Is Communism a Religion?
While I pretended to go to college many many moons ago during the height of the Cold War, my philosophy teacher gave us an assignment. Hardly even an assignment to many, because he said it did not HAVE to be typed. He would accept submissions on the rubric that were written in longhand. They just had to be legible.
The topic was Is Communism a Religion? For once, I was able to put pen to paper and put something down rather quickly. I had already given the topic much thought given my extreme fascination with politics even as a child. I spun it out in Spencerian script and gleefully turned it in. I got an A on that essay and it was one of the few As I got in my aborted college career.
That is all that I ever really think about it when I consider it in a nostalgic fashion. It was my first an only A during that skit I spent pretending to go to an institution of higher learning. Lately, it has come to mind a lot as I try to market my book, Libertarian-Socialism: American Style. I am getting tons and tons of heat about how socialism IS Communism. I cannot believe how confused Americans are about socialism.
My essay seems more germane than ever now because my basic premise was that Communism was clearly a religion. There were so many utopian dreams that made up the assumptions of Communism that they could never actually exist in the real world. They could be goals in one’s mind but they would never be achieved actually in the real world. From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs. Surely, it is a great concept and one that is admirable in its conception. However, it is not really going to work on this planet with these humans.
Anyone believing that a pure version of communism that creates a worker’s paradise on this planet is trafficking in religious faith. It cannot happen. That is why China is doing whatever it is doing over there because it surely does not seem to be adhering to these principles. I see it as authoritarian capitalism because the actual goals of communism cannot keep Xi in power. LOL
Capitalism though is also a religion. Pure unregulated capitalism that yields the most good for the most people is also a fantasy. In practice, there will always be an advantage to be exploited. Once there is an advantage it can be further exploited. Monopolies are born vertically and horizontally. Such advantages crush all competition which in the end yields the best results for a select few. Sound familiar Jeff Bezos?
A more realistic way to view capitalism is as the opposite end of the economic spectrum as communism. Each is a fantastical paradise view of how things “should” work. Socialism, in all its many flavors, is what lies between these two extremes. Some version of socialism must be practiced by all societies, there is always a need for collective action. There is also a need for a reward for hard work, so as to create a dynamic meritocracy.
America used to be that meritocracy before the capitalist priests started preaching their selfish doctrine and corrupting the average American’s understanding of social policy. There has to be a social contract between the government and the people. Social democracy is the best way to create a sustainable one.
