Is communism a totalitarian ideology?

No. Totalitarianism is only possible in political systems where the state, a single organisation, a faction, a class or a single person recognise no limits to their authority and regulate every aspect of public and private life.

Since communism aims for a stateless and classless society, where everyone is allowed to take part democratically in all the decision-making, totalitarianism is not possible in communism.

5 comments:

  1. What a political system aims for and what it achieves are often two very different results. To ignore the repeated historical results of communism, in favor of the lofty stated theoretical ideal of Communism is similar to maintaining that lobotomy is good and useful procedure to quiet the mind of nearly all forms of mental affliction.

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    1. What about what capitalism stands for like child labour, toxic waste, slavery,... You do make a good point in the first sentence, then it becames cringeworthy fast.

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  2. I don't agree. I don't think the practical Communism that we, as a world, have seen so far bares much resemblance to the theoretical Communism at all (which isn't an unappealing ideology.)
    Surely that says more about the way in which society has been developed in socialist countries than about Communism itself?

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  3. I'll answer those comments with an example:

    Does the Christian world, in any of its factions or variants, bares much resemblance to the teachings of Jesus Christ? Would you say that this could be blamed on Jesus or his teachings?

    Well, the same can be applied to communism; the problem is not with the ideology itself, but with those who fail to apply it.

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