Do the Labour Party have Communist policies?

Galaxy

I would find most of the earlier points you mentioned really important areas to think about, culture, religion, etc, I think the right are sometimes more willing to discuss these issues than the progressives.

I very much disagree.

In my experience, both are equally willing.

The people I know who are lefties enjoy - if it is their disposition - jumping in for a good old discussion, which includes reviewing opinions from all sides.

As is the case with right wingers who like a good old discussion - question is - do they include reviewing opinions from all sides?

I cant answer that one, not being right wing, but I'm sure some do and some don't, not follow the press outlets blindly, just as lefties may or may not follow the press outlets blindly.

Oreo

Where are all these posters who you claim are confusing the Labour Party with Communism Wyllow3 as I haven’t seen any at all.

Well, as Wyllow posted the explanation of communism not only on this thread, but on another very recent thread in which the OP actually says, in relation to a Labour project, Taxing companies out of business and replacing them by a highly inefficient wasteful government alternative? Wait... That's not socialism. That's communism! you're clearly not reading all threads...

And the nearest we have ever got to a communist economy is Cuba but that was never an economy/society as Marx described.

I do wonder if a communist society as described in Marx philosophy is ever possible - given the way we are progressing- or regressing🙄

That was one post on one thread only.

The communist or socialist utopia breaks down because there are many with ability who refuse to contribute to the greater good, even if that is helping their own neighborhood or relatives, it’s always some else’s responsibility.

mum2three

Surely Jeremy Corbyn is a Communist, and this is the main reason why he was so unpopular.

Communism sounds good in theory, but there has to be people in control, so it doesn't work in practise.

Your second sentence hits "nail on head", mum2three .

Much earlier I described my Dad as an idealistic Communist. Despite all his life experience, he had, to hold onto his core values to believe that the political changes he believed in, could actually change people's characters:

Although this may be true to a point,

fundamentally you cannot take out envy or bitterness or greed or spite

(or its positive opposites)

And as we saw with Russia, some comrades were more equal than other comrades.😠

Another feature of communism which I think you missed, Wyllow, was the 'command economy'. Decisions on what was needed by the state and in what quantities, (e.g machinery, agricultural produce etc.) were made centrally and the workers in those industries were allocated quotas of what they had to produce.

Oreo

And as we saw with Russia, some comrades were more equal than other comrades.😠

That has never been a communist state.

I think that the nearest we have ever got to the Marxian concept of communism are small communities probably with an optimum of 150 people acting as a a cooperative, sharing resources and decisions.

The Amish probably are an example of how it works.

Caleo

If "from each according to his ability, to each according to his need," defines a 'communist' then I am a communist .

I call myself socialist , not communist, because Marx's famous slogan is never going to be absolutely actualised due to human greed.

These basic tenets of Communism are in fact very near to the basic tenets of Christianity (or any of the caring religions) but in both they are in danger of being altered as people get more and more attached to all the other baggage that accrues in the process of turning them into the rules and legislation of running a whole nation or society. The need to control the baser urges of the population sabotages the high pronciples of the theorists.

Whitewavemark2

Oreo

And as we saw with Russia, some comrades were more equal than other comrades.😠

That has never been a communist state.

Are you serious?
A Communist State since 1917 and the revolution.Only stopped being so in the late 1990’s.The USSR ended and Communism there collapsed.

So the right, certainly if you look at the podcasts that have emerged tend to explore the issues more at the moment, and some attempt to have views from both sides.
I don't think Corbyn is a communist, I think he has become a vessel for whatever is the idealist cause of the day.

Elegran

Caleo

If "from each according to his ability, to each according to his need," defines a 'communist' then I am a communist .

I call myself socialist , not communist, because Marx's famous slogan is never going to be absolutely actualised due to human greed.

These basic tenets of Communism are in fact very near to the basic tenets of Christianity (or any of the caring religions) but in both they are in danger of being altered as people get more and more attached to all the other baggage that accrues in the process of turning them into the rules and legislation of running a whole nation or society. The need to control the baser urges of the population sabotages the high pronciples of the theorists.

