The Economics of Why Communism Failed
Let’s keep it simple.
Communism developed in the midst of the 19th century in Europe based on the observation that one class, the bourgeois, exploited another class, the proletariat, and got rich out of it.
To solve this, the communists proposed to nullify the classes in order to suppress the antagonism between then.
The idea was to replace the free market capitalist economy with a man-made, planned communist economy where everyone would have an equal job and an equal amount of food, drinks, and clothing to transform society into one class of people.
In theory, it was beautiful. In practice, it didn’t work at all.
Here’s why.
The Problem of Guarantees
Communism is a system that guarantees resources without asking for anything in exchange.
Let me explain.
The communists told the people that they would receive food and shelter “hoarded by the rich”.
But food and shelter don’t magically appear out of nowhere. Someone has to produce them!
The communists quickly realized that. Since they had committed to delivering stuff, they now had to find people to produce them.