NationStates Jolt Archive

What do communists do at Christmas time and other traditional gift giving occasions such as birthdays?
Are they allowed to celebrate them?
Does everyone have to buy the same priced presents for other people?

I mean, if person A gets a pair of socks and person B gets a laptop, doesn't this result in an unfair distribution of wealth/assets?
How does it work?

I mean, if person A gets a pair of socks and person B gets a laptop, doesn't this result in an unfair distribution of wealth/assets?


Not if person A needs a pair of socks, while person B needs a laptop ;) My non-technical grandfather with cold feet would probably prefer the former for instance.

Are we talking authoritarian state-socialism, or utopian communism?

Under utopian, or if you prefer, true communism, there are no laws governing what you are allowed to celebrate. Of course you are allowed to celebrate Christmas if you wish. You also would not "buy" presents, as all property is communally owned and there is no currency system. Therefore, you would probably make them something personal with your own labour and give it to them as a gift.

Historically, under Stalinism or other such totalitarian "Marxist" systems, Christmas was seen as a bourgeois traditions contradictory to socialist thought and anyone who participates in its celebration is counter-revolutionary and must be reformed. More or less.

I think it's obvious which I believe is better. :)

well, how socialism SHOULD work is:
people get taxed 96% of their income. then a percentage of that is refunded to pay for necessities, and any leftover is distributed equally among all citizens. so you have your own savings which you may spend however you wish.