In Sunday’s episode of “The Walking Dead” (8 p.m. Central Sundays on AMC), Alexandria leader Deanna jokes to Rick “I guess the communists won.” She offers Rick and Michonne the jobs of constables, which they accept, and says she’s in the process of coming up with the ideal jobs for the rest of Rick’s group. Upcoming episodes will tell us whether the show is attempting to make a serious statement about communism or if Deanna was merely throwing out a one-liner. But before we move forward, we should ask if Alexandria is a true representation of communism.
Often times, communist states and communes are lumped into the broad category of communism, but there is a significant difference between the two. In communist states, a person is born into the system (or the system grows around them, encompassing them) and emigrating from the society is illegal (except that you are allowed to leave after retirement age in some countries). In a commune, a person voluntarily joins and is free to leave at any time.
Both systems adhere to Marx’s “From each according to his ability, to each according to his need.” In a commune, this works because everyone has agreed to this principle, and most people who join communes tend to be generous, communal people. In a communist state, it does not work because most people don’t like getting a raw deal: Since they are stuck in the system and not allowed to be an entrepreneur or innovator, they’ll try to make the best of a bad situation and position themselves more on the taker side than the giver side. Eventually, a society with more takers than givers collapses.
Alexandria is an intriguing mix of commune and communist state. Everyone is free to leave (like in a commune), but there’s a zombie plague outside the walls, so the act of leaving the society might as well be illegal (like in a communist state). It has centralized planning in that Deanna assigns the jobs, but she does ask people if they want the job first – so that leans more toward a commune than a communist state. And there is no army to enforce any central planning that Deanna might want to do. While Alexandria can’t be a robust free-market economy since it doesn’t have any trading partners, one imagines that a barter economy could spring up within the town itself, like in the early days of capitalism.
Aaron recruits Rick’s group to Alexandria (like in a commune), believing that human beings are the best resource in a zombie apocalypse. But once they are on the safe side of the walls at the start of Sunday’s episode, “Remember,” Rick’s group is asked to turn in their weapons – this is the strongest argument that Alexandria is more of a communist state than a peaceful commune. Because they are hungry, dirty and tired, they oblige (except Daryl, who keeps his crossbow). It would’ve been interesting to see what would’ve happened had they declined to turn in their guns. Most likely they would’ve been asked to leave, but we’ll never know.
Someone with a Pollyanna view of the world might trust Deanna when she says the guns are still theirs and they can be “checked out” any time they venture outside the walls. But that ignores the elephant in the room: The fact that Alexandria (like communist states, but unlike communes) has a no-weapons policy in the first place. In a zombie apocalypse, the idea of everyone packing heat should be such a common sight that it should go unmentioned. Even in the real pre-zombie world, many governments allow their citizenry the right to self-defense, at least to some degree, despite the tendency of most humans to be squeamish around weapons.
And on the chance that walkers do break through the walls, Deanna should want all her citizens to be armed and ready. (By the way, I think there’s an excellent chance walkers – or even more likely, an invading group — could break through those walls, since the support beams are on the outside. Destroy one of those beams, and a section of wall becomes a nice, wide doorway.)
As to whether Deanna’s exiling of three citizens is emblematic of a commune or a communist state: We don’t have enough information yet. We just know they were exiled because they “didn’t work out.” If the trio committed violence against another citizen, that would be justified grounds for exile in any political system. If they started a vegetable garden and demanded trade for their products rather than giving them to the communal pot, that would be immoral grounds for exile, and representative of a communist state. (Such a situation wouldn’t come up in a modern commune, because the vegetable entrepreneurs could peacefully part ways with the commune and sell their products at a farmer’s market. That’s not an option in a zombie apocalypse, though.)
Alexandria is far from the first exploration of communities and politics on “The Walking Dead.” Terminus, which also took the weapons from its new “citizens,” was a blunt exploration of givers and takers: The newcomers would give their lives so the Termites could take their meat for sustenance. The hospital arc also touched on this issue, as Dawn constantly impressed upon Beth that she “owed them” for saving her life. That arc delved into the morality of indentured servitude under an elite political class. Beth would be allowed to leave once she settled her (rather arbitrary) debt – not exactly communism, but a close cousin.
The Alexandria arc might be a more nuanced take on the themes of Terminus and the hospital. Or it could be a set-up for a shocking flipping of the script, where Rick’s group becomes the aggressors and the Alexandrians are the victims.
Because we’ve been following Rick’s group throughout “The Walking Dead,” we see this as a case of Rick’s group joining the Alexandria group. But in many ways, the citizens of Alexandria are joining Rick’s group: Deanna asks Rick and Michonne to be constables, thus allowing them to be the only ones with weapons, and thus, the leaders. And they’ll be part of the elite political class with Deanna, who has earned her position with charisma and maintained it thanks to her knack for reading people and forging the right relationships.
Certainly, weapons or no weapons, Rick’s group is strong whereas the Alexandrians are weak. This is demonstrated by the fact that even the lead walker hunter, Deanna’s son Aidan, is less skilled at killing walkers than just about anyone on Rick’s team save for Eugene and Judith.
It’s plausible that the Alexandrians – or at least Deanna and the majority of the citizens — truly want a peaceful communal existence, and Rick will be the one to muck it up. As he notes at episode’s end, if things go sour, “We’ll just take this place.”
Another intriguing element to consider is Carol’s strategy of playing possum in the interview with Deanna, portraying herself as a harmless “den mother.” If the Alexandrians were to successfully murder Rick, Daryl, Michonne and Glen in their sleep (as unlikely as that seems), Carol could be the wild card that turns things back in our group’s favor. (On the other hand, Aaron was watching Rick’s group for some time, so one wonders if Carol is fooling him.)
And one more element to consider is the elderly couple who is smitten with Judith, the first baby in Alexandria. In a free society of plenty, we take care of takers, either because they used to be givers (the elderly), because they will be future givers (children) or because they can’t help their position (people of certain handicaps or illnesses). If Alexandria’s supplies of food and other goods decrease, it will be interesting to see how the weaker members of the society are treated. In communist states, retirees are allowed to depart because they are no longer givers.
The big question at that point might be whether Deanna or Rick takes the position of power, and who lines up behind each of them.