*Braces self for Obama hatred comments*

But no I don't think so either for the same reasons. My grandmother lived in a communist [unit of community], and the public field was always bare and empty while the tiny patches of private area each family owned was meticulously kept and bountiful. There are too many examples to count

Boy, I'm going to get flamed for this.

From what I gathered from friends who have gone there and other sources, things in Cuba aren't that bad.

Of course, people don't have the quality of life and amount of things that you'd see in the middle or upper tiers of a capitalist society.

But it works. The Cuban regime has some prioritary goals, and it meets most of them pretty well.

(And in Cuba, you won't see the levels of abject poverty you'd see in the lower tiers of a capitalist world... but I disgress.)

it comes down to ownership and responsibility...people only want to put in the work if it benefits them

At the end of the day I suppose people are out for themselves. For communism to work people need to be willing to work for each other, and when a lot of people are involved I'm not sure that will happen.

That doesn't mean you can't wed the two systems though. A large democratic welfare state for example.

also you will always have corruption in the government which means the proper division of resources to individuals and funds gathered through community labor will never be put back into society like its supposed to be. Instead you will have people stuffing their pockets with money and extra resources just to be better than someone.

Well, you're partially right.

I think people will not work for each other (or for the commune, if you will) because of lack of education.

The revolution is in our heads. If we all ever stop thinking about our property as more important than other people's life, we'll be able to build a Communist society.

I firmly believe that Cuba has, to some amount advanced in the last 50 years. They are much less selfish than any other nationality I've met.

The "you're partially right" was directed at Glorious' last post.

Competition is natural - you see it in animals, and even plants. Humans are no differant, so a society where everyone is equal goes against our nature, and people will always try and gain the upper hand.

to answer your initial question glorious...i think at first a communist nation is possible but human tendencies(greed and paranoia) will tear it apart. Kinda like in the book "The Giver" except on a much larger population scale and not just one person.

*different

just correncting a spelling error in my last post :)

Well, I would argue that humans are different from animals, in that we can learn.

And don't start with stupid comments like "My dog Fluffy learned to use the toilet" because I don't care and you know what I'm talking about.

But it is still our instinct to be the "top dog," even if we implement it in different ways. Where plants compete for space and light, we compete for money, or SC's :)

Yeah, but those things can be channeled through other things.

I mean, you can compete, only not over who has the newest car. That is a good thing in my book.

I'm not saying this is easy to implement or automatic. As I said before, communism would require a huge amount of education and "retraining", as we are all very used to put too much value on money and stuff and too little value on other things that may be more important.

My short answer: No

If you can rid the area of corruption (completely honorable leaders that would stay honorable) and sell the entire area to the idea, and have them buy into the idea, it would work perfectly.

Unfortunately, the only true communism you will see in real life is in insects (ants, and bees, for example, live in a perfect communism). If you've read "Starship Troopers" there are parts where they describe the bugs as being in a perfect communism...

But do they? The lowly workers run around, catering on the every need of a "Queen" whose only job is to pop out new workers.

That communism works best in small groups in one reason to work in small groups. But it is also important for groups to coordinate in friendship.

Competition and cooperation are both natural.

I think you're right there - according to evolution, we're descended from apes, which would make us pack animals. However, as we can see with packs of apes or lions or other similar pack animals, there is always an alpha male, as well as challengers for that title within the group. A good example or cooperation and competition side by side.

Should say "A good example OF cooperation and competition..."

Search for "monkeysphere" in cracked.com

To be brief, no.

No. Not unless the government can be given total control over every life, and even then only if the government is totally committed to communism, which would necessitate the society being run by a computer. So maybe in a few millenia.

Humans are hard wired to be selfish, as are all apes and other none hive animals. Unless you can rewire the human brain to behave more like hive animals, there will always be a need to direct the selfish impulse towards positve social goals. This is best done by competion, rewards, and punishments. Even small groups need this, or a few will not do there share of the work.

...good luck warsprite

You don't have to have a hive of clones for it to be beneficial to be altruistic