Reply #34: I call it Soviet-style communism. [View All]

Communism only works when all involved decide to give up their capital willingly and pool it in common. As a result, it may indeed work in small numbers or on the local level, but at the national level? I don't think so. You have the freedom to establish a commune of like-minded individuals who all give to each other, but the frank truth is not all people think like that, especially those who profit off the existing order that this new way of living seeks to supplant, but when you seek to force your way on others, it's illogical not to expect conflict, especially from those who were made truly wealthy from the pre-existing system however inequitable it may be.

What causes people to die in political conflict is when people turn communism into a dogma as opposed to merely a guidepost by which to mark one's position in relation to it. The same applies for capitalism. We only need to study Pinochet free-marketeerism to see what happens when dogmatic faith replaces reason in deciding economic models. Dogma, by its very nature, is narrow-minded and exclusionary because one of the operating principles is that its way is the correct way and no other.