to. I attribute this to too short of a capitalist period. it is written in the communist manifesto, as one of the only pieces of advice that Marx actually gives about how to bring communism about, that any society would need to undergo a period of democratic capitalism, through which the means of production, products and economy could be built to a sustainable level. I feel the inability to acknowledge this, or impatience had a significant effect on the outcome. It resulted in extremely controlled economy. rather than a shared wealth. It, in essence, wasn't communism at all, it was Leninism, and Stalinism and Maoism etc.

It seems however, that anytime i bring these points up with people, i automatically become a fascist and a Nazi and a supporter of genocide (how this conclusion is reached, is beyond me. See future posts on Fascism.). The overbearing ignorance of most people regarding these subjects wouldn't bother me half so much if they would refrain from arguing about it with me.

The fact of the matter is that i haven't even finished my high school education yet, and i STILL know more about communism than the average American (or Australian for that matter) which is extremely disconcerting.