In Anthem by Ayn Rand, the government is based around communism. This is a form of government in which all property is publicly owned, and each person works and is paid according to their abilities and needs. In theory this sounds great because everyone has about the same money and everyone is equal, but in practicality this falls apart. Not only in Anthem but throughout history has this failed apart in a revolution. I believe that communism is a terrible political ideology.
If we simply look history where there is 21 failed communist country’s that now have turned to other superior forms of government. Right now, there are only 5 remaining communist countries (China, Cuba, Vietnam, North Korea and Laos) that still are functioning’s. So That means that the communist percent of failure is 76%. So, history backs up that communism isn’t the best form of government, but it also struggles economically. In a communist country “the laws of supply and demand don't set prices, the government does,” according to thebalance.com. As result there would be surpluses of one thing and shortages of another. This also creates a black market of things that the suppliers don’t provide to everybody. Then this creates trust issues with the government because the people don’t know if they will get the Items/food they want/need. Some other things that frustrate people in communist manifesto countries and make them want to rebel is, not having the right of inheritance and the government controlling all communication, transportation and now the internet. These are the key reasons why communism is a faulty form of government.
Although there are a very few good things about communism the negatives over through the positives. A few big points in a communist society is, all people are equal, everybody has a job and competition for jobs is very low. The first point is a pretty good thing to have, equality is good, and it keeps things like racism and sexism really low. This overall is something every government should have as long as is don’t devolve into controlling people (like it did in Anthem). The second pint is everybody has jobs. This sounds good on paper and in theory, but it is near impossible to pull off. When everybody has basically similar education the people who choose not to care or finish are completely screwed. This happened in Russia when the fall of communism. Even though one of the promises was employment was fruitful, unemployment became a harsh reality in the five years before the fall of communism in 1991. So again, history is on the side of communism being unsuccessful and dysfunctional. Also, the fact of job competition being low also was partially successful when people started to rebel this benefit quickly went away as communist countries failed. A recurring theme with this is it all sounds good in theory but in practical use it falls apart.
Overall communisms characteristics/goals are somewhere in the right area but, the way it ends up turning out untimely was its downside. In the end, history shows communisms faults and why it in theory works but, in the past, has failed 76% of the time. Anthem also shows the mind of people that don’t like everyone being equal and not having ads many choices. All of this clearly shows that Communism is a faulty political ideology.
Citations:
Amadeo, Kimberly. “5 Differences Between Communism and Capitalism.” The Balance Small Business, The Balance, www.thebalance.com/communism-characteristics-pros-cons-examples-3305589.
“Can You Name the Five Remaining Communist Countries in the World?” Public Radio International, PRI, www.pri.org/stories/2013-12-10/can-you-name-five-remaining-communist-cou...
Williams, Linda, and Lumen Learning. “International Business.” Lumen Learning, Lumen, courses.lumenlearning.com/suny-internationalbusiness/chapter/reading-the-benefits-of-communism/
