# 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:** 5
**Author:** ![Indian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c0e974/32.png) [@Indian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indian)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2010, 8:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-a-communist/550964/81 "2010-08-22T08:14:12Z")
Do you keep track of communist parties in other parts of the world ? ---
**Author:** ![Commissar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c68b51/32.png) [@Commissar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Commissar)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2010, 8:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-a-communist/550964/82 "2010-08-22T08:23:51Z")
> [@indian](#): > > Do you keep track of communist parties in other parts of the world ? To a limited extent. I keep track of who’s coming and going in the top echelons of socialist nations. I do not bother myself with the internal politics of those Communist parties that have little or no role in their national governments. ---
**Author:** ![Indian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c0e974/32.png) [@Indian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indian)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2010, 8:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-a-communist/550964/83 "2010-08-22T08:26:23Z")
> [@Commissar](#): > > > [@indian](#): > > > > Do you keep track of communist parties in other parts of the world ? > > To a limited extent. I keep track of who’s coming and going in the **top echelons of socialist nations**. I do not bother myself with the internal politics of those Communist parties that have little or no role in their national governments. Which are these socialist nations? ---
**Author:** ![Commissar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c68b51/32.png) [@Commissar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Commissar)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2010, 8:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-a-communist/550964/84 "2010-08-22T08:41:46Z")
> [@indian](#): > > > [@Commissar](#): > > > > To a limited extent. I keep track of who’s coming and going in the **top echelons of socialist nations**. I do not bother myself with the internal politics of those Communist parties that have little or no role in their national governments. > > Which are these socialist nations? I track Belarus, Russia, China, Cuba, Vietnam, North Korea, and Venezuela. To a lesser extent, Iran and a handful of Latin American states. ---
**Author:** ![Indian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c0e974/32.png) [@Indian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indian)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2010, 8:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-a-communist/550964/85 "2010-08-22T08:46:13Z")
What did you learn from collapse of communist block (U.S.S.R and other european countries ), that you will apply elsewhere to prevent a repeat ? ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2010, 8:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-a-communist/550964/86 "2010-08-22T08:58:05Z")
Question to the OP: In what way is the glorious People’s Republic, in fact, a republic? ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2010, 8:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-a-communist/550964/87 "2010-08-22T08:59:48Z")
> [@Commissar](#): > > Finally, yes, my English is good. It is not a difficult language. I was born and raised in the Soviet Union; I received my undergraduate and graduate degrees in the US. No, no, of course English is not a difficult language at all. That’s why everyone in the sizeable Russian population over here speaks it so well … Oh, wait a minute, no they don’t! Well, anyway, I guess it does explain why everyone I know here, Russian, Thai or otherwise, who also received their undergraduate and/or graduate degrees in the US speaks it so well. Ah, waidaminit, no, none of them do either. Hmmm. ---
**Author:** ![Commissar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c68b51/32.png) [@Commissar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Commissar)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2010, 9:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-a-communist/550964/88 "2010-08-22T09:00:19Z")
> [@indian](#): > > What did you learn from collapse of communist block (U.S.S.R and other european countries ), that you will apply elsewhere to prevent a repeat ? We learned three lessons: tyranny, treachery, and firepower. We learned that tyrants like Stalin can undermine a socialist system for decades to come. By poisoning the trust of the people, he cracked the foundations of the Soviet Union, which directly resulted in its premature collapse. I miss it dearly. We also learned that we are vulnerable to threats from within. Gorbachev was elected by our party to lead us forward; instead, he betrayed us and pushed us into the past. Ultimately, we learned the lesson of firepower. Had Stalin and Gorbachev been marched out back and shot in the back of the head, as they deserved, none of this would have happened. We would still be enjoying the glorious fruits of Communism, rather than admiring the power of China from afar. We were too merciful; millions suffer now, and it is a needless suffering. Two bullets is all that it would have taken to save us… ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2010, 11:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-a-communist/550964/89 "2010-08-22T11:23:39Z")
I was with you until you talked about China’s government being a good example of communism. We have Dopers who have been to China. We know the place not only isn’t that great for a large number of people, but that it is not truly communist. I mean, I can even consider myself a communist under some definitions, but not to the point of authoritarianism. If people are not perfect, it stands to reason that the leader of the Communist party will not be perfect, and I do not want an imperfect being calling all the shots without some way to stop him. Absolute power corrupts absolutely. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2010, 11:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-a-communist/550964/90 "2010-08-22T11:36:10Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > I was with you until you talked about China’s government being a good example of communism. We have Dopers who have been to China. We know the place not only isn’t that great for a large number of people, but that it is not truly communist. Vietnam, too. Communism, socialism, call you it what you want, is dead there. Even the briefest of stays will reveal the free-wheeling capitalist nature of the place nowadays. It’s a one-party capitalist bureaucracy that doesn’t have to sweat about bothersome elections or emocratic rights. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2010, 11:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-a-communist/550964/91 "2010-08-22T11:45:04Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > I was with you until you talked about China’s government being a good example of communism. We have Dopers who have been to China. We know the place not only isn’t that great for a large number of people, but that it is not truly communist. That’s because China is as it’s always been: a massive, faceless bureaucracy ruling an essentially capitalist nation. Ming, Manchu, Mao; they’re all different names for the same thing. China is first and foremost Chinese, and outsiders are not welcome. ---
