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Omnia sunt communia



"The greatest challenge of the day is: how to bring about a revolution of the heart, a revolution which has to start with each one of us?"

Dorothy Day



Communism- noun
"A theory or system of social organization in which all property is owned by the community and each person contributes and receives according to their ability and needs."

Oxford Languages and Google


Communism didn't start with the USSR nor with Lenin and the Russian revolution. It didn't start with the Paris Commune or the French Revolution that preceeded it. Communism, the idea that resources and goods should be communal, is not a monolith. 


Sadly, recent communist experiments in the political sphere, have been abominable. 

But Communism is not just one thing. It seems that it always fails when it's turned into a political proposition with an elite, an oligarchy, running things. Because communist states don't have space for dissent, even to this date when top Chinese economist Zhu Hengpeng criticised Xi Jinping about the decline in China's economy, he "disappeared". And in places like North Korea is worse, much worse. 


Omnia sunt communia is a Latin phrase and slogan translated as "all things are to be held in common" or simply "all things in common". Originating in the Latin translation of the Acts of the Apostles, altered forms of the slogan were applied as a legal maxim in canon law and later in secular law. The phrase was also a central inspiration for Christian communism.
Christian communism is a theological and political theory that combines the teachings of Jesus Christ with the principles of communism. This ideology posits that the early Christian communities practiced a form of communism, sharing all possessions and wealth among themselves, as described in the Acts of the Apostles. 


The roots of Christian communism can be traced back to the early Christian communities depicted in the New Testament. According to the Acts of the Apostles, the early Christians in Jerusalem lived communally, sharing their possessions and ensuring that no member of the community was in need. Acts 4:32-35 states, "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". 

Christian communism is grounded in the belief that the teachings of Jesus Christ advocate for a society based on equality, justice, and the communal sharing of resources. The key principles of equality, justice and community can be found in both Marxism and Christianity. Compassion and community are also fundamental to Christian Communism but we can conclude that never featured in the communist experiments of the 20th and 21st centuries. On the contrary, the totalitarian regimes that self defined as communist and based themselves on  Marxist principles have proven to be hellish failures in that respect. 


Figures like Leo Tolstoy and movements such as Liberation Theology in Latin America have drawn on Christian teachings to advocate social justice and a form of communism separate from the power of the State. A form of practical communism that disregarded the atheist, materialistic aspects of State communism in favour of a spiritual form of communism. Among these movements it's important to mention the Catholic Worker Movement spear headed by former American communist Dorothy Day and French Roman Catholic  emigree Peter Maturin in 1933 and which focused on the creation of houses of hospitality to serve the poor and destitute alongside an anti war, pacifist stance and the belief on communitarianism. 


Christianity is revolutionary. It forces us to feed the hungry, shelter the homeless, water the thirsty. To turn the other cheek. To forgive seventy times seven. It's most definitely at odds with capitalism and the alleged values of consumer society.

The Eucharist is a supreme act of communism. 
¹: [Wikipedia - Christian communism](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_communism)
²: [Church Life Journal - The Sources of Early Christian Communism](https://churchlifejournal.nd.edu/articles/the-sources-of-early-christian-communism/)
³: [Wikipedia - Religious communism](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religious_communism)


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