The problem is that the present generation have not experienced the realities of the practice of Communism first hand and may hold a romantic notion from the influence of old Communists who claim that Soviet Communism wasn’t true Communism. In fact in Russia today the Communist Party attracted only 11.77% of the vote in the 2018 presidential election.
There is however a situation which has seemingly come about as a result of the fall of Soviet Communism and that is that present day Capitalism has become one of total greed which to the observer may reinforce the the validity of Marx’s writings but in reality both sides reflect human failings and the Nomenclature were nothing more than the Capitalist boss, in attitude towards its people,as projected in the writings of the ideology, but which now seems to have become a reality in the western world and is especially evident in the UK.
It is as if the boot is now on the other foot, as it were, where it is now the once ”Free World” that is fomenting foreign wars through proxies and destroying God centred Nations, like Syria in particular which is secular but upholds the centuries old tradition of encouraging freedom of worship equally for all faiths. The West is seeking to destroy this and supplant sectarianism which it openly supports through funding.
Russia used to have food shortages and long queues which people joined ‘just in case’ there might be something worth having. Now we have our own food shortages for the working poor who’s stagnated wages cannot cover the ever rising cost of housing due to it being an investment vehicle, and also ever rising utility bills but which the inflation rate always seems to maintain an overall figure of around 2%.
Tony Blair and New Labour were advocates of Communitarianism, otherwise known as the Third Way, as was David Cameron and the Coalition Government of 2010 with the promotion of Big Society. The most noticeable feature of the pushing of Big Society was that perfectly functional charities proven to be beneficial to society were having their funding either cut or removed altogether with the result that they would have to close. The idea was that people would volunteer to keep similar organisations running, but I thought that this was a bit rich since people were struggling to maintain their own living standards and keep their heads above water. Also funding to local Councils has been systematically cut over time to such an extent that economies have had to be made by closing public conveniences, buildings which already existed, but they require people to be paid to maintain them. Before Cameron won the election in 2010 I remember him claiming on radio that the rich bosses maintained a wage difference of 400 to 1 over the workers but as soon as he became Prime Minister this figure ended up being reworked to something less dramatic.
So what we are basically seeing is the removal of all of the benefits to society that were fought for by our conscientious forebears who saw the need as a result of poverty during the Victorian period when Britain was at its most prosperous and powerful. We are seeing again where the individual and their plight counts for nothing as witnessed by the number of homeless rough sleepers and the withdrawal of Benefit support to the chronically ill who have been deemed fit for work by a privatised company.
I am not quite sure what is being said here, although it is true that individuals don’t matter (did they ever?).
When communism reigned in Russia, I am sure that the experience of the ordinary people there, was completely different from what the rest of the world thought it was….so not sure what you mean by ‘experiencing the realities ‘. Communism always meant, as in ‘Animal Farm’, viz ‘ all animals are equal, but some are more equal than others’. Human nature does not fit into any system other than the greedy one. Since Homo Sapiens first walked the earth, their lives have been about having and getting, and then getting some more. Change can only happen with individuals like you and me. Facebook would have you believe that it is a caring world…..it isn’t. Social media helps to make it even less caring, because it is a world all on its own……reality, whatever that is, doesn’t matter. Karl Marx today might have said that Facebook is the opium of the people…..it is similar to religion, but much more judgemental, and love does not even come into it.