Exactly.
George Orwell wasn’t wrong with his book Animal Farm.

Galaxy

So the right, certainly if you look at the podcasts that have emerged tend to explore the issues more at the moment, and some attempt to have views from both sides.
I don't think Corbyn is a communist, I think he has become a vessel for whatever is the idealist cause of the day.

I think he’s always been a mish mash of causes dear to his heart.🫣 Rebel with a cause like an eternal teenager.Possibly arising from his childhood and never quite doing as well as was expected of him.

MaizieD

Another feature of communism which I think you missed, Wyllow, was the 'command economy'. Decisions on what was needed by the state and in what quantities, (e.g machinery, agricultural produce etc.) were made centrally and the workers in those industries were allocated quotas of what they had to produce.

Yes, I did miss it, top point.

Starmer is a Stalinist, not a communist.

Although the leaders of Workers Collectives would have in theory filled that role, I think that the decision making would be too diffuse.

The Welfare State is socialist.

The NHS is a socialist concept.

Equality of opportunity is socialist concept.

The UK is still a long way from being properly socialist.The great mass trespass at Kinder Scout was nearly a hundred years ago, but land ownership in 2025 still hugely favours the rich. This is not equality of opportunity when some people own huge tracts of countryside but most children have nowhere to play.

My (true blue) father used to say the Labour were communists without the courage of their convictions. But this was well before the centre-left and Blair.).

Oreo

Whitewavemark2

Oreo

And as we saw with Russia, some comrades were more equal than other comrades.😠

That has never been a communist state.

Are you serious?
A Communist State since 1917 and the revolution.Only stopped being so in the late 1990’s.The USSR ended and Communism there collapsed.

Yes of course I am serious.

Communism is a Marxist concept.

The USSR was never a communist state if you accept the Marxist description of a Marxist state.

As I said the nearest long term I can think of is the Amish.

Caleo

The Welfare State is socialist.

The NHS is a socialist concept.

Equality of opportunity is socialist concept.

The UK is still a long way from being properly socialist.The great mass trespass at Kinder Scout was nearly a hundred years ago, but land ownership in 2025 still hugely favours the rich. This is not equality of opportunity when some people own huge tracts of countryside but most children have nowhere to play.

Hear, hear Caleo.

That inequality is also evident when some people own many properties whilst others have nowhere to live.

Whitewavemark2

mum2three

Surely Jeremy Corbyn is a Communist, and this is the main reason why he was so unpopular.

Communism sounds good in theory, but there has to be people in control, so it doesn't work in practise.

No Corbyn isn’t a communist

He is a socialist.

The difference is enormous.

First he is operating in a capitalist economy and second he has never ever talked about anything other than a mixed economy.

Concerning Whitewavemark on Corbyn: most of us have a deeply felt need to be good persons. Narcissists. are a minority.

Corbyn is not to be swayed by populism i.e. fishing for votes. However he is also practical ; as WWM wrote "First he is operating in a capitalist economy and second he has never ever talked about anything other than a mixed economy."

History shows that true Communism is never achieved but is hijacked by a despotic ruling elite: Stalin, for example.

"From each according to his ability, to each according to his need" is a view that is put forward in most cultures, as far as I can see. You can see it in Christianity, as has been said but also Plato, Aristotle and more recent philosophers discuss the idea in depth.

The difference is when it is systematised. The hard left believe it's the state; that the state must control all that your ability creates and what your needs are. The hard right see "ability" and "need" very differently but still systematise there beliefs.

For the right "Ability" is often seen as a result of individual effort, talent, and hard work. People are regarded as responsible for their own circumstances, and success or failure is largely attributed to personal choices and abilities. The emphasis is on self-reliance; policies that assume individuals can improve their situation through effort, education, and entrepreneurship. That the education can only be what you can afford and the entrepreneurship may be legally flawed is, for the hard right all part of their view of personal responsibility and merit. "Need" is seen as a moral concern that should be addressed through voluntary means rather than institutional redistribution.