How Long will Communist Societies Last? Well, NOT Long.

As you probably know, there are rich and poor people in the world. Being rich seems like fun! While being poor is challenging. But have you ever imagined a place where everyone has the same amount of money? That can happen with Communism. Seems like a pretty good government, right? If you think so, get ready because I can prove you wrong.

Communism is an ideology developed by a German philosopher named Karl Marx. During the Industrial Revolution in America, he came up with an idea of a place where everyone has neither more nor less than the person next to them. His slogan was, “From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs.” But this was just an idea Karl Marx had at a time when there was extreme poverty in urban cities. He didn’t know that communism will actually take away the citizen’s rights and pursuit of happiness. Communism, in reality, is different from what Karl Marx had imagined at that time. Communism is a poor ideology and form of government. It makes people lose their incentive to do hard work, and supply and demand are difficult to balance. Try to imagine that you own a revolutionary business like google, amazon, or apple. Would you want to get the profit the company makes? Or would you want the government to take it and distribute it among the whole nation? I believe you would want to get the money you deserve after all that hard work! Well, in a communist society, you get the same as everyone else no matter what.

Communism is a poor ideology and form of government because it makes people lose their incentive to do hard work and supply and demand are difficult to balance.

Wouldn’t it be cool to live in a world with no competition? Imagine everyone getting paid the same amount. But, there’s a problem with that type of world. Why would anyone want to do good in work or do something extra if they’re just going to get the same salary as someone who doesn’t do their work properly? This is where communism fails, people aren’t motivated to do more than normal, and this stops the country’s progression.

Communism makes people lose their incentive to do hard work.

This can be seen in the article A Lack of Incentives in Communist Societies by Emily Parrish when it says that workers don’t have the motivation to do hard work because everyone is paid the same. Steve Jobs and his team worked day and night until they were able to make the first iPhone. However, in a communist society, no one would want to do that. Managers in communist societies have trouble encouraging their employees to do more than the minimum required. This shows that a society where no one is appreciated and given more for their work can not be productive because they are paid the same as people who do the minimum and also those who slack.

Workers did many things in secret to get what they thought they deserved and admit that they slacked off at work because there was no way they could obtain more than they did. According to Work Ethic and Motivation by Stanford Education, a statistic says “in the former USSR, over 50% of the work force admitted to drinking alcohol while on the job. Furthermore, unbeknownst to the communist party, nearly 40% chose to work a second job privately to attain more wealth”. This shows that half the people admitted to slack off by drinking alcohol at work. This clearly shows that people were not happy with their job and wealth, but they couldn’t do anything about it so they decided to take it easy. Many people also secretly worked a second job to attain money. So people wanted to do hard work, but they weren’t happy since they got no more than others for it. For this reason, people took two jobs to have more than others. Getting the same amount of money does not motivate people to do their best at work. Instead, it makes them lazy. Without a prize (like money) to work for, people don’t try to do their best, and that is why communism always fails.

In a communist society, there is one group of people that owns every single business in that community. That group of people is the government. Surprising, but the truth. The government gets all the profit but still doesn’t pay attention to their citizens’ needs.

Supply and demand are difficult to balance in a communist society.

In the article Economic Systems: Capitalism, Communism, and Socialism by William C. Spaulding, it says, “communist economies are not efficient and because of the Communist Party’s desire to retain power, most economic resources were devoted to industrialization and to the military, depriving consumers of food and other necessary products, causing intense competition for these limited necessities, where many people had to wait in long lines for common consumer goods, such as toilet paper.” This tells us that the government takes the money they get from the community’s businesses and uses it for the country or region, they don’t take the citizen’s needs into consideration. The same amount of supply is provided even if the demand is high or if it is low. This causes competition between people for the simplest things because the amount is limited.

When citizens in communist societies don’t get the things they need from shops, they find other ways to get them. This can be seen in the article What is Communism? by Kimberly Amadeo, when it says, “To compensate, citizens create a market to trade the things the planners don’t provide, which destroys the trust in Marx’s pure communism. People no longer feel the government can give “to each according to his needs.” Well, this proves that communism has failed to provide “to each according to his needs” because people don’t think their government, or in other words, the planner of the communist society, can give them what they need. For this reason, they have to make private trade markets. This shows that citizens aren’t happy about this unbalance in supply and demand.

