A few days ago, on my personal web journal, I quoted a snippet from an online conversation about Wal-Mart’s anti-union practices. Specifically, that snippet was from someone who hated Wal-Mart because the company was the worst example of “corporate communism” (spelling mistakes fixed from original quote).

In my post on my journal, I asked if “corporate communism” wasn’t an oxymoron. I think that many people who simply associate communism with an oppressive totalitarian regime, the true meaning of the word has been lost. (I also think that a lot of people use the word “fascist” without understanding what they’re saying, but that’s a different topic.)

In the interest of helping those who believe Wal-Mart is guilty of corporate communism, I’ve decided to explain exactly what those two words mean and how Wal-Mart would work if it were a bastion of corporate communism.

Corporation

A body that is granted a charter recognizing it as a separate legal entity having its own rights, privileges, and liabilities distinct from those of its members.

Corporate

Formed into a corporation; incorporated.

Communism

A theoretical economic system characterized by the collective ownership of property and by the organization of labor for the common advantage of all members.

A system of government in which the state plans and controls the economy and a single, often authoritarian party holds power, claiming to make progress toward a higher social order in which all goods are equally shared by the people.

(Definitions from Dictionary.com.)

I included two separate definitions for communism because the “authoritarian” part of the second definition is what far too many people mean when they say “communism.” In fact, the authoritarian piece isn’t a primary characteristic of communism. In order to be considered communism, the defining characteristic is the collective ownership of property.

So, how would corporate communism work? A communistic corporation would be one in which all employees each had an equal share of ownership in the company. As such, the profits of the corporation should be shared equally by all employees. The company’s President should earn exactly as much as the cashier who was hired last week.

I’m fairly certain that Wal-Mart doesn’t function in this way. Of course, my stint in retail was working for a Super K-Mart, not a Wal-mart, so maybe I’m wrong.