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Communism - much criticised by the Western countries but could it work given the right situation?
People say that if there is no incentive then no-one will work - but surely that is wrong.
Agreed, people may work less but they would still need to earn their pay check.
I imagine some kind of wage and price controls would be needed, and some limitations on freedom, but what are the main problems in stopping it from working?
All big industries could be nationalised and the smaller ones would have to abide by specific regulations - ie: laws against hoarding , speculating, and wages etc..
What will go wrong here?
any ideas, thanks
Last edited by Kenneth-Kaunda; 08-11-2012 at 07:59 PM..
Communism - much criticised by the Western countries but could it work given the right situation?
People say that if there is no incentive then no-one will work - but surely that is wrong.
Agreed, people may work less but they would still need to earn their pay check.
I imagine some kind of wage and price controls would be needed and some limitations on freedom but what are the main problems in stopping it from working?
All big industries could be nationalised and the smaller ones would have to abide by specific regulations - ie: laws against hoarding , speculating, and wages etc..
What will go wrong here?
any ideas, thanks
What will go wrong here?!? Based on the failure of communism across the globe, pretty much everything.
Communism - much criticised by the Western countries but could it work given the right situation?
People say that if there is no incentive then no-one will work - but surely that is wrong.
Agreed, people may work less but they would still need to earn their pay check.
I imagine some kind of wage and price controls would be needed and some limitations on freedom but what are the main problems in stopping it from working?
All big industries could be nationalised and the smaller ones would have to abide by specific regulations - ie: laws against hoarding , speculating, and wages etc..
What will go wrong here?
any ideas, thanks
Rather than ask what could go wrong with Communism, why not look at its history and ask what hasn't?
Of course communism and socialism do not work. The more pure its application, the bigger a disaster it has been. Do yourself a favor and look at the horrors of Stalin's Five Year plans and Mao's Great Leap Forward, including the cannibalism that took place in both China and the Soviet Union during those periods of economic 'reforms.' For not only does Communism removes all incentives for people to achieve aside for some nebulous lofty goal of serving an oligarchy, but it creates a far less efficient distribution channel for food, goods and services. Hoo boy. So the inevitable result is some kind of authoritarian government.
Wage and price controls have been tried again and again throughout history, from the Emperor Claudius on, and those have been abject failures, too. Price controls create disincentives to produce, which then create shortages, which then create black markets. Hoarding actually only happens when there are shortages and fears of shortages, an occurrence largely peculiar to a state-controlled economy. And, given the sorry track record for nationalized industries, I wouldn't want to try that either. Thatcherism was, in effect a repudiation of nationalized industries in Great Britain, and it saved the British economy as a result.
Again, it doesn't work. Period. Its variations have been tried in a lot of different ways in a lot of different cultures, and the results have ranged from either economic stagnation to outright starvation in the streets. Yet the occasional proponent will occasionally stand up and offer that we should try it again, because it hasn't been tried previously under the right conditions. But if an economic system requires such rarefied conditions to succeed in the first place, then why would you want to try it yet again?
PRC is a communist country with great success. However, while their political system is communist, they have capitalistic attributes throughout their economy.
PRC is a communist country with great success. However, while their political system is communist, they have capitalistic attributes throughout their economy.
No, it's not. It's Communist in name only. China shucked the principles of Communism in the 1980s. There is private enterprise, private investment, and even the state-owned enterprises are actually closely-held, usually by a small number of people in the highest echelons of government. The result is a country that is about as corrupt a place as possible.
Heck, according to Forbes, there were more than 100 billionaires in China in 2011. This, of course, is impossible under a government that actually took Communist principles seriously.
but could there be a Communist type system without a rich oligarchy,
or is that just way too idealistic?
Or how about Socialism with limited capitalism - ie: with controls on profits and wages.
could that work?
Again, even Socialism, a diluted form of Communism offers fewer economic benefits than capitalism. Because without an incentive to get rich, there isn't an incentive to invest. And if you discourage investment, the entire economy grinds to a halt quickly. What's more, it is naive to believe that communist states don't have their own rich oligarchies. Simply look at the Kims, the brutal thugs who have run North Korea for almost 70 years. Do you honestly believe that they have the same standard of living as the proletariat? Of course not. They live in sumptuous luxury while their people starve. While a rich capitalist can only remain rich by prudent investments and continued hard work, these people merely remain that way at the point of a bayonet.
As far as controlling profits are concerned, that makes zero sense. First, a successful company's profits are largely what it chooses them to be, accelerating expenses etc. Second, if you put controls on profits, then you just once again destroyed the incentive to invest, and investment is what fuels expansion, wages, and everything else. Limit wages and you limit the incentive to work.
All in all, it's just an incredibly stupid concept, devised by blue-sky intellectuals and occasionally nurtured by dreamers whose chief motivation is to punish those who happen to be more successful.
Communism - much criticised by the Western countries but could it work given the right situation?
If by communism you mean real communism - an anarchial (state-less or close to that) system, where means of production belong to people... it may and certainly will work, for as long as one simple criteria is met - ALL countries are communist.
That's why Russian bolsheviks talked a lot about the world revolution.
About a dozen centuries ago Rus tribes lived under communism. They were invaded occasionally, but the tribes' councils were efficient enough to raise an army, and deal with invaders.
But then Rus lands were flooded with foreign bandits. A regular army was needed to protect people from them. Thus Russia was born...
When in 1917 Russia embraced socialism as a system to move towards communism, it faced large scale aggression from the West.
A bit later Stalin came up with an idea: yes, we are surrounded and isolated by the enemy, but we are rich and powerful, and can succeed alone. Thus the theory of "communism in one country" was born.
What happened next was really wierd - Soviet Union became extremely state capitalist, which is VERY far from socialism. But it was also extremely successful. Not on all fronts, but, given the circumstances (in 1945 it lied in ruins, was in isolation, and was forced to maintain a military force comparable to all developed nations), it was simply great.
But then it fell...
It will return one day - hopefully, in a much better form.
It has always failed and worse over 100 million people have been killed because of it...
Billions in USSR alone, you silly zombie
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