Honest questions from a capitalist to the communist community. What is your view?
Hello, comrades of the Red Faction.
Let me say upfront: I'm a convinced capitalist. Even so, there's something I want to find out here – and I'm asking in good faith, without any hidden agenda.
I've seriously studied communism – Marxism in particular – and read a fair amount on it, and I've had my share of discussions about it. And in those discussions I kept hitting the same response: people would claim that I supposedly don't even know what communism actually is.
So I figured: why not go straight to the people who hold this conviction and represent it with pride.
Important – I'm explicitly not looking for a debate here, I just want to understand the reasoning behind it. So I'd appreciate it if the answers could be as factual, informative and neutral as possible (at least for points 1–3). A system that gets artificially talked up will always sound great in theory but never work in practice – and that's exactly the kind of thing that doesn't help me, whether we're talking anarcho-capitalism or communism.
My questions to you:
In your view, what are the three most important of the various strands of communism?
What exactly do you believe, and why?
What would the establishment, stabilization and actual execution of this conviction look like in concrete terms?
Do you also see weaknesses in the system itself, or points that don't convince you? If so, how do you deal with them – does the principle "the end justifies the means" ultimately apply?
These are real, sincere questions. Thanks in advance for your answers