Conservapedia - User contributions [en]

Talk:Dog

2018-10-13T22:40:04Z

Ltraccu:

This article most likely needs a rewrite sometime in the next couple of weeks. [[User:MountainDew|MountainDew]] 16:26, 24 March 2007 (EDT)

:A rewrite would be very good! I'm nominating this over at the Article Improvement Drive. ~ [[User:SharonS|SharonS]] [[User talk:SharonS|Talk!]] 16:30, 24 March 2007 (EDT)

::Please Vote for this article on [[CP:AID]]. ~ [[User:SharonS|SharonS]] [[User talk:SharonS|Talk!]] 16:45, 24 March 2007 (EDT)

Lets start thinking about the direction we want to take this article. What areas do you want to add and expand on? [[User:Tmtoulouse|Tmtoulouse]] 16:49, 24 March 2007 (EDT)

:I would make the first two paragraphs the introduction, and then make the uses of dogs its own section. From there, we can simply add on sections on a variety of topics such as types, training, showing, common diseases, etc. ~ [[User:SharonS|SharonS]] [[User talk:SharonS|Talk!]] 16:54, 24 March 2007 (EDT)

== Dangerous Animal ==

Why would dogs be considered part of the dangerous animals list? They are domesticated animals that aren't very dangerous. If dogs are on the dangerous animal list wouldn't almost all animals be on the list?--'''[[User:Staple|Staple]][[User talk:Staple|Talk]]''' 16:45, 26 April 2007 (EDT)
:There's a reference in the article to the frequency of dog bites. Though domesticated, they are still dangerous animals. [[User:DrSandstone|DrSandstone]] 16:47, 26 April 2007 (EDT)
::Wouldn't all animals be considered dangerous to some extent?--'''Staple[http://www.conservapedia.com/User_talk:Staple Your comments are welcomed!]''' 14:02, 27 April 2007 (EDT)

Dogs don't bite; their owners do. [[User:AlanE|AlanE]] 04:55, 23 May 2007 (EDT)

:I live in the ghetto and most of my neighbors have pitbulls, rotweilers, etc. and these dogs runs stray and attack me. The mailman, UPS man, FedEx, etc. are terrified when they have to come to my door to delivery or have my seen for something. I really like the emphasis on dog attacks in this article. [[User:JenniferTabuena|JenniferTabuena]] 19:53, 25 December 2007 (EST)

I can't stand it when people accuse poor defenseless dogs of "bad" biting when usually they are only trying to help by defending the house! Dogs don't understand that biting someone too much and attacking them will harm them, to them it is doing their job by keeping the owner safe (even if the victim wasn't a threat). I think the so called "experts" on dogs do not know anything about how to handle these things. If I ever made it as one of these "dog experts" I sure wouldn't do anything like the "experts" do now! --[[user:mssb57|m s s b 5 7]] // [[user talk:mssb57|blah !]] // [[special:contributions/mssb57|this was my fault]] 20:06, 25 December 2007 (EST)
:That doesn't explain why dogs sometimes attack their own owners/owners' families, though. Face it, dogs ''are'' a wild animal; it is the owner who "domesticates" them, they don't arrive pre-packaged to be non-wild. Leave a dog untrained, it will become feral and dangerous. [[Image:User Fox.png]] [[User:Fox|Fox]] ([[User talk:Fox|talk]]|[[Special:Contributions/Fox|contribs]]) 20:11, 25 December 2007 (EST)
::Interestingly, the domestic cats species don't attack humans unless corned. [[User:JenniferTabuena|JenniferTabuena]] 20:16, 25 December 2007 (EST)

:Well, my neighbor's dogs have attacked me on my doorstep so I don't think that's defending their house. I have friends who have dogs like bichans (sp?) and those dogs never will attack anyone ever. It's partly a breed thing as some breeds won't attack and cats won't attack, and partly an owner thing, though bad owners like to get attack dogs. It is true many dogs don't understand right and wrong, though the attacking ones can't be considered "defenseless" since they're pretty deadly. Many dogs are fast enough to take down a person with a gun before they can shoot. Again, dogs that attack are pretty good at attacking and are not defenseless. The tiny ones are pretty defenseless and those don't usually attack. [[User:JenniferTabuena|JenniferTabuena]] 20:14, 25 December 2007 (EST)
::I know, that would be attacking, but on the dog's property it is really just defending. --[[user:mssb57|m s s b 5 7]] // [[user talk:mssb57|blah !]] // [[special:contributions/mssb57|this was my fault]] 20:19, 25 December 2007 (EST)

== Message ==

What exactly is this article trying to say? That you shouldn't have dogs/live with dogs? That dogs in general should not be allowed to live with man? Or why is this article clearly exaggerating on the danger of bites?
It's true that dogs may bite, but that is in most cases due to overassessment, unexperience or violence of the owner. This article fails to see the real problem (probably written by people unexperienced/with bad experience with dogs?). --[[User:Takingalook|Takingalook]] 20:15, 16 January 2009 (EST)

The page vastly overestimates the timeline of dogs' creation, and seems to propagate evolutionism. Why was my edit fixing this deleted? [[User:Ltraccu|Ltraccu]] ([[User talk:Ltraccu|talk]]) 18:40, 13 October 2018 (EDT)

Dog

2018-10-13T21:04:39Z

Ltraccu:

{{Taxonomy|image = Second dog with a bone.jpg|kingdom = Animalia|phylum = Chordata|subphylum = Vertebrata|class = Mammalia|order = Carnivora|suborder = Caniformia |family = Canidae|genus = Canis|species = lupus|sub = C. l. familiaris (Domesticated dog)}}

'''Dogs''' are one of the most well-known domesticated [[species]], with archaeological and historical records showing that they have lived in a mutually beneficial relationship with humans for thousands of years.

Offspring are called ''pups'' (or ''puppies'') until around a year old. The collective noun for a group of offspring is a ''litter''.

