r/askcommunists

I’ve seen this online in some spaces but it doesn’t make much sense to me.

For jewelers, for example, I thought that communism generally says that: when they sell their jewelry, they should get paid for the materials and any of the surplus value generated from the sale. When a capitalist creates a factory for jewelry, they take that surplus value away from the jeweler, and that’s bad, and so on…

When we talk about an artist, or maybe a writer more specifically, writes a book, wouldn’t the destruction of IP law prevent the writer from getting any surplus value from their efforts if some one could copy the transcript and print it on their own terms?

Does it have to do with the belief that creative works don’t have any material value? Or that art shouldn’t be commodified? If this is true, does that mean no person should/can be able to persue a career as a full-time artist?

If it is, what makes it imperialist? And if it isn’t, why not?

Some things for me indicate potential imperialism like land grabbing, plunging African countries into debt and maybe their behaviour in the South China Sea.

Though I am not necessarily knowledgeable enough ln these topics and that’s why I have doubts.

Also I know that even if these things were imperialist they wouldn’t be as bad as American imperialist intervention and coups.

In recent times I’ve come to learn more and more about china I’ve started appreciating what it has done for its people since the century of humiliation (though it had many big setbacks at the end of Mao’s term and hurt the people a lot)

But It seems that many people in china are denied some civic liberties. Like freedom of speech seems to be restricted a lot, the press is not independent and filled with propaganda. Some regions are being culturally repressed etc…

Would loosening the screws a bit around these things stand in the way of a functioning transition to socialism?

Or are these things I say just the result of western propaganda and the people of china are actually completely free (if that’s the case please provide sources etc… cause if I want to use that as an argument I’ll need something to support it.)

Thanks in advance to this amazing sub that is always here to help me!

Title sounds a bit stupid but I’m starting to realise all the western propaganda I’ve been subjected to my whole life and now that I’m moving away from it and learning about communism im scared that I’ll fall into « communist propaganda » like twisted and dishonest information that benefits the communist/socialists

I'm currently stuck on this question, how would a revolution inside the imperial core be carried out? I'm not a third-worldist, quite the opposite, I think that revolution should come from inside the first world for the best outcome, I'm just a bit confused on how it would work. Books, articles or just explanations on here would be greatly appreciated. I'm also interested in tactics of people's warfare and also how would such state survive afterwards if it's small and doesn't have enough resources on it's own? Does it need to give concensions to the global bourgeoisie for resources or does it somehow deal with lower quality of life for it's citizens?

Is no ethical consumption real? If so, is it excusable to participate? Is it virtue signaling? I feel I have no choice but to buy clothes and groceries. Forgive me for my ignorance.
Edit: and thank you for your time.

As the title mentions, why is "Revisionism" considered the absolute worst? Such as Dengism, Socialism with Chinese Characteristics, Trotskyism, and a lot of others I 100% missed. Honestly curious because I rarely see a "clear answer" for what Revisionism exactly is, and why MLs have a hatred towards it and consider Revisionism as "Social Fascism".

i have pretty much no knowledge about economics or Marxist theory i just like history and i don't like the current us gov so don't take what i say as a genuine proposal it's just a question and if you disagree please tell me why since i am curious what both communists and capitalists think of the idea. and if this ideology already exist please tell me what it's called

since being extremely communist or extremely capitalist (idk how else to put it) may not work what about a mix of both where the concept of resources and labor being controlled by a gov and distributed equally among everyone based on their needs and abilities is taken from (my very basic grasp of) communism but it also takes the right to own private property and have the freedom to do what you wan't with your land and have free speech and free press and democratic elections and a (somewhat) free market by somewhat free i think a system would be nice where the gov takes what they need to distribute to the needy (the amount of whatever you make that gets taken and redistributed being determined by how much you made in a time frame) but leaves you with enough for yourself to use and to sell some for a reasonable profit at a set price that is decided by educated people that are isolated from influence by anyone and are provided with everything they need for the duration of their time in office and are given a lump sum of money at the end of their term and overall just a mix of both ideologies that takes the best aspects from both sides i'm curious to hear what you guys think

Is it independent? If yes is it considered as privately owned? Or is it state owned? But then can it be considered reliable? Like how would we know it’s not just spewing out propaganda?

Also I wanted to mention that I know the press in liberal democracies (especially the traditional media) is mostly not independent as it is controlled by billionaires who hold right wing views, I just want to know if an independent, reliable press could exist in a communist society.

Human geography plays a foundational role in how we can predict and analyze human behavior across people groups. It's also useful for learning why certain civilizations or people groups act the way they do/did in foreign or domestic politics. Has anyone here studied the effects that geography plays in altering human history, or just through the lens of marx?

I know this is probably just a dumb hypothetical but basically:

- How would you deal with the bourgeois class you just defeated

- Which type of democracy would you implement (would you implement a democracy at all)

- Single-Party? No Party? Multi-Party?

I was told this by Cubans in Cuba that they are not allowed to have personal gardens. What is the reason for this? Has this been the case in other socialist systems and if so where can I learn about why?