QUORA *: ‘Why do people find communism so terrifying as an idea?’

QUORA *: ‘Why do people find communism so terrifying as an idea?’

I poste this answer:

Not all people find it terrifying. Only people who have some understanding of its actual nature.

Communism** is an outgrowth of collectivism. Collectivism is rooted in altruism. Altruism is the moral doctrine that the individual has no moral right to live for himself; that self-sacrificial service to others is his only moral purpose. It follows logically that altruism is the moral road that leads straight to collectivism.

Collectivism is the doctrine that the good of the group is the standard of morality. Since Communism is a political manifestation of collectivism, Communism embodies the principle that each and every member of society must live through, for the sake of, and at the expense of everyone else, not for oneself. “Society,” however, is an abstraction. Society is not a conscious entity separate from the individuals that comprise it: It is not an entity capable of acting in its own interests. Only individuals are capable of acting, and society is comprised of individuals. Yet communism claims that society has interests that supersede the interests of the individuals that comprise it. Since society cannot act on its own--that is, independent of individual thought and initiative--who, then, assumes the authority to represent society’s interests? A ruling political elite, acting through the mechanism of the state.

Since communism holds that the interests of society morally supercede the interests of the individual, the state holds full power over all individuals’ lives—their property, their goals, the proceeds of their productive work, what they may say or write, and so on—which it can dispose of for whatever it deems to be “the good of society.” Therefore, communism denies individual rights, including rights to property and free trade. The individual has no rights to his life, political liberty, earned property, or pursuit of personal happiness: He exists for the state.

Communism is a form of socialism that embodies strict economic egalitarianism. No one is permitted to be “unequal” in wealth, no matter how productive. Therefore, unlike the fascist manifestation of socialism, Communism abolishes all private property. All productive facilities—businesses, factories, patents, choice of career, etc.—get taken over, owned, and run by the state. The state collects and/or controls all of every individual’s proceeds from work, and distributes the proceeds to the population “from each according to his ability, to each according to his need.” In its most consistent form, the state even dictates career choices, “for the good of society.” Hope and aspiration for a better life earned by one’s own effort is thus squeezed out of every life. No one may succeed beyond anyone else.

Since few people would willingly submit to such subjugation, it follows that only a government of totalitarian powers can achieve communism. Leading communists understood this. Karl Marx understood this. One of his leading deciples, Red China’s Mao Zedong, called for communists to get control of the state for a very simple reason--its military power, the essence of political power; the power of the gun. Mao was brutally clear: “Yes, we are advocates of the omnipotence of revolutionary war; that is good, not bad, it is Marxist . . . Experience in the class struggle in the era of imperialism teaches us that it is only by the power of the gun the working class and the labouring masses can defeat the armed bourgeoisie and landlords.” Therefor, “Every Communist must grasp the truth,” declared Mao in 1938, "Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun." [My emphasis]

The leading holder of “the power of the gun” is, obviously, a nation’s government, which holds a legal monopoly on physical force, via it law-making powers. Unlike capitalism, which arises naturally without central control when people are free under a constitutionally limited, rights-protecting government, Communism must be imposed by force from the top down. Thus, every initiative of communism begins with armed aggression by the government against its own citizens, by design. And so it went, in practice, over the past 100 years: Every country that went Communist faced the unalterable consequences of totalitarianism, looting and destruction of the nation’s most productive citizens, economic collapse and stagnation, intellectual repression, starvation, hopeless economic egalitarianism, and mass murder. Bloody, poverty ridden totalitarianism is not an aberration of communism. It is central to the ideological DNA of communism. There can realistically be no other result from a system that legally subordinates people to the moral supremacy of society, and grants government all the power it needs to enforce that creed for the alleged benefit of society. Communism grows out of the barrel of a gun.

The fear of communism is completely rational and justified. Communism is thoroughly utopian; that is, it is contrary to the requirements of human nature. Human nature requires us to be free individually to think and act on one’s own judgement in support of one’s own life. Communism forbids individuality. Communism therefore is thoroughly immoral--the self-responsible, self-supporting, peaceful individual respectful of the rights of others has no place in a Marxian communist utopia. Communism is as evil in theory as it is deadly in practice. Communism has appeal only to the lowest kind of person--the greedy, the power-luster, the envious, all united by their hatred of the self-supporting, productive person who doesn’t need to enslave others to satisfy his needs and wants, and just wants to live in peace and voluntary cooperation with his fellow men and woman.

That, in the essential, is why people fear the idea of communism. 

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However, that fear won’t save America from totalitarian communism (or some other brand of socialism, such as national socialism--i.e., fascism). Why? Because communism is collectivism and collectivism is grounded in the morality of altruism. Altruism holds that the essence of moral action is self-sacrificial service to others, which leads logically to subordination to society. As long as people think altruism is good, they will be unable to resist creeping socialism leading inexorably to totalitarianism communism--the essence of which is altruism. “Communism is good in theory, but it doesn’t work in practice” is not a defense against communism. People must understand that communism is brutal in practice because it is immoral and inhumane in theory.

** [I am speaking here of “modern” Communism, upper case “C”--that is, as conceived by Karl Marx. The “idea” of communism goes back at least to Plato, the original totalitarian. But it could also refer to voluntary communes. Since there is no reason to fear a voluntary commune, the question above is taken to mean totalitarian Marxian socialism, or communism.]

* [Quora is a social media website founded by two former Facebook employees. According to Wikipedia:

Quora is a question-and-answer website where questions are created, answered, edited and organized by its community of users. The company was founded in June 2009, and the website was made available to the public on June 21, 2010.[3]Quora aggregates questions and answers to topics. Users can collaborate by editing questions and suggesting edits to other users' answers.[4]

You can also reply to other users’ answers.]

Related Reading:

The Roots of War—Ayn Rand

Property Rights and Title 2

The Sweet Sociability of Self-Interest—Dan Sanchez

Individualism vs. Collectivism: Our Future, Our Choice—Craig Biddle

What is Capitalism?—Ayn Rand

Nazism, Communism, Atheism, and the Enlightenment

On Marx’s 200th Birthday

Why Marxism—Evil Laid Bare--C. Bradley Thompson for The Objective Standard

China’s Recovery from Socialism vs. Bernie Sanders, The Most Evil Politician in America

Economic Inequality Complaints Are Just A Cover For Anti-Rich Prejudice—Don Watkins

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