It came to me on the train home from work today. I'm only really writing this to get down an idea that probably many have a had before, but only struck me just now, leaving a "Ping!!" sound ringing in my head.
Those who know me, know I've always been a communist. Haha. An anarcho-communist, to be exact. I'm sorry. It's just what I believe in.
I wish I could leave it at that, but these days, especially kids my age have a tendency to ask why, repeatedly when faced with someone who has distinct beliefs in a political ideology (or anything, for that matter) That's all good and dandy. However, because these are still "beliefs" I don't think I'll ever be able to answer all the whys.
I believe in direct democracy, I believe in the abolition of private property and the state and... ah jeez, I'm not going to list every single thing now. Check out wikipedia if you wanna find out some other things to say i'm stupid for supporting.
And now come the usual arguments. I'm a total ideologist, i'm naive, i'm completely out of my mind. And the mother of all anti-communist arguments:
"Communism is a good idea in theory, but it doesn't work in practice"
EVERYONE says this. It's as if they all got together one night and were like: "Okay guys, this communist thing, not so sure about it... seems kinda evil, can anyone think of something to say to people who advocate this? And then we'll all say it EVERY TIME as if it where the most obvious thing ever!"
Everyone always says this, just to write off the idea, because they don't want to think about it, because so many people ADORE capitalism, and they don't even know it. They just love their ipods.
Well anyway, one thing is true about this statement... it would be a wonder if it ever worked to put communist ideals into practice. In that respect, no, it doesn't work. But that's hardly what they mean. They mean that from history we know the communism would never work. That sentence in itself is a contradiction! The communist governments of the past just didn't carry it out correctly, that's why communist countries tended to go completely totalitarian. They went totally crazy because for them, communism was about control. Only government control.
Plus, they weren't anarcho-communists were they now ;) Government control is hardly their aim. So they can't turn totalitarian. Aha! So what arguments do you have now?
"Yeah I agree Eva, but trust me, it just wouldn't work!"
And that's when I had my idea. Yes, it certainly wouldn't. It is impossible for communism to work, if capitalism exists. Because of the way most humans are.
I tried to prove this by relating to divided Germany. The people in the west were all like: "Look at us, we're SO american, living in the lap of luxury, we're free, we're rich" and the people in the east were like: "I wanna have that and not have to wait 3 years to be able to drive a car made of CARDBOARD! I don't want to drink Vita Cola, I've seen Coca Cola now and it seems so much more glamourous"
Plus, the DDR was also going the totalitarian way. Impinging on human rights, censorship... basically things that you KNOW I think are terrible.
However, those in favour of the DDR understood that in many ways they were superior to the west, their values for example. Hard and honest work (although, that sounds wrong... I guess harder is more fitting) family values!, no status symbols... but of course that's not for everyone.. haha.
ANYWAY!
This has turned into a huge rant, and I'm quite embarassed to post it. Because I know that I've probably got a few things wrong, and that some of my arguments can be defeated very simply and obviously. That's why I want to state; I don't think I'm some visionary, I don't think I and only I have the ideal ideals and that I can't be wrong. Completely to the contrary. I'm eighteen years old, I certainly don't know anything, and believe me, I'm well aware.
This is just a modest account of my beliefs, at the moment. If you disagree, or if I've said something really stupid please do tell me, I want to queston my views, I want to learn, so that maybe someday my ideas won't be as half-baked.
So go ahead and tell me how thick I am, I will surprise you with my insight... haha.
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