# 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:** 2
**Author:** ![R.P.McMurphy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/7993a0/32.png) [@R.P.McMurphy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/R.P.McMurphy)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2010, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-a-communist/550964/21 "2010-08-21T16:34:39Z")
Castro??? Castro isn’t a communist, he’s a dictator. Cuba is a mess. If that’s a model for communism then you can have it. The people suffer and Castro and his buddies get everything. There is no social safety net. If you are of no value to Castro you have no value. I’ve been there, legally. There is a very ugly underbelly. I have no love for the Miami Cubans. They are a huge part of the problem so don’t think I’m in that camp. If Castro really cared about the Cuban people he would have done things a whole lot differently. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2010, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-a-communist/550964/22 "2010-08-21T16:42:41Z")
> [@emarkp](#): > > So you want to steal from me and my family? Thanks for identifying yourself as an enemy. In a perfect Communist system, it isn’t ‘stealing’. Citizens contribute to society, and in return society provides benefits to the citizens. In our system, are taxes ‘stealing’? Human nature being what it is, Communism can’t work on a large scale. But in theory it is equitable. ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2010, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-a-communist/550964/23 "2010-08-21T16:45:39Z")
> [@Starving\_Artist](#): > > …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. Well, you’ve never let that stop you, so maybe you can offer him some tips about how to deal with it. ---
**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, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-a-communist/550964/24 "2010-08-21T18:32:17Z")
Still smarting over the fact that I feel sorry for your students, I see. And oh, yeah…is this yet another example of how you’re not going to talk to me? ---
**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, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-a-communist/550964/25 "2010-08-21T18:39:00Z")
> [@Starving\_Artist](#): > > 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. You make too many unwarranted assumptions, my friend. Firstly, I must state that I know this area very well, having dedicated the first portion of my higher education to the study of socialist nations. You may, of course, choose not to believe this, but that is your problem rather than mine. You will get absolutely nowhere arguing that I am “naive” or “lack Knowledge” in this field. Secondly, yes, I think there is a world of difference between comrade Mao and the traitor Stalin. Mao was a flawed visionary; he freed the Chinese people from the grips of backward feudalism, turned his nation into a super-power, and handed his people the keys to a glorious future. Sure, he made some poor judgment calls as an administrator, but these minor setbacks are insignificant in comparison to his countless accomplishments. Stalin, on the other hand, did nothing for my people (full disclosure: I was born and raised in the Soviet Union). He usurped power, terrorized the people, nearly made us lose to Germany, and directly laid the groundwork for the collapse of the Soviet Union. Having said that, I really doubt that he killed “millions,” as you allege. Finally, I stand by my statement that Stalin’s true mindset is unknowable. We cannot know why he did the things that he did. It could have been paranoia, or perhaps true insanity, or maybe a poor reading of Marxist-Leninist philosophy. We simply cannot know. The fact that you claim otherwise… You think pretty highly of yourself, don’t you? ---
**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, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-a-communist/550964/26 "2010-08-21T18:46:30Z")
> [@DCnDC](#): > > **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? By “true communism,” do you mean the utopian ideal of a peaceful, prosperous populace without a government? If so, then of course not. I see that as an aspirational guiding principle rather than an actual realistic end state; it is something we should strive for in the knowledge that it is unachievable. No, my take on a perfect communist system is very close to what the glorious People’s Republic has now achieved. I dream of a system in which people are truly free, in which they are unshackled by wants and deprivations, in which a strong single party carefully manages a centralized economy while allowing private entrepreneurs to fill in some of the blanks. ---
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2010, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-a-communist/550964/27 "2010-08-21T18:55:58Z")
You are a little too early. The dangers of Capitalism are coming to the fore now. The unreasoning greed and grasp for wealth and power are accelerating.The damage to the world and the middle class here is starting to bloom. In a short time, you will find converts a lot easier to get. Many will say what the hell happened? How could things go so wrong? The rich and powerful are not our friends. They are not interested in making America a better place with better opportunities. They just want more and more to themselves. History has shown you have to overpower them and put them back in their spot every now and then. Your kids will be faced with an ugly task. ---
**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, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-a-communist/550964/28 "2010-08-21T18:59:47Z")
> [@Ravenman](#): > > > [@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? I voted for Obama. Even though the Democratic Party is a right-wing entity, it is at least somewhat less right-wing than the Republican Party. Lesser of two evils, and all that. Can’t say I’m impressed by his performance so far… I understand that breaking promises is a popular past-time among US politicians, but Obama takes it to a new extreme. I can’t help but notice that the torture camps are still operating at full steam, the illegal occupation of Afghanistan is actually escalating, and we still don’t have a meaningful healthcare system. ---
