by Jerry Curtis

Created on: October 31, 2009

The problems with Communism are directly related to its historical failure as a system of government and social control. Those problems are that (1) it relies on the false premise that as a system it will inevitably triumph because it has history on its side; (2) it fails to take into account that human beings are inherently motivated by self-interest; and (3) it cannot survive unless it is universal.

(1) The False Premise of Historical Inevitability

Marxists view human history as essentially a universally applicable class struggle that knows no generational or national boundaries. That applicability is translated into a view that, since the struggle never stops, those "on the bottom" will eventually overcome the forces of economic oppression will one day bring about the socialist paradise promised by Karl Marx. In the meantime, Marxists tell us, the revolution has not been successful because those in the middle (the so-called bourgeoisie) have been bought off.

The premise is false because it has been proven to be so. For example, two world wars witnessed the working classes of the warring nations willingly slaughtering each other in the name of nationalism. In one of the breath-taking ironies of warfare, even the Soviet Union referred to its war against Germany as a great "patriotic" struggle.

(2) Human beings are inherently motivated by self-interest.

The collectivist approach of Communism has been consistently trumped as simple human greed and self-interest take over. The "workers paradise" of the Soviet Union quickly developed its own privileged ruling class, who turned out to be ruling elite. Communism is supposed to rely on selfless devotion to the state and the common good. People are not wired towards total selflessness.

(3) It cannot survive unless it is universal.

The Soviet Union collapsed because it could not compete with western ideas and an economic system that produced wealth and prosperity for its citizens. In the isolated pockets of Communism that still exist (China, Cuba and North Korea), Communism either relies on the "cult of personality," (Cuba) outside support (North Korea), or concessions to the profit motivation of capitalism (China). Cuba will one day soon return to the mainstream as the Castro brothers leave the scene. North Korea will someday go the way of the Soviets when it reunites with the South, and Chinese communism will succumb to the pressures of free market forces when its people no longer accept the rule of the few.

So, what's wrong with Communism is that it is a flawed, failed system based on a false premise. It cannot flourish in isolation, and people who have to live under this ghastly system eventually get rid of it.

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