What is Occupy Wallstreet?

[FireIceTalon]

And also in communist societies the next generation would be on average better off than the previous.

Fact is just that psychology plays an incredibly big role in people's well-being. So your wealth compared to the average wealth of your peers is important. I mean take the rich guy that commits suicide because his company goes bankrupt. He would have still been able to have a good life (especially if he kept his private possessions separated) compared to people in most parts of the world but he apparently can't handle the psychological pressure.

The 'we get better off an richer mantra' again is something mainly told by rich people.

But we have never seen how a actual Communist society would work. Communism, meaning a stateless, classless society where everyone shares the means to production, has never been implemented as of yet. The Soviet Union, China, N. Korea, and even Cuba are all far cries from Communism. They are more like 'state capitalism'. In terms of economics, they are not that much different from the US other than the fact the State controls the means to production, instead of private ownership. In either case, the workers do NOT control the means to production and they have to sell their labour to either the State or a private business. If the society is not classless AND stateless, it ain't Communism. And furthermore, Communism cannot work in a single state, it must exist globally, because one Socialist country would not be able to function as a classless/stateless society in a global capitalist world. A "Communist state" is an oxymoron. So to say newer generations are better off than previous ones under a Communist society is impossible to say at this point. We would have to try it and see, but of course this in itself would be a long process transferring into a "from each according to his ability, to each according to his need" mode of production even after the abolition of capitalism. Such things can only be discovered through application.

I agree with you on the psychology part, and a lot of people, even some Communists, often overlook this aspect. The goal and principles of Socialism isn't merely to just make everyone equal or close to it, it is to raise the human condition and our morale. Under capitalism, we become alienated from society and each other because we work under someone else, and our survival depends on the kindness of a someone we sell our labour to - someone who has a very different interest than our own! Our survival is tied to the economy, and there is little security for most. Under a Socialist society, where we are not subjects to a state that upholds the economic democracy for an elite few that control the means to production, I believe there would be much more of a sense of unity and that we would be much better off psychologically. Instead of worrying about how to pay the bills and worrying about making ends meet, we could focus more on research, human development, and improving science, technology, and more time for us to travel and become more cultured. We would have a greater sense of security and trust for one another as well. I don't have a problem with improving technology, science, or creating economic growth....many people seem to think Communists are against this, we are not. We just want it to be done under much more humane conditions. We want humankind to reach as close to its maximum potential as it can (or to achieve what Marx called a 'species being'), and under Capitalism, this is impossible.

You ever seen the Matrix? That's the perfect Marxist interpretation of how we see Capitalism, in a film. Marx fundamentally understood that democracy isn't just political, but also economical. Capitalism and Democracy, are NOT compatible, you cannot have it both ways (De Tocqueville was wrong, sorry Kandrathe). Socialism and Democracy, on the other hand, are very much compatible, and in fact, Democracy is absolutely necessary for Socialism to be implemented. In the United States, our so-called political Democracy is almost meaningless, because we lack 'economic' Democracy. The purpose of the Federal and State Governments is to uphold the economic interests of the ruling class, and the ruling class only. And thus the majority see their 'political' Democracy eroded. Having fair, open elections means little when the ruling class controls all the parties, and the parties themselves are part of that ruling class and have different interests than the majority of society.