Was the OP a whoosh?
Followed by the Canadians, because they are just a wee bit too yolky for a true Communist’s taste.
Waitaminit… I’m Canadian… Umm… Nevermind [/Emily Litella]
Bah. The answer is none: the light bulb must contain the seeds of its own revolution.
I picked the wrong day to wear my mayonnaise lapel pin.
My father is convinced that I’m a communist because I worry about the plight of the poor and am not a global warming skeptic. So I guess I’m a commie as well.
I believe in a progressive income tax, equality for persons of different ethnic backgrounds, the redistribution of wealth, and general egalitarianism. These are in fact communist stances. If holding those positions makes me a communist, then I am a communist. If a communist is someone working for Joe Stalin or Mao Zedong, then I am not a communist. Pick your definition.
Oh yeah, there are a lot of total idiots kicking around. You know, the same people who define Obama as a socialist nazi.
I was going to accuse you of hyperbole but a google of “obama socialist nazi” turned up nearly 10 mil hits.
I thought that in the original context that Communism involved
The emergence of a class war that would found a temporary state that owned or
controlled both the means and control of the means of capital and production.
In theory, at some point, the egalitarian faeries would then at some point dissolve the state.
Communism is about centralized, “collective” control and effective ownership of stuff, wealth and production. The basis for this is founded on theories of labor and capital.
Whatever your position on Communism, you really need to understand Marxism.
I think that’s technically ‘state socialism,’ but again I’m not an expert.
Well, in practice there’s no difference because state socialism requires at least a partial totalitarian state not to fall apart, and Communism requires state socialism because otherwise it’s a hash of nonsense and pie-in-the-sky mysticism.
However, noticing that you include “wealth redistribution” on your list, you quite possibly do qualify as a modern Commie. Of course, I think you’re utterly full of it, and note that wealth redistirbution does not have a good track record as a practical matter, either.
Oho!
How are you defining “redistribution of wealth”? Some kind of radical levelling, some limited confiscation, or just New Deal/Great Society policies?
I meant the last, which would be “redistribution of wealth” to a Republican pol, btw. 
Stated without substantiation or a working knowledge of history. Something over 10% of various Western European economies were public enterprise before 1980. Coal, electricity and cars were but 3 examples.
http://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/1606.html
Modern conservatives often put forth such nonsense to paper over their love of dictatorships in Chile and Spain during the 1970s and their contemporary aversion to the popular vote in the US. Just like the old Soviet communists, they are all for elections provided their side is assured of victory.
Congratulations for embracing an ideology responsible for the greatest number of deaths in human history.
Yes, because:
a) This is clearly directly attributable to the ideology itself
b) Stalin and Pol Pot’s ideologies were clearly purely communistic
c) Capitalism hasn’t been directly responsible for more
:rolleyes:
Seriously, even if this statement is true, it’s completely unqualified and unsourced, and it indicates the same kind of failed logic that points people to saying “Atheism is the most deadly religion”.
[QUOTE]
The ideology as envisioned by Marx and Engels calls for violence against the “bourgeoisie”, seizure (ie stealing) property, and considers the ends justifies the means.
Pol Pot was the purest communist, he didn’t retain even the slightest vestiges of capitalism.
Because it hasn’t.
No because atheism is merely a lack of an ideology.
Pol Pot, whatever his rhetoric, was a throwback to ancient god-kings, with a dash of child soldiers. When the history of the recent wars in the Congo is written, you may find Pol Pot is downgraded in the rankings of public terrorists.
This idea that pure communism must require some sort of abolition of all preceding civilization is a great caricature for anti-Communists & thus for all those who oppose any progress.
Thanks bud, I am getting ads in French for google chrome, thanks for screwing that up.
Declan
Much like the Killing Fields, I think that’s most probably not really my fault.
Kick. Did my part.