Research has shown that it is probable that the first settlers of the [[America]]s brought dogs of some sort with them. The case in [[Australia]] is not so clear. The [[dingo]] was not found in [[Tasmania]], evidence that it was introduced to Australia after Tasmania became an island after the last Ice Age. It was introduced to Australia either in a subsequent wave of immigration or by Asian visitors.

== Scientific details ==
Dogs (scientific name ''Canis lupus familiaris'') are a subspecies of [[wolf|wolves]], divided into a multitude of different breeds all in principle capable of interbreeding (though in some cases, physical relations between representatives of two breeds are unlikely or problematic - Chihuahuas and Great Danes, for example).

Fossils of canine skulls smaller than those of wolves have been found with human artifacts, with dates based on evolutionary assumptions overestimated to between 130,000 and 190,000 years ago.<ref name="DK">Kingsley, Danny, [http://www.abc.net.au/science/news/stories/s513072.htm Humans live a dog's life]</ref> whilst DNA evidence has been used to improperly assert that dogs diverged from wolves between 100,000 and 135,000 years ago.<ref name="DK" />
<ref>Vila, Carles; Carles Vila, Peter Savolainen, Jesus E. Maldonado, Isabel R. Amorim, John E. Rice, Rodney L. Honeycutt, Keith A. Crandall, Joakim Lundeberg, Wayne, Robert F. (1997-01-30; accepted 1997-04-14). [http://www.mnh.si.edu/GeneticsLab/StaffPage/MaldonadoJ/PublicationsCV/Science_Dog_Paper.pdf Multiple and ancient origins of the domestic dog], ''Science'' 276: 1687-1689. Retrieved on 2006-12-09.</ref>
Secular archeology has placed the earliest known domestication at potentially 12,000 BC-10,000 BC and with certainty at 7,000 BC.<ref>Scott, John Paul (1965), Dog behavior: The genetic basis, University of Chicago Press. ISBN 0-226-74338-1.</ref>

Dogs are also viewed as being the single most genetically diverse species on Earth - largely thanks to human-imposed selective breeding, the vast array of dog breeds surpasses any other creature on the planet. Due to selective breeding by man, however, many breeds of dog have significant [[gene]]tic disorders. These include hip dysplasia (particularly common in German Shepherds, although common in most big breeds), and respiratory problems caused by shortening of the face, as seen with Boxer dogs and the Bulldog's lip and Pugs smashed faces with wrinkles that collect dirt that must be washed out regularly or may become infected. To overcome the prevalence of genetic disorders rendered common by inbreeding, many breeders regularly practice outcrossing, or introducing new material into a breed line via mating with other kinds of dog. This restores vigor to a breed and can decrease the likelihood of genetic disorders manifesting.

== Bites ==
[[File:German Shepherd with Muzzle.JPG|thumbnail|200px|left|A [[German shepherd]] wearing a muzzle.]]
Despite being colloquially known as "man's best friend", every 40 seconds, someone in the [[United States of America|United States]] seeks medical help for a dog bite, with approximately 800,000 such bites per year requiring medical attention.<ref>http://www.dogbitelaw.com/PAGES/statistics.html</ref>
Due to the high cost of dog bite liability claims, some [[insurance]] companies have blacklisted certain breeds and refuse to provide homeowners insurance to those who own these dog breeds.<ref>http://www.dogbitelegalcenter.com/resources/common-dogs.html</ref> American Pit Bull Terriers are commonly thought of as one such dog, as they account for a small percent of the population, but over half of fatal attacks, although the majority of them are sweet and gentle, but all have powerful jaw muscles (they were bred for the cruel sport of dog fighting). Rottweilers are also strong and considered dangerous due to a disproportionately high number of attacks, but can also (like most dogs with nice responsible owners) be nice and friendly.

== Uses ==

Dogs are used for many purposes:
[[File:Divot the Therapy Dog.jpg|right|thumb|200px|Divot was a therapy dog at Fawcett Memorial Hospital in Port Charlotte, [[Florida]]]]
*Being a companion for the old or lonely (or for anyone)
*Guarding property and livestock
*Herding [[sheep]], [[goat]]s, and [[cow|cattle]]
*Tracking by scent, carrying messages, and mountain and water rescue
*Pursuing, flushing and retrieving game, and killing [[vermin]]
*Providing assistance to people with disabilities
*Military and police duties including guarding, tracking, interrogation, and attacking. In [[World War II]], the [[Soviet Union]] attempted to train dogs to place explosive charges under German [[tank]]s, which commonly resulted in the dogs returning to their handlers just as the bombs went off.
*For certain jobs in the military that involve things humans are not able to do, such as smelling bombs crawling or through tight spaces easily
*To detect cadavers, explosives, or illegal drugs
*For fire/search and rescue missions (German Shepherds and Labrador Retrievers, among others, were used at the World Trade Center to help find survivors buried in the rubble)
*To protect people and their homes from burglars/break ins
(German Shepherds, Belgian Malinois Shepherds, Doberman Pinschers and other dogs are popular for these roles due to their intelligence, trainability, strength, loyalty, and intimidating size, appearance, and bark which can deter criminals and can potentially take them down or subdue them without causing serious harm e.g. shooting them)
*As a beast of burden, or for drawing sledges, sleighs, and dogcarts (Siberian Huskies and Alaskan Malamutes are used for these jobs a lot, due to their strength, speed, energy, endurance, intelligence, ability to work in a group, and their ability to live (and be comfortable) in extremely cold temperatures)
* As a performing animal. [[Circus]] dogs have been trained to dance, ride bicycles, speak, and walk the tightrope (this is not necessarily cruel, as long as they are treated well and not forced to do things their bodies are not designed to do)
* For fighting, which is cruel and is now illegal in most places, e.g. everywhere in USA and most of the civilized world (Pit bulls were bred for this, which is why their jaws are so strong)
*As food. Dog is still considered a delicacy in [[China]], [[Korea]] and parts of [[Africa]] today (although many people in those places are now beginning to see it as uncivilized)

