Some ideas are studied. Others are debated. And a few—like communism—can only be understood when they arrive in your life like the virus they are.
I didn’t read about communism at an expensive university. I didn’t meet it in a bohemian café in a free city. I ran from it.
I’m Cuban. I was born and raised in a communist dictatorship. Not the romantic Instagram version, but the real one: endless lines, symbolic (ridiculous) wages, structural fear, and a State that decides for you—even what you’re allowed to dream.
Here’s the curious thing about communism: its loudest defenders live in capitalist countries. I don’t know many who have lived it and have good things to say, but I do know several who defend it without knowing what they’re talking about. They have iPhones, Netflix, Starbucks, and freedom of speech…
…and from there they explain why a system they’ve never suffered “could work.” They’re trust-fund kids. They’re ignorant. Listening to them talk about communism is like getting swimming lessons from someone who’s never been in the water but read about it online.
In Cuba we don’t debate whether communism works.
There, we survive the fact that it doesn’t.
And every time a country collapses under communism, the excuses roll out: “It was external pressure,” “It was the fault of the capitalist empire,” “That wasn’t real communism.”
Curious.
It never is.
It never arrives.
It never works.
But it always promises.
If a system needs perfect human conditions to avoid becoming a dictatorship, then the problem isn’t human beings—it’s the system.
Communism hates private property. And without property, there are no incentives. Without incentives, there’s no progress. Without progress, there’s control.
In Cuba everything is “the people’s.” Translation: it belongs to no one… except the State. The State is a god, the king, and its rulers are the State. The people are slaves, sheep, NPCs in a video game—irrelevant to the State.
The result is simple:
No one takes care of what they don’t feel is theirs.
No one innovates if they can’t win.
No one prospers if every success is suspicious.
A young guy, maybe two years older than me, once told me communism does work. I tried to explain, to open his eyes. More than once I left him speechless, searching for a positive result to spit back at me—he couldn’t find one. So, in the name of peace, I gave up. Trying to explain communism—as someone who lived it—to an American who lived in supposedly evil capitalism was the biggest waste of time of my life, and I won’t commit that sin again. He isn’t even my friend; I couldn’t be friends with someone who defends that barbarity—and he couldn’t be mine because, according to him, “anyone who defends capitalism will burn in hell.” Yes… it’s stupid. Very stupid. But part of me pities him, and I think he feels the same toward me—though it goes without saying he’s the one who’s wrong.
After arguing, we crossed paths again on a university campus. He came up to me, playing pastor, and gave me a book. And no… it wasn’t the Bible. I wish it had been. It was the opposite. It was the devil’s book: Capital by Karl Marx. At first I refused the gift, but he insisted. I said I’d accept it on one condition: that he go to Cuba for a week. Just one week. And if he loved communism so much, that he stay in my country. Fair deal. I’ll stay in his country, in his evil capitalism, and he’ll stay in mine with his advanced socialist, communist system. Let’s see who loses.
Well, I still have Marx’s Capital. Truth is, it was very useful to fix the wobble on my office table. Works like a charm. On that same table rest books on free-market economics and private enterprise. Never has a metaphor been so precise: Marx literally propping up capitalism.
And you know what? I’ll grant communism one thing. It doesn’t entirely fail, because it does exactly what it promises:
· Concentrate power
· Eliminate dissent
· Create dependency
· Destroy individual initiative
It’s not designed to generate wealth, but obedience. Communism isn’t explained by theory. It’s explained by scars. By mothers juggling to feed their kids. By young people risking their lives on rafts. By entire countries stuck while others move forward. Anyone who defends communism without having lived it isn’t an idealist. They’re irresponsible.
And whoever romanticizes it from capitalism… is its biggest living contradiction. I mean, if you love communism so much, why not move to any communist country? Here’s a curious, real point: it’s very likely that any foreigner who defends that garbage would be granted residency immediately—simply for believing in the system. That’s what the State wants: sheep, servants, ignorant people who believe.
If you’re a communist, I won’t try to change your mind. I’ll just invite you to get off your couch and go live where communism reigns. I know you’ll come back regretful. But if you don’t, just know no one in “brutal capitalism” will be surprised. We will move forward without you… and you will starve to death.
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