Is a Communist World Without Prisons or Police Possible?
EL SALVADOR, May 30—”A large part of the youth has been subjugated by poverty, lack of education, food, all the basic conditions for life, a product of capitalism. Bukele is criminalizing all protest actions and imprisoning those who dare to denounce aspects of capitalism. In Communism we will put an end to all these conditions,” said P, a maquila worker, during a workers’ meeting.
Many end up in the country’s prisons, where justice is selective. Twelve million people are in prison worldwide. Most of them are poor people. In 2025, El Salvador has the highest incarceration rate in the world.
In capitalist society it is the working class that is prone to be imprisoned. There is a tiny group of rich people who currently will not know prisons. But revolutionary justice will catch up with them, sooner rather than later.
The meeting watched a video of the industrial zone and prison farms where prisoners labor under a government program called Zero Leisure. They are promised that for each day of work, the sentence they serve will be reduced by two days.
P asked, “Will there be prisons in Communism?”
“It’s the first time I’ve been asked this question. But I think you have to consider it because prisons do exist,” responded S.
This started a discussion within the group of workers of the International Communist Workers’ Party.
The government uses prisoners to perform many jobs, including building public infrastructure like schools, hospitals, and housing, without pay. Millions of dollars are saved. No one knows where this money is invested.
Prison System: Punishment and Capitalist Business
On the one hand, El Salvador has a prison population of 119,200. This has increased under the three-year state of emergency. The government has built the Terrorism Confinement Center (CECOT). On the other hand, it has closed sixty-seven schools. This is fascism.
Many have been imprisoned without trials and with unfulfilled release orders. “Every month an inmate’s family must pay $100 so they can receive a package with some items. If they want to be given some extra food, they have to pay another $100,” said worker comrade A.
According to the World Prison Brief, El Salvador is in first place with a prison population of 1,659 per 100,000 inhabitants.
The state of emergency is a political weapon to arrest people who dare to denounce acts of corruption and to terrorize those who oppose government policies.
Bukele has made himself available to the US government to receive deportees in exchange for a few million dollars, whether or not they are guilty of whatever they are accused of. However, despite the political scenario of persecution and criminalization of all social protests, the ICWP organizes the working class to fight for Communism.
Communism Will Abolish Prisons and Build Community
In the 1920s, a young teacher, Anton Makarenko, was asked to organize a colony in southern Russia. His Maxim Gorky Colony was a place where vagabond and delinquent children were received. Their parents had died in the war or because of epidemics or other reasons.
Through constant dedication, the youths’ human dignity was restored. They achieved their re-education. Many became magnificent people. They functioned collectively and developed their intelligence. Makarenko said that material and social shortages had affected them significantly.
“Just as money will be abolished as the material basis of all the evils we are experiencing today, prisons and police will also be abolished. Of course, this will be in a fully developed communist society.
“Then social problems will be addressed in a more humane way, collectively. It will start with the fact that material conditions will be different. There will be no private property, and it will be a classless society. This will be reflected in mental health that allows the appropriate community behavior between people,” ended comrade A.
Mobilizing the masses to achieve this through revolution requires a massive International Communist Workers’ Party.