Today most dogs in western countries are kept for [[pet|companionship]] only. Stray and feral dogs cause many problems, spreading diseases such as [[rabies]], and attacking people and [[livestock]]. Muslims see dogs as unclean, and often kill dogs found as pets.<ref>http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2065873,00.html</ref>

==Further reading==
* [http://www.mastiffexperts.com Mastiff Experts]
*[[Dog breeds]]

==References==
{{reflist|2}}
{{Nb_zl_canines}}
{{Dog breeds}}
[[Category:Canines]]
[[Category:Biblical Animals]]
[[Category:Domestic Animals]]
[[Category:Animals]]

Communism

2017-09-11T23:25:37Z

Ltraccu: I have increased the accuracy of claims made on this page. It was very Marx-centric, while anarchy is also a common theory that is just as dangerous. There are also some inaccurate statements about religion, but I'm not sure of the rules here on bias.

[[Image:HammerAndSickle.png|right|175px]]
'''Communism''' is a [[left-wing]] [[materialist]]ic and often violently [[Atheism|atheist]]ic ideology created to justify the overthrow of [[Capitalism]], replacing [[free market]] [[economics]] with a more controlled system and [[democracy]] with either anarchy or a "[[dictatorship of the proletariat]]" in the two most common forms (Marxism-Leninism and anarcho-communism). Under Communism, the [[political]] system replaces the [[private property|private ownership]] of the means of production with "collective ownership" of the [[economy]], this is to be accomplished through direct "[[democratic]]" control by the workers.<ref>http://www.marxists.org/archive/mandel/1968/11/workersdem.htm</ref>
Twentieth century Communism was based on [[Karl Marx]]'s manifesto which proposed to establishment of a "[[classless society]]." However, all implemented Communist societies have or have had a [[class structure]], notably the [[USSR]], which was dominated by a self-appointed [[elitist]] ''[[Nomenklatura]]''.

In the belief that "people cannot change", governments under the banner of Communism have caused the death of somewhere between 40 million to 260 million human lives.<ref>Multiple references:
*Anticommunist (April 14, 2004). [http://web.archive.org/web/20130607125427/http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2004/04/289239.html "The Human Cost of Communism - 100 million"]. UK Indymedia. Retrieved from June 7, 2013 archive at Internet Archive.
*[http://www.fas.harvard.edu/~hpcws/lelivrenoir.htm "''The Black Book of Communism''"]. Harvard University, Faculty of Arts and Sciences website: Cold War Studies.
*Rummel, R. J. (November 1993). [http://www.hawaii.edu/powerkills/COM.ART.HTM "How many did communist regimes murder?"] University of Hawaii website; Freedom, Democracy, Peace; Power, Democide, and War.
*White, Matthew (February 2011). [http://necrometrics.com/20c5m.htm "Source list and detailed death tolls for the primary megadeaths of the twentieth century"]. Necrometrics.
*Higgins, David (June 22, 2007). [http://web.archive.org/web/20071008035420/http://www.sarasotamagazine.com/blag/template_permalink.asp?id=365 "Memory and ideology: Washington's newest statue is the Victims Of Communism Memorial"]. Sarasota Magazine website. Retrieved from October 8, 2007 archive at Internet Archive
*Radosh, Ronald (February 2000). [http://www.firstthings.com/article.php3?id_article=2526 "''The Black Book of Communism: Crimes, Terror, Repression''"]. First Things [journal] website.</ref> Dr. R. J. Rummel, professor emeritus of political science at the University of Hawaii, is the scholar who first coined the term [[democide]] (death by government). Dr. R. J. Rummel's mid estimate regarding the loss of life due to communism is that it caused the death of approximately 148,286,000 people between 1917 and 1987.<ref>Rummel, R. J. (November 1993). [http://www.hawaii.edu/powerkills/COM.ART.HTM "How many did communist regimes murder?"] University of Hawaii website; Freedom, Democracy, Peace; Power, Democide, and War.</ref>

President [[Ronald Reagan]] in an address before the British [[House of Commons]] said,
{{Cquote|'''What I am describing now is a plan and hope for the long term — the march of [[freedom]] and [[democracy]] which will leave Marxism-Leninism on the ash heap of history as it has left other tyrannies which stifle the freedom and muzzle the self-expression of the people.'''<ref>President Ronald Reagan [http://www.iri.org/history_ReaganSpeech.asp Speech to the British Parliament], June 8, 1982. Retrieved from International Republican Institute 05/24/07.</ref>}}

Today, communism continues to rule over at least one-fifth of the world's people.<ref>[http://www.victimsofcommunism.org/history_communism.php Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation], Documenting Communism's Crimes Against Humanity.</ref>
__TOC__
{{clear}}

==Communist Theory and Practice==

[[Image:Captive-nations-01b----07-19-06.jpg|thumbnail|180px|left|[[Victims of Communism Memorial|A monument to the Captive Nations stands at the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation in Washington, D.C.]]]]
Communism is widely considered to have originated with [[Marxism]], a philosophy which uses [[materialism]] to explain all physical and social phenomena. The theory of [[evolution]] influenced the thinking of the Communists, including Marx, [[Friedrich Engels|Engels]], [[Vladimir Lenin]], and [[Joseph Stalin]].<ref>http://www.icr.org/index.php?module=articles&action=view&ID=276</ref> Marx wrote, "[[Charles Darwin|Darwin]]'s book is very important and serves me as a basis in natural science for the [[class struggle]] in history." Marx offered to dedicate the second German edition of his polemic ''[[Das Kapital]]'' to [[Charles Darwin]], but Darwin declined the "honour." <ref>http://www.icr.org/index.php?module=articles&action=view&ID=276</ref><ref>Karl Marx's Social and Political Thought, Bob Jessop, ISBN 0415193265 (pg 476)</ref>

Economically, communism advocates an economy in which the [[government]] owns the [[means of production]]. In theory, under communism the proletariat would take control of all stores, factories, etc., but this often ends up being the government in Marxist-Leninist societies -- see "[[dictatorship of the proletariat]]". This drives all [[free market|market-based]] economic activity underground and leads to inefficiencies and shortages. In both the Soviet Union and communist [[China]], the number of people who starved to death when the government confiscated their farm products (animals and grain) is estimated to have been in the tens of millions.

