Plato's Republic

Well, I bought the book the lecturer recommended [The Republic of Plato by Allan Bloom. ISBN:0-465-06934-7]
The lecture series offered by The Teaching Company on this topic is first-rate. The professor who teaches this course sincerely admires the topic and offers us the challenge of dealing with Plato's obvious "communism".
Indeed, I am not even half-way through the course, but I see Leonard Peikoff's point of calling Plato "the first communist"--with Aristotle being the first capitalist.
For those who have not undertaken the reading of the Republic, the central theme throughout is focused on justice. "What is Justice?" asks Socrates, the main character in the story. Other topics [which Plato and his main character favor] include seperating people into classes, censorship, communal living, the banishment of private property, regulation by the city/state of education, etc., etc.
In short, we can see the beginnings of all the problems we face today. At a later date, I may choose to write a full review of this course and book.

Then again, it may be too depressing. ;-)