The International Communist-Socialist Movement on NS
Hello, no doubt you are expecting some kind of essay on Communist Thought [that belongs in genera] and how it is obviously superior to Bourgeoisie Thought. I’m sorry to say that today you won’t get a lolhuge essay, instead you will get a brief but hopefully informative guide on RP-ing a Communist System (My experience of) and some player written articles on their flavors of Communism. I will include several links to information web sites where you can find Communist Literature, Articles, and other cool things. This will be updated as I go.
Role playing a Communist System
During my three years on NS (all spent as a Communist Nation of some sort), I’ve seen many different versions of Communist States. Some such as myself go out of their way to stress the Dictatorship of the Proletariat or the Socialist Police State, while others like Osea or Communist Estainia show the “softer side” of Communism. In reality, Communism cannot have a softer side until after the rough side is concluded, the Dictatorship of the Proletariat being a critical step between Revolution and Communist Society. On NS however, it is entirely possible to go from Revolution to Softer Communism if you’re more moderate, or if you’re people are fully behind the revolt.
In fact, this can be done purely because you feel like it!
That right there however is the second largest obstacle in RP-ing a Communist State well. If you’re role playing a Marxist-Leninist system you must have a Dictatorship of the Proletariat phase. Lenin himself wrote about it’s importance in What is to be Done and again in The State and Revolution. While you can argue that over time you moved away from the Marxist Leninist Ideal, you will be labeled as a Revisionist by those nations that are Marxist Leninists! This is not necessarily a bad thing if you don't mind it, but if you're looking to craft a Union of Freeborn Republics, that could be an issue.
That is not to say that you must have tyranny, you can instead have references to a previous era of tyranny that slowly led to a more moderate present. Or really anything you can think of that could conceivably purge other political parties, your own, and render your society totally compliant.
The next biggest issue I see and have myself done when RP-ing a Communist State is having everyone be a Communist. While this may seem like it is not an issue, look at the very system! Unless you have reached the ever elusive stage of Communist Society where everyone is provided for and happy, there will be dissidents. Human nature also means that there will be corruption and greed (realistic human nature anyway)! How rampant it is up to you (like everything else), but in a system where there is a lack of motivation outside of working for the Party and Ideal, people will try to make money on the side.
Having everyone be a dedicated Party Member or Ideological Communist is like having an entire army of super soldier bad-asses, it does not work and depending on what you’re doing it could ruin a RP. Instead, have characters demonstrate varying levels of ideological commitment. Have one worker be super dedicated to the Communist Ideal, while have another (perhaps a person of power) merely go through the motions.
In soldiers, this is key, especially if you model yourself on the Soviet Union. This goes double if you have conscription! Commissars and the like are there to disseminate Communist Ideology and serve as a direct link between Party and Military (as well as shoot people it seems), if the entire military are members of the Party or dedicated Communist, why have them [assuming you use Commissars, but the argument is the same regardless]? The Military IRL is a place where all walks of life and beliefs can be found, if you want reflect this while Rp-ing varying ideological commitment or education can do this very well.
A final issue is that I regularly see Communist States allying with Fascists, Monarchists, Capitalists, etc. Communism is a Revolutionary and Militant Ideology, there can be no alliance with the very people you believe must be ousted from power! Now in times of war or crisis it is reasonable to say that you’d explore every option, but close alliances just because are not only ideologically ridiculous, but also counterproductive (since that stalls the International Revolution by presenting a Reactionary or Explotive State that your People can’t hate/overthrow/n00k)!
Bear in mind, that my poorly written tips are just observations. I myself am no expert and there is really no reason outside of, “I HERD YOU LIEK RP COMMUNISM” to listen to me. Also, people who know about Communism. I've read Marx, Lenin, (a bit of) Stalin, and Mao. I'm not explaining the ideology because I'm supplying links that will allow people to find that out for themselves. (Just wanted to make sure I'm not appearing as one of those CoD fanboys who is like, "COMMUNISM!")
Here are some links to Communist Information Sites for the curious types who want to read up on the RL Ideology.
The Marxist Leninist
Marxist Internet Archive
Those two are really all you need since they both link to an amazingly massive amount of stuff.