I have been hiding behind the idea that I may be taken the wrong way. I may be too extreme.

I think there is a shame that is put behind being a Communist similar to the shame that people including myself have tried to put behind Feminism. It is similar to the shame that people put behind solving racism.

Somehow the person that is being wronged becomes the one in the wrong. I am inspired by Yvette Carnell, who I found through Dr. Boyce Watkins, who in 2015 was talking about Black Businesses. He was encouraging people to invest in the stock market which at the time I thought that isn’t a bad idea. When I think about it now, why are you gambling with your limited disposable income?

Now don’t get me wrong, I agree we need things of our own but then again if I don’t want to start a business I should just get paid enough to live comfortably. I know in the West the ideology is “everyman for themselves” but how is that working for you?

To dismiss the ideology of Communism is the same as saying because there are bad democracies or bad democratic leaders, all ideas that can be attributed to democracy are flawed. I think we need to look at the spirit of democracy which is that everyone should have a right to participate in a system that affect them.

The same is true for Communism, I hear people push back against it because they think that one day they may become a millionaire that benefits from capitalism. Women who support patriarchy think it will benefit them but if you got rid of it you wouldn’t need to rely on the benefits of an unfair system. People fight against communism but I guess as a person from the global south I am programmed to think of the collective to some extent.

If we accept the fact that everyone will one day “make it”, well why aren’t you or your parent’s millionaires? I could be wrong but the average person is not a slacker that does not try. I also wonder what is lacking in your or your parents efforts that has stopped you becoming millionaires? Why are you not on the path to become millionaires?

This capitalist system is designed to make those with the means of production richer while you remain in the same position. Never really doing better just stuck in the same position.

Some people genuinely think yes maybe my parents did not do enough until you start working and realize that in many ways you are working backwards. I read or heard somewhere that if you are Black you are doing worse than your parents were at your age. I have started to hear the same is now true for some white people. How is it possible that all average people are under performing? Let us be honest we are all average that means we cannot be all failing. On average we should be doing better but we are not.

Somehow the people that are in control of the means of production have been doing better and continue to do better. Their profits tell us this. This just seems wrong to me. If the average person is doing less work then how can the people we work for be making profits at levels that have never been seen before. There seems to be a discrepancy or a lie being told. Let us not pretend the machines are doing everything. People are still needed because if we were not we would all already have been fired or replaced.

Finally there is the legitimate argument that some people will not work hard in a system that provides everything to everyone. This I agree with but as a person that has worked in different places, every system has people that can and do take advantage. Every system also has people that go above and beyond so they even each other out. Like I said we are all average.

I was also listening to Ezra Klein Podcast and he had an episode on loneliness. In that episode he talks about how people have been raised and programmed to think that they are the only reason behind their success. You think of someone who is a CEO they think that they have worked 100 hours a week to make sure they are successful and yes that is true. But there are also the people that have supported, bought or used your product.

There are people that have inspired you, that have unintentionally helped you to perfect your ideas and those that work for you to ensure your business remains successful. The workers that come in when their children are ill but because they are paid so little they can’t take the time off. They remain at these jobs all the while knowing that their efforts will never be rewarded and they will remain underpaid.

No one exists in a bubble and I think a big part of understanding communism or socialism is removing this false belief that that I did everything and there is nothing that anyone else has done to help me. If nothing else did you give birth to yourself? Or did you parents deliver you themselves? Did you create the alphabet or numbers in order to create whatever it is you created? There is so much that others have contributed and to deny that in the hopes that you will one day be rich and you don’t want to share these riches seems crazy to me.

I will return to this I don’t think I have completed my thoughts on this.

Edited 9 Nov 2021