Well actually the general idea of communism isn't the bad part - its the problems it creates that make communism bad. Here's what I mean. In a communistic society everyone works for the government. Not a bad idea, everyone working together to build a strong government. Everyone (for the most part) gets the same salary. Not a bad idea either. Now here is the bad part - what if "Joe" over here decides not to work. Now he lets everyone else pick up the slack for him. Joe doesn't have to work but he still gets the same salary as (for the most part) everyone else. That's no fair. If everyone catches on to Joe's example a huge problem has been created. Another problem is that in a communistic government the government takes rights away from the people. Some rights could easily be bypassed - but what if the people want a new leader. It ain't gonna happen. They have no voice. If they were to speak out against the injustice they would be arrested or maybe even killed. thank goodness we live in a democratic-republic where our rights are heard!

Not only is communism bad because Juan the gardener and John the rocket scientist would make the exact same salary, communism is also bad because it is generally atheistic- that is, it totally denies the existence of God. In a godless society, their is no morality. Society is heartless. That is why communist rulers kill thousands of people and deny them their basic human rights. Commies are monsters. No matter what religion you are, you ought to hate communism, because it is from the devil.

I agree with red_ball. Communism was built on ideas to make things fairer for EVERYBODY. I great idea, as by rights everyone would get the same oppertunities, the same standard of living etc. This isn't fair all the time though, because some people are more talented, work longer and work harder for their money, but communism doesn't acknowledge this. Then there is the censorship. How do you stop people from kicking up a fuss that they work long and hard whereas others don't and everyone lives in squaller? Censorship! You lack freedom, and thats not good. Also there is the problem that all the money made goes to the government and then gets dished out. Governments can be corrupt, and will take money from the people. I mean, there has to be an advantage to working your arse off as a member of parliament or whatever, and with all the censors, who could stop you? SO basically, communism was built on good ideas, but ruined by reality (and believing in God does not stop a person from having morals Smash the Reds, as I am Athiest, and I may not have many things, but I have morals)

The basic concept of communism wasn't so bad. The problems came about mainly through corrupt leadership. Leaders who were greedy and capitalistic at heart, trying to force a system on the masses that they themselves sought to profit from. Also, there was a pathological obsession with the projected image of communism, and an insistence that everything had to be seen to be perfect in comparison to the systems of government they were competing against for world domination. This led to outright denial of any problems that may have cropped up. ie. The west may have depraved serial killers, but we communists don't! Or, the west may have homosexuality, but it doesn't exist in communist countries! These kinds of ridiculous denials of reality by the leadership, were testament to their dysfunctional thinking and inabilty to honestly adhere to the true principles of communism. Communism didn't fail the people, the people failed communism.

To simplify basically what everyone ealse has been saying, its not bad just impractical. I believe that communism only works in a machiavellian type society.

Its considered bad because the communist governments own everything as you know, so everything is equal, like every persons job pays the same, every thing cost the same, and the government owns the peoples property, because of this many went broke and poor which is why it was considered bad, It could be considered a good idea but it went to far with how communisim went.

In theory, communism is fine. In practice it overlooks human nature. The State should not be the ultimate authority. There are too few ethical restrictions on corrupt leaders, and power does corrupt. Lazy people have no incentive to participate. Creative people have little incentive to participate. Given the last two, you have a stagnant system where progress is minimal, at best. It is a system where only those talented or favored people are rewarded by the State. While the remainder live at subsistence level. If you disagree, just give me one example of a prosperous communist state.

Would you like people controlling your life?

Name me a form of government that is all good?

In theory, Communism lead to an utopia (a perfect world) for everybody. There is no differences between people. However, countries that seemingly practised communism (such as former Soviet Union) have different "form" or "branch" of communism.This can be simply known as the "political communism" As a result from this "political communism", this require the presence of a dictator(such as Stalin) to control the activities. As we know, dictator usually harshly use political and military power to ban people's freedom. Thus it is considered evil by people who believe in freedom. (note: in communism, the benifit of the community as a whole is more important than the personal freedom of an individual) Secondly, it has overlook (or actually ignored) the nature of people. Thus people lack the incentive to unselfishly establish and build this utopia. However this almost impossible. As a result, this requires a large amount of money to substitute this. In "large amount of money", we talking about trillions (or may be even zillions) of money. Thus this proved to be very difficult (and almost impossible indeed). Thus it is considered evil becasue it will always make people in the country poor.

