They’re not even communist they’re just a dictatorship under the masquerade of communism. Just like modern-day Russia is a dictatorship under the masquerade of capitalism.
The dictatorship bit is the problem bit.
As far as I’m aware there has never really been an attempt to actually build a real communist society, every prior attempt has basically just been a tool to seize control.
Nah, its communism as practiced. When Marx wrote the manifesto, he outlined several stages in the process to get to communism. The stage just before true communism is called Tyranny of the Proles. And he failed to outline the mechanism to go from that to true communism.
There were attempts during the Russian revolution, but they weren’t the people who won. There was also the Paris Commune, and a few others, IIRC. Mostly, the tl;dr is that it works well enough in communities that are small enough that few to no people are anonymous, but once you start scaling up to the point where most of your interactions are anonymous, it tends to go sideways for some reason.
The fundamental issue is that most commune structures rely on social capital - which falls apart once you get large enough that you no longer are at least acquaintances-of-acquaintances of everyone in the community. Any theoretical large-scale communist society will have to reckon with that, and probably find another means of redistribution.
They’re not even communist they’re just a dictatorship under the masquerade of communism. Just like modern-day Russia is a dictatorship under the masquerade of capitalism.
The dictatorship bit is the problem bit.
As far as I’m aware there has never really been an attempt to actually build a real communist society, every prior attempt has basically just been a tool to seize control.
There’s Cuba and Vietnam, and that’s about it.
Nah, its communism as practiced. When Marx wrote the manifesto, he outlined several stages in the process to get to communism. The stage just before true communism is called Tyranny of the Proles. And he failed to outline the mechanism to go from that to true communism.
Its an inherently flawed system.
Dictatorship of the Proletariat is supposed to be democratic. For reference, Marx refers to capitalist democracy as a Dictatorship of the Bourgeois.
There were attempts during the Russian revolution, but they weren’t the people who won. There was also the Paris Commune, and a few others, IIRC. Mostly, the tl;dr is that it works well enough in communities that are small enough that few to no people are anonymous, but once you start scaling up to the point where most of your interactions are anonymous, it tends to go sideways for some reason.
The fundamental issue is that most commune structures rely on social capital - which falls apart once you get large enough that you no longer are at least acquaintances-of-acquaintances of everyone in the community. Any theoretical large-scale communist society will have to reckon with that, and probably find another means of redistribution.