**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 22, 2010, 12:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-a-communist/550964/92 "2010-08-22T12:03:43Z")
I am with Siam Sam on this one. The OP is trolling I believe. ---
**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 22, 2010, 12:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-a-communist/550964/93 "2010-08-22T12:40:03Z")
> [@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. So, you dream of creating a society whose economic inequities (inland farmers vs coastal economic engine) is about to tear their society apart, & perhaps start another civil war in China? Gosh. ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2010, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-a-communist/550964/94 "2010-08-22T13:26:26Z")
> [@Cicero](#): > > I am with Siam Sam on this one. Me too, but I hope his “emocratic” is just a typo, and he’s not advocating we have our national anthem rewritten by Weezer. ---
**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 22, 2010, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-a-communist/550964/95 "2010-08-22T13:33:00Z")
> [@R.P.McMurphy](#): > > > [@E-Sabbath](#): > > > > I should point out that, when I say that I approve of Castro, I mean that I approve of the ideals and concepts of his revolution, given the state Cuba was in at the time. I think there is something to be admired in his determination not to be a vassal of the US. > > > > The current state of Cuba as a result of his decisions, I’m not so happy about. But given how things were under Batista, I do think I approve of the original revolution. > > > > But I’m biased towards revolutionaries. > > Again, Cuba is a mess. On average, in Havana there are 300 building collapses a year because the housing and construction is so neglected. Havana at one time was a beautiful city but Castor’s communism has turned it into a disaster. (I haven’t been there since the last major hurricane so I can only imagine the devastation of that event). > > If you go to Cuba it is evident that “communism” is a fatally flawed, idealistic theory that doesn’t work in the real world. There is no case history that can show that communism is valid. “Socialism” we can argue all day. Some degree is socialism is necessary. It’s a matter of where the line is drawn. Communism is a pipe dream of people that are dissociated from reality. Yep. It’s worse than you think, too, the food situation is freaking horrible. Mass nigh-starvation and everything. Can’t wait till we can open relations to them and bring them into the 21st century. That doesn’t mean that, at the time of the revolution, people didn’t honestly think this way a better… or at least different… way to go. It did get them away from being dominated and absorbed by the US, so there’s that. And communism would work in the real world if there was no such thing as scarcity. If someone consuming something didn’t take it away from the ability of other people to consume it. Right now, there is something that works like that, and that’s information. If I consume information, generally, I can add value to it, and toss it back, without removing the ability of anyone else to get that information. That’s how science (and Linux) works. Problem is, it’s not really good for physical objects till we hit a post-scarcity society. Which is gonna take a while. In the meantime, communism seems, like anarchy, to be a small-scale philosophy that doesn’t work so well when you scale it up to country size. Not sure what the maximum size is, though. I’m betting it’s bigger than a monkeysphere, which is where anarchy is limited to. ---
**Author:** ![armedmonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@armedmonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/armedmonkey)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2010, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-a-communist/550964/96 "2010-08-22T13:43:37Z")
> [@Commissar](#): > > [color=pink]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. This post has been pinked by the pinkist![/color] ---
**Author:** ![FoieGrasIsEvil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foiegrasisevil/32/16638_2.png) [@FoieGrasIsEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FoieGrasIsEvil)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2010, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-a-communist/550964/97 "2010-08-22T14:29:55Z")
> [@Commissar](#): > > I find it interesting that you are willing to extrapolate “a relatively poor grasp of history and geopolitics” from my limited posts here at this point. Basically, it seems to me that you have jumped to a premature conclusion as soon as you read that I am a Communist. This is the difficulty I often have when discussing Communism with Westerners; frankly, they don’t want to think about it, preferring to dismiss anyone with Marxist-Leninist leanings as a brainwashed idiot. What’s hard to understand? You hold up Mao as a shining example of awesome communist government when the guy was every bit the murderous, politically paranoid power tripping maniac that Stalin was (albeit on a smaller scale). What I don’t understand is how you can praise one and deplore the other when they are essentially the same thing. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2010, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-a-communist/550964/98 "2010-08-22T15:12:35Z")
> [@Slithy\_Tove](#): > > > [@Cicero](#): > > > > I am with Siam Sam on this one. > > Me too, but I hope his “emocratic” is just a typo, and he’s not advocating we have our national anthem rewritten by Weezer. I did, of course, mean “nemocratic,” which involves fishing rights. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2010, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-a-communist/550964/99 "2010-08-22T15:25:06Z")
Good. I was afraid you meant “hemocratic”, or government by blood type; or worse, “gemocratic”, which means rule by bling. ---
**Author:** ![Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ccd318/32.png) [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2010, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-a-communist/550964/100 "2010-08-22T15:32:30Z")
Seriously, there are still communists out there? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-a-communist/550964.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-a-communist/550964.md?page=6)