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Offering statues as gifts to other nations has long been a subtle way of extending politicsinto the realm of arts. New York's Statue of Liberty, for instance, wasfunded by France to celebrate freedom and enlightenment.

But a similar gift from China is now putting Germans in a rather awkward position. The influential Germantrading partner wants to buy the town of Trier a statue of Karl Marx to honor him as one of the co-authors of the Communist Manifesto, a political text written with Friedrich Engels in 1848. Another German town accepted a similaroffer two years ago.

To some in Trier, the giftis a welcome expression of Chinese-German partnership. To others, however, the free Karl Marx is a provocation, given that Eastern Germany's own communist experiment resulted in the deaths of more than 100 people who tried to flee from the communist east into the west before the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. They also think accepting such a gift from China, which is frequently criticized for violating human rights, would send the wrong message at a time when Western liberalism isunder attack by right-wing populists and authoritarianregimes.

The council of Trier accepted the gift Monday evening, paving the way for a permanent bronze statue, erected in the city center ahead ofthe philosopher's birthday 200 years ago in May next year.

It is a decision that is likely to surprise those who witnessed the early days after the fall of the Berlin Wall. Across Eastern Europe, statues of communist heroes such as Marx and Vladimir Lenin were toppledduring the 1991 breakup of the Soviet Union.In 2014, during the Ukraine conflict, more than 200 remaining Lenin statues were destroyed within days in an expression of anger toward the Kremlin.

Although Lenin statues have long beenhard to find in Germany, a number of Marx monuments continue to surprise visitors in cities such as Berlin and Chemnitz in east Germany. The latter used to be called "Karl Marx City" until one year after the fall of the Berlin Wall, when officials decided it was time for Marx to assume a more subtle role.

Chemnitz's Marx statue was nottaken down, though,and it has once again become the city's landmark its head alone being 23 feet tall. In Trier, the Marx monument will probablybe much smaller.

City officials refrained from making a final decision on its height Monday evening, probably making it the city's next talking point. Some think that a tall statue standing on a plinth overlooking tourists and city residentswouldimply Marx's intellectual incontestability, whereas in reality his theories remain contentious in Germany. Critics want the Chinese statue of Marx to be of real-life height so that tourists can confront the communist theorist eye to eye.

"Take him down from the plinth," one resident told a German radio station. "I like that compromise -- [Marx being] on an equal footing [with everyone]."

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China keeps buying Karl Marx statues for Germany to celebrate communism. Not all want to join the party. - Washington Post

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TheSouth China Morning Postreports that Education Minister Chen Baosheng wants to make Communist ideology trendy and fashionable again:

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When we investigate at colleges and universities, we find that attention levels at thought and political theory classes are not high. People are there in body but not in spirit, Chen said.

Why is this? The content does not suit their needs. Perhaps the approach is outdated, the tools are rather crude and the packaging is not that fashionable.

Students needed to be led by the core values of Chinese socialism to ensure their healthy moral growth. They should also study traditional Chinese culture, revolutionary culture and advanced socialist culture, Chen said.

It is probably going to take a little more than some hip-hop music and a stack of Che Guevara T-shirts to get Chinese youth interested in studying advanced socialist culture to ensure their healthy moral growth, especially since the Internet keeps showing them glimpses of the world outside Chinas totalitarian ideological boundaries. It may or may not comfort Chen to know that left-wing academics in the West also complain that communisms biggest problem is poor packaging.

The Internet must be one of the major driving forces behind the cultural and ideological insecurity of Chinas elites, which is very encouraging. The SCMP article reads like a totalitarian nightmare, but it is good news that the Communist Party is so worried about losing its grip on the next generation. Under President Xi Jinping, the Party has been cracking down on organized religion for similar reasons.

Beijing is worried about people who make subversion look cool, as Korean-born, American-educated provocateur Kwon Pyonglearned the hard way last September. Kwons social media hijinks culminated in a selfie that featured a T-shirt comparing Chinese President Xi Jinping to Adolf Hitler.

