Discuss:
The crimes of the communist regimes are well known, but the
demonisation of communism and the distortion of history have surely
more to do with the vitality of the utopian ideas which communism still
represents, rather than an attempt to report historical truths?
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9 responses
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Back in my school days I was set an essay “was collectivisation a success?” I wrote a piece explaining that the question was meaningless to any halfway decent human being, in the same way that “Was the holocaust a success?” would be.
It did not go down well.
The point of this aside is… what demonisation of Communism? Where is it demonised and what are the house prices there like? -
We need to demonise communism because cranks like this writer still think it might be a good idea to give it another go.
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Some people will always be too stupid or too blind to reality to realise that the practicalities of large political structures mean that despite good intentions, any communist organisation will fail into anarchy or dictatorship (or both).
There is no requirement (outside of some weirder academic circles) for us, nor should we, indulge them in their delusions.
Of course, bureaucratic inertia and rose-tinted spectacles mean that the inevitable failure may take some considerable time. That is where the opportunities for much of the economic and structural disaster, never mind the legally sanctioned (and other) torture and murder, arise.
S-E -
Utopian??
C’mon. Marx claimed his dialectical analysis of the eternal contradictions of capitalism was “scientific”, as was his prediction that the contradictions would only be resolved by the inevitable revolution which resulted in communism, a state of affairs where each worked according to their ability and received according to their needs.
As readers can easily confirm, he was altogether contemptuous of “utopian” prescriptions:
http://www.anu.edu.au/polsci/marx/classics/manifesto.html
Readers can also confirm that according to the preface by Engels for the English edition of Capital of 1886:
“Surely, at such a moment, the voice ought to be heard of a man whose whole theory is the result of a lifelong study of the economic history and condition of England, and whom that study led to the conclusion that, at least in Europe, England is the only country where the inevitable social revolution might be effected entirely by peaceful and legal means. He certainly never forgot to add that he hardly expected the English ruling classes to submit, without a ‘pro-slavery rebellion,’ to this peaceful and legal revolution.”
http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1867-c1/p6.htm -
When considering how the Communists have been demonised it’s difficult not to compare them to how the Nazis have been portrayed. Both killed millions, (exact numbers are just pedantic), the Soviet leaders killed millions of their own, the Chinese have, Fidel has as did Hitler. I always find it odd though how much emphasis on the history channels is put on the Nazi crimes compared to the Communist crimes. Similarly I find it odd that I could walk down a street with a hammer and sickle or Che T-shirt and nobody would even notice, but if I had a Swastika I’d be beaten to death.
I’ve never had the chance, but I’d like to ask a Pole who they think was worse, the Commies or the Nazis.
As for utopian ideas on either right or left, I think most of us long ago recognised the dangers of such thinking. -
Magnusw, I agree with you completely. Che is a hero. Pinochet is (rightly) despised. Crimes against humanity are okay providing you’re from the left it seems.
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“I always find it odd though how much emphasis on the history channels is put on the Nazi crimes compared to the Communist crimes.”
Especially since Stalin evidently had no insuperable objections to the Soviet Union signing a Friendship Treaty with Nazi Germany on 28 September 1939 when Britain and France were already at war with Germany – reference: Norman Davies: Europe (OUP, 1996) p.1000.
Btw on estimates of the respective numbers killed by the leading totalitarian states in the 20th century, excluding war dead, try this website:
http://www.hawaii.edu/powerkills/20TH.HTM -
Which 20th century slaughters weren’t in the name of some variety of socialism? Rwanda, the Armenians, the Rape of Nanking..? What have I missed? (I mean huge slaughters, not slaughter ordinaire.)
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You mean Hitler was a Socialist?
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