Simplicable Guide

9 Characteristics of Communism

John Spacey, November 03, 2019

Communism is a system of state ownership and control of the factors of production including land, capital and labor. The following are the basic characteristics of communism.

State Ownership

The state owns all capital in a communist system including all land, machines, buildings and infrastructure. Personal property is abolished or limited to personal items. For example, a communist society may move vast numbers of people out of their homes and into apartments in order to use the land for some purpose such as a factory or infrastructure project.

Central Planning

In a capitalist system firms freely decide what to produce and consumers freely decide what to buy in a process known as markets. In a communist system, this is completely replaced by a system of state planning whereby the state sets production targets for all goods and services.

Bureaucratic Elite

Central planning and state control of all property requires a large bureaucracy. As an ideology, communism claims to make "everyone equal." In practice, a bureaucratic elite emerges and competition shifts from producing value and innovation to competing for positions within the government.

"Common Good"

The profit motive is replaced by a system whereby the state assigns people to schools and jobs and labor is required by the state. Each individual must sacrifice their own aspirations and freedoms for the "common good" as this is viewed by the bureaucratic elite. Generally speaking, this is less motivating than freely working to improve things for yourself or your family.

Competition

In a communist society, competition exists only within the system itself. For example, to become a professional dancer you must win the approval of the system to do so. A communism society resembles a gigantic telecom company with everyone positioning for more powerful or interesting roles in a single sprawling organization that has become inefficient under its own weight.

Austerity

Communism is based on the idea of a class struggle whereby the proletariat come to dominate. As such, conspicuous consumption is frowned upon even amongst the bureaucratic elite who must downplay their advantages or risk punishment.

Single Party

Communist societies have historically been a single party system whereby political opposition is not permitted. This may be an inherent feature of a society where all power is vested in a single organization -- a government without constraint or boundaries.

Repression

As political opposition and economic freedoms aren't permitted, a communist system may repress these activities. Other freedoms may also be repressed such as freedom of speech, right to privacy, freedom of movement, freedom of association, freedom of religion and freedom from arbitrary detention. Historical communist systems were characterized by state control of every aspect of life, propaganda and "correct thinking" that was enforced by the coercive power of a state that owned and controlled all resources.

Efficiency

Markets serve to decentralize trillions of economic decisions. This is difficult to centralize such that historical communist societies produced stagnation, poor quality products, shortages, famines and environmental disasters.

Overview: Communism
Type	Economic Systems
Definition (1)	A system of complete state ownership and control of the factors of production including land, capital and labor.
Definition (2)	Centralized ownership and control of an entire society.
Related Concepts	Economic Systems » Factors Of Production » Capital » Capitalism » Markets » Bureaucracy »