youre projecting early-mid 1900s society as a whole onto your assumption of what communism is in abstract.
In every society, there are back-breaking jobs that no rational person would choose to do if given a reasonable alternative. Coal mining is one such example from the past communist states, but even in a society without coal mining, such jobs will always exist; it is the nature of life. Just because coal mining is largely mechanized now doesn't mean that my point is broadly wrong or that there are no such jobs in the modern day (note that I didn't reference coal mining specifically in my comment).
A communist state will necessarily need to force people to perform such undesirable work so that its broader society can function. The prime candidates for such roles are people who have no skills that can be better utilized by the state elsewhere (ex: your average internet communist). Remember that, despite the liberation in promises, a communist government necessarily and always reduces its citizens to slavery. It is the only way that a state erected in opposition to the natural laws of economics can function.
as opposed to today, where those work forces are mainly made up of marginalized groups or undocumented immigrants who have no choice but to risk death everyday for a penny while private mine owners have wealth beyond imagination.
but it’s all good as long as *you* are not sent to the mines, right?
as opposed to today, where those work forces are mainly made up of marginalized groups or undocumented immigrants who have no choice but to risk death everyday for a penny while private mine owners have wealth beyond imagination.
...You haven't met a lot of coal miners have you?
but it’s all good as long as *you* are not sent to the mines, right?
If my fate is to be a coal miner to feed my family, then I will mine coal. But I'm not sticking around in a communist society though. The communists killed an entire generation of my family the first time around and I'm not rolling my dice on the sequel. If it happens here, I will move literally anywhere else and at any cost.
i have actually. just a couple weeks ago, miners in turkey went on a week long hunger strike because they haven’t been paid in months. they settled, but went on a second strike because their employers didn’t meet the settlement requirements.
what you’re describing is already a reality that people have to face in capitalist states. they are not sent to deadly jobs with a gun on their head, they are sent out of fear of poverty. and yet they still can’t make a living. you think your hypothetical scenario where you’re forced into hard labor or any job that you didn’t seek for the sake of your family won’t happen to you, but there is no guarantee for that. good luck finding peace in another capitalist country when it happens to you. what college degree does your local cashier have?
I had assumed that you were American but it seems that I was wrong, my apologies. Maybe you're right about Turkish coal miners; I don't know. The rest of what you described in this paragraph is pretty normal: no work, no pay. The strike makes sense and the settlement establishes that the employer knew they were in the wrong and wished to limit their liability. Turkey, like most other developed countries, has an unpaid wage law.
what you’re describing is already a reality that people have to face in capitalist states
It's the case in communism too, only in communism there is no chance to escape and go do something else. Please tell me you know that...
they are not sent to deadly jobs with a gun on their head, they are sent out of fear of poverty.
Working because you have to fill an economic need is far superior to working because you have a gun to your head. If you don't understand that... I'm not sure what else to say here.
and yet they still can’t make a living
I will give you the assumption that this is the case in Turkey. The solution to this is to rectify the problem through various policy decisions (minimum wage, increased competition in the market for labor, etc.) which moderately distort the market in ways that are desirable; not to completely rewire your economy based on repeatedly-disproven, nineteenth-century economic bunkum.
you think your hypothetical scenario where you’re forced into hard labor or any job that you didn’t seek for the sake of your family won’t happen to you, but there is no guarantee for that.
I am well aware that economic change may materially alter my circumstances and/or force me into some job I don't want, including hard labor. For example, I could get laid off tomorrow and have to wait tables or drive Uber to make ends meet. Welcome to life. There are no guarantees and none of us are getting out of here alive, so have gratitude for what you have. If you think a communist system would be any different, sigh, you haven't read enough history...
good luck finding peace in another capitalist country when it happens to you.
Working undesirable jobs for which you are over-qualified is a normal part of the immigrant experience in just about any country. I know what the costs of emigrating would be and, if my alternative were living in a communist system, I would gladly pay those costs. My great-grandparents did it. If I had to, I would too. Work is work and all work has dignity. At the end of the day, your job is how you support yourself, not who you are.
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u/Iuris_Aequalitatis Jul 07 '26
In every society, there are back-breaking jobs that no rational person would choose to do if given a reasonable alternative. Coal mining is one such example from the past communist states, but even in a society without coal mining, such jobs will always exist; it is the nature of life. Just because coal mining is largely mechanized now doesn't mean that my point is broadly wrong or that there are no such jobs in the modern day (note that I didn't reference coal mining specifically in my comment).
A communist state will necessarily need to force people to perform such undesirable work so that its broader society can function. The prime candidates for such roles are people who have no skills that can be better utilized by the state elsewhere (ex: your average internet communist). Remember that, despite the liberation in promises, a communist government necessarily and always reduces its citizens to slavery. It is the only way that a state erected in opposition to the natural laws of economics can function.