6
edits
Changes
Jump to navigation
Jump to search
Line 1:
Line 1: − + − + − Twentieth century Communism was based on [[Karl Marx]]'s manifesto which proposed to establishment of a "[[classless society]]." However, all Communist societies have had a [[class structure]], notably the [[USSR]], which was dominated by a self-appointed [[elitist]] ''[[Nomenklatura]]''. + + + + + + − * Communism was a system created by people with good intentions who failed to recognize that their idealistic system was inconsistent with human nature. As a result, they caused more harm than good.<ref>[https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=3&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwjVjOWX_6LYAhVQYt8KHbjaCrQQFggwMAI&url=https%3A%2F%2Fgenius.com%2FRay-dalio-principles-annotated&usg=AOvVaw2eSCwhXQ9WZ5Wt_rmrFmuY Principles] by [[Ray Dalio]]</ref>+ + + + − In the belief that "people cannot change", governments under the banner of Communism have caused the death of somewhere between 40 million to 260 million human lives.<ref>Multiple references:+ − *Anticommunist (April 14, 2004). [http://web.archive.org/web/20130607125427/http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2004/04/289239.html "The Human Cost of Communism - 100 million"]. UK Indymedia. Retrieved from June 7, 2013 archive at Internet Archive.+ − *[http://www.fas.harvard.edu/~hpcws/lelivrenoir.htm "''The Black Book of Communism''"]. Harvard University, Faculty of Arts and Sciences website: Cold War Studies.+ − *Rummel, R. J. (November 1993). [http://www.hawaii.edu/powerkills/COM.ART.HTM "How many did communist regimes murder?"] University of Hawaii website; Freedom, Democracy, Peace; Power, Democide, and War.+ − *White, Matthew (February 2011). [http://necrometrics.com/20c5m.htm "Source list and detailed death tolls for the primary megadeaths of the twentieth century"]. Necrometrics. − *Higgins, David (June 22, 2007). [http://web.archive.org/web/20071008035420/http://www.sarasotamagazine.com/blog/template_permalink.asp?id=365 "Memory and ideology: Washington's newest statue is the Victims Of Communism Memorial"]. Sarasota Magazine website. Retrieved from October 8, 2007 archive at Internet Archive − *Radosh, Ronald (February 2000). [http://www.firstthings.com/article.php3?id_article=2526 "''The Black Book of Communism: Crimes, Terror, Repression''"]. First Things [journal] website.</ref> Dr. R. J. Rummel, professor emeritus of political science at the University of Hawaii, is the scholar who first coined the term [[democide]] (death by government). Dr. R. J. Rummel's mid estimate regarding the loss of life due to Communism is that it caused the death of approximately 148,286,000 people between 1917 and 1987.<ref>Rummel, R. J. (November 1993). [http://www.hawaii.edu/powerkills/COM.ART.HTM "How many did communist regimes murder?"] University of Hawaii website; Freedom, Democracy, Peace; Power, Democide, and War.</ref> − President [[Ronald Reagan]] in an address before the British [[House of Commons]] said, + − + + − Today, Communism continues to rule over at least one-fifth of the world's people.<ref>[http://www.victimsofcommunism.org/history_communism.php Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation], Documenting Communism's Crimes Against Humanity.</ref> + − __TOC__ − {{clear}} − ==Communist Theory and Practice==+ − [[Image:Captive-nations-01b----07-19-06.jpg|thumbnail|180px|left|[[Victims of Communism Memorial|A monument to the Captive Nations stands at the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation in Washington, D.C.]]]] − Communism is based upon [[Marxism]], a philosophy which uses [[materialism]] to explain all physical and social phenomena. The theory of [[evolution]] influenced the thinking of the Communists, including Marx, [[Friedrich Engels|Engels]], [[Vladimir Lenin]], and [[Joseph Stalin]].<ref>http://www.icr.org/index.php?module=articles&action=view&ID=276</ref> Marx wrote, "[[Charles Darwin|Darwin]]'s book is very important and serves me as a basis in natural science for the [[class struggle]] in history." Marx offered to dedicate the second German edition of his polemic ''[[Das Kapital]]'' to [[Charles Darwin]], but Darwin declined the "honour." <ref>http://www.icr.org/index.php?module=articles&action=view&ID=276</ref><ref>Karl Marx's Social and Political Thought, Bob Jessop, ISBN 0415193265 (pg 476)</ref> − Economically, Communism advocates a [[socialist]] economy in which the [[government]] owns the [[means of production]]. In countries where Communism has been imposed, the government has taken ownership of farms, factories, stores and so on in the name of the people; see "[[dictatorship of the proletariat]]". This drives all [[free market|market-based]] economic activity underground and leads to inefficiencies and shortages. In both the Soviet Union and Red [[China]], the number of people who starved to death when the government confiscated their farm products (animals and grain) is estimated in the tens of millions.