The word “communism” has power – it generates fear and hatred, inspires lifelong commitment, and arouses intense debate.   Americans have strong opinions about communism and most consider themselves anti-communist.

This anti-communism is puzzling. By definition communism is an economic system that benefits the vast majority. Webster’s New Universal Unabridged Dictionary defines communism as an economic theory or system of the ownership of all means of production (and distribution) by the community or society, with all members of the community or society sharing in the work and the products.

Capitalism, on the other hand, is an economic system that benefits the few at the expense of the many. Webster’s New Universal Unabridged Dictionary defines capitalism as the economic system in which all or most of the means of production and distribution, as land, factories, railroads, etc. are privately owned and operated for profit, originally under fully competitive conditions: it has been generally characterized by a tendency toward concentration of wealth, and in its later phase, by the growth of great corporations, increased governmental control, etc.

Myths about Communism

American anti-communism is grounded in a misunderstanding of communism and capitalism. Like other ideologies of the ruling class, such as white supremacy, anti-communism subverts the development of class consciousness and ties the working class to the dominant class.  The media, politicians, educational establishments, religious institutions and other purveyors of ideas have a full arsenal of anti-communist myths and lies, including: (1) Capitalism equals democracy, (2) Communism doesn’t work, (3) Communism is the same as Marxism.  Let’s examine these misconceptions.

Myth # 1 That capitalism and democracy are one and the same. Democracy is a political system. Capitalism is an economic system. To equate one with the other is like equating factories and religion, one is the economic basis of society, the other is in the realm of the superstructure. By saying democracy and capitalism are the same, the U.S. is able to make it appear that defense of democracy is defense of the U.S., and that the United States has the right to impose its brand of democracy on the rest of the world. The superstructure – the ideas, political system, legal system, religion and culture – that arise on the basis of a particular economic system can vary greatly in degrees of democracy. The capitalist country of Denmark, for example, has a high level of democracy where people of all classes live comfortably. Nazi Germany was capitalist, as was South Africa with its brutal apartheid system

The economic system with the greatest equality of wealth and income provides the strongest base for the highest level of democracy.  The fullest expression of democracy can only arise on the basis of a communist economic system.

Myth #2 Communism doesn’t work.  By the dictionary definition of communism no country in our lifetime has yet been able to establish a communist economic system. Countries like the Soviet Union and China where the proletariat came to power during the industrial revolution and sought to establish communist economic systems, were unable to achieve their goal.  They were prevented from reaching full communism – in large part — because the level of technology available at that time could not produce the abundance necessary to provide for the material wellbeing of the whole community.  The Soviet Union was overthrown; communism was not.

Myth # 3 Communism is the same as Marxism.  Communism is not a new phenomenon and did not come into being with Marx.   For over a million years, human society was organized on the basis of communist economic relations.  People lived in hunting and gathering groups where cooperation was essential to survival.  Human society organized into economic classes — with a dominant class living off the labor of exploited classes — is relatively new, and the economic system of capitalism has existed for less than 600 years.  Almost all of human history is the history of common ownership of the means of production and distribution.

American Culture Fuels Anti-Communism

The unique history and culture of the United States makes Americans particularly susceptible to anti-communist propaganda.  The propaganda’s success rests on and is integrally tied to the objective economic realities of American life.  Each supports the other in sustaining the power of the ruling class.

Unlike most countries, the United States never went through a period of feudalism. The European conquerors and colonizers slaughtered the peoples of the continent and obliterated their communal societies. The war for freedom from British control was an all-class war for national liberation. Further, American capitalism was developed on the back of African American slavery. The frontier and the freedom it held out for working people to own and farm their own land laid the material base  for the ideas of “American exceptionalism” – the view that the United States, unlike all other capitalist societies, has eliminated classes. This concept fuels American individualism, white supremacy and anti-communism.

During periods of heightened class conflict such as the 1930’s Depression, the American working class was drawn toward communism.  With the dramatic success of the proletariat in the Soviet Union under the leadership of its Communist Party, the Communist Party of the United States grew rapidly in numbers and influence.

The United States and Soviet alliance against fascist Germany won sympathy for communism among large numbers of Americans.  In response to communism’s optimistic message of working class victory from oppression and exploitation, the ruling class moved swiftly in its own self interest to squelch the growing sympathy for communism. 

Following World War II, the United States entered a long period of economic growth at the expense of the colonial peoples of the world.  Full employment and rising wages bribed the American working class into discarding its sympathy for communism. The Soviet Union was denounced as the source of all evil, school children huddled under their desks in fear of a Soviet nuclear bomb.

The Cold War was born out of US imperialism. All Americans were persuaded to believe that their common interests as Americans outweighed their class differences. They have come to think that the only class that can represent American interests abroad is the ruling class. Anti-communism subverts the unity of the international working class, and has prevented American workers from expressing their solidarity with the struggles of workers in other countries.

Ending Anti-Communism

Anti-communism is prevalent today even though the material base for anti-communism has been fundamentally eroded by revolutionary changes in the economy.  The introduction of electronics into production has created a revolutionary increase in productivity.  This new technology can produce an abundance of goods without human labor and for the first time in history makes possible a communist economic system that can provide a paradise for all.

Under capitalism, this new technology throws workers permanently out of production, thus preventing them from earning a living wage. These workers form the core of a new impoverished class whose demands for food, clothing, housing, health care and education can only be satisfied by the reorganization of society. Only a communist economic system that can distribute the necessaries of life according to need can meet the demands of this class. Thus, for the first time in history, an objective communist class is forming to become the foundation of a communist political movement.

Take up this vision of an economic paradise for all, and champion it.  Educate the emerging leaders of the objective communist movement.  The future is ours to choose.

 

March.2007.Vol17.Ed2
This article originated in Rally, Comrades!
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