Friday, September 23, 2011

The Sickle and The Hammer - The good guys or bad guys?

From Left : Karl Marx , Vladimir Lenin, Mao Zedong


I could recall the days when i was in Vietnam for a holiday trip.The holiday was however only in the northern part of the country.It was Hanoi,the region that was supported by China politically and militarily in the unforgettable vietnam war.It was a war in the 70's that caused tens of thousands of people to die, many people to be wounded and many people to lose their close families, neighbors and friends.And automatically when you think of Hanoi,you tend to think about Ho Chi Minh too.A monument to Ho Chin Minh was erected in Hanoi.He is still remembered well and his stories and ideologies are still taught in history books today.Also,he earned respect of the vietnamese people.He declared independence for Vietnam in 2nd of September,1945 and ultimately became the president of north vietnam.He was a communist leader,followed and given much support by many of his followers.Being so young,i didn't know what communism was all about.The only thing that caught my attention was the sickle and the hammer.But people are taught to hate it.

I've always questioned myself whether a government that practices communism would eventually work out and be successful.If it was a great idea, why would people want to escape from their country? People are getting in boats and risking their lives to escape Cuba can be an example.The idea is great but people are just not ready for it.Communism isnt bad though it sounds bad,it is just a political system.No one knows because communism has never been realized on this earth. It may have been tried, but it's failure was caused by ignoring certain economic principles that Karl Marx stated were necessary prior to the creation of communism; namely, there must be a capitalist foundation and socialist institutions in place prior to communism. It is unfortunate that none of those countries claiming to be communist have had both and most have had neither.

Communism is not where there's a leader or a dictator.A dictator is definitely impossible to be related to communist. Communism is about zero government. The moment you add government, it's not longer communist. Countries such as North Korea are not even communistic. If you break down what they're doing piece by piece, they are not communist.Moreover, You do get the chance to choose your future in a communist society. You do get things like human rights, way more than you would ever get in a capitalist society. You do get free speech, way more than you would ever get in a capitalist society.Look at Egypt ,they're not even communist.But their people are killed mercilessly just merely because of freedom of speech and peaceful demonstration.

Communism as an idea is supposed to allow everyone to have what they need to survive regardless of the work they do.Plus, no one can become filthy rich because, ideally, wealth is spread evenly to the people. The positives of that is that people who are too old, too young, or too sick to work will not go without.The negatives of that system is that some people will take advantage of the system and not work although they are able to work and just live off the basics the government provides. A lot of people think this system is bad because they don't want their wealth spread around, they believe they deserve and have earned luxury.People like Bill Gates and Warren Buffet will never appear in communist countries.

Above all,communism isn't a good nor a bad thing.It depends on how you look at it.We will never be able to understand it.

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