Introduction to my Communist fantasy

I have basically three interests in life: Tolkien mythology, Linux and.. ahem.. Communism(!). And I have two alter egos: Sometimes, I am the arrogant Elven King Feanor of Tolkien's mythology. At other times, I am Sergei Nikolayevich Ilyushin, the equally arrogant Communist.

What many may find weird is not that I believe in Communism in this Age, but I do so while remaining an employee of an IT company in Bangalore!

Hypocritical.. eh? Maybe.. Anyway, I find the IT industry damn boring. Maybe I should try to get a govt job.. Who doesn't want to enjoy life?

Anyways, that's not what I wish say here.. I do believe that being here (in the so-called "hi-tech" IT industry in the Silicon "valley" (or plateau) of India) was very much beneficial for me. Not just in monetary sense, but in ideological sense as well, as my stay here was a great learning experience for me as a self-declared Communist.

I am an arm-chair ideologue.. I am not prepared to fight till death for the "oppressed millions of the world" against "Capitalist vampires" like Che or anyone else.

Why? Number one, I am not brave. Number two, I am very much clumsy and indecisive. Number three, it's not worth it.

I hear a lot from the people around me, like how good the people are and how bad the politicians are. Politics is such a dirty word nowadays. If Indians show disdain towards politics, and elect corrupt and inept people to rule over them, who is ultimately to be blamed? This is not the case of just Indians. Americans deserve George.W.Bush. Russians deserve Putin. North Koreans deserve Kim-Jong-Il. Iraqis deserved Saddam Hussein and deserve their current American over-lordship. I read somewhere that Democracy is a system that ensure that people do not get a better administration than they deserve. I think it's not the case with just Democracy. I am person who believe that people, world over, irrespective of nationalities, irrespective of religion, irrespective of ideologies, irrespective of systems of government, get the Government they deserve.

Somebody might ask: "Are you trying to tell me that the millions of North Koreans, Cubans and Chinese are responsible for some monsters ruling over them?". In my perspective, Yes, they are.
Reason? No dictator can rule over corpses. No administration can survive without the direct or indirect consent of the population. If these people want to be liberated, it is their duty to organize and arm themselves with whatever they have, be it guns, spears or stones, and fight till death against those who oppress them. If they don't have the guts, or are taking refuge behind some convenient excuses, or even are waiting for some Messiah from across the border (or within) for deliverance, they do not deserve anything better than the state they are in.

Same is my perspective regarding Communism. The reason why Communism ended up in a ditch is, I believe, not because of Capitalist conspiracy, nor of failures in implementations. But its because of what I see as inherent faults in traditional Marxist-Leninist theory.

I have found that there have been two major streams for traditional Communism: Leninism and Luxemburgism. While Lenin stressed the vanguardism of the Communist Party, Rosa Luxemburg believed that the Revolution that overthrow the bourgeoisie has to be spontaneous. The duty of the Party is merely to educate the masses and suggest possible directions to the revolution.

True, the Luxemburgist path maybe utopian. (It has never garnered much support among Communists and has never been implemented anywhere.) But it does reveal a flaw in traditional Communist thought. If a Party is allowed to become a vanguard, if the uneducated working class are instructed to follow the diktats of the supposedly educated Party ideologues and leaders, the Party theories eventually lose their scientific characteristics and become dogmas. From there, the route is quite predictable. To get rid of the Bourgeoisie remnents in society, secret police are created. The flow of power is directed from the top of the Party hierarchy to the bottom. The cadre and the working class are instructed to follow the Party decrees to ensure discipline, and facilitate the speedy execution of the revolution. In short, we have all the mechanisms in place for a cunning, influential, power-hungry chap to usurp the throne of the Party leadership and use the Party for his own ends.

Without a Party to provide direction, the Revolution would be direction-less. But if it acts as a vanguard and takes decisions "on behalf" of the uneducated working class, the revolution is ultimately doomed...