I’m not looking for an essay, here. I’m writing something and I want to kind of have a starting point as to what to research if I’m looking for common/popular criticisms of communism. Any books/authors would be helpful, general summaries of common criticisms would be great. However, I DO NOT WANT a rant and rave about why communism sucks. That’s not going to help me as much as a formulated or informative list of disagreements. I still want something to research.

Thanks in advanced for your help!

No personal enterprise, no ebay, can’t startup your own biz, all biz is state owned.

Have they veered to far of course from the original ideology to still be considered to be the same ideology. It seems that Soviet and Chinese variations of communism seem to be far more authoritarian and totalitarian than what Marx would have liked.
Also when people go around calling people (mostly politicians) "communists" as a way of instilling fear into others, are they referring to Marxist communism? Because to be honest, Marxist communism does not seem to be all that bad. It seems like it’s fighting for the people and is trying to prevent them from being taken advantage of.

Marx wanted to transition into communism from state socialism, China and he Soviet Union never really became communist. However Mao did start people’s communes in China but they ended after Mao died.

Do conservatives realize that communism and socialism are not the same thing? I’ve notice that conservatives (and liberals sometimes) tend to get communism and communist parties mixed up. They talk about communism as if its this horrible form of government that is run by a dictator when in reality communists are against the state. It just seems like people make generalizations with out understanding what they are generalizing. Like, they group communism, socialism, anarchism and atheism in one group as if they are the same thing. Am I on track or am I missing something here?

We know the difference between ideal communism (which would be the best form of government) and real communism (which is what actually happens).

In ideal communism, everyone is taken care of, there are no classes so everyone is equal. The country flourishes because all needs are met and no one has any reason to commit crime.

In real communism, one person takes charge and it usually becomes a totalitarian regime. The leaders become insanely rich and everyone else becomes dirt poor. The needs of the people are not met because since all the lower class people are equal, there is no ambition to innovate and advance. There are no reasons to take risks, just work the minimum to get you daily rations.

Anarchism is a lack of government, sounds ok until you realize that anyone can get away with anything.

Atheism has nothing to do with government. It literally means "against God," however, a lot of people who claim to be atheist are more agnostic, not thinking (or refusing to think) there is God.

Socialism is where the government provides basic things (water, electricity, healthcare, TV, internet, phone). Doesn’t sound bad until you realize, the government controls all your basics. They get to say what you watch, what sites you go to, and the scariest one what health service you can get. Also, taxes have to be much higher to support all these things, and you know how inefficient the government you can be.

I know there is one but since i do not know exactly what it is i should probably know for sure.

i always was just under the understanding that communism aims for exactly equal wealth all around (whether or not you believe it is possible/a good idea i’ll leave to you). Socialism is not as involved. maybe just providing certain services (like health care) and with high taxes.

is this a correct general understanding?

Socialism was a stop gap for communism it was introduced into the U K and europe to keep them from becoming communist

Communism, being the controlled equality side, and anarchy, being the freedom side.

Which form of government would or could have the perfect balance between these two?

We’re in it. It’s called a Republic.

George Orwell was watched, as he was believed to be a communist.
MI5 states on one of their history pages that Communism is a threat, but what is the official view?

I believe USA and UK knew the truth that no one tried communist system by its strict definition…. China is a State Capitalist while Russia is a totalitarian government that is breaking up into small capitalist states… Karl Marx’ vision has never been achieved yet,and in fact he said, just like those religious icons, it will be a last form of government system globally and it will require complete transformation…- And it is beginning to become evident as climate change is beginning to be so evident as well, and nuclear holocaust is indeed a real threat on society built on greed and mistrust… These two nations are definitely contemplating on such system…

I’m doing this essay on: how did the Australian government respond to the threat of communism after World War II (arrrgh history homework).

In my essay I wrote about the Korean war and Australia’s involvement, the SEATO, the ANZUS Treaty, and the Cold War spy drama on Petrov Affair (the Russian spy). How should I conclude my essay? (In two or three sentences) Please help me! Thank you!

If it’s just a conclusion you’re after, the key thing is to emphasize key points from the main body of your essay…….DON’T add new info here. Also don’t forget the vietnam war and the posturing of the Aussie Defence force in the north if you haven’t already got these in your essay. The main thing with essays is to keep it simple. I know I may not be of too much help, but I can’t see what you’ve written. Good luck !!

I keep hearing that China, Vietnam and Cuba are socialism countries, but I also hear that they are communism countries…

Can you list some examples of each?

Well if Obama wins we’re going to on the Socialism list.

I need some help. I’ve been assigned the task of making a powerpoint about communism to present to the rest of the peeps in my global history class. The problem is that they are a bunch of freshman and will have no idea what big words like "the proletariat" mean. Does anyone have any tips to get me going?

Communism as a theory goes back long before Karl Marx, and has been practised in a variety of ways. Marx’s version, as modified by Lenin and Stalin, gave it a very bad rep.
The theory is that all production (manufacturing, farming, sales, etc) should be in the hands of the government for the benefit of the workers, as opposed to capitalism, in which producers are private, and any "surplus value" (profit) can be kept by the owners of the means of production.
It might be worth devoting a couple minutes to showing a few of the terms of jargon, explaining what they mean (proletariat=a fancy word for workers), and toss in a few comments about how the more fancy the language the more likely someone is trying to fool you. Forex, proletariat is supposed to make workers feel they are part of a movement, not just a worker.

Both socialism and communism are based on the principle that the goods and services produced in an economy should be owned publicly, and controlled and planned by a centralized organization. Socialism asserts that the distribution should take place according to the amount of individuals’ production efforts, however, while communism asserts that that goods and services should be distributed among the populace according to individuals’ needs.

Personally I’ll stick with Capitalism Thank you!

Neither.

I am for free enterprise and lots of competition! Capitalism is the BEST form of Financial freedom because Competition keeps any one group or govt from having a monopoly.