- There is no profit motive as enterprise is not rewarded with income. Thus there is no innovation. - The income of an individual is NOT determined by the scarcity of the resource he/she has to offer. Thus a cleaner will earn the same amount as a doctor. This is a disincentive to learn and hence there is less innovation. - What and how much to produce of Goods or Services is decieded upon by a committe. People are usually hence dissatsified. In Capitalisim, the consumer (you) deciedes. You have more choice! - Communisim is ruled by party leaders and hence can easily be corrupted. The entire core belief of Communisim is that 'everyone is equal' but human nature makes this near impossible as people are greedy. ++ All of the above contribute to the worst disadvantage of communisim: Low economic growth!!! You will find that communist countries are generally poor because of this. Suggested reading: Animal Farm by George Orwell. An satirical allagory of communsim. Economics 101. Cheers!

I think there's a basic confusion about Communism given that we really haven't seen it practiced for any length of time. One basic misconception is that Stalinism is communism. What Stalin came up with was a totalitarian dictatorship (or possibly an oligarchy, haven't decided yet). He just stole the name of Communism because it sounded better than dictatorship. Many of the world's dictatorships call themselves democracies because it just sounds better. Secondly, people who favor communism really don't get the point that it only seems to work for long periods of time in small groupings of 100,000 or less. Once the population grows beyond that it generally converts into some form of market democracy or into an oligarchy. Fortunately, you can have some of the benefits of communism as an add-on package to a democracy or democratic republic, in the form of Socialism. A mix of democracy and socialism helps iron out many of the people problems that occur when a market is allowed to be fairly uncontrolled. Socialism is the "caring about people" part of communism, to help deal with the side effects of having the "free market" opposite of communism. EDIT: "Stalinism isn't communism" changed to "is", thanks to "Sakhalin isst modischen Hosen" for pointing out the error.

In short, because it caused the murders of far more than 100 million innocent human beings. And no matter where it was tried, it brought in murder, torture, forced labor, terror, the secret police, and corruption of government officials. But why? Well, let's say the next bright idea to come down the pike should be that people should be physically equal, not just economically equal. Some would starve to death while others had to be force-fed. Some would be stretched on a rack to the ideal height; other would have parts of their legs removed. Some would be compulsively tanned, others forcibly bleached. But equality is contrary to the way God created us, so it can only be enforced by inhumanly harsh measures.

The real differnce is/was Cuba and Russia/China. Smaller the country-better socialism works. Bigger the country-better Fascism works.

Read "We the Living" by Ayn Rand, each every quest of Communism will be fulfilled.

Take a trip to Cuba. The principle is good the practise is just not viable

People say that they are unselfishly trying to build a Utoptia. I say that trying to build a Utopia is in and of itself one of the most selfish acts a person can undertake. The very idea that communism is a sound theory that cannot be implemented makes it a lousy theory.

Ignorance of what it actually is. the american govenment taught americans to believe that communism was bad. even though at the time most americans had no idea what it was, they just knew it was different from their beliefs. the stigma has just stuck around communism is a good and noble idea on paper it just doesn't work

Communism doesn't work? Visit Cuba? I would suggest that you read up on Cuba. It is a fairly poor country, but its life expectancy is incredibly high (Less than half a year behind the US). 97% literacy rate. 1.9% Unemployment. While those numbers might not mean much to you, look up Cuba in the CIA factbook. You'll be surprised. For an "oppressed", "unproductive" system, poor countries' quality of life seems really high. Other people talked about how the lack of profit motivation means there will be no innovation. I would suggest to those people to stop buying our capitalist propaganda. Clearly things other than money motivate people. We give large amounts of money to charities. We also like to get things done for the sense of accomplishment it gives us. In addition, when put in a competitive environment people flourish, regardless of the actual reward. We like to know we're better than our friends. A successful communistic government would exploit these human qualities in order to maintain productivity and innovation.

Communism is considered "bad" because of the few countries that have "created communism" many of their citizens have faced brutal and barbaric injustice. Also, communism, in order to survive, needs to work on the basis of a dictatorship which many people assume, and in many cases history will prove them right, that dictatorship is a bad thing. However, there are also many people who argue that communism is a bad thing, most of which come from capitalist societies (or so-called communist ones that have been mistreated in its name), because communism threatens capitalism. These people often point to such historical charachters like Stalin or Pol Pot who, if any of these people have bothered to read Marx or Trotsky for example, are not in any way communist. Infact such charachters produced their own form of State Capitalism. In reasearching communism from this perspective any educated historian will tell you that communism has never existed but only attempts have been made to create it. It is therefore important people who truly want to decide for themselves that communism is bad that they read such historians work and most importantly the likes of Trotsky or Marx and keep in mind that the vast majority of people who argue that communism is bad either haven't read Marxist theory, heard it from those who wants to protect capitalism in their interests, have been told from someone else of the great tyrants of history and their atrocities such as Stalin, who was not remotely a communist. In conclusion you will find that as communism has never existed neither has democracy and that communism is the closest form of democracy that a society can reach. You will also find that under the attempt of communism in Russia (1917-24), Russia was the first country in the world that gave women the right to equal status as men and the opportunity to have the choice of abortion and that homosexuals were legal citizens, free to preactice.

