Government

[Ted0512]

I know what the role of government will be in socialism, but what will be the role and function of the government once communism is achieved? I understand no police and military, but what power would the government hold. Will there still be courts? Or will government just be abolished?

[Christopher Hill]

The government would wither away and there would be none at all, all decisions would be made democratically by the people, I imagine that the people could decide if a person was guilty of some "crime against humanity" or the like, that is not to say that the people would not continue to meet in councils (Soviets) or that they would not be able to elect representatives for some sort of task if they really thought it was that important, although there is no reason to believe something like that would be desirable or necessary, yet nothing would bar the people from it if that answers your questions.

[Joshua Purcell]

This is a part of Marxism that I have the hardest time conceptualizing, for two reasons: 1) the concept of what government is at this point in the process is so radically different from what we currently have, and 2) we are not close to this phase of governing on a large and meaningful scale (which means camping trips don't count). Whatever this phase looks like or is called though, it goes without saying that social needs would be taken care of inevitably by some collective organization or approach. It's similar to imagining our government without our politicians... given our current accepted definitions of both that is fairly hard to do.

[Paula Marx]

Parliament with its government is horrible at all. It's not democracy, it's wild Western Capitalism and People cannot rule at all, whatever the theory of those "democracy" said.
Few politicians chose to rob the nation to fill up their pockets, even if it includes collapse of the state.
I'm not sure that's what word "democracy" means.

[Joshua Purcell]

It definitely doesn't fit my idea of democracy. It's a shame that the US and other forms of government are actually accepted as the best examples we have of democracy. In fact, it is just as ridiculous that Stalinist Russia or the PDRK represents what is commonly defined as communism to most people. Because people see 'democracy' being the mode in which western powers follow, many people understandably begin to have a problem with that accepted form of democracy irregardless of how well that matches up with the actual meaning. I recently watched a very good BBC documentary on Russia where the journalist traveled all over the country getting various peoples' perspectives on everything from their country's role in the world, their view on Russia's history, as well as how they view western powers among other topics. Almost everyone had a negative view of democracy. I believe it is because they were lied to under Stalin and at the same time are constantly being lied to by the western powers regarding what democracy is. They justifiably want something different, but they believe it must not be democracy given the accepted definition.

Even here in the US, the conservatives have a negative view of democracy. They will say something ridiculous like "we don't liven in a democracy, we live in a republic" among other things. And while their condemnation of the real meaning of democracy is outrageous, their recognition that we aren't actually in a democracy is absolutely correct. Yet the US and other western powers constantly tout the just democratic governments that we have built, strengthened and protected over the last century or two. I think the only people who would believe we live in a democracy (and like that reality) are the liberals... another reason why I'm unable to call myself a liberal.

[Jimi4444]

As comrade Christopher Hill said, under communism there will be no state. As Marxists we see the state as being used for the suppression of one class by the other. Under the dictatorship of the proletariat the workers (the majority) would be suppressing the capitalists (very few minority). Slowly the state would "wither away" as Engels put it, because the need for it would become more and more irrelevant, as we progressed. Communism is when we'd eliminate scarcity, and when the state isn't needed. A good book on the subject would be Lenin's the "State and Revolution", probably one of my favorites. If you have any other questions just ask.