Communism is stateless, but not without government, or what Engels calls "The Administration of Things." For Marx, the "state" is made up of the instruments of society that uphold class distinctions, such as private property rights, and special bodies of armed people for those purposes. Public ownership and socialized ownership quite literally makes those aspects of society redundant, and thus "whithers away."

[–] easily3667@lemmus.org -5 points 3 days ago (1 children)

So it's stateless but there's a state according to the common definition but not according to a different definition that is less common. Got it.

[–] Cowbee@lemmy.ml 9 points 3 days ago

Basically. Marx wrote in the 1800s, so there can be confusion from those who only keep a surface-level understanding of Marxism, say, by sticking to Wikipedia summaries. If you want, I can provide sources that help elaborate on what I'm talking about.

[+] takeiteasypolicy@lemmy.world -8 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Yes, and eggs are perfect spheres in Vacuum. In real world, any and every attempt at communism will lead to a situation where government becomes an all encompassing over bearing State. that's why Socialism is a far better and much more practical model than communism ever will be.

[–] Cowbee@lemmy.ml 13 points 3 days ago

I think you're a bit confused on terms, here, as well as history.

Socialism is just an economy where public ownership is the principle aspect of the economy, rather than private. It's a transitional system towards Communism, because markets naturally cebtralize and create efficient networks for central planning all by themselves. Cuba, the PRC, Vietnam, Laos, DPRK, former USSR, etc are all examples of Socialism.

Communism, the point at which the entire global economy can be publicly owned and planned, has not been reached. There have been Communist parties in charge of Socialist economies, but Communism itself is still in the future.

I think if you're going to be discussing the practicality of Communism and Socialism, you'd do well to familiarize yourself with the systems more. Socialism is not in opposition to Communism, and is a prerequisite for it. I made an introductory Marxist-Leninist reading list if you want to become more knowledgeable about Socialism and Communism.