The government owns all the businesses in the society, yet still doesn’t provide supplies the consumers need when they need them the most. Instead, they spend it on the nation. Therefore, helping the community is prioritized more than doing what is good for their citizens and their needs. This disobeys the original ideology of Communism developed by Karl Marx. Communism does not balance supply according to its demand by citizens.

People who believe that Communism is good may argue that Communism is better for the community’s economy.

In the article What is Communism? by Kimberly Amadeo, it says, “Communism has a centrally planned economy; it can quickly mobilize economic resources on a large scale, execute massive projects, and create industrial power. It can move so effectively because it overrides individual self-interest and subjugates the welfare of the general population to achieve critical social goals.” Yes, it is true that Communism can quickly change according to the planned economy. However, as you can see, it clearly says that the way it effectively changes so fast is by overriding individual self-interests. If you have a 6-hour job, to accomplish what the “planner” of the community wants, they can make you do 12-hour shifts or work every day and not increase your salary a bit. That’s how communism works! They can do a lot and earn a lot for the community, but the citizens have to compromise for it. Nothing is done for the citizens’ happiness, it’s done for the community’s prosperity.

In another article called, 19 Advantages and Disadvantages of Communism, by Keith Miller, says, “Many of the leaders are in charge for life, even though they might not hold a title from monarchy. This structure makes it easier for the leadership to transform the economic vision of the country to what the person in charge wants.” It says that the leaders are in charge for their whole life and that they can change society according to their vision. Having a community so dependent on a dictator is a huge risk. That leader can be good or bad, and the people can’t do anything about it because it’s not a democracy, it’s a dictatorship. Here are some examples where communism went wrong with the wrong “planner” or in other words leader. Pol Pot was a communist leader who caused genocide and caused 1.7 million deaths. Another example is Ho Chi Min. He made his powers stronger and set up a captain against his own people. He made people confess to things he believed, and many were killed and tortured in the process. He caused 3.7 million deaths. Lastly one of the biggest failed communist dictators in history is Joseph Stalin. He was basically like another Hitler. He was not only a bad father and husband, but he was a terrible dictator! He caused 23 million deaths! So, it’s not a very good idea to give all the power to one person, however, Communism wouldn’t work without it because, with everyone on the same level, a power vacuum is created on the top.

Communism is better for the community’s economy. But that does not mean that it is better for the citizens who live there. Citizens have no freedom of speech and pursuit of happiness. They must follow the planner and do what they say at all times. So even though Communism can quickly and effectively accomplish economic goals, it’s not worth the sacrifice the citizens make.

It’s clear, Communism is not a good way to run a community. First, because people no longer want to do more than they are expected to do which can make them lazy and unmotivated. Second, because communism doesn’t provide each according to their needs and has a hard time balancing supply and demand. So, if you were thinking of moving to a communist society, I believe you would think twice now. If you are an overachiever, you are definitely not going to like the fact that you have the same money as everyone around you, and no matter what you achieve it will remain that way. And if you are a work-shy person, remember that the government can change your work shift to whatever they want in order to accomplish the planner’s vision. So, are the pros of communism really worth the cons?

Citations:

1. Parrish, Emily. “A Lack of Incentives in Communist Societies.” Bear Market, 9 May 2018, bearmarketreview.wordpress.com/2018/05/09/a-lack-of-incentives-in-communist-societies/.
2. “Communism: Work Ethic and Motivation.” Stanford.edu, 2019, cs.stanford.edu/people/eroberts/cs201/projects/communism-computing-china/workethic.html.
3. Spaulding, William C. “Economic Systems: Capitalism, Communism, and Socialism.” Thismatter.com, 2016, thismatter.com/economics/economic-systems.htm.
4. Amadeo, Kimberly. “What is Communism?” The Balance, 18 Mar. 2021, https://www.thebalance.com/communism-characteristics-pros-cons-examples-3305589.
5. Miller, Keith. “6 Advantages and Disadvantages of Communism.” FutureofWorking.com, 14 Jan. 2017, futureofworking.com/6-advantages-and-disadvantages-of-communism/.
6. “Untitled Document.” Sites.fas.harvard.edu, sites.fas.harvard.edu/~hpcws/asreview.htm.