We Need To Talk About Communism

I’ve been a politically-minded person for as long as I can remember. It’s always been something that fascinated me. I remember being very young, watching broadcast news discussing some politician. They used the word “communist” and I wasn’t sure what it meant, or even what the context was at the time. What I did know was that it didn’t sound pleasant.

Then, an American public education. In this setting, history was presented from an incredibly narrow perspective. Communism, for example, was immediately to be associated with the sins of the Soviet Union. It was a faulty system that put too much power into the hands of too few men. It cost thousands of people their livelihoods, if not their lives.

It wasn’t until college that I even considered reading Karl Marx’s “Communist Manifesto”. For most of my life, it had seemed like this untouchable book of secrets. It contained evil plots of world domination and could somehow convince rational, intelligent people to support it.

After finally giving it a shot, though, I started becoming a little more sympathetic to my communist peers. “It’s a beautiful piece of literature,” I’d say. What I meant was that it was a lovely pipe dream. I, like a majority of Americans, still found the whole idea of it pointless and even dangerous.

Today, after two decades of denying its pull, I think I could call myself a communist. But it took a lot of internal work to get here. No one could have convinced me of the positivity of this proposed system and it’s obvious why.

Communism has a serious image problem.

Even if we ignore the Soviet Union, dozens of countries have labeled themselves as “communist” and then proceeded to metaphorically burn to the ground. But, as I recently realized, that’s because none of those countries have actually tried communism.

Like Hitler’s “National Socialism” (Nazi), dictators have been co-opting both communism and socialism as a way to essentially trick the people into doing the conquering for them. Regimes that we refer to as communist today look virtually nothing like the society that Marx dreamed up. They’re called communist not because they actually provide the people with the means of production, but because they provide the people with the idea that they have the means of production.

Previously, I would have thought that this was a symptom of communism being an inherently flawed system. Now I realize that it is actually just proof that the idea of communism—a system that promotes human happiness above all else—is powerful enough to create dictatorships.

It leaves me wondering: is it possible for this idea to be executed possibly? Honestly, I don’t know. It hasn’t happened yet, so we can’t be sure. All we can do is try. But to try, we must have the support of a majority of people. It is about the people, after all. And, as a person who formerly despised the idea of communism, I have some ideas on how to make it a more appealing one to follow.

I think that the most important change that needs to be made when it comes to how we discuss communism is to stop connecting it to the Soviet Union. I’ve already touched on the fact (and I do mean fact) that the Soviet Union was a disturbing regime. I remember talking to a friend who’s a first-generation American in an all Russian family.

When we were discussing communism, I asked about how she felt about the use of the Soviet flag and anthem in pro-communist memes online. “Honestly, it’s kind of offensive. I mean, my parents are in America because of how bad it was in Russia back then. It’s an entire nation of traumatized people.”

I’d never really thought about it that way. I mean, Americans aren’t taught to be particularly empathetic towards Russians because of the Cold War. But the systematic traumatization of an entire country shouldn’t be overlooked. It damn well shouldn’t be referenced when trying to promote a system that is supposed to be about the positive advancement of humankind.

So, how do we change the image of communism as we see it now? How do we make it more authentic to its original message and, therefore, more palatable?

Obviously, we first need to cut the ties that we have made between it and the Soviet Union in our minds. Leninism, in my opinion, is the reason why modern communism is “evil”. Instead of fixing the inherent problems that late-stage capitalism poses, Leninism creates a system similar system and refers to it as communism instead. Same thing, different hat.

For that matter, we need to change the way that we think about communism at its core. I think that, in a lot of ways, modern-day communists can get trapped in essentialist thinking. Marx and Lenin are not the end-all-be-all of this system. They were just men with ideas. We don’t need to follow their ideas so strictly. To create a system that works for us, with us, we need to challenge these ideas. Marx was revolutionary, don’t get me wrong, but he wasn’t a god. His word isn’t law and it certainly isn’t untouchable.

Finally, here’s the most important advice I have for communists trying to convert capitalists around them: stop the attack formation. You’re not fighting the working class. That’s not your goal. Even if they think poorly of communism; they are not the enemy. They’re just people who’ve accepted the only system they’ve ever known. You can rage against the machine without raging against the mechanic.

There are ways to make communism a reality—and a positive one—for us in the 21st century. We have the tools to create a better, more conscious system. We just need to be aware of how we’re promoting it. What are we saying, as communists? Communism isn’t anarchy. It’s a system entirely based in a love for mankind and a want for as little human suffering as possible. It is possible, even if we haven’t seen it yet. If we care enough, though, maybe we can be the people that get it started.