on Why Art Students Love Communism

I apologize in advance to all my artistic friends. I have many of them, I appreciate their talents and enjoy their quirks. However, this essay is not directed at you, but rather the poor misguided college students who love to believe that communism is a) a good idea, and/or b) the rebellious thing to do. Both beliefs are correct (to a degree).

Communism is a wonderful idea. Everyone works towards a common good and every one is equal. Everyone looks out for each other, it's great!! Ironically, the drive behind the reason art students love it so much is the very reason why communism itself cannot and will not ever work. This driving force is greed, a trait inherent to all human beings. In the communist state, artists would be equal with doctors, scientists and toothpaste cap screwer-on-ers. (That is if the reigning government cared about the arts.) I venture to say that if the arts was a lucrative industry, the members of that demographic would quickly embrace capitalism as the ideal ideology.  However, the supply of art is plentiful in relation to the demand, driving artists to beg the government of resources. Don't get me wrong, I believe the arts play an enormous part in our mosaic of culture here in Canada. It is the attitude that communism will solve all the problems that I find selfish, greedy, and ignorant.

If you want to be a rebel in society, be a communist. After all, one of the fundamentals of the communist ideology is that a violent overthrow of the ruling class (bourgeoisie, if you will,) is necessary to achieve your goals. What is Amnesty International going to say about that?  With that said, if you really want to be a rebel in art school, be a capitalist. Throw away your Che Guevara shirt and grab a suit and tie. Take pride in constructing a superior product and market it effectively.

If you are an art student, by now you are getting quite perturbed at this ignorant capitalist who lumps the communist art students with the socialist art students. This is not true. And I hope you haven't fooled yourself into thinking the two philosophies are the same. (Socialism allows for a market economy and only works in Sweden.)  But if you are a socialist, it is for greed that you have made that choice. I choose to be a capitalist out of greed. I had the opportunity to pursue a career in the arts, yet, for greed I chose the pathway to riches, and left art as a hobby. 

 So, art students love communism because they are greedy. Just like everyone else.