+ − Even more important, one party controls every organization from the local labor union to the army to the national government. The party is not elected. Its top officials (the "Politburo") select replacements when there is a vacancy. Usually a dictator (like Stalin, Mao or Castro) controls the Politburo, but sometimes power is shared among five or six people. No dissent is allowed—all [[news]] media are controlled, and the Internet is heavily censored. + + + + − Elites do not disappear. Members of the ruling party (see [[Nomenklatura]]) have special stores in which ordinary people are barred, stores which are immune to the shortages which the lower class must endure.+ − − Various Communist doctrines have evolved or been adapted to the time and place they have been implemented. [[Marxism]], developed by [[Karl Marx]], and its modifications under [[Vladimir Ilyich Lenin|Vladimir Lenin]], [[Joseph Stalin]], and [[Mao Zedong]], advocates the overthrow of the existing order by a [[revolution]] of the proletariat, the social group which does not control the means of production. The goal of Marxism is supposedly to create a classless society which would result in no longer the need for any [[government]] (Communism). − The most famous government to label itself "Communist" is the former [[USSR]] or the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics; the Communist Party controlled its government from 1918 to 1991. This government was officially atheist and attempted to suppress all [[religion]] until [[World War II]], when it discovered religion was needed to rally the people against the [[Nazi]] invaders. Like all authoritarian regimes, it tried to cultivate reverence for the state as a psychological substitute for religion. + − Marxist theory is intended to appeal to its adherents with the phrase, "from each according to his abilities, to each according to his needs", which essentially states point blank a worker does not get paid according to his abilities, and there is no [[incentive]] within the economic theory. Another quote by Marx was, "The theory of the Communism may be summed up in the single sentence: Abolition of private property," or as some have phrased it, legalized theft.+ + + − Lying, [[deceit]] and [[hypocrisy]] play major roles in Communism and advancing its goals.<ref>[https://fosterspeak.blogspot.ca/2011/10/lying-essence-of-communism.html Lying, the Essence of Communism]</ref> According to then-[[Federal Bureau of Investigation]] director [[J. Edgar Hoover]]:+ + + − {{cquote|The basic premise of Communism is deceit and hypocrisy. The Communist philosophy teaches that every available means must be utilized to achieve the final end—world revolution. For this reason the Communist will lie, cheat and resort to any tactics which will gain his end. He will advocate today exactly what he denounced yesterday. And with a straight face! Has he lied? No, he will say, he's only carrying out party policy. The concept of morality and fair play, as practiced in our democracy, is alien and repugnant to him. Moreover, the Communists employ a purposive double-talk, roundabout style, known as "Aesopian language," in their literature and speeches, designed to deceive and evade to clothe their true thoughts. This technique, utilized by Lenin, is the very epitome of deceit.<ref>[https://www.usnews.com/news/national/articles/2008/05/16/how-communists-operate-an-interview-with-j-edgar How Communists Operate: An Interview with J. Edgar Hoover] at US News & World Report</ref>}}+ − Pope Pius IX spoke of how Communism operates, including its use of lies and deceit and its attacks on religion, in his condemnation of the ideology in his 1846 encyclical ''Qui Pluribus'':+ + + + − {{cquote|A very bitter and fearsome war against the whole Catholic commonwealth (is) being stirred up by men bound together in a lawless alliance. … They are experienced and skillful in deceit, which they use to set in motion their plans to quench peoples’ zeal for piety, justice and virtue, to corrupt morals, to cast all divine and human laws into confusion, and to weaken and even possibly overthrow the Catholic religion and civil society. They teach that the most holy mysteries of our religion are fictions of human invention, and that the teaching of the Catholic Church is opposed to the good and the prerogatives of human society. They are not even afraid to deny Christ Himself and God.<ref>[https://catholicinsight.com/communism-and-the-popes/ Communism and the Popes] at Catholic Insight</ref>}}+ − + − ''See also:'' [[Atheism and communism]]+ + + − According to the [[University of Cambridge]], historically, the "most notable spread of [[atheism]] was achieved through the success of the 1917 Russian Revolution, which brought the [[Marxism-Leninism|Marxist-Leninists]] to power."<ref name="Marxism-Leninism">{{cite web|url=http://web.archive.org/web/20130728215151/http://www.investigatingatheism.info/marxism.html|title=Investigating atheism: Marxism|publisher = [[University of Cambridge]]|quote=The most notable spread of atheism was achieved through the success of the 1917 Russian Revolution, which brought the Marxist-Leninists to power. For the first time in history, atheism thus became the official ideology of a state.|year=2008|accessdate=July 17, 2014}}</ref> + − Karl Marx believed atheism to be a key part of Communism. He is often very famously quoted as saying, "Religion ... is the opium of the masses."