The Irony of Communism's 'Cool' Factor
Now, let's talk about those beloved communist regimes, the real trailblazers in human rights, if you will. Commonly known and discussed examples of communist regimes are the Soviet Union under Lenin and Stalin, Maoist China, present-day North Korea and Castro’s Cuba. Besides these, communism also reared its ugly head in Cambodia under Pol Pot, and in Laos, Vietnam and Ethiopia.
Undoubtedly, the complexities of any oppressive regime cannot be fully encapsulated within the confines of a single book (not to say there haven’t been noble attempts), let alone within this modest 1000-word post. Nevertheless, it is worth unravelling some of the prevalent misconceptions held by the wearers of Che tees and their allies in the social justice brigade.
Myth 1: Communism promises a utopian society.
Ah, the grand illusion of communism – the promise of a utopian society where everyone holds hands, sings kumbaya, and resources rain down like manna from a Marxist heaven. This could not be farther from the historical truth.
Some argue that the shortcomings of communism lie in its imperfect implementation, asserting its theoretical merit. This, too, is a fallacy. While Stalin's rule exemplified oppressive tactics, they were just Lenin’s vision in action. Furthermore, there is no example from history of a communist regime achieving economic growth while staying true to its methods.
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, a Soviet dissident and Nobel laureate, in his seminal work The Gulag Archipelago, provided a firsthand account of the atrocities committed under Joseph Stalin's regime.
“The constant effort to root out the ideological enemy with more determination and on a larger scale than the enemy of flesh and blood led to the creation of a new class and of millions of new enemies... The great frenzy of the ideological mass murders—that entire class of old Russians—turned out to be futile.” - Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn.
Myth 2: Communist societies strive for equality.
"The Law is supposed to be the same for everyone; in theory, this is so. But under the equitable law of socialism, the following paradox is to be found: as the state brings all citizens to equality in other respects, it raises them aloft in their privilege of being under threat from the law." - Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn.
Despite the goal of eliminating social classes, new hierarchies often emerged. In the Soviet Union and China, for instance, a bureaucratic class with special privileges developed. It's like a paradoxical dance, a ballet of bureaucracy, where social classes vanish into thin air, making way for a new elite class with VIP passes to education, careers, and even the latest consumer goods – all thanks to their impeccable party loyalty and connections.
Despite being heavily dependent on agricultural production, the peasants bore the biggest brunt of the communist oppression. De-classified archives showed that at the height of the famine in 1960, Mao admitted his knowledge of it, raised taxes and sent thousands of trucks to collect all the produce from the villages. Thousands of people who flocked in front of the state’s granaries begging for food were denied and resorted to cannibalism. There are harrowing accounts where mothers on the verge of starving to death made their children promise to eat their organs to sustain themselves for a few more days.
In the Soviet Union, children of farmers were beaten, killed or thrown into labour camps if they collected leftover grains from the fields to feed themselves after the harvest had been collected by the authorities.
Even George Orwell, in his allegorical novel Animal Farm, critiqued the utopian aspirations of communism. The famous phrase, "All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others," highlights the inherent contradictions and power struggles that often emerge within communist systems.
Yeonmi Park, a North Korean defector and author of the book In Order to Live, gives insight on her childhood in rural North Korea where, as an 8 year old, she scavenged for food, eating insects, grasshoppers and whatever else she could find. In a podcast hosted by Jordan Peterson, she gave a chilling account of how people ate rats out of hunger, and when they died of starvation, the rats ate them back.
“In 1930, because of collectivization, millions and millions of people were dying of hunger. And where was all that bread going? All of it was going into the granaries, and huge amounts of it were lying around on the ground, and it was being dumped into the rivers.” - Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn.
Myth 3: Communist ideas foster economic improvement.
In the heat of the political debates, people sometimes forget that capitalism and communism are first and foremost economic systems, and then political standpoints.
The Soviet Union's command economy, underpinned by central planning, led to a lack of responsiveness to market demands. The state, rather than allowing market forces to dictate production and pricing, made top-down decisions that often resulted in overproduction of certain goods and severe shortages of others. This inefficiency was evident in long queues for basic necessities and the failure to allocate resources efficiently.
Communist struggles in the economic arena are truly a sight to behold. Incentives for innovation and individual initiative? Nonexistent. Who needs creativity when you can have the state dictate your every move? Private property? Overrated. Limited opportunities for entrepreneurship? Just another way to keep things interesting.
Myth 4: People in communist societies have a voice.
The irony lies in the fact that young students in democratic societies, advocating for communist ideas, often fail to realise that the very freedoms they enjoy—such as the right to protest, criticise the government, and voice dissent—are liberties that would be severely restricted or non-existent in actual communist states like China and the former Soviet Union.
Both in the Soviet Union and China, intellectuals, dissenters, and perceived political enemies faced severe persecution. The suppression of independent thought and criticism was a common feature of these regimes, impacting writers, artists, and thinkers who deviated from the official ideology.
Many communist regimes maintained a single-party system, suppressing competing political viewpoints and limiting the range of acceptable discourse.
Communist regimes tightly controlled the media, shaping narratives to align with state ideology. Criticism or alternative viewpoints that challenged the party line were often censored or suppressed, limiting the diversity of ideas.
Democratic societies uphold the rule of law and due process, providing legal protections for individuals, even those critical of the government. In communist states, especially during periods of political purges, individuals could be arbitrarily arrested, detained, or subjected to show trials without proper legal recourse.
Marxist-Leninist ideology views religion as an "opiate of the masses" and inherently opposed to the goals of communism. As a result, communist regimes advocated for state atheism and actively sought to eliminate religious beliefs, considering them a rival ideology. They closed churches, converted them into hipster cafes, and curated religious literature like rare vinyl records. Censorship and restrictions on the production, distribution, and possession of religious materials aimed to limit the dissemination of religious ideas. Clergy members, including priests, monks, and nuns, faced persecution ranging from imprisonment to execution. These actions aimed to diminish the visible presence and influence of religious institutions in society.
“Gradually it was disclosed to me that the line separating good and evil passes not through states, nor between classes, nor between political parties either—but right through every human heart—and through all human hearts.”
Ah, the irony of well-fed, iPhone-wielding revolutionaries championing communism, blissfully unaware of the historical punchline they embody. The struggle is real – well, at least the struggle to comprehend the very systems they champion. Our historically privileged scholars, sipping coffees in their Che Guevara T-shirts, are the true revolutionaries – discussing the glories of theoretical communism and fighting for a utopia they'd probably flee faster than you can say "dictatorship."
References:
In Order to Live - Yeonmi Park.
The Gulag Archipelago - Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn.
Animal Farm - George Orwell.
Image Source: The Dreamers (2003)
Comments
Post a Comment