Essay Sample on Communism: A Classless System With Communal Power for Improved Poverty Alleviation

Introduction

Communism refers to political and economic ideation in which a classless system is in play, and the means of production are owned communally. The ownership of private property is also eradicated. In such economies, the factors of production are held jointly, which are aimed at eliminating the need for social classing or grouping. Communism was introduced as a measure against uneven resource distribution with the belief in communal power as a significant building block towards improving the political and economic activity of a given state.

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Why Communist Regimes Failed

Karl Marx was of the view that a community should be one in which factors and means of production are communally owned, properties are shared, and everyone benefits from everybody's work. As such, these communal regimes and ideation were able to be implemented across several states in the world to some extent, with collective benefits lasting for a given period. However, multiple unforeseen factors hindered the formation of a classless state (Hedin, 2019). Communism became a political liability in that several countries and regions could not maintain the need for a classless society as they experienced many struggles and dictatorship due to ideas being centrally organized.

Some of the reasons why communist regimes failed were that communist states lacked incentives through which citizens could earn or produce profit gains since profit gains meant the existence of competition and innovation to society. However, a citizen to such states would not achieve such profit gains as they were selflessly focused on mutual benefit and not personal interests. Furthermore, there were numerous inherent inefficiencies in the systems functioning due to centralized planning and control of production (Hedin, 2019). Such planning forms required the use of aggression and an unlimited amount of data, which made it complicated in that not everyone in the society had the same interests, and not all products produced favored everyone.

Such states were prone to errors and relied on planned statistics to create an illusion of progress. Also, the centralization of power only to a few selected heads promoted inefficiency while giving them unlimited access in which they could manipulate the economy for their profit gains and retain power rights (Hedin, 2019). Corruption and laziness became paramount, causing effective paralysis in such economic states.

An example of a failed communist regime would be that of the Soviet Union. Communism was promoted in Russia after the civil war in which Vladimir Lenin would gain uncontrollable power due to the civil war happenings. He, however, died and was succeeded by Joseph Stalin, who used the communist regime to promote ethnic brutality and deaths forcing the country into using forced agricultural collectivization. The country developed into a one-party state that prohibited the privatization of means of production and owned controlling rights over their industrial, agricultural, and banking systems (Hedin, 2019). Their central planning systems provided for rapid growth. However, emphasis on heavy industry resulted in the underproduction of goods as the consumers could not afford such products. A period of decline ran throughout the country as multiple black markets were established, and considerable damage occurred. Corruption became paramount, leading to the collapse of the Soviet Union and Communism as a whole.

China also underwent a similar process to the Soviet Union. It entered into an era of immense economic growth coupled with extreme dictatorship from Mao Zedong's rule and diplomatic split with the capitalist west. His government involved oppression, deprivation, violence, and insistence on the purity of ideologies. China's rural population was forced into producing numerous industrial steel with negligence on food production (Hedin, 2019). The industrial irons were of low quality and could not be sold while food production stalled, causing millions of people to starve to death. Communism became a point of reference with the need to adopt better and capitalistic views being preferred.

Could Communism be replaced by Capitalism?

My opinion is that communism, as a governing rule, would still fail even if it were to be replaced by Capitalism. In Capitalism, factors of production are privately owned with the owners set their own rules on how and what is produced, and competition is based on demand and supply. Both states of affairs are it Communism or Capitalism promote acts of dictatorship in that profit gains do not reach those of lower-class setting. In contrast, the ones in power dictate the market flow, profit gains, and uncontrolled need for dictatorship powers. Such avenues, therefore, led to reduced knowledge acquisition while emphasizing the use of cohesion and extortion to achieve any progress.

Conclusion

In summary, Communism as a legislative which aims at a classless society and equitable sharing faces multiple setbacks. It becomes an avenue for dictatorship and unprecedented use of dictatorship and extorsion to achieve profit gains. As such, leading figureheads can, at times, bring unnecessary harm and poverty to a state that employs Communism due to the centralization of power and inadequate knowledge use. The system is quite restrictive, causing tension and strain on facilities and amenities produced for communal use and consumption.

Reference

Hedin, A. (2019). Illiberal deliberation: Communist Regime Travel Controls as State Capacity in Everyday World Politics. Cooperation and Conflict, 54(2), 211-233. https://scholar.google.com/scholar?output=instlink&q=info:khFcChjuXmQJ:scholar.google.com/&hl=en&as_sdt=0,5&as_ylo=2019&scillfp=15326008219678422915&oi=lle