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The problem with Communism is the innate nature of man. It goes back a long, long way. Early Christians lived communally. Annanias and Sapphira sold property and brought only a portion of the proceeds for the common good. Had they honestly said that they were presenting only part of the money and wanted to keep some for themselves they would have had no problem, but fearing they would have to part with more than they wanted to, they lied and were striken dead. Unfortunately, there are always those who want to horde a bigger piece of the pie, whether it be wealth or power.

What inspired the theories that led to present day communism or authoritarian socialism? One cannot tell by knowing of the lives of the men who spawned the theory. Two men, Karl Marx and Frederich Engels are credited with the birth of this form of social structure, neither of whom ever went without, but I will focus on Karl Marx as he is the better known of the two.

Karl Marx was born in the German town of Trier in 1818 to upper middle class parents. In his youth he seemed to be proud of the stature of his father who was a lawyer and owned a vineyard. In spite of this comfortable social status, Karl had a proclivity for biting criticism and abuse. Some called his personality mean.

He attended the University of Bonn where he drank profusely and spent his father's money . His father transferred him to the University of Berlin hoping to change his reckless behavior, but the move changed him not a whit. He has sometimes been called the patron saint of unwashed, unshaved, unkempt college students. He wavered in his studies between philosophy and law and became a follower of GWF Hegel. Marx never actually completed college but sent a thesis on Greek philosophy to the University of Jena, an early diploma mill, and was awarded a doctorate.

Marx and Engels joined forces and wrote of the class struggle between the proletariat and the capitalists, titling the work "The Communist Manifesto". It included a ten point plan to carve despotic inroads into the rights of property:
1. Abolition of property in land & application of all rents of land to public purposes 2. A heavy, progressive or graduated income tax 3. Abolition of all right of inheritance 4. Confiscation of the property of all emigrants and rebels 5. Centralization of credit in the hands of the state by means of a national bank
with state capital and an exclusive monopoly 6. Centralization of the means of communication and transport in the hands

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