Everyone knows the sentiment sharing is caring. Taken at a political level, the idea that if we all share, we can live contentedly and no one has to suffer presents a positive outlook on life.
All of this sharing, living contentedly, and embracing humanity’s well-being has permeated many aspects of society from communes to governments. Eventually led to the death of over 100 million people in the 20th century alone.

We as a civilization have come to find is that while sharing is fine, letting an authority force people at the end of the gun to share, is not. Sure, believing that we’re all brothers and sisters is fine. However, the fact that an authority must force people to believe that we’re all brothers seems contrary to the idea of living contentedly. In theory, communism sounds good. When one hears the positive thoughts about equity and well-being it even seems utopia-like.

So, can it? Can communism be successful? Well, the first step is to realize that what would make communism work – if everyone worked as a team and had the same intentions – does not really align with the values of the society we live in.

Voluntary epicurean communities are great but don’t really work on a large scale. Even now there are many communes around the world, including in the United States, that are remarkable and are filled with wonderful people with the same intentions and beliefs. However, a system of fairness really only works in small communities where, essentially, everyone knows each other. Small communes, monasteries, and small, isolated societies are examples of how this concept works well. It works because these people are able to work and share through spiritual and transcendental goals, but in the end, they do not create wealth and, often, fail to thrive.

If this is the case then why have ideologues, for centuries, tried to impose this idea on humans? I assume they think people are all good and no one wants to hurt anyone. Or perhaps they think humans will be content with security and economic prosperity. That’s naive thinking. Even if humans achieve the utopian dream, why would it make us content? Consider the ideas that what gives us meaning is suffering, hardship, and climbing up. We kill for pleasure, we are naturally greedy, and we strive for more. So, the real truth of humanity is that what truly satisfies us is unpredictable.

Karl Marx, the father of communism, had a poor understanding of human nature. He never tried establishing a reform method for his rejection of the capitalist system. Instead, his idea was to come up with a completely different system that abolished class and hierarchies. There has never been a prosperous or even functioning society in history that operated without hierarchies. Even chimps have hierarchies based on strength and competence. Human nature is pliable, but there are limits to it. You cannot try to reformulate that fact in order to pass on an idealistic narrative.