<ref>Marx, K. [http://www.quotationspage.com/quote/31765.html Introduction to A Contribution to the Critique of Hegel's Philosophy of Right] (Classic Quotations) (Standard translation from the original German).</ref> His full quote was: "Religious suffering is, at one and the same time, the expression of real suffering and a protest against real suffering. Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, and the soul of soulless conditions. It is the opium of the people."<ref>http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1843/critique-hpr/intro.htm#05</ref> He believed it was part of the "superstructure," a false culture built to maintain the status quo. Thus he denigrated Christianity as a "fictional" religion. Instead, Marx was an avowed atheist, as he wrote, "Communism begins from the outset with [[atheism]]; but atheism is at first far from being communism; indeed, that atheism is still mostly an abstraction."<ref>Marx, Karl, [http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1844/manuscripts/comm.htm Private Property and Communism], 1944.</ref>+ − + − In 1955, [[China|Chinese]] communist leader Chou En-lai declared, "We Communists are atheists".<ref>Noebel, David, The Battle for Truth, Harvest House, 2001.</ref> In 2015, the [[Communist Party of China]] reaffirmed that members of their party must be atheists.<ref>[http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/02/02/china-communist-party-atheism-zhejiang-ban-religious-members-christianity_n_6599722.html China's Communist Party Bans Believers, Doubles Down On Atheism]</ref> + + + + − The atheism in Communist regimes has been and continues to be [[militant atheism]] and various acts of repression including the razing of thousands of religious buildings and the killing, imprisoning, and oppression of religious leaders and believers.<ref>http://www.academia.org/campus_reports/2000/March_2000_4.html</ref><ref>http://www.orthodoxinfo.com/ecumenism/frroman1.aspx</ref><ref>http://www.nysun.com/article/23082?page_no=1</ref><ref>http://www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2003/5/7/120250.shtml</ref><ref>http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1058/is_26_116/ai_56249447</ref><ref>http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=35818</ref><ref>http://theworldnow.wordpress.com/tag/around-the-world/asia/china/</ref>+ + + + − Marxists justification for its persecution of the Russian Orthodox Church was based upon the claim that the Church was a "willing tool of Tsarism."<ref>http://www.marxist.com/religion-soviet-union170406-6.htm</ref> + − The clergy openly stated its support for the counter-revolution (White Revolution). Lenin proclaimed that a Communist regime must show itself to be merciless toward the question of religion. There was no place for the church in Lenin's regime. This led to anti-religious decrees and propaganda. All church property was expropriated by the new Soviet government.<ref>http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-42047/Union-of-Soviet-Socialist-Republics#277888.hook</ref> + − During the late 1930s and later 1940s the restrictions on church activity were loosened as Stalin needed all the support he could get for the war. This doctrine of co-operation between the church and state continued throughout the existence of the Soviet republics and the other Warszawa pact nations. Though never going as far as a leader of the Soviet Union asking [http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/simon_barrow/2007/03/hiding_behind_god.html god to bless the country] the clause in the Soviet Unions constitution addressing the separation of church and state was rendered useless.+ − Dr. [[Martin Luther King]] said, "for the Communist there is no divine government, no absolute moral order, there are no fixed, immutable principles; consequently almost anything - force, violence, murder, lying - is a justifiable means." <ref>''Stride Toward Freedom : The Montgomery Story'', Martin Luther King, Jr., Harper and Rowe, New York, 1958, p. 92.</ref>+ − + − === Atheistic Communism and torture of the religious ===+ − ''See also:'' [[Atheistic communism and torture]] − The website Victimsofcommunism.org declares concerning atheistic Communism and the use of torture:+ − {{cquote|Significantly, communists did not merely try to block or halt religious faith but to reverse it. This was particularly true for [[Romania]], even before the Nicolai Ceausescu era. This meant not just forbidding religious practice and jailing ministers and believers but employing torture to force them to renounce their faith. It was not enough to contain, silence, even punish believers in prison; it was decided they must be tortured in truly unimaginably degrading ways to attempt to undo religious faith.<ref>[http://victimsofcommunism.org/the-war-on-religion/ The War on religion]</ref>}} − For additional information please see: [[Atheistic communism and torture]]+ + − == Atrocities and Repression ==+ − Communist regimes have engaged in mass killings on a scale of millions of individuals.