Flame — HabitableZone

Flame » in reply to Communism

re: Communism only works in small, voluntary groups of adults.
Mary Anne — (archived)

Like some religious communities. I think of the Shakers specifically, and some monasteries and convents, but even there, the power structure grows if the community endures for more than a couple of generations, and especially if it prospers.

Unless everyone buys in of their own free will, and can leave when they please, the share-and-share-alike nature of ideal communism never works, and for the very reasons you state.

I'll push your reasoning further, and state that children present a unique problem to a communist community. Though they can be raised to it, some will not take to it because it's not their nature, and those who remain as adults can hardly have made a meaningful choice. "Let's see: there's this way of life that is all I know, and there is... um... hmmmm. I choose the only thing I know." That's not free will, and it will eventually rot the idealism of the original community.

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