Quote Originally Posted by Oneironaut
Uhh, exactly, that's the whole point of communism. Communism is a stateless, classless society in which nobody has the power to enforce their ideas on other people. Decisions on how workplaces and societies should be run are made democratically by their members. Under capitalism you are subject to governments and bosses with the power to write the rules and tell you what to do, hence all the corruption we see.
This is where communism is self defeating. "Decisions on how workplaces and societies should be run are made democratically by their members." So, if a decision is to be made it is put to a vote. It is unlikely that all will agree everytime. What about those who have a dissenting opinion? Do they have to go along with what the majority has agreed to? If so, isn't that having someone else's ideas enforced on them? If not, what was the point of the decision in the first place?

If you're really interested in seeing communism at work I suggest you study Chinese history from 1949 to the early '80's. Once you get beyond Mao and his atrocities you will see an intersting perpective on communism at work. And I'm not talking about the political side of communism. I mean the actual attempt to make a go of something resembling true communism.

When the communists took over in China those who had possessions were stripped of them. This was in the attempt to make everyone equal. In doing so, however, those without possessions were enforcing their rules on those who did. Instead of making everyone equal, it simply reversed the roles. Now the poor were in power instead of the rich. It wasn't long before those under the one's who now had power started saying "hey, what's up? I thought we were supposed to be a classless society" and the process was reapeated. This happened many times over a 30 year period. I should also point out that this wasn't just happening at the top government level but in the small villages in the middle of nowhere. Often the results were disastrous and in the name of "preserving true communism" many, many people died.

That's a pretty simplified summary of the situation but you get the idea. The bottom line is that many in China did really try to make a go of true communism and it simply didn't work. I haven't even touched on the effects communism had on China's economic, intellectual, and technological development. For example, the situation faced by many doctors and teachers. During the Cultural Revolution doctors, teachers, and many others that were educated were suddenly considered to be of the "upper class" because of their knowledge. Next thing you know they were being dragged out and beaten by the "classless" masses. When I was going to school in China the dean of the University I was attending walked with a serious limp. Why? because, as a teacher she was tossed out of a second story window by "classless" students during the Cultural Revolution.

Oneironaut, I'd recommend you watch the movie "To Live" also called "Lifetimes". Although slightly exaggerated, it is an excellent portayal of communism in action.