Why Communism failed before Religion ?

Neither am I a devout follower of Religion, nor member of any Communist party. This statement is to justify my neutrality to both these before I begin.

There are several theories explaining the downfall of most Communist ruled states - USSR, Yugoslavia, East Germany, Czechoslovakia, et al and most recently, my own state of West Bengal, India that has been ruled by the Left Front headed by the Communist Party of India (Marxist). At present, any person in my state think you're a supporter of Trinamool Congress (the party overthrowing Left Front) if you speak against the Left Front and vice versa.
A few say that the American anti-communist propaganda machinery was more effective than the enthusiasm of communist ideologies; others are of the opinion that the principles of communism were against the natural law of inequality and hereditary succession. In fact, the later is reverberated in the opinion of majority high-net-worth Chinese who are looking to invest abroad fearing that the state might cede their wealth. None of them is totally false. But we overlook one important factor - religion. Post-World War II, when the world was polarized, headed by the US and the USSR and the fascinating rivalry that followed, we have seen the USSR excel the US in many departments - missiles, space, chess, literature, medicine. However, USSR failed ! It has been best summarized by Robert Hanssen, ex-FBI who was believed to be working for the USSR and later sentenced for life - "The Russians were Godless".

I will now attempt to make a scientific explanation based on the Nobel prize winning author Elias Canetti's "Crowds and Power". Canetti does not make any reference to communism but only analyses crowd dynamics. The points in italics are verbatim from the book.

Any **-ism is followed by enthusiasm usually anti-establishment in its nature. However, it isn't the work of a single individual. The ideas of the individual are propagated to the crowd (the people) who join him or her which makes it stronger. Canetti describes the main attributes of a crowd and I am trying to use it as a corollary. According to Canetti - the four main attributes are

The crowd always wants to grow.
Throughout the world, whenever governments are challenged by public unrest, we see them impose a curfew, restriction on assembly. During violent protests the goal of the police is to disperse the crowd for which they resort to tear gas, rubber bullets even water canons. (I would also recommend shit water)

Within the crowd there is equality.
All supporters of a football team wear the same coloured jersey regardless of their socio-economic status. The next point follows from the above.

The crowd loves density.
Nothing must stand between the crowd. Canetti says that the density is maximum at the moment of discharge i.e. when the crowd forgets all differences and feel equal, say, when the team scores.

The crowd needs a direction.
People do not gather without a purpose.

This final point is of utmost importance. As soon as the crowd loses the reason why it gathered it will disperse as quickly as it assembled. And here religion beats communism.

If we look at all major religions of world, we notice that there is something about these which isn't attainable in a human life. The concept of heaven and hell are found in most of them. All of them preach that neither heaven nor hell is the earth - those are some unknown places which you visit only after you die. We also find the concept of re-birth which maybe this world in a different life-form or in another world. Some speak of the great journeys which every human being needs to undertake after mortal life. Regardless of the foundations, re-birth, hell or heaven depend on one's deeds. And there is no cut-off period. Everything is recorded till the very last moment, even on the great journey. Hence, crowds united by a certain religious faith always have a direction. Although, we see a certain faith has internal fragmentation but it is safe to assume that everyone is equal in that fragment. Density, for a religious faith or its fragmented groups is ensured by the rituals. And its a natural law to grow.

All religions veto the male-female form of holy matrimonial union which also ensures growth. Communism had all these but as soon as it overthrew the proletariat and trumpeted victory in the class struggle, it lost its direction. The purpose was achieved. The match ended. Celebrations complete. Communists never had a woman in any major post. (exception: Rosa Luxemburg). Women are central to the natural continuity of human beings. The lack of woman leadership in major communist parties is testimonial to the fact that they never had a continuity plan.

Communist use Karl Marx for all explanation and I used Elias Canetti. Can communists ignore the divine intervention that both were Germans ?

Now, for those who need a more simpler explanation. Imagine the following teams whose all members are still alive; and consider that they will do what you know they did. Which one will you support ?

Team A
--------------
Karl Marx
Vladimir Lenin
Fidel Castro
Che Guevara
Jyoti Basu

Team B
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Jesus Christ
Gautama Buddha
Zoroaster
Muhammad ibn ‘Abdullāh
Sankaracharya

Adult Entertainment or Fear & Greed.

This is not a analysis of the online porn industry; anyone who wishes to enlighten in such knowledge may stop reading.

This is my personal opinion of why do we buy or sell and why aren't monks counted in the census of a country.

The first investment that I made when I started to earn is buy a life insurance. Why ? Fear. I feared that I may die before my natural life expiration and needed to have an exigency for the people who are financially dependent on me. Each year, I pay the premium gripped by this "fear". Since then the world has seen two financial crisis and two major wars. And I happened to read about a new investment plan. Euphemistically, these are called life settlement-backed security. In simpler words these are known as "death bonds". Suppose an aged American is in urgent need of cash and also has a life insurance policy, say, which assures $1M on maturity or death. The smart dude at Wall Street will negotiate to buy the policy at a lesser price, say $40,000. Thereafter, he continues to pay the premium and collects the sum insured. The quicker the person dies, the lesser the premium and more the profit. So, when the policy is negotiated the mortality of the person is scrutinized. What drives the person doing it ? And thus enter "greed". My death is sold or bought for either greed or fear.

The origin of fear is debatable. However, most agree that "fear" is of the unknown. We usually fear something we cannot anticipate. When we enter a dark room, do we fear if its our bedroom. But we are afraid to enter a supposedly haunted house by the highway. In short, we fear what we cannot see. On the other hand, greed is born out of things we can see. I wish I had that nice sports sedan which Mr. X parks in his garage. I may feel amused to buy a car which runs on human urine but do not really yearn for it. Because I cannot see it yet.

Fear: I managed to frighten a young girl because she had pimples and was afraid of losing the prom-night Queen to her best friend.
Greed: You perhaps didn't know that I tempted the guy at the cosmetic company to add harmful chemicals to the skin lotion she's using.
Fear: Uggh ... ly..
Greed: It was cheaper than fruit extracts. He planned to save a lot and make good profit.
Fear: Actually he feared of losing his promotion once again !
Greed: Yup. The company promised to give him a better apartment, the ones with heated pools.
Fear: Is this the same company which was on the verge of bankruptcy a couple years back ?
Greed: I heard that too. And I had to persuade a drug mafia to invest.
Fear: Ah. I remember. The mafia wanted to elevate his social status and broaden his portfolio to white-collar business.
Greed: Now, you get the point.

(They realize that Sourajit Basak is eavesdropping and abandon their chit-chat)

In the words of a chartered accountant, fear accounts for the bottom-line and greed adds to the top-line. When real estate stocks were skyrocketing, everyone wanted a share of the pie. When the cat was out of the bag, a mad frenzy of selling plummeted those. The monthly high is pushed by greed and the monthly low pulled by fear giving us those exotic statistical curves. My tongues cannot resist the greed of that ice-cream but my heart fears cholesterol choking his arteries and persuades my legs to go for jogging. A gastrointestinal test may give wonderful insights on the dominant feeling.

We can never abandon these two for we do not wish to stop riding the roller-coaster ride of life. The world will be a rather dull place if it were filled with monks. Monks and monkeys need to co-exist to complete the tapestry of life. But its worthwhile to ponder on the other question. Why aren't monks counted in the census ? Well, small perturbations are often ignored from the main readings of an experiment. But doesn't anything drive them when they abandon mundane pleasure. Maybe they wish to make that celestial journey to the other world to see the wonderful things beyond. But one thing is certain.

They fear what they cannot see and are greedy for what they can..not.