# I am a Communist. **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [August 21, 2010, 9:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-a-communist/550964 "2010-08-21T09:21:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Commissar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c68b51/32.png) [@Commissar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Commissar)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2010, 9:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-a-communist/550964/1 "2010-08-21T09:21:53Z")
Hello, my new-found friends. I am a long-time lurker on these forums, and I believe that now is as good a time as any to register and partake in your discussions. I look forward to participating in a great number of dialogues with you over the coming weeks, months, and years. The point of this thread is to make my political views perfectly clear. In my experience, this helps to avoid needless tangents at a later date. Thus, I would like it to be known that I am a Communist of the Marxist-Leninist strain. I applaud Trotsky, Mao, and Castro. I abhor Stalin and the North Korean corruption of our philosophy. If you would like to know any further details about my philosophies, please let it be known. I welcome and am fully willing to answer any and all serious questions about my beliefs. ---
**Author:** ![Olentzero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/90ced4/32.png) [@Olentzero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Olentzero)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2010, 9:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-a-communist/550964/2 "2010-08-21T09:25:44Z")
I’m a Commie! Who are you? Are you a Commie too? Then there’s a pair of us - don’t tell! They’d banish us, you know. …with sincere apologies to Emily Dickinson. Welcome onboard, and prepare yourself - it ain’t easy being Red around here. For the record: Trotskyist, but don’t hold either Mao or Castro to be revolutionary socialist (though the Cuban revolution was anti-imperialist and the embargo should have been lifted decades ago). ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2010, 9:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-a-communist/550964/3 "2010-08-21T09:28:45Z")
Welcome onboard! You would probably get a lot more useful bites re questions on your political perspective in Great Debates vs MPSIMS. Framing it the form of an assertion such as “Why communism is the best political form of government” and providing a brief perspective on why you believe this is so, or something similar, should get some responses. ---
**Author:** ![GHO57](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/df788c/32.png) [@GHO57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GHO57)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2010, 9:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-a-communist/550964/4 "2010-08-21T09:31:44Z")
add “…and an alcoholic”, and you could be my grandfather. ---
**Author:** ![thirdname](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d07c76/32.png) [@thirdname](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thirdname)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2010, 9:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-a-communist/550964/5 "2010-08-21T09:44:21Z")
Don’t turn around, uh-oh Der **Commissar** ’s in town, uh-oh! ---
**Author:** ![Indian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c0e974/32.png) [@Indian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indian)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2010, 9:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-a-communist/550964/6 "2010-08-21T09:57:58Z")
Why did Stalin get his opponents killed ? ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2010, 9:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-a-communist/550964/7 "2010-08-21T09:59:02Z")
**Commissar** – So. You are a…Communist. Do you live in an Ancient History Museum? Under a glass bell jar? ---
**Author:** ![Commissar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c68b51/32.png) [@Commissar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Commissar)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2010, 10:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-a-communist/550964/8 "2010-08-21T10:09:39Z")
> [@indian](#): > > Why did Stalin get his opponents killed ? Er… I am not altogether sure. Perhaps it was because he was a traitor to our cause? Perhaps because he preferred to see the greatest experiment in the history of humankind fail? Or, perhaps, because he was an idiot that should have been dealt a quick bullet to the head rather than a shot at ultimate power? You make the call; I do not excuse Stalin’s behavior in any way, shape, or form. ---
**Author:** ![Cicero](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cicero/32/3594_2.png) [@Cicero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cicero)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2010, 10:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-a-communist/550964/9 "2010-08-21T10:15:54Z")
Good luck. I used to live in the only electorate in Australia that had a communist in Parliament (well before my time I might add). ---
**Author:** ![Starving\_Artist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/aeb1de/32.png) [@Starving\_Artist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Starving_Artist)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2010, 10:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-a-communist/550964/10 "2010-08-21T10:21:53Z")
Given that you are apparently untroubled by the many millions of deaths and decades of misery and deprivation inflicted upon his own population by Mao - and to a lesser but still considerable extent, Castro - I take it that your objections to Stalin and North Korea are philosophical rather than humanitarian. And on preview, if you’re not sure why Stalin had so many people killed (nor perhaps why so many others died as a result of his policies), then you may not be sufficiently knowledgeable about the subject of communism to be attempting to defend the subject here. No disrespect intended (and welcome), but the naivety, lack of knowledge, and speculative answers contained in your last post lead me to believe you’re going to find yourself in way over your head here in pretty short order. ---
**Author:** ![Jack\_Batty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jack_batty/32/3201_2.png) [@Jack\_Batty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jack_Batty)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2010, 10:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-a-communist/550964/11 "2010-08-21T10:47:16Z")
How do you pass the time when you stand in line for toilet paper? ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2010, 10:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-a-communist/550964/12 "2010-08-21T10:55:50Z")
> [@Jack\_Batty](#): > > How do you pass the time when you stand in line for toilet paper? Oh, oh I know this one! Show trials! ---
**Author:** ![Olentzero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/90ced4/32.png) [@Olentzero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Olentzero)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2010, 11:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-a-communist/550964/13 "2010-08-21T11:20:05Z")
No - forbidden anecdotes. Show trials are _so_ 1938. ---
**Author:** ![figure9](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f0a364/32.png) [@figure9](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/figure9)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2010, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-a-communist/550964/14 "2010-08-21T14:43:46Z")
Actually most of us are communists to some degree. With a few minor exceptions we drive on roads that are paid for by the state. Water, sewer, police and other functions are state owned. Of course like all good things too much of communism can be bad. In my opinion society needs to be a mix of communism and capitalism. ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2010, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-a-communist/550964/15 "2010-08-21T14:48:58Z")
**Commissar** do you believe that true communism can ever work on a large scale i.e. a large country with millions of citizens or does the greedy nature of man only allow it to work in small isolated communities? ---
**Author:** ![Ravenman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ravenman/32/2929_2.png) [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2010, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-a-communist/550964/16 "2010-08-21T14:57:20Z")
> [@Commissar](#): > > If you would like to know any further details about my philosophies, please let it be known. I welcome and am fully willing to answer any and all serious questions about my beliefs. Who did you vote for in the latest elections? ---
**Author:** ![dhkendall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a9adbd/32.png) [@dhkendall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dhkendall)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2010, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-a-communist/550964/17 "2010-08-21T15:15:24Z")
Yay! Another one! Granted, it’s easier to admit it where I live (Canada) than where you live (USA I’m assuming) ---
**Author:** ![E-Sabbath](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e19adc/32.png) [@E-Sabbath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-Sabbath)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2010, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-a-communist/550964/18 "2010-08-21T15:49:33Z")
Why do you applaud Mao, specifically? I can understand and approve of Castro. Trotsky, I find to be too overburdened with wishful thinking to discuss without detail. How do you feel about Linux? How do you feel about the human problem: people need motivation to perform tasks, preferably short-duration sort of motivation? Further, to achieve in potentia, the greater risk tends to require greater rewards. ---
**Author:** ![ultrafilter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/3d9bf3/32.png) [@ultrafilter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ultrafilter)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2010, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-a-communist/550964/19 "2010-08-21T16:22:32Z")
Do you favor a centrally-planned economy? It’s hard for me to imagine what communism would entail otherwise, but it wouldn’t be the strangest thing I’ve seen, so… ---
**Author:** ![emarkp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/3be4f8/32.png) [@emarkp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/emarkp)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2010, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-a-communist/550964/20 "2010-08-21T16:34:37Z")
So you want to steal from me and my family? Thanks for identifying yourself as an enemy. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-a-communist/550964.md?page=2)