because the people who live under communist rule don't have a choice - i tutor lots of cuban refugees and they got the funk out of there. i think the ideas behind communism are really good, but they're never put into practice the way they're written and it always ends up more like a dictatorship.

It's not bad in theory, but when ever it has been put into effect, it has become corruput, and strayed away from its principles

I took history and we were taught that communism, although meant to be considered fair, is selfish. Busineses never sucseed and people have limited freedom.

It denies individuals their right to freedom and individuality. This goes against nature. People have a right to live their lives by their own conscience and practice, be free from oppression, and practice the religion of their choice. Communism is, in a nutshell, evil in it's effect on the rights of people.

There are two communism's. One is what we know as Communism. Russia, China, Cuba, etc. It should be said that much of what we 'know' is propaganda, even if some of that was rooted in truth. The atrocities of Stalin or the human rights of present day China just can't be ignored though...and definitely gives 'Communism' a bad name. Numerous dictators have also espoused Communist agenda's, and it adds to making the name bad. The important point is that NONE of these countries governments have been anything close to what a truly (Marxist-)Communist would be. The real Communism is a form of government implied by Karl Marx. I say implied cause I don't think he ever used the term....at the very least he never defined it. What he implied it to be was a government ran for and by the people, where they received all the benefits of their labor and everyone gets what they need. It had nothing to do with restricting freedom or controlling actions. In fact, Marx's concepts (borrowing the 'Dialecitc' from Hegel, flipping it on end and applying it to Materialism), had it that Communism was the point when man would be fully realized and in control of everything he produced....the end of alienation - man's separation from what he produced. Now, the reality is that true Communism is just slightly more likely than true Capitalism. Both are utterly impossible to achieve.

Because it makes it VERY diffcult for capitlast countries - much like the U.S. who despises communism so much it isn't even funny - to work as well.

communism is considered bad because certain ideologies want it that way. in reality comunism has never existed, the idea itself is very valuable and idealic, but what has happened is that communism has turned into other things that are not what "true" communism aspires to be. Cuba for example is not communistic, in a communistic society there wouldn't be people starving. communist china was far closer to a dictatorship than communism. its very complex and we must be critical of what we are taught. i recommend reading the communist manifesto by karl marx and friedrich engels and then coming up with your own idea.

Several reasons, the first being that it's name has been hijacked by some governments that executed it very badly and used it to oppress people, the second being that capitalist powers have done everything in their power to apply a blanket stigma to the very concept of communism. Communism in and of itself is a perfectly valid system of government, no more "Good" or "Bad" than any other system. It has been used to oppress people in the past, but so has (And is) the capitalist "Democratic" system. It's not the system that is bad in any case, it's how the system is executed in practice.

Because the government fears communism. Communism benefits the people. If the peoiple knew this, politicians and businessmen would lose their power. This is why the media has to demonise communism.

Capitalism is a doctrine where the human being has the option by his will to create his thoughts, imaginations, desires etc into a good or service. A commodity aka product. But the greatest thing capitalism gives to the human being is a free Market. A community where humans can trade and sell their creations. And thats great. But the true question we need to consider is does the creator have the right to enslave the laborers who help create and distribute the creator idea/ product. And what does the creator/ owners/ corporate board enslave the laborers from. PROFIT. And what is profit? Money. And what is Money? the material/ the thing that can give the human being he god given freedom to chose what he/she wants to do without the mental and physical stress of his and his love one welfare. I BELIVE IN CAPITALISM BUT I DONT BELIEVE TN THAT JUST BECAUSE A PERSON THINKS OF SOMETHING BEFORE THE REST OF THE CLASS( THE WORLD ) AND LEGALIZE IT THROUGH THE GOVERNMENT ( PRIVITIZATION ) IT GIVES HIM THE RIGHT TO ENSLAVE THE REST OF THE CLASS ( THE WORLD ). I BELIEVE THAT WE HUMANS LEAD TO COME UP WITH A PROFIT SYSTEM FOR EACH GOOD AND SERVICE. THE CONCLUSION. IT ALL BOILS DOWN TO NOT REALLY CLASS STRUGGLE BECAUSE THEIR WILL ALWAYS BE A CLASS OR HUMAN BEINGS ABOVE ANOTHER HUMAN BEING BUT THE QUESTIONS IS, DOES THE CREATOR OF A PRODUCT/ OWNER HAVE THE RIGHT TO ENSLAVE THE WORLD BECAUSE HE CREATED IT FIRST.

