> I think if you ask 3 communists to define communism you get 4 answers. For one, some are anarcho-communists and some aren't. Not really. Most communists agre

> I think if you ask 3 communists to define communism you get 4 answers. For one, some are anarcho-communists and some aren't. Not really. Most communists agree that communism is a "state-less, class-less society". Sometimes they also add "money-less". The differences you are thinking of are between the various ideas of how to get there. "Anarcho-communism" is also a bit of a red herring. Anarchism is by definition communist - if anything an anarchist society would be a subset of communist societies because it requires the abolition of even more hierarchies. You'll find people on the left using the word "communism" in an inflationary way the same way the modern right throws it at anything to the left of conversvatism but even the Soviet Union never claimed to have achieved communism even if it was generally called "communist". There's an obvious difference between communism (which is narrowly defined, i.e. the end state) and a communist (a person who claims to want to achieve communism some way or another). > Capitalism seems to obviously work great for me cause I get paid in fiat currency to work on startups that are likely to fail, and I have no risk. Capitalism means you already have all the risk by existing within the system. Everything you "own" is entirely conditional on your continued ability to pay bills. Not just rent, mortgage or debt but also all the resources you need to actually use what you have: electricity, gas, water, waste water management. And of course any food you want to eat, any costs of replacing or repairing what you have and so on. If you don't keep making money, you will run out of it. You may have a social support network - a friend you can crash at if your house burns down, a family that will take you back and feed you if all goes wrong. But those exist despite capitalism not as part of it. And those again require you to luck into a situation where you have a loving family or dependable friends who can afford an extra mouth to feed. As the saying goes, under capitalism, most people are "one bad week away from poverty". Especially if they don't luck into generational wealth, a high paying and stable career and good insurances (which still may not cover everything life can throw at you). If you want strenuous software metaphors, communism is pure functional programming, capitalism is class-based OOP and most of the world right now is running C#.