1351 How Long Can Communism Last?

Communism differs slightly from Marxism because the latter is a theory and the former tries to implement it in practice. People don’t work against their self-interest unless forced to so Communism requires authoritarianism; a police state that includes turning friends & neighbors into informers & snitches. Marxism’s primary tenet, “from each according to their ability to each according to their need,” divides the population exactly in half, so in the short term, half the people will benefit from Communism while the other half will be at their disposal. Due to momentum, coercion & intimidation, this situation can continue for at least one generation but as the productive members of society retire & die, those coming up have no lingering habits to be any more motivated than they absolutely have to be; in fact, the perverse incentive of the situation is to be on the receiving end of redistribution. Children that have been raised under these auspices can be somewhat indoctrinated to work hard but there will be no highly-ambitious, no effort spared, 24/7 workaholics that Capitalist societies create. Communism can only last until everything deteriorates so much that the vast majority of people can clearly see it’s in their best self-interest to stop, which is about 3 generations.