We tend to consider Communism bad as an economic system because it is a Command Economy...that is, there is a governmental authority which determines what needs to be made and where resources are to be distributed. Because of this, the consumer has fewer options, and needs cannot be quickly re-allocated during times of upheaval - a command economy can't adjust to changes quickly. Because of this, Communism requires strong governmental control to ensure resources are used as directed, so communism on a large scale tends toward dictatorship...a strong authority who appears loyal to the principles of Communism. These two principles run counter to our preferences in the Western World where we culturally prize personal choice over absolute security, as well as our ability to select our leadership. Not helping the image of Communism was a quote by Karl Marx (the author of dominant communist principles) which went "religion is the opiate of the masses." Communist Russia sought violently to eliminate religious ideologies, symbols, and structures within its own country; an activity many Western Cultures considered distasteful. Finally, an unfortunate run of ruthless and murderous dictators heading Communist Russia was a resounding death knell for Communist ideology in the West, in much the same way a murderous, genocidal rampage by the Nazi's made Nationalist Socialism a symbol of all things evil. Stalin killed millions of his own countrymen in the Gulag and through forced relocation and famine - not the sort of thing that endears the world to your political system. Communism is still practiced with various stages of success by countries around the world. North Korea is a withering example of Communism's failure, when compared to the prosparity of South Korea. China is a powerful and considerably more stable example, though it is known for widespread state censorship and civil rights abuses.

In a perfect world where nobody was selfish, communism would be ideal. In the present world, communism is considered bad because people ARE selfish, and it just doesn't work. Try reading Animal Farm by George Orwell if you want to understand why communism is considered bad.

The answer to the question “why is communism considered bad” is, simply put, it isn’t. Communism is a great concept and it is the ideal government of every country. These base ideas of communism echo the concepts of the early philosophes, such as Rousseau, and Locke, whose beliefs also came across very well on paper. If communism could be achieved, it should be the government for all countries. The problem is that it will never be achieved. The reason for this are clearly stated in the posts above, and they include human nature, disincentive, and lack of economic growth.

Communism is the antichrist of capitalism.

No government is good without acknowledging God as creator, redeemer and sustainer. Any form of government with a *real* Christian population will succeed. By real Christian, I mean a Christian as one who puts God first and his fellow mans needs on an equal basis with his own (very much altruistic at times). This is why our constitutional republic did so well...we believed that God was sovereign and we loved our neighbors as ourselves, heck, even our enemies (read the declaration again). In recent times, God has been removed from all public life and greed and self-centeredness has taken over. In my opinion, we never really had a constitutional republic, but a voluntary communistic monarchy. Explanation: We, by our own free will agreed publicly that God gave us our lives and all they contain, and in response we should do our best (not by compulsion) to further ourselves and our neighbors in glorifying Him. Any government that hopes to have a chance of success must have a people who will volunteer their time, goods and effort in helping others. Any hint of forced sharing (socialism or communism) amounts to nothing more than the theft of the previous items and is doomed to failure. Communism is bad becuase it is compulsory and not voluntary -agree with the party, or die.

Government instituted communism means relying on someone else to decide who gets what and how much. But who the hell is knowledgable enough and trustworthy enough to carry that out? Every single capitalist is free to embrace as much communism as he can handle. You want to be a communist? All you have to do is work harder than you want to and give all the extra money to those worse off than yourself. Can't find anyone worse off than yourself? That's what charities do for you. Give them the money and they will redirect it to those who need it. Now that you've embraced communism, all you have to do is convince every one else to copy you. Shouldn't be too hard if it's so much fun.

Imagine a four year old kiddie entrusted to share lollies amongst all his friends .... tomorrow!

Comrade, its not Communism thats the bad one, its Capitalism.

