10 planks of communism

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Ten Planks of Communism

1. Abolition of private property and the application of all rent to public purpose.

The 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution (1868), and various zoning, school & property taxes. Also the Bureau of Land Management.

2. A heavy progressive or graduated income tax.

Misapplication of the 16th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, 1913, The Social Security Act of 1936.; Joint House Resolution 192 of 1933; and various State "income" taxes. We call it "paying your fair share".

3. Abolition of all rights of inheritance.

We call it Federal & State estate Tax (1916); or reformed Probate Laws, and limited inheritance via arbitrary inheritance tax statutes.

4. Confiscation of the property of all emigrants and rebels.

We call in government seizures, tax liens, Public "law" 99-570 (1986);

Executive order 11490, sections 1205, 2002 which gives private land to the Department of Urban Development; the imprisonment of "terrorists" and those who speak out or write against the "government" (1997 Crime/Terrorist Bill); or the IRS confiscation of property without due process.

5. Centralization of credit in the hands of the State, by means of a national bank with state capital and an exclusive monopoly.

We call it the Federal Reserve which is a credit/debt system nationally organized by the Federal Reserve act of 1913. All local banks are members of the Fed system, and are regulated by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC).

6. Centralization of the means of communication and transportation in the hands of the State.

We call it the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and Department of Transportation (DOT) mandated through the ICC act of 1887, the Commissions Act of 1934, The Interstate Commerce Commission established in 1938, The Federal Aviation Administration, Federal Communications Commission, and Executive orders 11490, 10999, as well as State mandated driver's licenses and Department of Transportation regulations.

7. Extention of factories and instruments of production owned by the State, the bringing into cultivation of waste lands, and the improvement of the soil generally in accordance with a common plan.

We call it corporate capacity, The Desert Entry Act and The Department of Agriculture. As well as the Department of Commerce and Labor, Department of Interior, the Evironmental Protection Agency, Bureau of Land Management, Bureau of Reclamation, Bureau of Mines, National Park Service, and the IRS control of business through corporate regulations.

8. Equal liablity of all to labor. Establishment of Industrial armies, especially for agriculture.

We call it the Social Security Administration and The Department of Labor. The National debt and inflation caused by the communal bank has caused the need for a two "income" family. Woman in the workplace since the 1920's, the 19th amendment of the U.S. Constitution, the Civil Rights Act of 1964, assorted Socialist Unions, affirmative action, the Fedral Public Works Program and of course Executive order 11000.

9. Combination of agriculture with manufacturing industries; gradual abolition of the distinction between town and country by a more equable distribution of the population over the country.

We call it the Planning Reorganization act of 1949 , zoning (Title 17 1910-1990) and Super Corporate Farms, as well as Executive orders 11647, 11731 (ten regions) and Public "law" 89-136.

10. Free education for all children in government schools. Abolition of children's factory labor in its present form. Combination of education with industrial production, etc. etc.

People are being taxed to support what we call 'public' schools, which train the young to work for the communal debt system. We also call it the Department of Education, the NEA and Outcome Based "Education" .

-ps- a friend of mine wrote this, I have recieved his permission to cut and paste it because he is better at explaining things than I am actually

I know, it sounds disgusting already!
this country needs some change real soon!

First, you'll need to explain why socialism/communism is inherently evil. Granted, this is coming from someone who thinks that we may STILL not have found the way of perfection (not among all of capitalism, communism, anarchism, anarcho-primitivism, libertarianism, theocracy, etc.). I suppose the question is, what are the true, objective definitions of good and evil—the ones that predate life, matter, energy, God, etc., the ones that are utterly impersonal and dependable, the ones that are to diamond what diamond is to talc. I cannot bring myself to trust anything that partakes even a little of bias, subjectivity, or relativism, similar as they are to the insanity of solipsism (specifically, the one that says that only the self is real; do what you will with the only-self-is-important and self's-motives-are-only-motives-that-can-exist-in-anyone varieties).

Never mind that "bias" and "error" are the exact same thing...

Nonetheless, I worry about the idea that we have no inherent duty to the Other. We do, simply because the Other exists. And apathy, the last I heard, was a form of Sloth...

If I am correct about what Skynight is saying, He's right. Communism is actually theoretically one of the best governments to be involved in. Sadly, however, due to human nature (greed) It shall never truly work as marx, or lenin had once hoped. Personally I'd rather live in a socialist democracy. OH and watch the movie SICKO it really opened my eyes to new views.

Point exactly, I wasn't refferring to some left wing delusional "utopia" or "anarchistic" communism, I'm refferring to the real deal. Stalin, Pol Pot, Ho Chi Minh, Fidel Castro, that is communism.

That post was mostly nonsense and hyperbole. For instance, #6.

People that want to travel or communicate in today's America have more options than ever, and can do so at a cost that is historically cheap.

With computers and laser printers (or Kinkos), any one can publish what they like. Or they can publish on the internet. If they don't like the country they are in, they can get server space in another country. Want to start your own newspaper or magazine? No one is stopping you. People do it all the time.

The interstate commerce commission tends to prevent the various states from interfering with interstate commerce, using the commerce clause of the constitution.

The FCC is less powerful than ever - they regulate broadcast TV and Radio to a limited degree, but not cable, satellite or internet broadcasting. They weren't formed from an attempt to foster communism, rather, from an attempt to (en)force corporatist/religious values on the media.