In implementations of Marxism-Leninism, one party has controlled every organization from the local labor union to the army to the national government. The party is not elected. Its top officials (the "Politburo") select replacements when there is a vacancy. usually a dictator (like Stalin, Mao or Castro) controls the Politburo, but sometimes power is shared among five or six people. No dissent is allowed—all [[news]] media are controlled, and the Internet is heavily censored.

Elites do not disappear. Members of the ruling party (see [[Nomenklatura]]) have special stores in which ordinary people are barred, stores which are allegedly immune to the shortages which the lower class must endure.

Various communist doctrines have evolved or been adapted to the time and place they have been implemented. [[Marxism]], developed by [[Karl Marx]], and its modifications under [[Vladimir Ilyich Lenin|Vladimir Lenin]], [[Joseph Stalin]], and [[Mao Zedong]], advocates the overthrow of the existing order by a [[revolution]] of the proletariat, the social group which does not control the means of production. The goal of Marxism is supposedly to create a classless society which would result in no longer the need for any [[government]] (Communism).

The most famous government to label itself "communist" is the former [[USSR]] or the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics; the Communist Party controlled its government from 1918 to 1991. This government was officially atheist and attempted to suppress all [[religion]] until [[World War II]], when it discovered religion was needed to rally the people against the [[Nazi]] invaders. Like all authoritarian regimes, it tried to cultivate reverence for the state as a psychological substitute for religion.

Marxist theory is intended to appeal to its adherents with the phrase, "from each according to his abilities, to each according to his needs", which, in plain English, means that a worker would work based on the best of their abilities and be provided for based on what they need. Of course, this is not what has happened in implementations of communism. Another quote by Marx was, "The theory of the Communism may be summed up in the single sentence: Abolition of private property," or as some like to phrase it, legalized theft.

== Communism and atheism ==

''See also:'' [[Atheism and communism]]

According to the [[University of Cambridge]], historically, the "most notable spread of [[atheism]] was achieved through the success of the 1917 Russian Revolution, which brought the [[Marxism-Leninism|Marxist-Leninists]] to power."<ref name="Marxism-Leninism">{{cite web|url=http://web.archive.org/web/20130728215151/http://www.investigatingatheism.info/marxism.html|title=Investigating atheism: Marxism|publisher = [[University of Cambridge]]|quote=The most notable spread of atheism was achieved through the success of the 1917 Russian Revolution, which brought the Marxist-Leninists to power. For the first time in history, atheism thus became the official ideology of a state.|year=2008|accessdate=July 17, 2014}}</ref>

[[Karl Marx]] believed atheism to be a key part of communism. He is often very famously quoted as saying, "Religion ... is the opium of the masses."<ref>Marx, K. [http://www.quotationspage.com/quote/31765.html Introduction to A Contribution to the Critique of Hegel's Philosophy of Right] (Classic Quotations) (Standard translation from the original German).</ref> His full quote was: "Religious suffering is, at one and the same time, the expression of real suffering and a protest against real suffering. Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, and the soul of soulless conditions. It is the opium of the people."<ref>http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1843/critique-hpr/intro.htm#05</ref> He believed it was part of the "superstructure," a false culture built to maintain the status quo. Thus he denigrated Christianity as a fictional religion. Instead, Marx was an avowed atheist, as he wrote, "Communism begins from the outset with [[atheism]]; but atheism is at first far from being communism; indeed, that atheism is still mostly an abstraction."<ref>Marx, Karl, [http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1844/manuscripts/comm.htm Private Property and Communism], 1944.</ref>

[[Vladimir Lenin]] similarly wrote: "A Marxist must be a materialist, i. e., an enemy of religion, but a dialectical materialist, i. e., one who treats the struggle against religion not in an abstract way, not on the basis of remote, purely theoretical, never varying preaching, but in a concrete way, on the basis of the class struggle which is going on ''in practice'' and is educating the masses more and better than anything else could."<ref>Lenin, Vladimir Ilyich, ''Proletary'', No. 45, May 13 (26), 1909, translated by Andrew Rothstein and Bernard Issacs, quote from [http://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1909/may/13.htm].</ref>

In 1955, [[China|Chinese]] communist leader Chou En-lai declared, "We Communists are atheists".<ref>Noebel, David, The Battle for Truth, Harvest House, 2001.</ref> In 2015, the [[Communist Party of China]] reaffirmed that members of their party must be atheists.<ref>[http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/02/02/china-communist-party-atheism-zhejiang-ban-religious-members-christianity_n_6599722.html China's Communist Party Bans Believers, Doubles Down On Atheism]</ref>

The [[atheism]] in communist regimes has been and continues to be [[militant atheism]] and various acts of repression including the razing of thousands of religious buildings and the killing, imprisoning, and oppression of religious leaders and believers.<ref>http://www.academia.org/campus_reports/2000/March_2000_4.html</ref><ref>http://www.orthodoxinfo.com/ecumenism/frroman1.aspx</ref><ref>http://www.nysun.com/article/23082?page_no=1</ref><ref>http://www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2003/5/7/120250.shtml</ref><ref>http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1058/is_26_116/ai_56249447</ref><ref>http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=35818</ref><ref>http://theworldnow.wordpress.com/tag/around-the-world/asia/china/</ref>

Marxists justification for its persecution of the Russian Orthodox Church was based upon the claim that the Church was a "willing tool of Tsarism."<ref>http://www.marxist.com/religion-soviet-union170406-6.htm</ref>

The clergy openly stated its support for the counter-revolution (White Revolution). Lenin proclaimed that a communist regime must show itself to be merciless toward the question of religion. There was no place for the church in Lenin's regime. This led to anti-religious decrees and propaganda. All church property was expropriated by the new Soviet government.<ref>http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-42047/Union-of-Soviet-Socialist-Republics#277888.hook</ref>

During the late 1930s and later 1940s the restrictions on church activity were loosened as Stalin needed all the support he could get for the war. This doctrine of co-operation between the church and state continued throughout the existence of the Soviet republics and the other Warszawa pact nations. Though never going as far as a leader of the Soviet Union asking [http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/simon_barrow/2007/03/hiding_behind_god.html god to bless the country] the clause in the Soviet Unions constitution addressing the separation of church and state was rendered useless.

