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this post was submitted on 17 May 2025
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Asklemmy
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You're missing the entire point of government.
The goal of communism is control. It always has been. It always will be.
Why?
Because it is a system of governance designed by and used for controlling humans.
Government owned does NOT mean it is owned by the people. It simply means it's owned by the people who control the government.
You are very close. Government owned does mean its owned by the people who control the government. 100%. But who controls the government? In the west, government is largely controlled by the wealthy (industry lobbying is an easy example). So then how do we have a government that is controlled by the masses?
This is where the type of government called a socialist government comes in. Communism, on the other hand, is some distant future where humanity no longer has to worry about scarcity, and all ideas of money and state are gone.
So a communist party is named thusly to say "we wish to work towards that goal, but recognize that there are steps required to get there". For example: increasing the democratic control of a country, both politically and economically, while decreasing the influence of capitalists, whose interests are in contradiction to the interests of those who work for a living (or need to sell their labour to make a living, since labour is the only commodity most of us control).
I think breaking down concentrations of power a returning it directly to those most affected by it on a local basis aligns more with that stated goals. I think utopian communism obscures the attainable and effective ways of morphing the structure of our political reality.
Except how are you going to change society without some form of power, which forces you to use the state? I wouldn't call it utopian what they were describing, while anarchism to me sounds more utopian. Without the power to defend yourselves, the power of capitalists, current, former, or foreign will destroy you.
Mores against concentrations of power, the folk wisdom to spot and unwind them and a taboo against abyone concentrating inordinate power onto their persons. A rejection of collaboration with those who wield leverage to orchestrate others intobdoing their bidding. A taboo against the trade of a human's future labour profits. A taboo against non-working shareholders or any third party get a cut of profits. Destroy stock markets.
The people who control the government in Capitalism is the Capitalists, the people who control the government in Socialism is the working class, and the people who control the government in Communism is the people. That's the point of Communism.
Lol no its not.
There would be what we would consider a "government" in Communism, just not a "state," ie heavily militarized police to resolve class contradictions in the favor of whoever controls the state, the workers or the Capitalists. Anarchists want full horizontalism, Marxists want full public ownership.