napoleon526
Emperor
While doing some research on ancient Greece, it struck me how the society created by the city of Sparta reflected Marxist/Leninist ideas.
By 600 BC, Greece had entered a period of great prosperity. It's location allowed it to dominate the grape and olive trade, and many city-states became wealthy. But wealth always leads to conflict between those who have it and those who don't. In order to avoid these conflicts, Sparta came up with a unique plan: conflict over wealth would be eliminated by getting rid of wealth. Every Spartan citizen, regardless of social standing, lived the same way. There were no outward displays of wealth; everybody lived the same 'Spartan' lifestyle. Perhaps most radically, gold and silver, two substances most associated with capitalism, were banned. Iron bars were used in the few circumstances where exchange was required, but for the most part there was no need for money, since there was nothing to buy.
Sparta also reflected Communist ideology through the way its citizens lived their lives. There was no freedom to choose your occupation: all male citizens were trained to be soldiers from the age of six. Spartan children endured extremely tough living standards, and most were forced to steal in order to survive, although they were punished if caught. This was supposed to encourage cleverness among the young recruits, and was as close to any form of independent thinking as was allowed. Citizens were not encouraged to think for themselves: everybody in society was a cog in a giant machine that was the state.
There are other interesting similarites between Sparta and more modern communist countries. Spartans had a great respect for the elderly, who deserved respect since they had lived in the Spartan system so long and were undoubtedly verterans of many battles. In order to be a member of the governing council (an Archon), a warrior had to be at least 60 years old, which was really old in those days of warfare and disease. This brings to mind the policy of the Soviet Union, which in the Breznev years became almost a gerontocracy, headed by councils of withered, conservative-minded old men.
Of course, Spartan society did have its definite un-socialist characteristics, such as the reason that the militaristic society existed in the first place: the conquest and subjugation of Sparta's neighbors. The only reason that the magnificent Spartan army came into being was to discourage uprisings among the helot population. And unlike communism, which tends to be a universalizing ideology, the Spartans had no interest in exporting their system to others.
These are just some thoughts I had. If anybody else has any other thoughts on this topic, please feel free to post.
By 600 BC, Greece had entered a period of great prosperity. It's location allowed it to dominate the grape and olive trade, and many city-states became wealthy. But wealth always leads to conflict between those who have it and those who don't. In order to avoid these conflicts, Sparta came up with a unique plan: conflict over wealth would be eliminated by getting rid of wealth. Every Spartan citizen, regardless of social standing, lived the same way. There were no outward displays of wealth; everybody lived the same 'Spartan' lifestyle. Perhaps most radically, gold and silver, two substances most associated with capitalism, were banned. Iron bars were used in the few circumstances where exchange was required, but for the most part there was no need for money, since there was nothing to buy.
Sparta also reflected Communist ideology through the way its citizens lived their lives. There was no freedom to choose your occupation: all male citizens were trained to be soldiers from the age of six. Spartan children endured extremely tough living standards, and most were forced to steal in order to survive, although they were punished if caught. This was supposed to encourage cleverness among the young recruits, and was as close to any form of independent thinking as was allowed. Citizens were not encouraged to think for themselves: everybody in society was a cog in a giant machine that was the state.
There are other interesting similarites between Sparta and more modern communist countries. Spartans had a great respect for the elderly, who deserved respect since they had lived in the Spartan system so long and were undoubtedly verterans of many battles. In order to be a member of the governing council (an Archon), a warrior had to be at least 60 years old, which was really old in those days of warfare and disease. This brings to mind the policy of the Soviet Union, which in the Breznev years became almost a gerontocracy, headed by councils of withered, conservative-minded old men.
Of course, Spartan society did have its definite un-socialist characteristics, such as the reason that the militaristic society existed in the first place: the conquest and subjugation of Sparta's neighbors. The only reason that the magnificent Spartan army came into being was to discourage uprisings among the helot population. And unlike communism, which tends to be a universalizing ideology, the Spartans had no interest in exporting their system to others.
These are just some thoughts I had. If anybody else has any other thoughts on this topic, please feel free to post.
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