In order for one to answer whether the idea of communism is potentially emancip atory it is important to first define what

the communist idea is as well as what an emancipatory feature of policy is. To start with the latter, emancipatory th eory drawn from its name is the notion that people are means within themselves a nd not ends to the needs of others. They have agency and should be free to prop ose the world in which they wish to live in. According to Ramsey 2011:183, the e mergence of emancipatory theory was in the 1960s and 1970s and it emerged as theor y that was opposed to the oppression to the extent that they are marginalised. Do minance is progressively dehumanizing for both the oppressed and the oppressor, though only the resistance of the oppressed will allow for the possible re-human ization of the oppressors (Ramsey, 2011:183.) Emancipatory theory is meant to tar get oppression that consolidated within dominant systems of policy in reality th at ta es away peoples agency and consciousness. This essay deals with communism as an idea, this requires effort in departing fr om the use of communism as an adjective that describes a form of politics, An ent ire century of experiences both epic in scope and appalling was required to unde rstand that certain phrases produced by this short-circuiting between the real a nd the Idea were misconceived.(Badiou, 2010:13). At this point Badiou requires us to not loo at communism in its historical context and use misconceived phrases such as communist party and communist state(Badiou, 2010:5), he insists that we m ust not immediately associate communism with any historical failures for example Stalins regime. To associate the Communist idea with such history is to rid it o f its original truth and intentions. To begin with Badiou tal s about the state and what it should be and what its role should be. From Badious perspective emanc ipatory theory is about the triumph for those marginalised, marginalised by a st ate and those who lose place in society because of actions of the state. Badiou highlights that in many ways the state constructs history, the sates conventional mediations are the family, wor , the homeland, property, religion, customs and so forththe Ideas function: that the fantastic exception of truths in the ma ing, that we are not doomed to lives programmed by the constraints of the state(Badiou , 2010:11). Apart from dealing with the state the Communist Idea also entails th e notion that collective organisation is possible, this can help reduce inequali ty on the basis of distribution of wealth and labour as well as the private appro priation of massive fortunes and their transmission by inheritance will disappea r. The existence of a coercive state, separate from society, will no longer appe ar a necessity: a long process of reorganization based on a free association of producers will see it withering away (Badiou 2010:35). In dealing with this through a contemporary theory lens it is important to estab lish whether these features of the Communist Idea are indeed emancipatory in our present day world. To begin this assessment I will delve deeper into the issue of the state, Without much organized protest, financial capital basically too co mmand of the states capacity and forged it in its own interest, a political coup detat that indeed returned the state to be the executive managers of the collectiv e interests of the economic elites. (Swyngedouw, 2010:298) This renders the prese nt state of capitalism authoritarian in nature. The communist idea suggests that the state is not a necessity, the power that a state traditionally has should b e organised through means of democratic decision ma ing. This is the emancipator y aspect in dealing with the withering away of the state as Badiou suggests. An example would be a governments decision to go to war, should such a decision of s uch magnitude be brought up and decided within a small group out of a large popu lation. The emancipatory nature of the withering away of a state would imply tha t the actual population is collectively involved in creating the environment the y wish to live in and what decisions the nation as a whole should ma e. Although the idea of anti-statism is potentially emancipatory there also lies a potential platform for chaos. The capitalist status quo which has been establish ed for a long time cannot simply be moved away. The communist idea faces the pro blem of implementing itself in a way that is sustainable considering the deep ro ots of capitalism already present. Questions will arise with issues such as what happens to the system of relations and dependencies that capitalism was based o

