I bet we all heard more or less about communism. Some people support this ideology, some people were there when it happened and some people are here, experiencing the aftermath. And a lot of you, old and young, would tell me: but what is wrong with people having equal chances? It’s nothing wrong, but communism has nothing to do with human rights, equality, and freedom. It’s the exact opposite. Allow me to explain, as a 20-year-old who lives in a former communist country.
Manipulation, manipulation, manipulation
We know that every regime has its own flaws, but communism has some of the worst ones. Let’s begin with manipulation. The regime came with violence for the first time in 1917, in Russia, with the Bolshevik revolution. Violence gives birth to violence, remember this. From Lenin to Gorbachev, they all had one goal: manipulation for power. They all claimed the USSR and its satellite states are flourishing, everyone was equal and happy and that freedom was in their veins. Do I also need to explain the whole Chernobyl disaster and how it could have been avoided if the communists hadn’t been so ignorant?
It’s exactly the opposite. In 1947 Romania officially entered the “protection umbrella” of the USSR and ever since then, things went down. After all the oppression, abuse, killings, and poverty, people, especially old people, are nostalgic about these times and heavily criticize and hate democracy. Why? The answer is easy: manipulation. They were prisoners, unable to see outside the small bubble of communism, and thought that waiting in line hours for one piece of bread, having no property, not being able to leave the country or have an opinion was better than being dead, after WWII.
How can you discuss that? You weren’t even born in the regime!
That’s right! I wasn’t born in the regime, but I was born after the regime when almost everything collapsed because of the rigidity of it! I see with my own eyes how much harm this did, I was able to look outside the barrier and learn the history to escape the manipulation. But the communism after-math is still here. Poverty, uneducated people, corruption, children who are unable to raise their heads, and loss of trust in politics. They are all the offspring of communism.
Monkey see, monkey do, right? If we compare the Eastern-European countries, the subjects of communism, with Western, democratic countries, the differences are – sadly – huge. Every country has its own problems, there is no perfect country or perfect regime, but only by looking outside the window, you can see how miserable and lamentable the majority of people live. How the lack of quality education and medieval way of thinking trap so many individuals. Yes, I was not born during the communist regime, but I’m one of the lucky ones who can see, and not just look back at these horrors.
Ok, so why it didn’t work?
Let’s see…besides leaving the whole power to one incompetent “president”, (for example, the last Communist leader of Romania, Nicolae Ceausescu, went from primary school studies to University in one year), the interests were not inclined towards the people, but towards own wealth and the fake image of the state. It was just a game of pretending that cost the lives and future of millions. And seeing people from non-former communist countries stating so firmly that communism is the cure of the disease called “capitalism” makes me angry. Yes, capitalism has many flaws, there is still poverty and debts and interests, but would you really trade your freedom for a utopia?
It will never work. On paper. Karl Marx’s ideas sound noble, but in reality, communism was way worse than capitalism. There are countless confessions of people that realized how manipulated they were. Putting efforts into creating a utopia will never bring the idealized outcome. You cannot have or create a perfect regime, economy, or world because there are no ideal or perfect people and whenever the liberty of one person becomes greater than anyone else, chaos will be born. I’m neither a politician nor an economist, but I do have the common sense to realize how delusional the communist supporters are.
