8 Definitions of Communism

John Spacey, September 14, 2022

Communism is a socioeconomic order and ideology that is historically based on totalitarian states that control a society including all economic functions, all media and all major institutions. The following are basic definitions of communism.

1. A system in which all productive property is owned by the state such that the economy must be centrally planned.

2. A socioeconomic order that eliminates individual economic rights and freedoms in favor of state supremacy and collectivism.

3. A society that prohibits private ownership of capital such that the state makes all decisions regarding investment, production and employment.

4. A society based on equal distribution of goods whereby the state directs all economic processes to ensure that no one person gets more than any other person.

5. A totalitarian state that controls all resources in the name of the "common ownership" and the "common good."

6. A socioeconomic order that resembles a total capitalist monopoly whereby a single entity, namely the state, controls all social institutions and economic resources.

7. An ideology that proposes to replace the current global economic system that is largely based on open competition and markets with a seizure of all capital by labor whereby the capitalist system would be replaced with a relatively unproven system known as "worker self-management" or a totalitarian state.

8. A system wherein a government and political party promises absolute equalness and collectivism whereby this requires the elimination of all competition from other political parties, private organizations and non-government institutions.

Discussion

State is the name of the coldest of all cold monsters. Coldly it lies; and this lie slips from its mouth: "I, the state, am the people.”
― Friedrich Nietzsche

As an ideology, communism is often sold using phrases such as "common ownership", "worker self-management" or "common good" while glossing over how this would be implemented. Historically communism has only been implemented at any scale as a totalitarian state that represents a single bureaucratic or technocratic institution that completely controls a society and economy. The characteristics of these actual communist societies may differ markedly from the way that communism is presented as an ideology.