**Author:** ![simple\_homer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9de0a6/32.png) [@simple\_homer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/simple_homer)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2010, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-a-communist/550964/29 "2010-08-21T19:08:10Z")
> [@Commissar](#): > > No, my take on a perfect communist system is very close to what the glorious People’s Republic has now achieved. I dream of a system in which people are truly free, in which they are unshackled by wants and deprivations, in which a strong single party carefully manages a centralized economy while allowing private entrepreneurs to fill in some of the blanks. Have you ever visited China ? I am now living and working in China, and you made me laugh . ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2010, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-a-communist/550964/30 "2010-08-21T19:30:17Z")
> [@Starving\_Artist](#): > > Still smarting over the fact that I feel sorry for your students, I see. Yeah, that’s really keeping me up nights. > [@Starving\_Artist](#): > > And oh, yeah…is this yet another example of how you’re not going to talk to me? Once again, as usual, you are in error. I never said that i wasn’t going to talk to you. I said that i was going to refrain from engaging in rational debate with you, because i believed that you were incapable of participating in such debates. My thinking on that matter has not changed. ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2010, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-a-communist/550964/31 "2010-08-21T19:33:31Z")
> [@Commissar](#): > > No, my take on a perfect communist system is very close to what the glorious People’s Republic has now achieved. I dream of a system in which people are truly free, in which they are unshackled by wants and deprivations, in which a strong single party carefully manages a centralized economy while allowing private entrepreneurs to fill in some of the blanks. It’s not often that a post on this board truly astounds me. If you believe what you’ve written about China, i confess to being truly astounded. ---
**Author:** ![simple\_homer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9de0a6/32.png) [@simple\_homer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/simple_homer)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2010, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-a-communist/550964/32 "2010-08-21T19:36:50Z")
> [@Commissar](#): > > Thus, I would like it to be known that I am a Communist of the Marxist-Leninist strain. I applaud Trotsky, Mao, and Castro. Have you ever visited Cuba ? I have visited Cuba 5 times, and I don’t remember meeting any Cubans that would applaud Castro… I agree with mhendo, your innocence and/or ignorance is astounding. ---
**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, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-a-communist/550964/33 "2010-08-21T19:52:53Z")
> [@Commissar](#): > > > [@Starving\_Artist](#): > > > > 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. > > You make too many unwarranted assumptions, my friend. Perhaps, but I had only your words to go on. > [@Commissar](#): > > Firstly, I must state that I know this area very well, having dedicated the first portion of my higher education to the study of socialist nations. You may, of course, choose not to believe this, but that is your problem rather than mine. You will get absolutely nowhere arguing that I am “naive” or “lack Knowledge” in this field. Given the horrendous number of murders and other, needless deaths caused by the Stalinist and Mao regimes, I would submit that if you have the knowledge you say you do, “naive” or “lack of knowledge” would be the kindest assessment of your mindset. The alternative would be that it’s fine with you to arbitrarily murder tens of millions of your own people and starve tens of millions more in the name of your ideology and accomplished through absolute and unanswerable power. > [@simple homer](#): > > Have you ever visited China ? > > I am now living and working in China, > > and you made me laugh . It appears **Commissar** has swallowed wholeheartedly [this '50s era propaganda image](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:1950s_%E6%AF%9B%E4%B8%BB%E5%B8%AD%E7%BB%99%E6%88%91%E4%BB%AC%E7%9A%84%E5%B9%B8%E7%A6%8F%E7%94%9F%E6%B4%BB.jpg) of life in Mao’s communist China. The caption reads “Chairman Mao gives us happy lives”. Yet this same article goes on to state: > [@](#): > > Mao himself claimed that a total of 700,000 people were executed during the years 1949–53.[31] However, because there was a policy to select “at least one landlord, and usually several, in virtually every village for public execution”,[32] the number of deaths range between 2 million[32][33] and 5 million.[34][35] In addition, at least 1.5 million people,[36] perhaps as many as 4 to 6 million,[37] were sent to “reform through labour” camps where many perished.[37] Mao played a personal role in organizing the mass repressions and established a system of execution quotas,[38] which were often exceeded.[28] Nevertheless he defended these killings as necessary for the securing of power. > [@](#): > > During a speech to party cadre in 1958, Mao said he had far outdone Qin Shi Huang in his policy against intellectuals: “He buried 460 scholars alive; we have buried forty-six thousand scholars alive… You [intellectuals] revile us for being Qin Shi Huangs. You are wrong. We have surpassed Qin Shi Huang a hundredfold.”