My Christian friend and former colleague Michael has blogged from Moscow a post I am a communist. The small “c” even in the title is not accidental, even though Michael illustrates his post with pictures of Soviet achievements – “ВДНХ” is the Exhibition of Achievements of the National Economy, the one-time showpiece of the USSR now officially known as the All-Russia Exhibition Centre. For Michael makes it very clear that he is no sympathiser with Soviet Communism. He is especially critical of how it was based on violence and coercion. And concerning its atheistic basis, he asks:

why did the soviets throw God out? Didn’t they realize that God is on the side of the poor, the upholder of the weak, oppressed and downtrodden. Why didn’t they enlist his support in their strivings for justice and equality? Well, unfortunately the church had sided with the oppressor. …

So in what sense can Michael call himself a communist? He explains:

I am a communist. I embrace the goal, the impact statement of a just and equal society for all. But I do not espouse the route the soviets took. If change is not peaceful the oppressed simply become the oppressor – and that is what happened. … Those who are opposed to the new society – love them. Melt them with the warmth of the sun; blowing a howling gale around them will just make them cling to their opposition more tightly. But as I look at those communist ideals, they resonate with me. Thy Kingdom come, thy will be done on earth just as it is in heaven.

In this I agree with Michael. So I can say that I too am a communist, with a small “c”. I embrace the ideal which the early church found:

All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of their possessions was their own, but they shared everything they had. ³³ … God’s grace was so powerfully at work in them all ³⁴ that there were no needy persons among them. For from time to time those who owned land or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales ³⁵ and put it at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to anyone who had need.

Acts 4:32-35 (NIV 2011)

Note that this communism did not involve complete renunciation of private property. Giving to the community was voluntary. But “God’s grace was so powerfully at work in them all” that enough money came in for the poor in the community to be provided for.

Now this kind of communism is of course very different from the Soviet kind. There are two main differences. The first is that Soviet Communism was atheistic, which is fundamental to its philosophy but is also peripheral to its practical outworking. As a Christian I of course reject this atheistic basis. The second is that that Communism was enforced by the power of the state. I think almost all would agree that some of the ways in which it was enforced, such as through the Gulag concentration camps, were wrong. But is it fundamentally wrong in principle for the state to enforce sharing of possessions so that the poor are properly cared for?

Now I know the answer that would be given by many conservative American Christians. They consider their private property to be inalienable as a fundamental human right, and that even a democratically elected government has no right to deprive them of it.

But the Bible offers a rather different picture. In the Old Testament the collection of tithes, to support the priesthood and the poor, was commanded and enforced under the Law of Moses. The rules for the Jubilee also involve regular and massive enforced redistribution of wealth from those who have acquired it, so that “there need be no poor people among you” (Deuteronomy 15:4, NIV 2011 – clearly alluded to in Acts 4:34 quoted above). These examples are from the theocratic nation of Israel and so may not be directly applicable to modern states. But the New Testament (especially in Romans 13:1-7) upholds the right of even idolatrous dictatorial states like the Roman empire to levy taxes, and the duty of Christians to pay them. So, I would argue, while the state would be wrong to confiscate private property arbitrarily or inequitably, it does have the right to levy taxes to support the poor and needy. And I would also argue, on the basis of the advice given to the non-Israelite King Lemuel, that it has the duty to do so where such taxes are the best way of providing this support:

Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves,
for the rights of all who are destitute.
⁹ Speak up and judge fairly;
defend the rights of the poor and needy.

Proverbs 31:8-9 (NIV 2011)

The result would not exactly be Soviet-style Communism. It certainly wouldn’t be atheistic. But it would involve those with more than they need being taxed a fair proportion of their income to put an end to poverty in the world. I would see this as a practical outworking of the biblical principle, seen in practice in the nation of Israel and in the early church, that there should be no more poor and needy in the community. This is not the whole, but it is a significant part, of bringing to fulfilment the biblical vision (Revelation 11:15) that “The kingdom of the world [will] become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Messiah”.