No True Communist State

I don't know what my son is studying but the other day his teacher mentioned that there has never been a true communist state. Most countries that identify themselves as communist are really more of an oligarchy or dictatorial regime.  Never having heard this before my initial reaction was: So what, whether a group or collective holds power over the individual, whether a little or completely, it can be identified as some variant of communistic/socialistic society.  My suspicion is this is a way to absolve communism of the evils it has perpetrated. "No true Scotsman."

That was my question to my son. He didn’t have an answer so I was wondering if anyone here had heard it.  When I heard him make the statement my mind immediately went to the countless apologists who say the atrocities committed by Christians over the centuries were done by people that weren’t true Christians. 

(Edited by Tim Scobey on 11/07, 4:07am)

The Wikipedia article that Merlin linked to includes this: "Communism includes a variety of schools of thought, which broadly includeMarxism, anarchism (anarchist communism) and the political ideologies grouped around both. All of these share the analysis that the current order of society stems from its economic system, capitalism..." 

     [t has never been an accident that anarchists and communists have so often been sleeping in the same bed.]

That description of communism makes it clear that all varieties of communism share the goal of ending capitalism.  Capitalism is the name of an economic system where individual make their own choices and state-enforced laws protect their rights to make those choices and keep the product of their efforts.  All of the varieties of communism are opposed to individual rights AT THEIR BASE.

Progressivism is one of those varieties.  It seeks to transform the entire culture, using political correctness, till Capitalism can be eliminated. 

Communist theorists have long claimed that communism is just about sharing - and that the very roots of the word have to do with community ownership.  But any thinking person can understand that under a capitalist system (a system where individual rights are enforced), people are free to share or not.  Under Capitalism, people are free to join communes and to share to their hearts content.  Are any of these communists opposing the use of physical force to get the sharing?  Have any communist nations evolved, or even attempted to evolve towards voluntary sharing?  There is your answer to what communism is:  A political system where the state uses force to outlaw economic choice for all individuals, deny individual rights, and is the sole owner of the means of production.  The claims about that there never has been a truely communist state are like the claims that we just haven't found the true unicorn - only horses that people thought were unicorns.

I always point out that in a capitalistic society built in the vision of our founders, and with a constitutionally-structured government, any group of people are free to assemble their own "communist/socialist" utopias at any time. They just cannot force anyone into participating who isn't interested in their scheme. That's when the sputtering begins; b-b-b-but our socialist health care won't work because we need everyone to participate - people will be mean to us and not give us stuff --yada yada yada. Then I get vertigo from rolling my eyes.

There has never been a true capitalist society. 

As the Wikipedia article points out. there have been many communist societies throughout history.  I have a book about California's many utopian communities.  The teacher is just wrong. 

That speaks to a deeper problem with childhood: everything comes from adults - food, clothing, knowledge...  That is why the teenage and young adult years are important. They open the door to questioning everything and seeking truth.