Different forms of government have existed through the ages, including capitalism, monarchy, socialism, dictatorship, and theocracy. Communism is a government that developed in the early nineteen hundreds. The theory of communism is to create a government under which all people are equal. Communism hasn’t achieved its goal to make all people equal.
The leaders of communist nations have shown an insatiable desire for power. They take what the workers produce and give back only what is necessary (Orwell 10). Purges took place in communist governments under the leadership of dictators such as Joseph Stalin and Mao Zedong. Under Stalin’s rule “30,000 communists [were] killed in Paris” (Joseph Stalin). George Orwell narrowly escaped Stalin’s purges in Spain where “many of [his] friends were shot, and others spent a long time in prison or simply disappeared” (Orwell 5).
In this purge Stalin successfully executed Trotsky, who had been a key figure in establishing communism in the U.S.S.R (Joseph Stalin). Communist governments are unstable and no efficient system of checks and balances exist. The leaders of communist countries have supreme control over the country, and what they say is law. Fidel Castro, communist leader of Cuba, “helps to legitimize the regime and preserve its internal cohesion” (Mastrapa). If this “internal cohesion” stops existing when Castro dies, a power struggle will develop that will make the existing regime extremely unstable.
The working class is still at the level that it was before the communist government came into existence. The poor economy in Russia resulted from the “lack of foreign loans and low industrial production, among other things, indicate[s] a failure of the recently implemented socialist system” (LoBue). The standard of living in Communist Russia has not shown a significant rise (LoBue). The working class also had members voice their opinions and become executed or imprisoned in the Gulag (Joseph Stalin). Although communism tries to abolish the upper-class and lower-class system, “[The U.S.S.R.] was becoming a hierarchical society, in which the rulers have no more reason to give up their power than any other ruling class” (Orwell 10).
The purpose of communism is meant to create a government in which all people are equal. Karl Marx believed in overthrowing “all existing social conditions” (Marx 44). He also believed that the working class should control the government “for the benefit of the working class” (Kuhn). Communism wants to get rid of the bourgeoisies who enslave and hoard all the property. In this sense communism wants to bring about the “[a]bolition of private property” and take away the goods from those people who have earned the goods (Marx 28).
The communist doctrine also asks for collectivization of all private property. Collectivization is “the workers work for the state and get [a fixed] salary regardless of their output” (Joseph Stalin). The fact is obvious that the only way communism can be attained is through the forceful overthrow of all existing governments (Marx 44). Communism has failed to meet the demands of the proletarian society and has enslaved the proletarians.
Communism has failed to achieve its goal to create a nation in which all people are equal. The rulers in a communist society have ended up being dictators and malevolent rulers. This dictatorial government represses the people of communism. The purpose of communism has not been achieved, because equality has not been reached. Communism is not the answer to a society in which all people are equal.
