societal stratification

[ma3898]

Communism- a classless society. Is this correct?

[johnlambert]

Nope!!!!!!!!!
They tried communism in it's purest form on the Kibbutz's in Israel, didnt work, there are very very few working Kibbutz there now, most of them cater for the tourist trade

[Romeo]

*In theory*, Communism is a classless society because everything is owned and run by the one same class - the proletariat or working class which, in Marxist definition, includes anyone from a street sweeper to a brain surgeon, a checkout attendant to a rocket scientist, a hairdresser to a high court judge.

The old ruling classes - the landowning aristocracy and the business-owning bourgeoisie - are disposed with under Communism, leaving the workers (whatever work they do) owning and running all means of industry and trade.

That's the theory, anyway.

[Romeo]

In practice, of course, things are different. Soviet Russia, for example, had differences in wealth, authority, power and rank. Everything was owned by the the state (effectively the Communist Party) and run by party officials and civil servants. This is still the case in China.

I have heard some Marxists argue that under true communism everybody would receive equal pay, or none at all (i.e. everybody works but everything is free, so no need for money). This sounds like a wonderful idea, but the question is - could it work? It might work if everybody agreed to it, but if freedom of thought was allowed, maybe not everybody would agree.

[vehelpfulguy]

In Russia, after the revolution, there were many large houses in the country (called Dachas) that had been owned by the rich.

These were all given to communist party leaders, so these leaders lived in Moscow but were able to holiday in their Dachas.

Classless - no.

[vehelpfulguy]

The problem with Communism is that it is all THEORY.

The idea that everyone is equal, all earns the same, all shares the wealth, is great in theory but never works in practice.

Take a small example.

In another section of answerbank is a question from a student who is currently sharing his house with a load of other students.

Most students buy food and so on, but one student refuses to buy any food and just uses everybodys elses (without asking).

You could argue that the house is run on communist lines, but this one selfish person is ruining it for everyone else.

And that is the problem when you try to run a country like it.

Here in the UK we have benefits for people who need them, but what happens, billions of pounds of benefit fraud and people who will do no work and live off the state.

There are always going to be people who spoil it for the rest.

[missrandom]

I am really hopeless with regards to all this, but wouldnt we all want a classless society? Do people still believe in classes, and if so where would you put people like the beckhams etc, they are rich, but come from essex and worked for their money? what makes someone upper class or lower class is it just money or status or what? I dont like the idea of classes on little bit.

[taliesin238]

Classless for the civilians but the government is MINTED beyond your wildest dreams