Why Does Communism Work In Real Life?

Throughout history many leaders have adopted the ideas of communism as a way to run their nation. However as history has shown, communism has proven to be ineffective due to the number of nations that have fallen apart under a communist leader. Even though communism sounds great on paper why does it not work in real life?
Communism is a social, political, and economic idea that establishes a classless society and eliminates privately owned property. In a communist society everything is owned by everyone and all wealth is shared. Furthermore communism states that the working class will rise up and overthrow the capitalist owners. This idea of communism was developed by Karl Marx, a German philosopher, who originally started writing his theories
He later met Friedrich Engels and together they wrote The Communist Manifesto in 1848 (“Communism” 2001). Shortly after, The Communist Manifesto became popular in many countries because it appealed to the working class which comprised most of the population. However, despite communism’s rise in popularity in the 1940’s, most communist countries ended up failing shortly thereafter. Today the only five countries that remain communist are China, Cuba, Laos, North Korea, and Vietnam. The goal for a communist country is to be able to be self-sustainable. This requires citizens to be forced into collectivization. These are large government owned farms where people are forced to work to meet food quotas. An example of this was Mao Zedong and his Great Leap Forward policy. Mao Zedong planned for China to become a global superpower by increasing steel and agriculture production. To accomplish this, Mao took private property and established communes. However, many local farmers refused to give up their property to the government
An example of this was the reign of the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia. The Khmer Rouge was led by Pol Pot and took over Cambodia in 1975. Pol Pot had dreamed of restarting Cambodia at Year Zero ("Cambodia's Brutal Khmer Rouge Regime” 2014). Pol Pot wanted to make Cambodia into an agrarian utopia that was self-sufficient. To start Pol Pot ordered everyone out the cities into the countryside. Then anyone thought to be an intellect was executed; one would be considered an intellect if they wore glasses or could speak another language. Later money, private property, and religion were outlawed. Fortunately, the Khmer Rouge terror was ended in 1979 due to the constant attacks by the Vietnamese. By eliminating all the intellects in Cambodia, the Khmer Rouge was left vulnerable because it left the country in less capable hands. Another example of social manipulation is in North Korea under the Kim regime. The Kim regime uses five different techniques to keep control: brainwashing, isolation, classification, control, and fear. People of North Korea are taught from a young age that Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong-Il are gods. A constant flow of propaganda is presented to the citizens to make them think that they are in a paradise and that the outside world is terrible. The government controls everything from public broadcasting to radio to keep the truth