A Luxury of Communism

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According to Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, "the history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles" (Marx/Engels 57). In the eyes of Marx and Engels, a communist society has no class conflict because, according to Marx, history ends at Communism. Therefore, a communist society seems utopian because no one is ever concerned with money and everyone always receives enough to survive. An ideal communist society is unattainable because a country cannot exist without conflict because it is human nature to have a desire for bettering oneself and for surpassing other people in all things. However, one of the true luxuries of an ideal Communist society is the ability to pursue a career without considering the annual salary. In a capitalist society, it is a rarity for people not to review the monetary value of a job before they take it. Capitalist societies are the opposite of communist societies: in capitalist societies people are constantly concerned with money and wealth, in communist societies all workers get payed around the same amount. In a capitalist society, if a person is extremely wealthy, he or she can pursue any job he or she wants (with as little a paycheck as it gets). However, that is not like human nature. Capitalistic human beings constantly want more… and the more they have, the more they want. Therefore, it is very rare for a rich person to want to merely be a waiter or waitress for the rest of his or her life. (Although it does happen!) The only people in a capitalist society who do not have to worry about high paying jobs are the very elite people. In a society so captivated by money, the poor and lower middle class people who need to make money will do anything to get it, because they want to survive. Hypothetically, in a capitalist society, if a woman in the lower middle class feels very passionately about theater and wants to teach a children’s acting class for the rest of her life, she would have to consider the monetary value of the occupation. If the salary does not fit her needs then she will drop her dream and become something else that will support her needs throughout the years. Despite the fact that a utopian Communist society is rather unrealistic, it is the only true time that all people can pursue their passions.