Dr. [[Martin Luther King]] said, "for the Communist there is no divine government, no absolute moral order, there are no fixed, immutable principles; consequently almost anything - force, violence, murder, lying - is a justifiable means." <ref>''Stride Toward Freedom : The Montgomery Story'', Martin Luther King, Jr., Harper and Rowe, New York, 1958, p. 92.</ref>
[[File:Stalin-kill.jpg|thumb|300px|left|Exhumed skeletons of [[class war]] victims murdered by communists.<ref>[http://www.mega.nu/ampp/rummel/rm1.stalin.kill.htm.]</ref> Apologists maintain communism has never really been tried. ]]

=== Atheistic communism and torture of the religious ===

''See also:'' [[Atheistic communism and torture]]

The website Victimsofcommunism.org declares concerning atheistic communism and the use of torture:
{{cquote|Significantly, communists did not merely try to block or halt religious faith but to reverse it. This was particularly true for [[Romania]], even before the Nicolai Ceausescu era. This meant not just forbidding religious practice and jailing ministers and believers but employing torture to force them to renounce their faith. It was not enough to contain, silence, even punish believers in prison; it was decided they must be tortured in truly unimaginably degrading ways to attempt to undo religious faith.<ref>[http://victimsofcommunism.org/the-war-on-religion/ The War on religion]</ref>}}

For additional information please see: [[Atheistic communism and torture]]

==Oppression==
Communist regimes have engaged in mass killings on a scale of millions of individuals.<ref>http://www.gmu.edu/departments/economics/bcaplan/museum/comfaq.htm#part3</ref> A work entitled ''[[The Black Book of Communism]]'' published by the [[Harvard]] Press focuses on the crimes, terror, and repression of modern communist regimes over a 70-year period.<ref>http://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog/COUBLA.html</ref> This book is fairly controversial partly due to the various estimates regarding the millions of people who died under communist regimes.<ref>Multiple references:
*Anticommunist (April 14, 2004). [http://web.archive.org/web/20130607125427/http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2004/04/289239.html "The Human Cost of Communism - 100 million"]. UK Indymedia. Retrieved from June 7, 2013 archive at Internet Achive.
*[http://www.fas.harvard.edu/~hpcws/lelivrenoir.htm "''The Black Book of Communism''"]. Harvard University, Faculty of Arts and Sciences website: Cold War Studies.
*White, Matthew (February 2011). [http://necrometrics.com/20c5m.htm "Source list and detailed death tolls for the primary megadeaths of the twentieth century"]. Necrometrics.
*Higgins, David (June 22, 2007). [http://web.archive.org/web/20071008035420/http://www.sarasotamagazine.com/blag/template_permalink.asp?id=365 "Memory and ideology: Washington's newest statue is the Victims Of Communism Memorial"]. Sarasota Magazine website. Retrieved from October 8, 2007 archive at Internet Archive
*Radosh, Ronald (February 2000). [http://www.firstthings.com/article.php3?id_article=2526 "''The Black Book of Communism: Crimes, Terror, Repression''"]. First Things [journal] website.</ref>

Similarly, an influential book which concerns itself with Soviet communist torture, repression and atrocities is [[Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn]]'s ''[[The Gulag Archipelago]]'' which won Solzhenitsyn a [[Nobel Prize]].<ref>http://www.nytimes.com/books/98/03/01/home/solz-gulag.html</ref> In 1983, Alexander Solzhenitsyn in which he gave his explanation of the cause of why millions of people died under Russian communism:
{{Cquote|Over a half century ago, while I was still a child, I recall hearing a number of old people offer the following explanation for the great disasters that had befallen Russia: "Men have forgotten God; that's why all this has happened. Since then I have spent well-nigh 50 years working on the history of our revolution; in the process I have read hundreds of books, collected hundreds of personal testimonies, and have already contributed eight volumes of my own toward the effort of clearing away the rubble left by that upheaval. But if I were asked today to formulate as concisely as possible the main cause of the ruinous revolution that swallowed up some 60 million of our people, I could not put it more accurately than to repeat: "Men have forgotten God; that's why all this has happened.}}
In (debatably) communist [[North Korea]], abuse and killing in prison camps is occurring today.<ref>http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=5596</ref><ref>http://www.kimsoft.com/korea/nkdefec3.htm</ref> In addition, the North Korean government practices brutal repression and atrocities against North Korean Christians.<ref>http://www.nysun.com/article/23082?page_no=1</ref><ref>http://www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2003/5/7/120250.shtml</ref>

In 1999, the publication [[Christian Century]] reported that "China has persecuted religious believers by means of "harassment, prolonged detention, and incarceration in prison or `reform-through-labor' camps and police closure of places of worship."<ref>http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1058/is_26_116/ai_56249447</ref> In 2003, owners of Bibles in China were sent to prison camps and 125 Chinese churches were closed.<ref>http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=35818</ref> China continues to practice religious oppression today.<ref>http://theworldnow.wordpress.com/tag/around-the-world/asia/china/</ref>

== Sloth in atheistic communist countries vs. Protestant work ethic ==

''See also:'' [[Atheism and sloth]] and [[Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism]]
[[File:Flag of the PRC.png|thumbnail|left|250px|In [[China]], the growth in religion has accompanied China’s fast economic growth over the last twenty years.<ref>[http://blag.tifwe.org/the-protestant-work-ethic-alive-well-in-china/ The Protestant Work Ethic: Alive & Well…In China] By Hugh Whelchel on September 24, 2012</ref>]]
Atheism is a part of Marxist-Leninist and [[Mao Zedong|Maoist]]/Chinese communist ideology (See: [[Atheism and communism]]).

