Communism in theory vs in practice

What no theory does to an mf.

I don't think money makes a society inherently capitalist, money predates capitalism by a loooong time, but I agree that if it has money it isn't communist. It can be on its way to communist, a transitonary state, and depending on your definition it can be socialist, but communist is explicitly a moneyless, classless, stateless society. So, yeah, if it's got it money, it's not communist, but saying it's capitalist is to create a false dichotomy of there only being fully realized communism or capitalism, with nothing outside of or in-between the two.

Eta: replied to the wrong person in the thread. Whoops. Meant to reply to the original commenter on this thread.
- The comment your replying to (or meant to) has to be being purposely dense. There is obviously a difference between being a communist, having a communist party take power, and "achieving" communism. No one with a brain would think the OOP was talking about the last use of the word in that sentence.
  
  It's a common "dumb guy that thinks they're being smart" take because they haven't actually ever read a book in their life. They just read the definition of communism once.
- I hope this comes across as a genuine question, despite the thread itself getting a little jacked up. Like many of us, I'd like to find better systems of governance / better solutions to the problem of needed / beneficial coordination.
  
  How does a communist society as you've described defend itself against opportunistic, hierarchical forces that would subsume and control it? What is the (de-coordinated? If you'll accept my term?) answer to such a problem, pragmatically?
  
  The "State" for Marxists is largely the elements of government that upold class society, like Private Property Rights. Social workers and government would still exist, moreover hierarchy is only a problem for Anarchists, Marxists understand it as a necessary tool.
  
  That's a dramatic oversimplification, but I can elaborate on whatever you wish, or provide a Marxist-Leninist intro reading list I made.
  
  Oh Lord, ask someone smarter than me! Lol. I was clarifying terms more than anything else. Communism is an end stage, an eventual goal. That's the big sticking point between anarchists (hi!) and communists. Communists believe in capturing the state so that it can be transformed and eventually wither away to become a communist society, anarchists believe in dismantling the state and creating communism directly. There are other differences, including how we define terms such "the state," but that's the jist.
  
  I guess firstly, I should probably out myself that I'm not a Marxist leninists, but more along the lines of a syndicalist or platformist. Council communist is a semi appropriate term. I also don't believe the same system that would work in rural Tennessee would be viable for urban New York. I believe in democratic, worker control. Consensus democracy and direct democratic control. The trouble is, I, and many others, don't believe that communism is possible in just a single area. It would be subsumed, attacked, overthrown. It, by necessity, must be either a world wide movement to achieve True Communism™, or it would need to be isolated, insular, and completely or near completely self sufficient. The latter option is, frankly, kind of shit, and in my opinion, when combined with more authoritarian means and the "capture the state" side of things, leads to dictators and shitty conditions.
  
  Not to be mean, but this is actually wrong. Anarchists and Marxists don't simply disagree on means, but also on ends. Anarchists want full decentralization, as they see hierarchy as the chief problem, whereas Marxists want full centralization, as we see Class as the primary issue. Communes don't get rid of class, as they create different groups that share ownership of their MoP but not other communes, ie everyone becomes petite bourgeoisie.
  
  I can elaborate more and offer readings if you'd like, I'm a former Anarchist (syndicalist, specifically) and am firmly a Marxist-Leninist, so there's common ground there. Really, I am not trying to be rude, it's more that I think your characterization of Marxism as wanting the same thing as Anarchists in the end is a pretty common but entirely untrue notion that unfortunately makes things difficult.
  
  Doesn't come across as rude! Always happy to be educated.
  
  Okay, so, it was my understanding that the ultimate end goal, say, 200 years after the revolution, the society would be practically the same between anarchists or communist. That just the means and transitonary state would be different. Once the state has withered away, once we have achieved classless, stateless, moneyless, it would be virtually or actually, and definitely practically, the same.
  
  I'd love to know to more if that's not the case, and how they would differ. To be honest, I knew more 5 years ago, but I've forgotten a lot of theory and checked out pretty substantially for a while.
  
  Perfect, thanks for asking!
  
  Speaking in over-generalized strokes, most Anarchists want some form of horizontal network of Communes. The Marxist critique is that this doesn't get rid of class, it makes everyone a petite-bourgeois owner of their commune's MoP, and further this isn't a natural progression from Capitalism like (Marxian) Socialism is.
  
  Marx's core critique of past Socialism, such as the Owenites, is trying to design an ideal society in a lab, and create it, rather than continue to build up society and erase contradictions gradually. Capitalism centralizes, because production becomes incredibly expansive and complicated, ergo he believed it would eventually be necessary for the government to take over just to run it, and that this government must be of the workers to properly handle it as Capitalists outlive their usefulness.
  
  I recommend checking out my introductory Marxist-Leninist reading list, at least the first few sections, for more on this.

Communist can run a society that is not yet achieved communism. Not sure if you're being purposely dense or not.

Also, currency does not define a society as capitalist. We've have currency long before capitalism ever existed.

also, primitive societies tended to be pretty communist. you need to build to delusions like capitalism.
- To be clear, primitive Communism and Marxian Communism are just about polar opposites, one is the smallest unit of society and the other the largest and most vast, one full decentralization the other full centralization.
  
  the core "from those who have to those who need" is still in common, and it is a form of classless stateless society, even if it doesn't really scale and we can't get back there from here.
  
  plus, there are alternatives to marx. he wasn't infallible.
  
