Communist Intent

When I tell someone I adhere to components of communism and socialism, it tends to cause them to do one of two things: A) Laugh or (B) descend into a panicked frenzy about how I’m going to send them to the Gulag and how I’m the downfall of America.

I get this response from both liberals and conservatives, because the US is full of propaganda that paints communism/socialism as this eeeeeevil ideology, and it has been wildly successful. It’s not only the US that does it, many other western governments do to, because it is crucial they make themselves look like the good guys, and communists look truly godless and evil.

Well, we’re not.

There’s really no other way I can tell you that. We’re not. I’m not. You can point at historical events and claim otherwise, but since much of your education was from organizations that benefit heavily from downplaying western atrocities and emphasizing any communist atrocities, you’re biased. Very biased. Unreliably biased.

I don’t try to convince people that I’m not some evil doer looking to destroy humanity and turn it into a soulless Borg collective. I will fail in that task because the conditioning is so thorough that everything I say would be seen through a filter of deception. It’s how fundamentalist religions keep people believing in the laws of their sect, even in the face of overwhelming evidence to the contrary.

Tell most Evangelical Christian that the global climate is changing, and they’ll tell you why you’re being deceived by Satan, and that only God knows the day and the hour of his Son’s return. Is there mountains upon mountains of evidence to point to anthropogenic climate change? Yes.

Does that matter? No.

I could talk all day about how capitalists will claim “Communism no food” and “100,000,000,0000 bajillion people murdered” like those are real and not hyped up bits of propaganda by the US CIA, but then there are people who see 20,000,000 people dying from capitalism every year, and don’t even make the connections because they’ve been taught to collectivize communist thought and individualize capitalist thought. In other words, something bad happens in communism, that’s the fault of communism. Something bad happens under capitalism, and that’s just a bad actor/lone wolf/outlier and has nothing to do with the capitalist system.

I’ll say it very quickly: communism is giving power to the workers, what we call the proletariat, to control their lives and to effect change as a whole so that everyone benefits. Capitalism is the exploitation of a large group of people, the workers, for the benefit of a small group of people, the ownership class. Capitalism is literally the opposite of democracy, because it ignores the voice of the many in favor of the influence and wealth of the few.

When you see people standing in food lines in the US, they don’t say “capitalism is failing us,” they say “communism,” because they’ve been conditioned to see failure as communism and monetary success as capitalism. Like any religion, if you get $1,000 it’s a blessing from God, if you lose $1,000 it’s your own damn fault.

Pretty neat system, huh?

The only way people learn is if they explore concepts outside of their bubble with an open mind, and there’s not a whole lot of that anymore. Speaking, again, in the US, our education system is dreadful. Kids aren’t being educated, they’re being conditioned to conform to working conditions for when they’re old enough, and maybe a smattering of potpourri topics as long as funding exists for them.

I know many amazing teachers, and they are given so little to work with. Hell, their pay is abysmal, their support from the state to actually teach is practically non-existent, and they’re pushed to teach kids to test rather than actually teaching them about our amazing universe and everything in it. Teachers have a damned near thankless job, and are among the first to experience cuts when the board has to decide where to allocate their dismal funding.

So I don’t try to convince people that socialism is the path forward for humanity, because right now many people aren’t ready to hear it.

That being said, I want to actually say a few things I do believe in, and whether or not YOU believe it is of no consequence, but at least I can put it out there to be seen and maybe understood by those whose hearts are willing to listen.

1. I believe every human being has the right to life, the right to dignity, the right to their basic needs being met without qualification. Food, water, shelter, clothing, medicine, and any systems that are required to maintain that support safely.
2. I believe that work should be something we do to improve our lives and the lives of those around us, that work should be available to all, but not a requirement for all in cases where it is unnecessary.
3. I believe that most laws are useless, created to contain people and limit their choices in an attempt to homogenize them to make them easier to control. That doesn’t mean I don’t believe in laws, just that any law which oppresses the innocent is an unjust law and should be abolished.
4. I believe in restorative justice. If you commit a crime, you make amends for that crime to the best of your human ability, until such time as recompense has been made. I am against the death penalty, I am against imprisonment for non-violent offenses, and I believe that all people should have the right to a fair and speedy trial. I am not naive, I know that there are people who work and act in bad faith, who are malicious, but most people are just making mistakes, and they deserve a chance to rectify those mistakes.
5. I believe in human expression: the inherent beauty and necessity of art, including entertainment. We should be free to create without having to monetize our passions.
6. I believe in the complexity of the human spirit. Religion and spirituality are not anathema to democracy or liberty. Any religion, or spirituality, that does not oppress another, that does not seek to destroy another should be open to those who wish to practice it.
7. I believe we are stewards of our earth, and should treat every creature with respect and dignity. We live on this planet and should take the greatest of care with her, because if she dies so do we, and that simply is not right or ethical.
8. I believe human beings are dependent upon one another. I believe that “rugged individualism” is poison, and that all it does is create far too much suffering. Being a person is crucial, you are unique, but collective action should be used when needed, and leaving social requirements to the hands of people who benefit from misery is foolish. We must invest our best into each other.

So there are a few things I believe. Some people claim communism tries to be a utopia, but it doesn’t. The neat thing about communism is that it’s as close to a science any political and social ideology can get, because it uses the actual material observations of human society to suss out the parts that don’t work, and attempt to make them work.

The path to communism, known as socialism, is how we get there, and there are many types of socialism. I wonder how many people know that?

I can safely say that the Democrats are not socialists, not by a long shot. Democrats believe in capitalism, and attempt to reform capitalism to be more “fair,” without actually addressing the exploitation at the root because capitalism relies on an underpaid working class. That profit you see corporations raking in are the wages of those workers being funneled upwards. That’s your money, and they brag about it because they know most people, especially here in the US where our political and social awareness has been dulled to a fine shine, won’t make that connection.

You deserve food.
You deserve shelter.
You deserve healthcare.

Anyone telling you otherwise has a vested interest in your oppression, or are so inundated with propaganda they don’t even see the chains around their own neck.

Look how many amazing and well known people in history have been socialists and communists: Nelson Mandela, James Baldwin, Martin Luther King, Jr., Eugene Debs, Assata Shakur, Fred Hampton, Malcolm X, Nina Simone, Langston Hughes, Paul Robeson, Albert Einstein, are you noticing the pattern yet? That’s only a handful, there are so many more, and look at what they fought to do.

This is why when people insult me for being a communist, it doesn’t bother me. Why would I be ashamed at their ignorance? Their mockery sounds to me the same way a MAGA voter might mock a liberal. Their utter lack of education and vindictive desire to be right rather than correct is their deep character flaw, not mine. I have my own, but my desire to see human beings treated with kindness, respect, compassion, and dignity is not one of them.

Did you read this? Did it help you? I hope it did, because it really is all I can do. Words are cheap, and actions matter, but on a medium that is made up of so many words, this is the easiest way I can convey my own thoughts and feelings on the matter. I hope it serves you well.

What I know is this: if we don’t change course, if we don’t get away from private ownership of public resources, if we don’t remove capitalism from the equation, humanity’s days are numbered and few. If we don’t move towards socialism, if we don’t get away from the exploitation of millions for the benefit of a few, then perhaps we deserve to meet that fate, because surely no developed, civilized species could murder its own in the name of greed and consider that evolved.

.Red