It doesn't really work even on paper. It has never worked in practice. It has always lead to a highly centralized political power structure - which though not necessary to communism certainly is a highly likely outcome of it. Socialist countries are all much poorer than their capitalist counterparts. Marx and Lenin both believed in a global revolution on behalf of the working class - even if the workers didn't want it. This lead to and incredible amount of subterfuge, extortion, and murder. There is no incentive to work more than the minimum required. No incentive to innovate or improve anything. Need I go on?

communism is nothing more than GOVERNMENT CONTROL, which is exactly what sensible Americans are now WAKING UP to...our country was founded on each state controlling their own state..and thats what we should get BACK!!! the government wants control of our lives,businesses,money,children,and have been slowly getting it over the years..a little at the time...u have these banks now wanting to give the money back and the government doesn't want it...they lose their control... if thats what u think is good, them telling u where to live,work ,what THEY will pay u with OUR OWN MONEY, what sort of education ur child will have and where , can't say a word negative against them, certain religions being against the law, etc...then go to a communist country!!! the FREE Americans,who can think in a big picture ,are trying to save their country from becoming this way....!!! we keep our ,homes,weapons,money and they can keep the CHANGE!!!!the CHANGE the people and states are making happen!!quite a few states HAVE HAD ENOUGH!!:)JUSTME

The reason communism is considered bad is a blend of propaganda and misconception. True communism, as much as true capitalism has NEVER been put into use. Nations stating to be communist are either lying or have twisted and changed communism to serve them selves. Though Marx spoke of the dictatorship of the proletariat, think of who the proletariat is. Most of the people. What nations like Soviet and China implemented was a dictatorship of the elite ruling class. Also it is very important to note that the ends communism seeks is NOT a totalitarian government that controls everything. It is in fact anarchism. Marx said that when the government, lead by the people, changed what it had to, it would be removed. Resulting in communities working together, communities ruled by all the peoples involved. On the issue of incentive, people forgivably think that self-interest and profit is the only reason people do things. That is most certainly true! In Capitalism that is. In communism incentives change. Instead of being a doctor because you get a large paycheck, you become a doctor because you get appreciation and sense of contribution. In Cuba 59 doctors graduate every year, more than the USA. Although there is much more to be said about communism, it is too much for a answerbag answer. I suggest reading books by Karl Marx and Engels with a open mind, and also reading capitalist literature by Adam Smith with a open mind. And remember everything, EVERYTHING you hear by the media about communism is propaganda, because guess what all the major media outlets are owned by corporations trying to perpetuate their capitalist world-view. So people might blame Communism for propaganda (righty so I might add, which is indeed a problem) but Capitalism has as much propaganda though it is more insidious. As much as north-koreans are brought up to believe their hands will rot if they touch anything foreign, Americans believe self-interest is the only factor driving the world forward. (Sorry for it being too long. I will admit that I'm new to this stuff, but I'm only 14 mind you =))

Mr. Meaulnes Jul <b>Communism in and of itself is a perfectly valid system of government, no more "Good" or "Bad" than any other system. It has been used to oppress people in the past, but so has (And is) the capitalist "Democratic" system.</b> Some of the above comments are incorrect or somewhat naive. Let me explain some facts about communism. Who here thinks that you would voluntarily decide to be a bus driver or trash collector? no one would, yet we need those jobs filled. We would all like to be the Mayor of the city we live in or a Doctor. This is simply not possible, in Never-Never-Land maybe, but there we all get to be children forever and never get old and die. We are trying to solve real problems in a real world, with real people. Not everyone has the skills to be a doctor nor the mayor. Even with the exact environment and education people are different and have different strengths and weaknesses. Even within the same family, much less the same country. So communism is for the elite intellectual from Academia, where real world rules fall by the wayside. If all we had to do all day was think lofty thoughts we could all live in peace in communism. Ask your professor what happens to the undesirable in a communistic society? Physically disabled and mentally disabled (insane, retarted, old). If you can not contribute to the collective, what happens to you. Does the loving big brother government take care of you? or are you taken to the same farm my father took our sick dogs and cats? What happens to you when your TOO old to work for the total good of the country, or you get injured in service of that country and can't work any longer? Another question; If the government does take care of all of these people, where is the chance for you to show compasion, charity and sympathy? Not everyone in America is rich, but everyone...every last one has the chance to become so! Your destiny isn't predetermined and locked into place. That is what makes America great! not the fact that we have poor and rich, but choice and chances. Some people are happy being a bus drive, some desire more. Freedom not Capitolism.... Capitolism is far more free than Communism FREEDOM = AMERICA don't get confused!