n. Progressing from a statal mode to a non statal mode may produce the objective s for the ultimate communist idea but there would be a need for a transitional s tage. How long would this transitional stage last and how would it impact societ y? These questions may wea en the idea of and practicality of emancipation. The second feature of the communist idea that needs analysis is universal equali ty. Badiou does not refer to our individual attributes but of access to wealth i ntended for society at large. Badiou states that that capitalism produces inequa lities through its policies. Capitalism has policies such as the invisible hand, that mar ets will clear themselves if left alone. Another policy is that of the tric ledown effect that wealth within the mar ets will eventually tric le down to the lesser off in society by default; there is no need for much regulation to equally distribute. These types of policies appear to ta e away from emancipati ng society because certain groups are expected to wait to get their portion of t he pie; this in a way removes any agency from them. The question is how people ar e counted by the state. Are they counted equally? Are some counted less than oth ers, or hardly counted at all? (Badiou, 2012:118) These are questions Badiou as s in response to a question on democracy. It is not enough to say that because t here is universal suffrage people now count and count equally, the system in pla ce can identify people who do not count in certain aspects of society and yet cl aims that they should be left as they are and eventually have access to what tri c les down. If the communist ideas aim is to find ways to give everybody in socie ty agency then this is indeed emancipatory. It is however important to note that equality is not a new idea altogether. The idea of equality cannot be accurately placed as a communist theory, it has been there through the ages and many systems have attempted to achieve it and succeed ed and failed to varying extents. To deal with inequalities through re-distribu tion is a complicated tas . In present day South Africa there are star inequali ties between rich and poor but to try and fix this gap through redistribution on ly fixes the problem at branch level when the problems are of a recurring nature because the cause of the inequalities are fundamental root problems within the system. The problems at the root of the inequalities lie in aspects such as the historical bac ground of South Africa, education and the running of the economy. Those operating systems need to be tended to before just simply redistributing wealth the attempts of reaching certain levels of equality in many cases are ren dered futile. Advocates for the communist idea could state that before trying to simply forge ahead and instigate wealth distribution the idea in itself inherently proposes f or a whole change in fundamental policies and changes in the existing systems ie statal to non statal .Therefore the issue of distribution is being done at root level because the whole idea of communism aims to change existing systems compl etely. Whilst this might be true in theory the change from statal to non statal is complicated and success is not certain. Badiou has stated that the change in system is a withering away of the state and there may be a transitional stage. I t would be ideal for changes of wealth distribution to happen at the same pace w ith changes within the system and policy but this would not be guaranteed. The r esult would be that changes in distribution would occur without a solid theoreti c or status quo foundation, such changes would occur within a pseudo state type of situation. How emancipatory would that be with regards to sustainability? Social aspects as well need consideration. The communist idea needs to accommoda te humans for all they are and that at times means accepting them as emotional v olatile entities. In Germany during Hitlers reign and anti-Semitism there was an instance of scapegoating, the Jews were blamed for the economic turmoil present in Germany and in many ways this led to the marginalisation of a certain group i n society. This example just aims to show that an objective for distribution can be very complex there is no clear cut method for its development given the intr icacies of society itself. It may prove difficult to assess whether distribution of wealth is being done in the correct light because those marginalised and opp ressed can in many instances become the oppressors. In relation to this aspect o f the communist idea being emancipatory, theoretically it is but implementation may prove difficult and ultimately redundant or counter-objectified.

Badiou also highlights an aspect of polymorphousness of human labour meaning that members of society can share different tas s in a more equal way. This helps red uce the advancement of social hierarchies. If we loo at this concept and state that there should be involvement on many levels into decisions on policy whether social or economic. Activities, occupations and so on should not determine invo lvement or place restrictions on your activity and reverence as a member of soci ety. The current capitalist system creates groups or classes which have more sig nificance in society and this is measured according to what activities they cont ribute in society and resultantly the stature acquired from this activities. Str aying from such a mode of operation would appear emancipatory. This issue is dis cussed between Etienne Balibar and Antonio Negri when they discuss the lac of c onsensus with regards to becoming common and the communism of capital. (Balibar an d Negri, 2010:312). This issue in contention involves turning a group of diverse people into one com mon body and then ta ing financial capital and ma ing it one common goal. Is thi s feasible let alone emancipatory? Balibar and Negri ascertain that yes it would be emancipatory if income or welfare is the object of our demands, commodities a nd currency can be redistributed without affecting their nature (Balibar and Negr i, 2010:320). This however becomes complicated when one brings in different thou ghts and weightings of value. One may find ways to accumulate a vast amount of f inancial capital in a way another might not, how then is it possible to account for the financial capital directed to one and a lessor amount directed to anothe r. Given this scenario there lies the issue of inevitability with regards to how many more decisions the person with more financial capital can ma e and ultimat ely how much social power as it were he could wield. To ma e the notion of polymorp horousness of human labour badiou, 2010: emancipatory the communist idea would have to find a neutral ground in which the grouping of people into a common body as well as grouping common financial capital into an aspect worth the same value f or society as a whole would be feasible. Zize does not propose communism as a ready waterproof solution to any flaws tha t society might have. The tragedy of politics is that there will never be a good mo ment to seize power: the opportunity will always offer itself at the worst possi ble moment (characterized by economic fiasco, ecological catastrophe, civil unre st, etc.)(Zizec , 2010:235). Zize here highlights a truth that there is no one s olid alternative to capitalism but action must be made nevertheless at this poin t Badiou enters this train of thought and suggests the idea of communism as the most ideal alternative. The idea of communism may not wor at the optimum pace, changes may need to be made here and there but the core of the idea of communism is emancipatory or at the least more emancipatory than the capitalist system. Co mmunism is today not the name of a solution but the name of a problem Whatever the solution might be, it will have to solve this problem. (Zizec , 2010:238). From the discussions of Badiou, Zize , Negri and Balibar the idea of communism is pot entially emancipatory however upon analysis it is noted that only to varying ext ents when put into a practical eye view. What Zize moves us to do is to understand that the idea of communism is not per fect, but neither is any other form of government however the distinguishing fea ture of the communist idea is that it has the notion of emancipation at its core whereas capitalism is more concerned with the functioning and proceeds of laiss ez faire mar ets and mar et systems. This ma es the communist idea potentially e mancipatory. Even if put into practical effect it is almost inevitable that ther e will be glitches along the implementation however it is more li ely to succeed in being emancipatory on a practical level because one of its core fundamental values is emancipation and all other features of it contain attributes that wor well with emancipation.