How to Be a Communist

EPISODE 122 | How to Be a Communist

One of the many words tossed about these days as a snarl term is “communist”, but do the people using this sobriquet know what that really means? It certainly doesn’t mean every leftwing philosophy or ideology. In fact, Communism is a very specific set of applications of very certain ideas, and, like it or not, helped define the 20th century.

So let’s look at what Communism is and what it isn’t, and what other systems and suites of thought have crossover with it. Like all the different flavors of Socialism. 

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SECTIONS

1. Closer to Home - Socialism (market and non-market), Adam Smith, the Labour Theory of Value (LTV)
2. Duty Now for the Future - The French Revolution and the Directory, the Conspiracy of Equals, Utopian Socialism, Chartism, Karl Marx and Friedreich Engels become buddies
3. Mean Machine - Engels's "alienated labour" and The German Ideology, historical materialism, The Communist Manifesto, the basics of Marxism, Marx and Engels hatch a fast-track plan
4. Brothers in Arms - The Russian Tsar is overthrown and Communism comes to power, the first Communist platform, Reds versus Whites, Lenin develops Leninism
5. Music for the People - Stalin develops Marxism-Leninism, which spreads to all countries that go Communist
6. Futuristic Design - Mao Zedong takes over in China, Communism fails almost everywhere
7. Subterranean Jungle - The Horseshoe Theory, Communism has more in common with Fascism than with socialism, comparing and contrasting Fascism and Communism, comparing and contrasting capitalism and socialism, Third Way, social liberalism, social democracy
8. Life's What You Make It - Capitalism is not a social or political system, democracy is opposed to authoritarianism's many flavours 

• Music by Fanette Ronjat

More Info: 

• Why market socialism is a viable alternative to neoliberalism at the Lon don School of Economics and Political Science
• Market Socialism: A Case for Rejuvenation by Pranab Bardhan and John E. Roemer in the Journal of Economic Perspectives
• Socialist Market Economy chapters and articles on Science Direct
• Non-Market Socialism: What is it? How will it work? - 2 papers from the Socialist and Anarchist Utopias Panel at the 2018 The Great Transition: Setting the Stage for a Post-Capitalist Society International Conference in Montreal
• SOCIALISM WITHOUT MARKETS: DEMOCRATIC PLANNED SOCIALISM paper by Al Campbel
• What are some contemporary defenses of non-market socialism? on Quora