Widespread sloth in the former [[Soviet Union]] helped cause much poverty.<ref>[http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2255693/Last-pictures-life-iron-curtain-collapse-USSR.html Poverty, prostitutes and the long, slow death of the Soviet Union: Haunting pictures show desperate struggle to survive in last days of USSR, ''The Daily Mail'']</ref><ref>[http://www.nytimes.com/1989/01/29/world/soviet-openness-brings-poverty-out-of-the-shadows.html?_r=0 Soviet Openness Brings Poverty Out of the Shadows], ''New York Times''</ref> A study performed in the former Soviet Union found that over 50% of the work force admitted to drinking alcohol while on the job (See also: [[Atheism and alcoholism]]).<ref>[http://cs.stanford.edu/people/eroberts/cs201/projects/communism-computing-china/workethic.html Communism and computer ethics]</ref> In the former [[Soviet Union]], a popular joke was that the workers pretended to work and the Soviet Union pretended to pay them.<ref>[http://ipezone.blagspot.com/2015/08/you-pretend-to-work-putin-pretends-to.html You Pretend to work and Putin pretends to pay you]</ref>

On the other hand, [[Harvard University]] historian Niall Ferguson declared: "Through a mixture of hard work and thrift the [[Protestantism|Protestant]] societies of the North and West Atlantic achieved the most rapid economic growth in history."<ref>[http://blag.tifwe.org/the-protestant-work-ethic-alive-well-in-china/ The Protestant Work Ethic: Alive & Well…In China] By Hugh Whelchel on September 24, 2012</ref>

In [[China]], the growth in religion has accompanied China’s fast economic growth over the last twenty years.<ref>[http://blag.tifwe.org/the-protestant-work-ethic-alive-well-in-china/ The Protestant Work Ethic: Alive & Well…In China] By Hugh Whelchel on September 24, 2012</ref> Christianity is seeing rapid growth in China and the historian Niall Ferguson attributes this recent economic growth to the Protestant work ethic being more incorporated into Chinese society.<ref>[http://blag.tifwe.org/the-protestant-work-ethic-alive-well-in-china/ The Protestant Work Ethic: Alive & Well…In China] By Hugh Whelchel on September 24, 2012</ref> See also: [[Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism|Protestant work ethic]] and [[Growth of Christianity in China]]

== Similarities between Communism, Nazism and liberalism ==

''See also:'' [[Similarities between Communism, Nazism and liberalism]]

{| class="wikitable"
|-
!
!Communist Manifesto
![[Nazi]] Party Platform
!Analysis
|-
|1
|"Abolition of property in land and application of all rents of land to public purposes."
|"We demand an agrarian reform in accordance with our national requirements, and the enactment of a law to expropriate the owners without compensation of any land needed for the common purpose. The abolition of ground rents, and the prohibition of all speculation in land."
|The stripping away of land from private owners. [[Liberalism]] today demands "eminent domain" on property.
|-
|2
|"A heavy progressive or graduated income tax."
|"We demand the nationalization of all trusts...profit-sharing in large industries...a generous increase in old-age pensions...by providing maternity welfare centers, by prohibiting juvenile labor...and the creation of a national (folk) army."
|The points raised in the [[Nazi]] platform demand an increase in taxes to support them. Liberalism today demands heavy progressive and graduated income taxes.
|-
|3
|"Abolition of all rights of inheritance."
|"That all unearned income, and all income that does not arise from work, be abolished."
|Liberalism today demands a "death tax" on anyone inheriting an estate.
|-
|4
|"Confiscation of the property of all emigrants and rebels."
|"We demand that all non-Germans who have entered Germany since August 2, 1914, shall be compelled to leave the Reich immediately."
|The Nuremberg Laws of 1934 allowed Germany to take Jewish property.
|-
|5
|"Centralisation of credit in the hands of the state, by means of a national bank with State capital and an exclusive monopoly."
|"We demand the nationalization of all trusts."
|Central control of the financial system.
|-
|6
|"Centralisation of the means of communication and transport in the hands of the State."
|"We demand that there be a legal campaign against those who propagate deliberate political lies and disseminate them through the press...editors and their assistants on newspapers published in the German language shall be German citizens...Non-German newspapers shall only be published with the express permission of the State...the punishment for transgressing this law be the immediate suppression of the newspaper..."
|Central control of the press. Liberals today demand control or suppression of talk radio and Fox News.
|-
|7
|"Free education for all children in public schools. Abolition of children’s factory labour in its present form. Combination of education with industrial production, &c, &c."
|"In order to make it possible for every capable and industrious German to obtain higher education, and thus the opportunity to reach into positions of leadership, the State must assume the responsibility of organizing thoroughly the entire cultural system of the people. The curricula of all educational establishments shall be adapted to practical life. The conception of the State Idea (science of citizenship) must be taught in the schools from the very beginning. We demand that specially talented children of poor parents, whatever their station or occupation, be educated at the expense of the State. "
|Central control of education, with an emphasis on doing things their way. Liberals today are doing things ''their way'' in our schools.
|-
|}

==Communists cite scripture==

Some Communist ideology has made its way into the Church as a [[Social Gospel]], interpreting the Gospel as less redemptive of sin and more of a public works campaign and activism. They often cite Jesus feeding the masses and warnings to the wealthy who believed self-seeking is all this world has to offer. Communists often cite the Acts of the Apostles, as early Christians practicing some form of sharing for the common good:
{{Cquote|And all that believed were together, and had all things common; And sold their possessions and goods, and parted them to all men, as every man had need. (Acts 2:44-45, KJV)

Neither was there any among them that lacked: for as many as were possessors of lands or houses sold them, and brought the prices of the things that were sold,

And laid them down at the apostles' feet: and distribution was made unto every man according as he had need.

