We Live In a Communist World!
We do not know if these things apply outside of the United States. Apply the commentary as appropriate to your own country and conditions.
From The Communist Manifesto of Karl Marx:
Nevertheless in the most advanced countries, the following will be pretty generally applicable:
1. Abolition of property in land and application of all rents of land to public purposes.
2. A heavy and progressive income tax.
3. Abolition of all right of inheritance.
4. Confiscation of the property of all emigrants and rebels.
5. Centralization of credit in the hands of the state, by means of a national bank with state capital and an exclusive monopoly.
6. Centralization of the means of communication and transport in the hands of the state.
7. Extension of factories and instruments of production owned by the state; the bringing into cultivation of wastelands, and the improvement of the soil generally in accordance with a common plan.
8. Equal obligation of all to work. Establishment of industrial armies, especially for agriculture.
9. Combination of agriculture with manufacturing industries; gradual abolition of the distinction between town and country, by a more equable distribution of the population over the country.
10. Free education for all children in public schools. Abolition of child factory labor in its present form. Combination of education with industrial production, etc.
Commentary
1. Abolition of property in land and application of all rents of land to public purposes. Basically in the United States we no longer own our land, but rent it from the State. Should we miss three years' worth of property taxes the land is taken by the State and auctioned off. Further anyone with a mortgage has transferred the land to the mortgage holder and may redeem it, only if all payments are made, when he can then continue to rent it from the State.
2. A heavy and progressive income tax. This was used from its institution in the late 1800's and then reintroduction after the Constitution was amended to make the income tax constitutional. At first only the rich paid, but eventually everyone was required to pay some income tax. In order to insure it was collected income tax was withheld from an employees wages. Eventually also the Social Security contribution as well as Medicare taxes were withheld. Ironically, the poorer in America, if they have children can recapture all of this money, when they file their income tax return.
3. Abolition of all right of inheritance. For a time death taxes diluted large estates, but now many can pass on their property without much difficulty.
4. Confiscation of the property of all emigrants and rebels. Here is one that may not have been introduced in the United States.
5. Centralization of credit in the hands of the state, by means of a national bank with state capital and an exclusive monopoly. One thinks of this as a capitalistic maneuver. Every major free country has a central bank. In the United States, the same year (1913) when the income tax was introduced, the Federal Reserve Act was passed, creating the private corporation, the Federal Reserve to regulate money and banking. The central bank loans money into existence out of nothing, which is why no modern currency is backed by any tangible asset, such as gold or silver. (This is not an argument for a gold or silver standard, however, but for honest money, but that is a far more complicated consideration.)
6. Centralization of the means of communication and transport in the hands of the state. Although communication is apparently free, the FCC controls all public communication.
7. Extension of factories and instruments of production owned by the state; the bringing into cultivation of wastelands, and the improvement of the soil generally in accordance with a common plan. This has been realized in a somewhat different manner. However, plows have been put to places they should never have been, which caused the Dust Bowl of the 1930's and with deep irrigation, possibly far worse problems in the future.
8. Equal obligation of all to work. Establishment of industrial armies, especially for agriculture. With mechanization, labor has been transferred from the farm to the factory.
9. Combination of agriculture with manufacturing industries; gradual abolition of the distinction between town and country, by a more equable distribution of the population over the country. This also has been accomplished in essence.
10. Free education for all children in public schools. Abolition of child factory labor in its present form. Combination of education with industrial production, etc. This has also been accomplished in the government schools, regulated by the Department of Education to produce willing and capable machines to work in The System. (See John Gatto's works, which although secular and in some cases inaccurate, expose some basic problems in modern education.)
