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Would Labour turn this country into a communist state?

(233 Posts)
MaizieD Fri 02-Mar-18 21:53:23

I've been dipping in and out of the anti-Corbyn threads and I find that a persistent theme is, if Labour get into power they will try to impose communism on the nation.

What I'm really interested to know is what exactly do the people who claim this mean by 'communist' and how do they think a Labour government would achieve turning the UK communist?

Bridgeit Fri 02-Mar-18 22:47:51

Possibly with the current line up of the LP, when one listens to some comments ,it does send alarm bells ringing. The problem is that those who may advocate a communist way of life do so, so long as they are the ones calling the shots.

MaizieD Fri 02-Mar-18 22:52:02

How would they do it?

What is a 'communist way of life'?

Bridgeit Fri 02-Mar-18 23:03:51

State owned, & equally divide wealth , fantastic idea,but not practicaly sustainable.

Bridgeit Fri 02-Mar-18 23:04:46

Unless in a small community

paddyann Fri 02-Mar-18 23:15:10

never read so much nonsense in my life..Britain and particularly England couldn't possibly BE further from "communism" whatever those poor deluded souls think it is.Even the left wing in England is right wing in many other countries.By far the most left leaning party in this disunited kingdom is the SNP and they are light years away from communism.I just wish people wouldn't latch onto a name and think it means one thing when in fact it clearly means nothing of the sort .Corbyns "socialism" is nothing like old fashioned communism despite what MSM says about him...and I'm not one of his supporters..his socialism is pretty watered down too ..to a level the original labour party way back in the last century would fail to recognise it or its manifesto.I think anyone who really thinks this is communism needs to get some education ..or help . Reeks of McCarthyism in the 50's ...anything you disagree with MUST be communist ....why not say all Tory ideology is Fascist ...makes just as much sense ?And at least theres a semblance of truth there .

suzied Sat 03-Mar-18 07:04:16

Communism Is a totalitarian ideology which would abolish all other political
Parties, imprison or murder opponents, forcibly seize all property in private ownership, abolish religion, I could go on. Haven’t read any of that in the manifesto.

OldMeg Sat 03-Mar-18 07:15:41

Yes, I’ve read some of those ridiculous claims on some threads. I suppose some people only see life in black and white and are incapable of seeing shades in between.

Politically it would be impossible in the U.K.

M0nica Sat 03-Mar-18 07:33:21

No, Labour isn't competent enough. More likely a second Venezuela.

whitewave Sat 03-Mar-18 07:34:01

It is playing on the fact that people are so Uniformed as to what a communist state actually means.

Here is a list of what characterises a communist state.

Authoritarian and usually run by a dictator
Imposition of social control with little input from the population
No democracy
The means of production is entirely appropriated by the state
No free press
Freedom of speech is often controlled
Land appropriated by the state - no private ownership
Corruption by those in power
No equality in wealth

That should start it off nicely.

So clearly absolute nonsense in answer to the op

whitewave Sat 03-Mar-18 07:46:25

Oh and of course there is the small matter of needing a revolution grin

vampirequeen Sat 03-Mar-18 08:13:36

No because Labour is a democratic socialist party not a communist party.

lemongrove Sat 03-Mar-18 10:19:39

No surprise really that all the Corbyn supporters think as they do!grin and actually there is only one thread on Corbyn and Momentum.
Corbyn and McDonnell are Marxists, and before anyone shouts NO McDonnell has already said that he is ( he may say was so as to not frighten the horses.)
They have both certainly admired Communist countries.
Who knows what their policies would be like once in power?
Am sure at first it would be softly softly, but would become more and more left wing as time goes on.
More likely to be a Socialist mass of inefficiency, and crackpot ideas that drain the economy.

lemongrove Sat 03-Mar-18 10:22:54

Of course they wouldn't be able to impose a Communist State here, and I have never seen a comment that anybody thinks that is possible.
Hopefully they would be turfed out after five years, although that’s long enough for them to do damage.

suzied Sat 03-Mar-18 10:37:53

Marxism not the same as Communism , I know KM wrote the Communist Manifesto in 1848 but the interpretation of that by communist regimes in the 20th century did not follow strictly Marxist ideology which anyone who has studied political philosophies will know. I am not a Corbyn or shallow (sic) cabinet supporter btw, I just think people scaremongering about communism should get their historical facts right.

MaizieD Sat 03-Mar-18 10:54:50

So,*lemon*, apart from your dodgy grasp of national economics and a dog whistle reaction to the word 'marxist', you really have nothing concrete to base your 'fears' on?

I was really hoping that all the antis would be able to explain what they mean by communist in connection with the LP and how they thought the LP would achieve a communist regime in the UK. Disappointed so far...

lemongrove Sat 03-Mar-18 10:55:59

Sad....just a personal attack from you MaizieD as expected!

lemongrove Sat 03-Mar-18 10:58:32

You are disappointed because no poster has claimed that the LP with Corbyn as PM would turn Britain into a Communist State.You wished for a ding dong about it no doubt.Can’t help you out there.

durhamjen Sat 03-Mar-18 11:03:25

But yours is just a sad personal attack on McDonnell and Corbyn.
You really have no idea apart from the usual politics of fear.

durhamjen Sat 03-Mar-18 11:04:15

Why are you on the thread if you do not wish to join in, lemon?

durhamjen Sat 03-Mar-18 11:08:48

Who said, "The reds are not merely under the bed but sitting on top of it drinking a latte."?

Couldn't have been you, could it, lemon?

MaizieD Sat 03-Mar-18 11:21:18

Sad....just a personal attack from you MaizieD as expected!

At least I make personal attacks on people who can see them and retaliate if they want to. grin

Not like all the anti Corbyn, McDonnell & Lansman stuff...

lemongrove Sat 03-Mar-18 11:25:02

There is a huge differnce between saying things about politicians and saying things about other posters on GN
dj ( but you know that anyway.)
I answered reasonably in my comments on the thread but that was not considered to be good enough.
I have already said that Britain will not become a Communist State ( we have democracy) but far left wing ideological policies could well do a lot of damage.
That is my answer.

MaizieD Sat 03-Mar-18 11:25:09

You are disappointed because no poster has claimed that the LP with Corbyn as PM would turn Britain into a Communist State.You wished for a ding dong about it no doubt.

You really should stop judging people by your own standards, lemon

I genuinely wanted to know why people thought the way they did

Can’t help you out there.

I never for one moment thought you'd be able to. Like dj, I have to wonder why you're on this thread.

MaizieD Sat 03-Mar-18 11:28:11

That is my answer.

Though I do admit that I got the thread title completely wrong even though I explained what I was looking for in my OP. So It's my own fault that I'm getting some completely content free 'answers'