How communism works
Socialism is Communism in disguise. Give the socialists the police power of government and you have Communism.
Communism has done more damage to humanity than the World War II and is still doing it. Just look at Africa and now Venezuela, not to mention Cuba.
I was born in 1941, in Rumania, right in the middle of the war. I escaped communism in 1969, arrived in the United States in 1970 and became US citizen in 1976. I grew up under communism till I could not bear it. I was 28 years old when I left. I am retired. Now I have time for reflection.
In 1947 King Michael “abdicated’ and was sent into exile. The communist party, with the help of Soviet Union was immediately installed.
The dictatorship of proletariat was running the country. Within few months, the newly empowered government, nationalized (confiscated) all sizeable private properties: Factories, big buildings, big homes and large land holdings used for farming.
In short order, everything became the property of the “people”. As a matter of fact, that includes the people. Proletarians owned the people.
Displaced people were relegated to some small residences to make room for the newly empowered “Leaders of the People”, the party functionaries.
Compassionate Communists
My father had a small business employing two people. His equipment was confiscated and the business closed. He was placed as a worker with one of the large companies, now owned by the “people”, or rather the state.
My grandfather was a farmer. He owned few parcel of land in the foothills and the house he built. He had two dairy cows, a pig, and for commercial use, 300 heads of sheep. The government confiscated his herd of sheep and one of his parcels on a hilly land with a good size orchard. In return, the government employed him, on a small salary, to run the orchard he previously owned. He had no choice, but to accept it.
Fiscal Reform – Communist Style
After the war, the inflation was out of control. After taking over the responsibility of feeding the “people”, the communist government faced the problem of setting prices and salaries.
The communists are equalitarian. No-one can have more than the rest. Here is how they did it:
The government printed new currency and made the old currency worthless. I was 9 years old. Over night, everything was really cheap. What used to be 10,000 lei, now it was only 10 lei.
What I did not know at the time, was that the government provided every family with just 1,200 lei in exchange, regardless of how much money anyone had in the previous currency. All cash owned by individuals just disappeared over night. Individual bank accounts were closed and credit disappeared. Everyone had a new start, and equally poor: 1.200 lei period.
All this reallocation of wealth, created a lot of resentment and the communists couldn’t allow any enemies to be around. The communist leadership considered anyone not supporting communism as an enemy of the state and had to be controlled and monitored very closely. The borders were closed and the police was employed in full force to register every individual by issuing ID cards. This was just a short term solution. A policeman was assigned to each residential sector. He was in charge with inspecting each private residence. He would enter the residence any time he wished, looked around and left. The long term solution was through full employment.
Full Employment – Communist Style
The communist regime assured full employment. In fact, it was against the law not to work, except for the disabled and housewives raising children.
Here is how they did it:
Immediately after taking control of the government, the communists had to control the individuals: where they lived, where they worked and so on. The main purpose was to monitor and eliminate the “enemy of the state”.
They issued individual ID cards resembling a small passport with personal information, place of residence, and pages for police notes.
Most towns were deemed by the government as “closed towns” to nonresidents.
People needed a special dispensation or approval from the government to even apply for a job in those towns. Companies would not accept a job application if you were not a resident.
Each individual had a personal file maintained by the employer. When you moved, your personal file was transferred to your new employer. You never had access to your personal file.
It was against the law not work. The government assumed, absent private enterprise, that you must steal from the government to make a living, unless you were employed by the government.
The next key element in population control was education.
Free Education – Communist Style
High level education was provided for “free” by the communist government. Educating the population was very important for the communist doctrine. Communist expected to develop a society free of worries for its individuals.
Here is how the free education worked:
Upon graduating high school, the students had only two options: get admitted at high level education institution (there were no colleges) or get drafted in the army for two years. The stakes were very high and competition for the best schools was fierce. The admission exams required a range of extensive written and oral tests, lasting several days. Only the very top performers were admitted, based on the number of seats available at that particular school. In 1962, for instance, the medical school had 350 seats available and 5,000 to 10,000 applicants. Technical schools were a bit easier to get into but not by much.
Upon graduation, the degreed students were provided immediate employment by the state. Various ministries provided a list of job opening matching the number of graduates from a particular school. The placement was managed by the education ministry. In the order of highest scores, students picked up their job offering in front of a ministry commission. The graduates could not opt out of the list. It was mandatory to take those assignments, even if you had to move hundreds of miles away from a desired location. This was a contractual forced agreement for at least five years.
As I mentioned earlier, even if another job was available elsewhere and the employer wanted it you, your present employer had to approve the move (release you from the contract).
The problem here, most of the highly educated hated their jobs, especially the doctors sent to some remote villages for five years.
Economic Impact
The economic impact was immediate. The food just disappeared. No milk, no meat and even the black bread had to be rationed. You needed a coupon to buy a loaf of bread. Even during the war, there was more food available. This state of affairs lasted for many years. It got better for a while, and then it got worse again. At one point, people were happy when they could find chicken feet on the market. And that was after 15 years of communism.
Small farmers, with their lots turned into collective farms did not feel compelled to work their previously owned lots for pennies. Many were arrested. The communists did not know how to run the farms, and at harvest time there weren’t enough helping hands to collect and distribute the crop. They employed the army and the school students as volunteers. I was one of them.
In the fifties, the communist leadership decided to undertake a major construction project. It was a bypass of the Danube river delta, to shorten the distance to the Black Sea. Reputable engineers, deemed it unfeasible due to potential flooding of a large area south of the delta. The party leaders found some engineers willing to do the work. This was a massive undertaking requiring large number of laborers. The communists turned this construction project into a labor camp.
After few years, the canal came close to the Black Sea and everyone realized that it was a technology blunder. The communist leadership promptly stopped the project, had a brief trial and executed the top project management. The ruins of this boondoggle is still there today.
Communists are paranoid
Communists closed the borders to keep their own people in. Anyone caught at the border, trying to escape, was arrested and all his rights suspended.
There were no roadmaps available to be purchased.
The military manufacturing plants were built inside the mountains with a front manufacturing name, making bicycles for instance.
The fall of communism has been attributed to President Ronald Regan by taking a strong stand against communism and calling it The Evil Empire, which it was. However, the collapse of the Soviet Union was due to common sense of the new and educated leaders who could not bear to lie and mislead their own people and the world community.
Communism collapsed on its own from top down. There was no one to support it.
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