ABSTRACT
This chapter asks: What is communism? What is the connection between communism and communication?
When we hear the term “communism”, many of us are immediately reminded of Stalin, Mao, dictatorship, terror against political opponents, mass surveillance of citizens, a controlled and censored press, etc. But the likes of Stalin and Mao are not the same as Marx. Marx’s vision of communism is in fact incompatible with the regimes that Stalin, Mao, etc. established and that were communist in name only. Marx and Engels argue that communism is the “struggle for democracy”. Stalinist states are forms of state capitalism, where the state bureaucracy acts as a combined, collective capitalist that exploits workers and enforces this exploitation by coercive state power.
This chapter introduces the notion of communism (Section 10.2), discusses the role of technology in the establishment in a communist society (Section 10.3), and focuses on the relationship of communism and communication (Section 10.4).
Communism is often associated with Stalin and Mao, whose ideas and societies had little to do with Marx and Engels’s democratic vision of communism. Communism is a framework for society and a movement towards a good society for all.
It is today time to no longer strictly separate between communism and socialism. One can, rather, argue for a communist socialism as radical, democratic socialism that aims at substituting capitalism by the democratic control of society. Such a participatory democracy includes worker control of the economy, citizens’ control of the political system, and human control of culture and everyday life.. Marx saw communism as a radical, democratic movement and type of socialism.
Common property, a computerised, high-technology, post-scarcity society that creates wealth and luxury for all, well-rounded individuals, distribution according to human needs, participatory governance, a common culture, and internationalism are some of the aspects of a communist society.
Capitalism is shaped by the antagonism between productive forces and relations of production that takes on new relevance in the age of networked productive forces.
Commons-based communication is an alternative to alienated communication. Public service media and community media are two not-for-profit models. They face specific contradictions in capitalist society. In a communist society, communication and culture take on a common character. Communist means of communication feature common control, common decision-making, and a common culture. Communist communications are truly democratic communications.