In theory, few Chinese should have been able to read his Facebook and Twitter posts dedicated to overturning communism, because the Internet is locked down so tightly in China. The government nevertheless arrested him, put him on trial for subversion, failed to inform his defense attorneys which of his posts slander and insulted state power and the socialist system, and then forced his defense lawyers out of the case with an impossible paperwork demand, just to make sure Kwons fair trial ends with the necessary conviction.

Kwons former attorney Zhang Lei put the case in perspective for theNew York Times:

Mr. Kwon embodies a phenomenon that worries the Chinese government: young people, exposed to foreign ideas, sometimes through study abroad, who feel free to criticize the government, perhaps navely believing that they wont get into serious trouble, Mr. Liang said.

Hes from a younger generation thats absorbed ideas about democracy and freedom, he said. They have a clearer spirit of opposition.

To treat Kwon Pyongs online criticism of President Xi Jinping and the one-party state as a national security threat highlights the Communist Partys insecurity about commentary that does not accept the Partys monopoly on power, said Freedom House Executive Vice President Daniel Calingaert, protesting his arrest. Maybe Kwon will be sentenced to help the Education Minister develop a hip and cool curriculum for selling Communism to the kids.

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China Orders Universities to Make Communism Cool Again - Breitbart News

Wenceslao: Pope on communists | SunStar Sun.Star I understand that prejudices and biases against communists and communism is still widespread even decades after the end of the Cold War. I listen to even my friends and am amazed by the many misconceptions they harbor about the rebels and their ...

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Wenceslao: Pope on communists | SunStar - Sun.Star

The theory of communism is a fantastic idea. Really. The same goes for patriarchy.

That might be the last thing you ever expected a libertarian feminist to say, but there it is.

Communisms theoretical definition is a system in which labor and resources are equally distributed with everyone working towards a greater societal good. Because everyone is working towards the same goal no one person is overworked, and everyone reaps the benefits. Whats wrong with that?

Patriarchy has come to mean different things to different people. I define it as a society in which men hold power, responsible for the well-being, financial stability, and protection of those under their authority.

In theory, women in a patriarchal world just have to look after the house and kids and not worry themselves with things such as taxes, military service, and politics. It can be a highly stable system and was a trait of all of historys major world conquerors (Egypt, Rome, the Mongols, Great Britain, etc.).

Both communism and patriarchy are great ideas, but they have the same problemthey dont work in real life, and they fail for the same reason.

Both involve taking power from one group, which loses most if not all individual autonomy, and giving it to another group. Whats worse, the group in power rarely suffers consequences for abusing their power.

In practice, communism must be organized by an authoritarian figure who must be able to perfectly foresee and plan for everything from healthcare needs, natural disasters, food requirements, necessary buildings, and so on. Dictatorial power is needed to control all this and it also means that the average person has no power. Ergo, what we inevitably see develop under communism is a slave-state.

In a truly communist society, taking matters into ones own hands can be a capital offense. Since people have no power to address hunger and famine by, say, growing their own food, they are utterly at the mercy of the governing body.

Keeping with the food example, having private providers of resources is a threat to the governments control and a capital offense in some cases (dictators are not historically understanding or sympathetic people). It doesnt matter if the government is providing sufficient resources or not. Therefore, we see these systems deteriorate until people are making boats out of tires and crawling through barbed wire to escape.

Its the same with patriarchy. In a patriarchal world, a girl supposedly doesnt have to worry about her food, shelter, or upkeep. But when taking care of her constitutes a burden to her male guardian, we get things like sex-selective abortions and infanticide to curb the number of women within the population. There also exists a push to marry off young girls so as to limit the number of years they must be supported by their families.

When a girl grows up, she becomes subject to her husband whobecause he is the one assigned power and obviously knows whats bestcan pretty much do whatever he wants with her. Her medical, financial, and personal life are dictated wholly by his decree.

Affirmative action is another great idea, as it is supposed to lift minorities out of poverty by offering them government jobs. What actually happens is these jobs primarily go to minority workers who are already part of the middle class.