  That isn't the "core," of Communism. It's more of a side-effect and possibility only truly achievable in Upper-Stage Communism.
  
  There are alternatives to Marx, but I'm not convinced of any of them.
  
  okay. I'm not really convinced by most of what marx had to say. a lot of it seems like it was really far sighted, but doesn't quite ring true in 2025. some of it seems pretty solid. dude could seriously write though, when he wasn't actively trying to be bland for the respectability, and was proof that people in the 19th century didn't have to be pieces of shit.
  
  im looking for a classless stateless society where the point is human flourishing and resources are distributed with an eye to fairness and the long term well being of all people. I think there are better/worse and more/less stable ways to get there, but if it's stupid and it works, it wasn't stupid.
  
  assuming that's roughly your goal and we're both alive to see it, I'll bet you a cup of (probably extinct by then) coffee my way gets there first?
  
  Well, I would say Marx has generally been proven spot-on. He didn't predict the way Imperialism would function, or what impact that would have on revolution, but we have Lenin for that. What, exactly, did you think was wrong with what Marx wrote? I find it puzzling that you say he seems focused more on the far-flung, when it was the opposite, he focused on analyzing Capitalism and arming the Working Class with the knowledge of how to overcome it by knowing its laws.
  
  Either way, I bet Marxists end up correct, the PRC is the world's most developed Socialist state and it's also becoming the world's power as the US and EU crumble.
  
  well then. I suppose we'll see who has to make a cup of coffee for whom.
Look up the gift economy, that was a society with no problems before currency took over.

the world understander has commented

Money and trade are not Capitalism. Capitalism is a specific Mode of Production that rapidly expanded with the Industrial Revolution, surrounding the M-C-M' circuit of production.

Socialist societies have existed and continue to, such as the PRC, Cuba, and former USSR.

Says there's communist countries, lists off all capitalist countries instead.

All of those countries have used money, had a class system, have used wage slave labour and are nation states. All of that combined makes a nation capitalist in my view. Just because a country says it's "communist" doesn't mean anything when all those countries are playing the capitalist rule set. It's like saying you're going to play candy land but you have the rules of monopoly. It just doesn't work to call those countries communist or socialist when they are still playing the capitalist rule set.
- It's pretty clear that you haven't read Marx, and think Communism means "immediately implement a far-future, highly developed society devoid of any remaining class antagonisms" through fiat, by pushing a button, but this would make Marx howl with laughter.
  
  A Socialist system is one where public ownership of property is primary in society, and in all of those societies this is true. Having money, wages, even classes is indeed contradictory to late-stage Communism, but they never claimed to be. Socialism is the long, drawn-out process of erasing those contradictions, which cannot be waved away but must be erased through building up the productive forces and erasing their foundations, and the method of doing as such is to hold all large industry in the control of the public, and increase this control over areas that develop into large industry.
  
  I recommend checking out my Marxist-Leninist reading list, at least the first couple of sections, before trying to take an authoritative stance on Marxism.
  
  I have read Marx, thank you very much and you even said I was right about what communism means so maybe you should take a look at your own reading list.
  
  No, your belief that Socialism must be devoid of any contradictions is anti-Marxist and goes against Dialectical and Historical Materialism. By that definition, "Real Capitalism" hasn't existed anywhere either, as all Capitalist systems have had single proprietorships, public ownership, and more that contradict the Capitalist system.
  
  Explain this quote from Marx himself, in Critique of the Gotha Programme:
  
  But these defects are inevitable in the first phase of communist society as it is when it has just emerged after prolonged birth pangs from capitalist society. Right can never be higher than the economic structure of society and its cultural development conditioned thereby.
  
  In a higher phase of communist society, after the enslaving subordination of the individual to the division of labour, and with it also the antithesis between mental and physical labour, has vanished; after labour has become not only a means of life but itself life's prime want; after the productive forces have also increased with the all-round development of the individual, and all the springs of co-operative wealth flow more abundantly -- only then can the narrow horizon of bourgeois right be crossed in its entirety and society inscribe on its banners: From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs!
  
  Wait, I thought Socialism couldn't have contradictions, according to you? Why is Marx saying even Communism would have contradictions? Why is Marx talking about society as it develops, and not as magically appearing with the touch of a button?
  
  I'm being sarcastic, of course. If you want to learn more about Marxism I can help you along, but without accepting that Socialism is a lengthy process of working out contradictions, and that therefore it is categorized by Public Ownership being primary, you'll end up walking yourself into endless traps.

Upvoting this just because it made me laugh.

I read this as communism has never failed

trvth nvke
Well there's never been any real communsim on earth yet so that's technically correct.

What if a country has money but you also need monthly issued talons to get most goods?

Isn't that just called a paycheck?
- No, it's called a ration stamp
  
  So access to food and drink which you can't get otherwise you'll starve. Sure sounds like a paycheck to me.
  
  Yeah, it's absolutely the same. I hope you'll experience it one day.