The FAA occasionally limits air traffic and can be bureaucratic, but they have built up a system of airports, radar and traffic control that make air travel pretty efficient. The recent decline in air travel is due more to increased fuel prices and security hassles, not to government's attempts to take over everything.

State mandated driver's licenses are a pretty good idea, IMHO. They don't do much to prevent the average person from driving, although they are somewhat effective in limiting the number of people with DUIs or bad eye-sight from driving. Sure, some people with a suspended license still drive, just like some people ignore every other law.

Actually, most of these are Marxist planks. I think communism could work if the appropriate modifications and checks and/or balances were implemented. For inatance the idea of a "classless" society... ludicrious idea. And lack of competition could be helped by creating overlapping governement owned industries and/or industries that serve overlapping geographic areas. Any rate, to say that communism is bad may or may not be true, but most people would agree that the loss of freedoms that we associate with failed attempts at Marxist Communsism pretty much sucks. On the other hand, we're pretty much proving that Democracy fails too

So long as you don't mind the govenment listening.Exactly what are these non-governement security hassles you speak of?

Technically, all systems are theoretically the "best" system. The issue is subjective elements in judging systems and correctness of theories. It also stands to claim that all systems are theoretically the worst system if we ask their ideological opponents. I'd also say that the problem goes deeper than greed but rather issues with information in such a society that will likely lead it to over or under or just simply have less than optimal production because of a lack of knowledge of what to produce and how much to, and what to price it at.

So, essentially, communism would work if it were capitalism? Why not just pick capitalism rather than attempting some variant of market socialism? The reason I say that is because it seems to me that the decision to not make this a form of capitalism is somewhat arbitrary.

No they are not. Error is an inaccuracy due to imperfect information. Bias is twisting the information you have to make it come out a certain way. There is a very significant difference.

This could be debated, as it is believed that many Native American tribes lived without private ownership, meaning that there was simply communal ownership of all resources and the community would collaborate to fulfill their combined needs. Not that I like communism, as I think that, even if it were to work, it would prevent any significant progress. Democracy of any form, and especially socialist democracy, is anathema to me, but to be fair there are worse systems.

The movie Sicko is truly disgusting in its shameless lies and bias. The American medical system allows us to have better survival rates for various diseases and medical emergencies than do other systems. If you get cancer, you are more than twice as likely to die if you are treated in the British medical system as compared to the American. We list higher infant morality rates because we count it differently than other countries- in many European countries, premature babies or infants below a certain weight are automatically counted as still-born and not included in infant mortality rates. If you control for deaths not related to the medical system (namely homicides and fatal car crashes) the US comes up above many other countries in life expectancy. Further, the fact that our life expectancy is as high as it is (AND we have declining rates of fatalities form both cancer and heart disease) in spite of the terribly unhealthy lifestyles Americans often lead indicates that our medical system must be doing a damn good job to be able to compensate for all of our lifestyle choices. All that said, there does need to be some major reform in regards to HMOs and medical insurance. But I do not believe socialism will be an effective answer to our healthcare problems.

Warning, warning, guilt by association fallacy. Just because Marxists support a certain policy (like a progressive income tax, does not mean the policy is bad or "inherently communist".

In Europe people don't go bankrupt because they can't pay medical bills. In Europe elderly people don't have to choose between buying medicine and buying food. People's health is more important then the profits of the health insurance industries. Insurance is one big scam based around making up as many excuses as possible to deny payments in order to maximize profits; it is based on excluding people that need healthcare the most because healthy people are much more profitable.

Those are not common occurrences in America either but rather a few unusual cases targeted by media sensationalism. America has the best hospitals and the best doctors in the world. The one issue you can really point your finger at is if the distribution of health services is "fair," which ultimately comes down to a value judgment. As I said, our system has its flaws and the flagrant abuses perpetrated by insurance companies should be prevented. But EVERY system has flaws, and the systems which have a government provision of health services also tend to have markedly lower quality of service than we do. Our medical system can (and should) be improved upon, but I don't think that would best be accomplished by throwing money into a new wasteful bureaucracy.

You don't think government agencies like to save money? A guy at my school was born several months premature and at an extremely light weight, in many European countries he would simply have been counted as stillborn and essentially thrown in the trash. In America doctors worked to save him and he is alive today. And even though profit maximization is the ultimate goal of insurance companies, their means to that end must necessarily be to help people obtain medical care. In order to maximize profits they do have to keep customers, if they provide poor service they will be unable to keep customers and therefore will no longer have profits. The fundamental idea of capitalism is that self-interest provides an incentive for one person to make themselves useful to others, and when everyone does this (each person selfishly trying to maximize their own well-being) all of society will benefit. Our current system has some issues that need to be addressed, but the insurance industry is not some monolithic abomination out to cripple you and steal your life savings.

Last edited by Orwell on 26 Feb 2008, 4:20 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Technically of course capatalism and communism are opposites, but basically yes. If you take what works for capatalism and replace what doesn't work in communism... Well, it could work. The reason to do it is because obviously there's also a lot that doesn't work in capitalism.

Well, there is a reason I used the term "market socialism" as that is an economic thought. Really though you'd have to go in a little bit deeper. What I see not working in capitalism is perhaps a bit less than the optimal amount of competition, some issues of externalities, and arguably some issues with distribution, but I don't see how your idea will necessarily solve the problem. I also don't see how there is "a lot" that doesn't work in capitalism and how that "lot" will be solved by a market socialist system but not a mixed economy.