That was good Belly.
It was some of what I wanted to know.
I searched the net but I couldnt get a fix on anything easy to understand about where Communism in Australia was in 2007 (much was too highbrow, which seems to be a problem with the internet...everyone wants to complexify simple subjects with lots of talk).
The concern for many committed christians is that Communism isnt truly dead, but gone underground to resurface at a later date possibly as antichrist (see "Mr.666", the coming world dictator, the Beast spoken about in Revelation 13:16-18/14:9-11). The same demon powers that started this alternative system off, still exist and I believe would love to bring it back.
Whenever I look at the angry faces of Whitlam, Hawke and Keating I get the feeling that a Red flame flickers somewhere in a quiet corner with these men. I look at Mr. Rudd and see a liar, him having tried to get the committed christian vote by strongly suggesting any Labor polictician is a committed Bible reading christian.
I often thought if Red Chinas' Peoples Liberation Army actually got here one day (quite possible in the Bibles endtimes)...there would be a few old faces on the Labor side of Australian politics standing at the the airport barrier with open arms to greet them.

"everyone wants to complexify simple subjects with lots of talk"

or it could be that some think that you can simplify complex subjects into a black and white frameworks. That one sided and simplistic looks at a topic can give a workable understanding of those subjects.

There is nothing simple about the choices we all make in our political orientation, most of us don't fully understand all the factors that make us support one party over another or prefer one approach to another (especially when there is little to really differentiate them).

R0bert

Gibo, dont be scared of communism, instead be worried about communist regimes. What's the difference? Communism as an ideaology is about equality of all and sharing everything we have with the less fortunate. The "system" works reasonably well in places like Cuba because they have stuck reasonably closely to the ideal model, and despite the fact that they have a dictator, he hasnt regressed down the path of the Soviets or North Korea. Christ was actually the ultimate communist, and Christians should also support Communism on that basis. Christ urged people to give away all of their worldly possessions, and to not rank themselves as more important than anyone else. That's communism.

The problem with communist regimes is that human greed gets in the way, and without privately owned powers being around to have enough force to influence politicians, its a lot easier for someone to seize power and rule with an iron fist. Communism is supposed to be democratic (everyone being equal and all), but rarely works that way in practice. As much as anything, a system that is so relatively rigid requires long-term governance, so democracy probably wouldnt work in practice anyway.

So pure communist theory doesnt work, but pure market theory doesnt achieve what we really want anyway. What we have particularly in Australia is a mix of the two - socialism. We provide a welfare net and support for those that are not well-off, and we also have a reasonable degree of government regulation in the operation of markets. I happen to think that the way we do things here is a pretty reasonable balance, given that no-one can expect to be perfect.

the idea of communism keeps popping up, and won't go away completely. the early christians were communists, until priests discovered their life style improved immensely when they let the rich into the community as associate members, going to heaven but keeping their cash separate here.

many early farming societies were communitarian, the pueblo indians in sw usa for example. and there were some 'interesting' religious communities there as well: the 'shakers' practiced communism as the early christians did, for the same reason: they believed in their religion.

unfortunately, primitive communism fell prey to state communism, in much the same way as primitive christianity was transformed into catholicism. nowadays, the state takes taxes and doles out pensions (state communism) while the rich get richer(plain old capitalism). it's communism and capitalism sided by side, striding into the future. since both only function by looting fossil wealth, that future is looking a bit chancy for most.

Gibo:

Jesus was a pinko socialist. Maybe even a commie sympathiser.

He even hung out with morally bankrupt folk like prostitutes. You oughta be careful about where you take your inspiration.

If you're not careful, you may fall under the dark spell of Oscar the Grouch.

It's ok Gibo, you can crawl out from under the bed.