Daniel Bohn

1/23/15
AP Language and Composition
Why Communism Doesnt Work
An intellectual human being knows to always question authority. In George
Orwells Animal Farm, Orwell highlights social ignorance amidst political corruption.
The book takes place on a farm in England, where the animals possess fantastical
characteristics and are discontent with the conditions they live in. Three months after a
pig named Major inspires the animals on the farm to rebel against the owner of the farm,
the animals execute a coup d'tat, quickly seizing control of the farm. The animals then
establish a form of government branded Animalism, a parody of communism. All
seems well until the pigs assume leadership. Napoleon, one of the pigs and the ungulated
embodiment of Joseph Stalin, manages to become the tyrannical dictator of the farm and
quickly reduces the animals to slave labor and initiates a reign of terror. As easy as it was
to establish a communist state, Napoleon proved how easy it was to make a dictatorship
out of that state.
Why did animalism fail so badly? Animalism is just communism and
communism can never succeed. Communism fails for many reasons. It does not reflect
human nature, it fails to remain consistent, and it was set up to fail to begin with. This is
the perfect combination for failure.
What exactly is human nature? There are many different views on human nature.
One of these views comes from Thomas Hobbes. One characteristic that has been
interpreted from Hobbes is that our judgments tend to be distorted by self-interest or by
the pleasures and pains of the moment. We may share the same basic passions, but the

various things of the world affect us all very differently; and we are inclined to use our
feelings as measures for others (Williams). This basically suggests that humans are
naturally selfish. Selfishness along with insecurity and a lack of morals are just some of
the characteristics of human nature.
The incompatibilities should be fairly obvious. According to Ruven Chu from
Stanford University: Perspectives on public goods and property rights are a fundamental
part of communist theory and philosophy. Much of the core tenets of modern communism
stem from their ideas on public property and the definition of ownership in society.
Communist philosophy argues against private property and supports collective
ownership. Communism essentially supports the idea that everybody is equal and that
everybody shares resources equally. This is where human nature comes into play.
The Utah Citizen Network addresses the communal sharing of resources as
follows: Under this system, there is no incentive for hard work or efficiency- and as a
result, the quality of things produced decreases. This is a result of humans being selfish.
However, Hobbes suggests: we will cut off our noses to spite our faces, we will torture
others for their eternal salvation, we will charge to our deaths for love of country
(Williams). The motivation behind this is to avoid falling into a terrible condition called
the state of nature.
Hobbes argues that society requires a sovereign to prevent mankind from
collapsing into a state of nature similarly to how communism requires a government state
to maintain equality. This allows room for the sovereign to abuse its power. If the
government fails to do its job, society is faced with an ultimatum: overthrow the
government and risk returning to a state of nature or remain under the government.
Hobbes failed to foresee how incredibly powerful the state might become, meaning that
sovereigns such as Hitler and Stalin might starve, brutalize, and kill their subjects, to

such an extent that the state of nature looks clearly preferable (Williams).
This brings in the inconsistency in communism. It tends to go from a communists
state to a dictatorship. This is mainly due to the principles in which communism was
founded on: Marxism. Carl Marx, embodied by Major in Animal Farm, created the
ideology that founded communism. It was perceived as a utopian government and argued
to be mythical. It was indeed mythical but it served its purpose. Carl Marx had ulterior
motives when he suggested Marxism: Earlier anti-liberals directly attacked liberty as an
evil. Marx adopted a different stance- to attack liberty under the guise of expanding it. In
so doing, he re-packaged despotism to please modern sensibilities- a feat of intellectual
marketing which would have profound consequences for hundreds of millions of people
in the next century (Caplan). It was essentially intended as a seed for totalitarianism.
Without terror it easily falls apart
Although the incompatibilities between communism and human nature are
overwhelming, it still lingers today, however it has deviated far from its original meaning.
For example, China is still considered a communist country. China followed a different
path away from communism. After the death of Mao in 1976, his successors essentially
privatized agriculture, allowing relatively normal development to begin. Economic
freedom increased significantly, but China remains a one-party dictatorship (Caplan).
Although it is still considered communist, it isnt as communist as it used to be.
Communism is not only an unachievable idea, it was originally intended as an
attack on liberty. These factors along with human nature set communism up to fail. Still,
the question remains: Could it work? The world may never know. History suggests no.