Communism vs Democracy

The word Communism translates to “universal or common” and stems from the Latin word ‘communis’. 

A widely tested ideology worldwide both in the past and in some countries today.  Let us compare how Communism as a whole, fares against another well-known and currently very popular system, Democracy.

We have already seen in a previous article on Anarchy (See “Anarchy vs Democracy”) how Democracy is not what it seems to be.  Although Democracy stands for people rule, it is evident that the populace does not have much say, even though they voted in their chosen, ruling party.  The same can be said for Communism.

Generally ruled by a one party government, and most often by an Authoritarian, in Communistic societies, class is not allowed.  This translates to the state owning everything and the society making it work.  The public has no say in production, taxes, price of goods etc. but they are expected to share all production and proceeds equally.   (Think, you don’t have to worry that someone is earning more money than you, because everyone gets the same.)  Sounds good doesn’t it? 

This in reality however, is not the case.  The poor are generally treated very badly and rulers are known to create famines to subdue citizens who do not support the regime.  A well-known Soviet Union leader was known to have over 40 million people murdered for the “good of the state”.  This, as you can see, make the rulers very powerful and obviously rich.  So much for sharing…

Communist states also prevent people from moving around or leave the country, so freedom is not a part of the sharing idea.  Religion prevention is also achieved by allocating jobs to everyone, without looking at their capabilities. (Think, I earn the same salary my neighbour earns, but I have to do hard labour, while he is a pen pusher at the Post office.)  To not even go into specialised fields such as doctors, engineers, scientists etc.

Communism gave rise to the Cold war, after the Soviet Union sided with the Allied forces to defeat Adolf Hitler and Germany during the Second World War. 

After the Second World War, the Soviet Union enticed many Eastern European countries to join, offering military protection, in what became known as the Eastern Bloc under the Warsaw Pact.  With the fall of the Berlin wall in 1989 however, the start of the end of the Cold war ensued, giving rise to the collapse of Communism in the Soviet Union. This in turn caused these countries to leave the pact and have a go at it themselves.  Now here is where it becomes interesting. 

From its beginnings, the allied union for Western countries in Europe, the European Union (EU), saw the opportunity to absorb those Eastern Bloc countries willing to join. With an EU Democratic structure of “power to the people”, these smaller countries grabbed the opportunity in order to win back their long lost freedom with the added advantage of economic sustainability and military protection.  Little did they know that history would only repeat itself.  Very few people realise that the EU concept is actually a design of Communistic origin.  One of the 11 founding members, Mr. Altiero Spinelli, played a big part in the ideology of the EU and was a part of the Italian Communist party who fought against the Fascist dictatorship of Benito Mussolini.  Mr. Spinelli also designed the Maastricht Treaty and the Single European act. 

These smaller countries, although representative on the EU board, are still being bulldozed into submission when it comes to decision making.  As to how Democratic the EU is, well…  Although there are public sessions that take place in the EU, the majority of their meetings are held behind closed doors.  No minutes are released (if even taken), no recordings are made, nothing.  This has been noticed by the rest of the world and is now known as the Democratic Deficit.  The meaning of deficit translates from Latin into “there is lacking”.

Sounds familiar, doesn’t it?  Parties making decisions on behalf of the people, without consulting the people…

As Aristotle once said: “But one factor of liberty is to govern and be governed in turn, for the popular principle of justice is to have equality according to number, not worth… And one is for a man to live as he likes, for they say that this is the function of liberty, in as much as to live not as one likes, is the life of a man that is a slave.”

Although one has to go into more detail between each type of Communism and Democracy to adequately compare their ideologies, one should consider that it would be safe to say they are indeed similar enough to be easily confused by the general population.

Another great philosopher Plato, has once said: "The Tyrant, is the son of a Democratic man…"

Communism has historically followed the same path into Tyranny.

Is Democracy and Communism not the same then?

I’ll let you decide…

(The views in this article are not necessarily the views of the writer)