Affirmative action changed the social standing of very few. In addition, now every minority worker is suspected of having their job only because of diversity quotas, regardless of how skilled or effective they might be.

Subsidies and government pressure on banks to give every US citizen ownership of a home also seems great on the surface. It was so great that both Democrats and Republicans loved it right up until a bunch of people who couldnt sustain mortgage payments (and shouldve never been given loans in the first place) went bankrupt. The American populace collectively suffered from the Great Recession of 2008, but it was totally the banks fault.

All these ideas are rooted in the belief that a certain group of peoplelower classes, women, and minoritiescant take care of themselves. These systems developed around the good intention to care for those who were weaker.

But we all know what they say about good intentions and the road to Hell.

In the end, efforts to help are flawed because rather than creating a system where the disadvantaged could compete, we assigned a group already in powerpolitical leaders, men, banks, etc.to level the playing field. No one was empowered, no one was given liberty. In the end, we left power where it had always been.

The lesson we should learn is that assigning one group to look after another does not end well. Only by granting people personal freedom and autonomy can we ensure that they can at least work to secure what they need. Im not saying its perfect, no system is. However, its about as close as we can get.

Rather than designating one group of people to look out for another, be it the government or a group of private citizens, disadvantaged groups should have control over, and responsibility for, their own lives. No matter if those in power are richer, more educated, or more charismatic, we should never allow someone else to take care of us if we can help it. In the words of my favorite Avenger, The best hands are still our own.

* Elisabeth Wheatley is a college student, blogger, and fiction writer who loves freedom. Besides playing the token conservative in an aptly named liberal arts school, she is a gigantic nerd and pro-life feminist who dreams of owning a hobbit house.

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Communism, Patriarchy, and Other Great Ideas That Don't Work - Being Libertarian

Steps Part 1 Learning What Communism is All About

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Remember that communism is strongly opposed to the acquisition of private property, and needless consumption. One of the most communist things you can do is to rely on the public library and used bookstores to accomplish your research goals

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Keep in mind that even peaceful demonstrations can lead to legal consequences. Learn the laws in your area, and be prepared to be chastised and possibly even arrested for participation in political demonstrations.

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Join a co-op. For a small annual fee, you can take part-ownership of your food distribution source. Most co-ops also offer opportunities for members to share their labor, as well.

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Treat your employees well if you are an employer. Pay all employees a fair, living wage, and allow them to participate in the direction, profits and ideally the ownership of the company.

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Advance the cause of labor if you are an employee. Participate in labor unions and employee organizations, and advocate for your fellow workers. If labor is not organized in your place of business, do your part to make this happen.

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Avoid causing physical or mental harm other people in the course of your revolutionary activities. Becoming an oppressor yourself will not further the communist cause, and will only land you in jail!

How do I tell my close friends and family I'm a communist without incurring judgement?

Be a great example of a good communist, as described above. When they notice and ask why, that is a good time to share. It takes patience.

You put CPUSA, yet they endorsed Hillary Clinton and are very uncommunist.

CPUSA deals with objective reality well. To work effectively in the real world, they often have to support, not endorse, people they are not in agreement with and/or don't like. This is in accordance with Leninist principles. CPUSA has a 97-year track record of effective struggle for the working class, while seldom getting the credit.

Can communism implement democracy in a way that is conducive to civilization?

wikiHow Contributor

It depends on what you mean by 'communism.' A lasting Communism must be voluntary - taxation is not considered to be such by leading philosophers. Communism in its current incarnation is heavily Marxist, which is causative of corruption. Implementing voluntary communism can be done within a democratic society, provided that it casts off the problems inherent in Marxist ideology.

Shouldn't you list PCUSA instead of CPUSA?

No. CPUSA has the unenviable position of being a revolutionary party in a country that is not yet ready for revolution. To try and force progress upon a population is useless and counterproductive. PCUSA is a break off group that could not abide by the decision of the CPUSA majority.

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How to Be a Communist (with Pictures) - wikiHow