And Joses, who by the apostles was surnamed Barnabas, (which is, being interpreted, The son of consolation,) a Levite, and of the country of Cyprus,

Having land, sold it, and brought the money, and laid it at the apostles' feet.(Acts 4:34-7, KJV)}}

But as Arnold Toynbee has pointed out, this Marxist view denies the most crucial points,
{{Cquote|The passage in the Acts represents the philanthropy of the primitive Christian Society as flowing from a God-given grace which was the fruit of a belief in the divinity of Jesus. In other words, the charity which is here depicted as moving the primitive Christians to go—in their mutual concern for one another's welfare—to the extreme length of sharing all their worldly goods is not a mere love of Man for Man (which is the limited literal meaning of the word ‘philanthropy’), but is a spiritual relation to which God is a party as well as His human creatures. In fact, this Christian Socialism is a practical application, on the economic surface of life, of the fundamental religious truth that the brotherhood of man is a consequence of the fatherhood of God - a truth which is driven home with special force by a religion which teaches that God is not only the Father and Creator of man, but also his Savior, Who has been incarnate in human shape and has suffered, and triumphed over, death.<ref>Arnold Toynbee, ''A Study of History'', Annex II to Vol. V, Part C (i) (c) 2, p. 585, ''Marxism, Socialism, and Christianity''.</ref>}}

==Communists shared totalitarian ideals with facism and nazism==

[[Adolf Hitler]] noted that Communists made excellent converts to [[National Socialism]] (a.k.a. [[Nazi]]sm), because the same personality type was attracted to both. "[T]here is more that binds us to [[Bolshevik|Bolshevism]] than separates us from it. There is, above all, genuine, revolutionary feeling, which is alive everywhere in Russia except where there are Jewish Marxists. I have always made allowance for this circumstance, and given orders that former Communists are to be admitted to the party at once. The petit bourgeois [[Social democracy|Social-Democrat]] and the trade-union boss will never make a [[National Socialist]], but the Communists always will."<ref>quoted in Hermann Rauschning, ''Hitler Speaks''</ref> [[Josef Stalin]] also recognized that ex-Nazis and ex-[[fascist]]s were natural recruits for post-war Communist regimes. As Stanley Payne notes in his ''A History of Fascism: 1914-1945'', "All over Soviet-occupied eastern Europe (should be: Central and Eastern Europe), most rank-and-file former fascist party members, together with many lower-level leaders, were welcomed to fill the ranks of the initially exiguous local Communist parties. The psychological transition seems to have been an easy one, for obvious reasons."<ref>http://www.lietuvos.org/istorija/communism/</ref>

==Cuban communism==
[[Cuba]] remains a communist state controlled by the Castro brothers since 1960 and under U.S economic sanctions.

==Asian communism==
The [[CCP]] in China retains an autocratic regime controlled by the Communist party, which allows no democracy or dissent. However it does allow capitalism, and has experienced a very rapid growth of the private sector and the middle class. Observers expect that the regime's efforts to control public opinion and forestall the will of the people will be more and more difficult.

[[North Korea]] remains a brutal dictatorship controlled by the same family. [[Laos]], and [[Vietnam]] are also run by the old Communist cliques.

==Collapse of the Soviet bloc==
[[File:Timecommiecover.jpg|thumb|[[Time magazine]] from 1989]]

The shooting down by the Soviets on Sept. 1, 1983 of [[Korean Airlines Flight 007]] may have been a contributing factor for the downfall of the Soviet Union as well as for the whole Soviet block. It being a catalyst for the collapse of the Soviet Union may be inferred from the fact that NATO had decided, under the impetus of the U.S. administration, to deploy Pershing II and cruise missiles in Europe, primarily West Germany. This deployment would have placed missiles just 6–10 minutes striking distance from Moscow. But support for the deployment was wavering and many doubted that the missile deployment would find enough support to effect it. When the Soviet Union shot down Flight 007 with 269 people aboard, including conservative Democratic Congressman [[Larry McDonald]] —an act which U.S. President Ronald Reagan characterized as a "massacre"—enough support was galvanized for the deployment. The deployment caused great resources of the Soviet Union to be diverted from inner economic use to military expenditures to counter the U.S. and NATO missile deployment.

Between 1989 and 1991, many communist governments fell. The [[Berlin Wall]] in [[Germany]], which had become a symbol for the division between the communist states and the rest of Europe, was torn down largely in response to Ronald Reagan in 1989, and there was also a large revolution against Romanian dictator [[Nicolaie Ceausescu]]. In 1991, the USSR broke up into several countries - each which reformed to capitalism. Some of these remained under autocratic governments, but some have embraced democracy. With the collapse the remnants of Communist parties have dropped their old names and ideologies, but still operate on the left of the political spectrum.

==End of Communism in the USSR==

In 1992, [[George H. W. Bush]] told a joint session of Congress, "Communism died this year."<ref>[http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=20544 Address Before a Joint Session of the Congress on the State of the Union] - January 28, 1992</ref>

*Russian President Yeltsin announced that Communism in the former Soviet Union was dead. [http://www.c-spanvideo.org/program/BorisY]

==American communism==
[[Image:America Under Communism.jpg|thumb|right|250px|Is This Tomorrow - America Under Communism]]
:''Main article : [[Committees of Correspondence]]''
With the collapse of Soviet communism and the conversion of Chinese communism to "state run capitalism," the spiritual and ideological center of world of communism and the [[Marxist-Leninist]] tradition shifted to the [[United States]]. Several prominent American communists, rudderless without [[Moscow]] direction, formed a new organization in 1992 called the [[Committees of Correspondence for Democratic Socialism]].

