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C00002 00002 WHY THE COMMUNISTS CAN'T KEEP DEMOCRACY EVEN IF THEY SINCERELY THINK THEY WILL
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WHY THE COMMUNISTS CAN'T KEEP DEMOCRACY EVEN IF THEY SINCERELY THINK THEY WILL
Part of Communist doctrine is that the working class is poor,
because the capitalists exploit them, and if the power of the
capitalist is broken, the workers will become more prosperous.
Another part is that all efforts at labor discipline under
capitalism are exploitive.
Another part is that the managers of industry and commerce
don't deserve their high salaries, supported by the view that they
are not especially competent at their jobs, which could be done as
well by many class-conscious worker.
Since these doctrines are not true, there is no increase
in general prosperity when Communists get power. In fact, because
of the breakdown of labor discipline, there is a decrease. To the
extent that the business managers have been competent previously,
there is a further decrease when they are replaced by less competent
managers. Taking from the rich doesn't aid the poor much, especially
when much value is destroyed by inefficiencies in the process.
This failure to keep promises, makes it possible to the
opponents of the Communists to gain support. The only way to retain
power for the Communists is to blame them for the difficulties, and
some examples can always be found. The result has always been
harsher and harsher dictatorship in spite of the fact that the
Communists have sometimes had original democratic inclinations.
All sorts of doctrines have developed to justify this. The nastiest
was Stalin's doctrine of the intensification of the class struggle
as socialism advances. According to it, the increasing desperation
of the class enemy requires ever severer repression, thus justifying
the purgs of the 1930s.
The more advanced the country, the more likely a reduction
in living standards when the Communists take over, and the greater
their need will be for a dictatorship.