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This is actually an incorrect definition. Communism is the final state of socialism.
The problem with capitalism is that it inherently disenfranchises most people. It pits capitalists against workers in a tense arrangement where both sides are trying to gain the upper hand in negotiations over salaries/benefits. There are obviously more workers than capitalists. Capitalists own stuff that can be used to make more stuff. Workers own their own labor. Workers are the ones whose labor leads to the production of stuff.
Governments develop as a result of the tension between the two classes. They exist to mediate conflicts between the capitalists and the workers. However, politicians/rulers are traditionally drawn from the capitalist classes and capitalists are able to lobby governments for rules that are favorable to them. This is easier for capitalists because capitalists individually have more stuff to bribe the government with. Also the politicians and the capitalists tend to be from the same group.
This is obviously a problem because for the workers to get anything done favorable to them, they need to all agree on what needs to be done. Since there's more people in the working class, this is harder to do. There's fewer capitalists, so it's easier to get them all on the same page.
Marx predicted that this unfair relationship between the capitalists and the workers would lead to constant conflict between the two classes. Eventually the workers would win (just by numbers) and assume control of the government. Since the government is designed to support the capitalist class, that means that this would produce a lot of tension as trying to shift a government to favor the workers is difficult. A lot of the rules that the workers would try to implement won't really make sense in the context of a capitalist structure. This period immediately after the revolution is called "socialism". It's marked by governments trying to strike a balance between supporting capitalist structures but also enabling workers, which is very difficult to do.
Marx theorized that eventually society as a whole will realize that the two cannot truly coexist. We can't both support the masses and pursue profit at the same time. He theorized that eventually we will realize that the capitalist machinery(including the government, borders and nations) must be shuddered in order to truly free everyone. When that happens, that's when "communism" will begin.
All governments that call themselves "communist" are just "socialist" with the expressed goal of achieving communism.
The way you define it is part of the American red scare definitions which inherently tries to discredit communism and push workers to not rise up against their bosses.
I fail to see how what I said conflicts with any of what you said. You give a more detailed summary, but what I said, from what I see, is still completely accurate. I make no claim for how society will develop over time, only that societies that operate under socialism or communism should operate in this manner. I also make no claim that the government under communism is the same continuous entity as the government that we currently exist under, only that a government must exist to enforce its will onto companies (a collective of the workers is still a government if it has the ability to enforce its will).
Your comment is informative for sure, and also a good summary of Marxist communism, but it does not directly answer the question posed, ie, how does a society theoretically operate under communism?
I think the differences are subtle but meaningful. I think another way to interpret "communism" in the Marxist sense is "anarchy" meaning there's no central deciding body.
This is different from what I mentioned in my post.
I did forget to mention that there would also be no money. And there is no government to oversee all these industries. (I understand that in our capitalist world this sounds like libertarianism, but without money there's no profit motive).
Marx doesn't actually postulate what this might look like, but one of my favorite sci fi authors ever did. In Ursula K Le Guin's brilliant novel "The Dispossessed" she imagines what a truly communist society might look like. I highly recommend it if you'd like to see what she thinks it might look like.
But just a a brief description (which doesn't really do it justice). There's no government. The main character is a scientist who works with the university as a collective. Students and teachers have ad hoc discussions about what classes might be interesting to have. Farmers collectives post requests for work during harvesting season. Kitchens request help to areas where they need help. Everyone has some skills and has a culturally ingrained belief that they should help the whole group. They also believe that everyone is equal and nobody should hold power over other people. Nobody is paid for the work but they all see each other as brothers and sisters and so working is something you do, like when your parents ask you do to yard work while one parent cooks and the other parent fixes the car. (This is simplified from the book, I don't think it truly captures the whole of it).
Thanks for your comment, I appreciate our conversation.
This is fascinating. I wonder if there are any Trump voters out there that are Communist accelerationists? The only way to get the numbers to overcome it would be to make everything so bad as to force everyone.
It also makes it sound like Communism is more of an ideal to strive for then an alternative governance model.
I've never voted for Trump but that's the only argument I could make to vote for him.
I agree. Tho I do think it might be achievable in the distant future, I doubt it'll be achievable in my children's time.
Sci Fi author Ursula K Le Guin has imagined what that might look like in several of her works, most notably "The Dispossessed" which I highly recommend.