{"id":17070,"date":"2020-10-23T09:35:18","date_gmt":"2020-10-23T13:35:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?p=17070"},"modified":"2023-04-13T14:59:21","modified_gmt":"2023-04-13T18:59:21","slug":"the-principles-of-communism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/the-principles-of-communism\/","title":{"rendered":"The Principles of Communism and How They Work"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>What are the principles of Communism? What do they mean and how would they work in a Communist society?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The principles of Communism revolve mainly around taking wealth and power from the bourgeoisie class and giving it to the Proletariat, the working people. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Read more about the principles of Communism and what they mean. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-the-principles-of-communism-the-path-forward\">The Principles of Communism: <strong>The Path Forward<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<div class=\"jetpack-video-wrapper\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"The Communist Manifesto | 10-Minute Book Summary\" width=\"750\" height=\"422\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/4yT8vmVnTzE?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>The principles of Communism rely on the fact that the Bourgeoisie control land and wealth that they did not earn, and instead got off the labor of workers, or the Proletariat. Communists believe that giving power to the laborers and abolishing the systems of wealth held by the Bourgeoisie creates a more equal society. The principles of Marxism rely on the idea of giving the Proletariat power. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Once the Proletariat have acquired political power, they\u2019ll take the following ten measures. (Some of the measures along this path are unsustainable but unavoidable. Problems will iron themselves out naturally.) These are the principles of communism and the steps that would make a Communist society possible. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Abolish the ownership of land and put all land to public use. This will eliminate oppression and class conflict.<\/li><li>Create a progressive or graduated income tax. This will spread wealth more equally among all members of the population and eliminate classes.<\/li><li>Abolish inheritance. This will eliminate wealth being held by a few instead of distributed among everyone.<\/li><li>Take away the property of emigrants and rebels. Emigrants who are living abroad and left possessions behind obviously aren\u2019t currently using them, so they can be better used by the general population. Rebels who oppose the Proletariat also shouldn\u2019t be allowed to have property.<\/li><li>Create a national bank using state capital. Private banks simply hold money. A national bank could use money to improve <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/social-conditions\/\">social conditions<\/a>.<\/li><li>Put the state in charge of communication and transportation. If the state controls these things, rather than an oppressor, everyone will have access to them.<\/li><li>Expand and improve the state\u2019s control of infrastructure and land. Currently, people aren\u2019t making good use of resources. The state can allocate resources in a way that most benefits everyone.<\/li><li>Require everyone to work and require working conditions to be decent. This will result in everyone contributing to society.<\/li><li>Decentralize jobs from cities by combining agriculture and manufacturing. This will reduce geographic inequity and make better use of resources.<\/li><li>Abolish child labor, create public schools, and give all children free education. This will improve the lives of children.<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n<p>(Shortform note: We\u2019ve added explanations of each measure, based on widely-held interpretations.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Political power only exists to allow one class to oppress another.<\/strong> The Proletariat will only briefly be the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/dominant-caste\/\">ruling class<\/a>. After the above measures have been carried out and all class distinctions fade, political power will cease to exist.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-responses-to-criticism\"><strong>Responses to Criticism<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>The critics of Communist beliefs, such as the Bourgeoisie, don\u2019t have a lot of ground to stand on when they address the principles of Communism. Communists can address all of their criticisms, particularly the ones about abolishment. <strong>Many of the things communists want to \u201cabolish\u201d have already been abolished\u2014by the Bourgeoisie\u2014for the majority of the population.<\/strong> For example, the only people who have private property are the 10% of the population that makes up the Bourgeoisie.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Here are some criticisms of Communist beliefs and how Communists respond using the principles of Marxism. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><strong>Communism encourages universal laziness.<\/strong> If abolishing private property led to universal laziness, everyone would already be lazy, because wage-earners make up most of the population and don\u2019t have any private property.&nbsp;<\/li><li><strong>Communism destroys culture. <\/strong>The Bourgeoisie have already destroyed the culture of the working class by viewing people as commodities.<\/li><li><strong>Communism attacks freedom. <\/strong>The Communists oppose free trade because it leads to the exploitation of workers. They don\u2019t oppose freedom in general.<\/li><li><strong>Communism destroys family structures.<\/strong> Again, the Bourgeoisie has already destroyed the family structure. Proletariat children are exploited and forced to work.<\/li><li><strong>Communism erases national borders.<\/strong> The Proletariat doesn\u2019t have a country anymore\u2014they\u2019re not people, they\u2019re commodities\u2014so it&#8217;s impossible to abolish something that doesn\u2019t exist. The Proletariat is international and the main differences between people are class distinctions. Conflicts between countries will die out as conflicts between classes die out.<\/li><li><strong>Communism upheaves the educational system.<\/strong> The Communists didn\u2019t invent schools or the idea that society should have a hand in education. The Communists simply want school to be available to everyone, not just the Bourgeoisie.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><strong>Communism makes women collective property.<\/strong> This criticism is rooted in misdefinition of the principles of Marxism. The Communists do want all property and tools to be common, but unlike Bourgeoisie men, Communists don\u2019t consider women to be tools or property. In fact, the Bourgeoisie have done more to create a \u201ccommunity of women\u201d than the Communists ever will\u2014Bourgeoisie men regularly visit prostitutes and sleep with each other\u2019s wives.<\/li><li><strong>Communist beliefs destroys religion. <\/strong>Religion\u2019s ideas and values normally change and evolve over time. Communism isn\u2019t changing anything that isn\u2019t already editable.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Now that you know and understand the principles of Communism, you can think about Communist ideas and arguments regarding this ideology. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>What are the principles of Communism? What do they mean and how would they work in a Communist society? The principles of Communism revolve mainly around taking wealth and power from the bourgeoisie class and giving it to the Proletariat, the working people. Read more about the principles of Communism and what they mean.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":17074,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21,24],"tags":[144],"class_list":["post-17070","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-philosophy","category-society","tag-the-communist-manifesto","","tg-column-two"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v24.3 (Yoast SEO v24.3) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>The Principles of Communism and How They Work - Shortform Books<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"What are the principles of communism? 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