My favorite communist is not known for imperialism, control of a country, or putting fear into the hearts of citizens. My favorite communist takes more of a passive approach. Not too passive, of course, because it did open eyes, stir emotion, and elicit change.
Who am I talking about?
John Steinbeck. According to steinbeck. org, "John Steinbeck achieved worldwide recognition for his keen observations and powerful descriptions of the human condition. He championed the forgotten and disenfranchised while affirming the strength of the human spirit," a statement I wholly agree with. In The Grapes of Wrath, Steinbeck pasints the picture of a family like any in the midst of the Great Depression and Dust bowl, sent off their land out West, to jobs, which of course did not exist. As people took work on fruit orchards, they hardly made enough to live. All the while, socialists and communist demanded that the government take responsibility and create change. The American Communist Party believed that the free market was to blame and had there been government intervention and planning, this disaster would not have occurred. To them, like Steinbeck, the government was not doing all it could. Writing the Grapes of Wrath exposed these facts which the government was trying to hide, in an attempt to promote change.
I admire Steinbeck for his exposition, and desire that all should read this. I am no communist, no, far from that. I do however, think there is a great deal to learn from the Communists and writers of that time.
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I never knew Steinbeck was a Communist. We read his books in school, but we never touched upon his political views.
Yeah, we went through a hard time during the Great Depression.
However, Communism is the farthest thing from the answer that there is.
Case in point: In Soviet Russia, they went through their own Great Depression.
In the United States, we were in bad shape for about a decade or so.... a bit longer for farmers in the Midwest (Especially once a certain Democrat President thought it'd be a great idea to slaughter thousands of pigs that could have gone to feed the poor, for the sake of driving up the price of ham at a time in which no one had money. Smooth move.. too bad it didn't work.), but it was through private investments and a government that mostly left people alone that we started the upwards cycle (which was indeed helped by world war 2, but we were already on the road to improvement by the time we got involved in the war)
In Soviet Russia, their Great Depression started at about the same time and lasted for about 70 years. Over those 70 years, over 100,000,000 people died (Mostly by forced starvation by the communist government, or by execution for speaking out against The State).
In the russian Great Depression, the people had oodles of money, but they were only allowed to buy certain things and only in certain amounts. Sure, they could buy all the vodka they wanted, but they had to wait in line for hours and days to get bread that was stale and moldy by the time it made it to the people's homes.
During tough times, people can indeed use a handout and a bit of help. However, communism breeds dependence upon the government. During times of emergency, be they short like a hurricane or long like the Great Depression, a dependent person does not survive, as they will lack the ability to pick themselves up and make life better for themselves.
They will naturally look to the government to do that for them. TIme and time again, the Goverments of the world (even ours) have proven to be ill-suited to being the sole support for the masses. It is only through independence that we can have freedom and succeed in life to find happiness.
Do not give in to the allure of communism. Your teachers, all through high school and college, will lift up its good points in theory, but will hide the horrible nature of communism in practice.
If you live in a city, find out if there is a 'russian quarter' and head there some weekend. go to cafes and look for elderly russian immigrants. Ask them about life in Communist Russia before you spend too much time thinking about how good it could be, in theory.
In Theory never works out as well on paper.
It worked well in action for the Native American Indians. It's fairly convenient to revise such tribal effectiveness.
my documentary...
Wanna smile on the spot?
I did a 12 page paper about Steinbeck and his books for my Honors British Lit class a couple years ago and found that out in my research. Its pretty interesting stuff.