[75] > [@](#): > > Li Rui, Mao’s personal secretary, goes further and claims he was dismissive of the suffering and death caused by his policies: “Mao’s way of thinking and governing was terrifying. He put no value on human life. The deaths of others meant nothing to him.”[76] Biographer Jung Chang goes further still and argues that Mao was well aware that his policies would be responsible for the deaths of millions. While discussing labor-intensive projects such as waterworks and making steel, Chang claims Mao said to his inner circle in November 1958: “Working like this, with all these projects, half of China may well have to die. If not half, one-third, or one-tenth - 50 million - die.”[77] All in all, it has been conservatively estimated that Mao’s rule was responsible for at least 20 million deaths attributable either to murder or starvation, with other estimates ranging as high as high as 70 million. “Happy lives” were far from the norm in Mao Zedong’s China. ---
**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, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-a-communist/550964/34 "2010-08-21T20:13:09Z")
Now, having said all that, I’m afraid that I’m rather belatedly coming to the conclusion that the OP is a whoosh. Either that or the first part of his “higher education” in socialist nations was itself learned inside one of those socialist nations. No one studying communism at a higher level anywhere in the free world could possibly be so naive and ignorant of the harsh realities of life under those regimes. ---
**Author:** ![Euphonious\_Polemic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/euphonious_polemic/32/3002_2.png) [@Euphonious\_Polemic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Euphonious_Polemic)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2010, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-a-communist/550964/35 "2010-08-21T20:16:04Z")
**Commissar** , are you quite young, perhaps early college-age? You seem to have a relatively poor grasp of history and geopolitics. Asked before, but do you think that communism is a practical philosophy for entities larger than a small town? Do you have faith in the innate goodness of all people? ---
**Author:** ![Euphonious\_Polemic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/euphonious_polemic/32/3002_2.png) [@Euphonious\_Polemic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Euphonious_Polemic)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2010, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-a-communist/550964/36 "2010-08-21T20:17:37Z")
> [@Starving\_Artist](#): > > No one studying communism at a higher level anywhere in the free world could possibly be so naive and ignorant of the harsh realities of life under those regimes. Agreed. I felt a big whoosh starting with “hello my new found friends”. Call me cynical. ---
**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, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-a-communist/550964/37 "2010-08-21T20:23:29Z")
> [@Euphonious\_Polemic](#): > > **Commissar** , are you quite young, perhaps early college-age? You seem to have a relatively poor grasp of history and geopolitics. No, he says he was born and raised in the USSR. ---
**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, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-a-communist/550964/38 "2010-08-21T20:28:41Z")
> [@Commissar](#): > > > [@DCnDC](#): > > > > **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? > > By “true communism,” do you mean the utopian ideal of a peaceful, prosperous populace without a government? If so, then of course not. I see that as an aspirational guiding principle rather than an actual realistic end state; it is something we should strive for in the knowledge that it is unachievable. > > No, my take on a perfect communist system is very close to what the glorious People’s Republic has now achieved. I dream of a system in which people are truly free, in which they are unshackled by wants and deprivations, in which a strong single party carefully manages a centralized economy while allowing private entrepreneurs to fill in some of the blanks. > [@Euphonious\_Polemic](#): > > Asked before, but do you think that communism is a practical philosophy for entities larger than a small town? Do you have faith in the innate goodness of all people? Yeah, **Commissar** , I’m gonna have to resubmit that one again as well. The first part of your answer, fair enough. The second part OTOH… I’m gonna need some clarification on this “perfect communist system” you’re referring to. You realize what they’re operating over there is not “communism” in anything other than name, right? Exactly what part of the current Chinese “system” is representative of Marxist-Leninist communism? ---
**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, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-a-communist/550964/39 "2010-08-21T20:42:04Z")
> [@Commissar](#): > > No, my take on a perfect communist system is very close to what the glorious People’s Republic has now achieved. I dream of a system in which people are truly free, in which they are unshackled by wants and deprivations, in which a strong single party carefully manages a centralized economy while allowing private entrepreneurs to fill in some of the blanks. :smack: Without further comment, a [reprint](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=3048232&highlight=China+Castro+Cuba#post3048232) from this very board in 2003. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2010, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-a-communist/550964/40 "2010-08-21T21:02:57Z")
> [@Commissar](#): > > I can’t help but notice that the torture camps are still operating at full steam . . . At least we haven’t transformed our entire country into a “torture camp” . . . and threaten to do the same to the rest of the world. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-a-communist/550964.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-a-communist/550964.md?page=3)