The initial organizational conference was held in [[Berkeley]], [[California]], July 17–19, 1992. Charlene Mitchell, a former leader of the California Communist Party, speaking at the conference said, "the collapse of [[socialism]] in [[Central Europe]] and the [[Soviet Union]] left the [[United States]] in a near unchallenged position of world leadership." Mitchell continued,
{{Cquote|What began as a moment to take stock and ponder where to go from there has now become a very different entity. People from the Communist Party, from CrossRoads, from the [[Democratic Socialists of America]], from NCIPA [National Committee for Independent Political Action], from Solidarity, from the Socialist Organizing Network and many others, including independent leftists and independent socialists, have come together here in Berkeley.}}
Criticizing U.S. actions in the [[First Gulf War]], Mitchell stated,
{{Cquote|[[progressive]] forces were nearly powerless in the face of an onslaught of demagogic, [[patriotic]] [[jingoism]] and yellow ribbons. This war, fought for no legitimate reason, was the crowning height of [[George H.W. Bush|President [George H.W.] Bush]]'s [[New World Order]]. Previously, the Soviet Union helped to provide a certain balance to rein in the crazies in this country. Now, that balance is no longer there. It is now up to us, the American people, to rein in our own crazies. The [[left]] must take a major responsibility in organizing this task.}}

== Decline of the secular left expected in the 21st century ==

''See also:'' [[Decline of the secular left]]

Historically, the largest advances of the [[secular left]] has been through utilizing the power of the state (see: [[State atheism]] and [[Atheism and communism]]). For example, secular leftists use the power of the state to promote [[evolution]]ary ideology and to censor [[creationism|creationist]]/[[intelligent design]] models of origins (See: [[Suppression of alternatives to evolution]] and [[Atheist indoctrination]]).

The historian Martin Van Crevel points out that sovereign states are losing power/influence due to technology democratizing access to information, welfare states increasingly failing, [[fourth-generation warfare]] being waged against countries and sovereign states increasingly losing their ability to maintain internal order.<ref>[The Fate of the State] by MARTIN VAN CREVELD</ref><ref>[https://www.sonshi.com/martin-van-creveld-interview.html Martin van Creveld interview]</ref> See also: [[Decline of the secular left]]

==Notable communists==

Well known communists include:
*[[Salvador Allende]]
*[[William Ayers]]
*[[Fidel Castro]]
*[[Raul Castro]]
*[[Hugo Chavez]]
*[[Carl Davidson]]
*[[Frank Marshall Davis]]
*[[Bernardine Dohrn]]
*[[Friedrich Engels]]
*[[Che Guevara]]
*[[Jim Jones]]
*[[Van Jones]]
*[[Kim il-Sung]]
*[[Kim Jong-il]]
*[[Kim Jong-un]]
*[[Lazar Kaganovich]]
*[[Vladimir Lenin]]
*[[Mao Zedong]]
*[[Karl Marx]]
*[[Ho Chi Minh]]
*[[Pol Pot]]
*[[Paul Robeson]]
*[[Josef Stalin]]
*[[Yakov Sverdlov]]
*[[Leon Trotsky]]
*[[Genrikh Yagoda]]
*[[Yakov Yurovsky]]
*[[Choummaly Sayasone]]
*[[Hu Jintao]]
*[[Noam Chomsky]]
*[[Henry Wallace]]

==Further reading==
* Pipes, Richard. ''Communism: A History'' (2003), by a leading conservative historian
** Pipes, Richard. ''History of Communism: A Brief History'' (2002)
* Priestland, David. ''The Red Flag: A History of Communism'' (2009)
*[http://www.archive.org/stream/100thingsyoushou1949unit#page/n3/mode/2up 100 Things You Should Know About Communism'']

==See also==
* [[Bernie Sanders]] and [[Democratic socialism]]
* [[List of Communist States]]
* [[List of Socialist States]]
* [[Communist Party of the United States of America]]
* [[Cold War]]
* [[List of atheist and agnostic pseudosciences]]
* [[Capitalism]]
* [[Iron Curtain]]
* [[Progressives for Obama]]
* [[Socialism]]
* [[Social Effects of the Theory of Evolution]]
* [[Korean Airlines Flight 007]] for the connection of the shootdown by the Soviets of KAL 007, with 269 people aboard, on Sept. 1, 1983 with the heightened U.S./Soviet confrontations of 1983-4.
* [[The Soviet/ U.S naval confrontation]] over KAL 007
* [[KAL 007 and the Soviet Top Secret Memos]]
* [[Communist Racism]]
* [[National Bolshevik Party]]
* [[The Soviet Story]]
* [[Communism and feminism]]
* [[American Anti-Communist Alliance]]
* [[Big government]] [[Welfare state]] leads to [[Nanny state]], leads to [[Police state]]
* [[Liberal totalitarianism]]
* [[Big government]] [[liberal]] [[Welfare state]] leads to [[socialist]] [[Nanny state]], leads to [[communist]] [[Police state]] - Don't think Communism is incompatible with [[Islam]].
* [[Gun control]] - [[Ammunition control]] - [[Gun free zone]]s - key elements to create a police state
* [[Anti-Americanism]]
* [[Nazi Party|National Socialist German Workers' Party]] (Nazi Party)
* [[National Socialism]] - the Nazis were elitist [[Police state]] [[liberals]] not [[conservative]]s
*[[Communism and cannibalism]]

==Notes and references==
{{reflist|2}}

==External links==
*[http://www.aim.org/wls/category/communism/ What Liberals Say - Category: Communism], [[Accuracy In Media]]
*[https://archive.org/details/IsThisTomorrowAmericaUnderCommunismCatecheticalGuild Is This Tomorrow - America Under Communism], Catechetical Guild

[[Category:Communism]]
[[Category:Oppression]]
[[Category:Marxist Terminology]]
[[Category:Forms of Government]]
[[Category:Anti-American]]
[[Category:Atheism]]
[[Category:Liberalism]]
[[Category:Police State]]
[[Category:Welfare State]]
[[Category:Man-Made Disasters]]
[[Category:Threats]]
[[Category:Anti Second Amendment]]