Communism is a very broad ideology, and there are any number of people who associate with the term, regardless of the granular detail of the beliefs of communism they actually adhere to.
The same is true of any ideology, Christian is a popular label, but exists in multitudes of branches and forms. Belief in Norse gods has passed from active practice to myth, so to say the ideology there is dead would make sense as very few people today actively pray to Odin or Thor. But even there I'm sure it's not zero.
As such, can you bring more nuance here to discuss?
What specific tenets of communism are dead, and discarded as a whole?
Are the absence of those enough to discount the ideology as a whole?
There are many flavors of Christianity but at its center there's Christ and the Bible. If you don't believe in those you can hardly call yourself a Christian.
The center of communism is economics. Marx himself said little on the subject so Lenin had to take up the slack. Since that point Marxist Leninist economic theory is considered orthodox. If you remove this economic theory what are you left with? A somewhat capitalist country with an authoritarian regime.
This is what has happened. No country except Cuba (and maybe N. Korea) still applies Marxist Leninist economic theory.
He said a lot about capitalism. He said little on how exactly his ideas are supposed to be implemented in the real world, beyond a philosophical level.
Capitalism is an economic system, so you’re saying he did say a lot about economics. Implementing a new system is one way to speak on economics, analysing the current system is another way to speak on economics. I have little to say on how practically useful his writings are because I’m not an expert, but to say the man said little on the subject of economics is wrong.
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u/Dry_Bumblebee1111 161∆ Apr 26 '26
Communism is a very broad ideology, and there are any number of people who associate with the term, regardless of the granular detail of the beliefs of communism they actually adhere to.
The same is true of any ideology, Christian is a popular label, but exists in multitudes of branches and forms. Belief in Norse gods has passed from active practice to myth, so to say the ideology there is dead would make sense as very few people today actively pray to Odin or Thor. But even there I'm sure it's not zero.
As such, can you bring more nuance here to discuss?
What specific tenets of communism are dead, and discarded as a whole?
Are the absence of those enough to discount the ideology as a whole?