November 9, 2009 will mark 20 years since the fall of the Berlin Wall, the
monumental event that signaled the beginning of the end of Communism in the
former Soviet Union. Yet, why was this collapse of Communism considered final,
but the many failures of capitalism are considered temporary and episodic? In
"The Idea of Communism," Tariq Ali addresses this very question.The idea of
Communism, argues Ali, was simple and noble. "The Communist Manifesto," which
advocated the creation of a society based on the principle of "from each
according to his ability, to each according to his need" rather than a system
based on greed and profit,