<ref>http://www.gmu.edu/departments/economics/bcaplan/museum/comfaq.htm#part3</ref> A work entitled ''[[The Black Book of Communism]]'' published by the [[Harvard]] Press focuses on the crimes, terror, and repression of modern Communist regimes over a 70-year period.<ref>http://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog/COUBLA.html</ref> This book is fairly controversial partly due to the various estimates regarding the millions of people who died under communist regimes.<ref>Multiple references: − *Anticommunist (April 14, 2004). [http://web.archive.org/web/20130607125427/http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2004/04/289239.html "The Human Cost of Communism - 100 million"]. UK Indymedia. Retrieved from June 7, 2013 archive at Internet Achive. − *[http://www.fas.harvard.edu/~hpcws/lelivrenoir.htm "''The Black Book of Communism''"]. Harvard University, Faculty of Arts and Sciences website: Cold War Studies. − *White, Matthew (February 2011). [http://necrometrics.com/20c5m.htm "Source list and detailed death tolls for the primary megadeaths of the twentieth century"]. Necrometrics. − *Higgins, David (June 22, 2007). [http://web.archive.org/web/20071008035420/http://www.sarasotamagazine.com/blog/template_permalink.asp?id=365 "Memory and ideology: Washington's newest statue is the Victims Of Communism Memorial"]. Sarasota Magazine website. Retrieved from October 8, 2007 archive at Internet Archive − *Radosh, Ronald (February 2000). [http://www.firstthings.com/article.php3?id_article=2526 "''The Black Book of Communism: Crimes, Terror, Repression''"]. First Things [journal] website.</ref> − Similarly, an influential book which concerns itself with Russian Communist torture, repression and atrocities is [[Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn]]'s ''[[The Gulag Archipelago]]'' which won Solzhenitsyn a [[Nobel Prize]].<ref>http://www.nytimes.com/books/98/03/01/home/solz-gulag.html</ref> In 1983, Alexander Solzhenitsyn in which he gave his explanation of the cause of why millions of people died under Russian Communism:+ − {{Cquote|Over a half century ago, while I was still a child, I recall hearing a number of old people offer the following explanation for the great disasters that had befallen Russia: "Men have forgotten God; that's why all this has happened. Since then I have spent well-nigh 50 years working on the history of our revolution; in the process I have read hundreds of books, collected hundreds of personal testimonies, and have already contributed eight volumes of my own toward the effort of clearing away the rubble left by that upheaval. But if I were asked today to formulate as concisely as possible the main cause of the ruinous revolution that swallowed up some 60 million of our people, I could not put it more accurately than to repeat: "Men have forgotten God; that's why all this has happened.}}+ − In Communist [[North Korea]], abuse and killing in prison camps is occurring today.<ref>http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=5596</ref><ref>http://www.kimsoft.com/korea/nkdefec3.htm</ref> In addition, the North Korean government practices brutal repression and atrocities against North Korean Christians.<ref>http://www.nysun.com/article/23082?page_no=1</ref><ref>http://www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2003/5/7/120250.shtml</ref>+ − In 1999, the publication [[Christian Century]] reported that "China has persecuted religious believers by means of "harassment, prolonged detention, and incarceration in prison or `reform-through-labor' camps and police closure of places of worship."<ref>http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1058/is_26_116/ai_56249447</ref> In 2003, owners of Bibles in China were sent to prison camps and 125 Chinese churches were forced to close.<ref>http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=35818</ref> China continues to practice religious oppression today.<ref>http://theworldnow.wordpress.com/tag/around-the-world/asia/china/</ref>+ − == Sloth in atheistic Communist countries vs. Protestant work ethic ==+ − ''See also:'' [[Atheism and sloth]] and [[Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism]] − − Atheism is a part of Marxist-Leninist and [[Mao Zedong|Maoist]]/Chinese Communist ideology (See: [[Atheism and communism]]). − Widespread sloth in the former [[Soviet Union]] helped cause much poverty.<ref>[http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2255693/Last-pictures-life-iron-curtain-collapse-USSR.html Poverty, prostitutes and the long, slow death of the Soviet Union: Haunting pictures show desperate struggle to survive in last days of USSR, ''The Daily Mail'']</ref><ref>[http://www.nytimes.com/1989/01/29/world/soviet-openness-brings-poverty-out-of-the-shadows.html?_r=0 Soviet Openness Brings Poverty Out of the Shadows], ''New York Times''</ref> A study performed in the former Soviet Union found that over 50% of the work force admitted to drinking alcohol while on the job (See also: [[Atheism and alcoholism]]).<ref>[http://cs.stanford.edu/people/eroberts/cs201/projects/communism-computing-china/workethic.html Communism and computer ethics]</ref> In the former [[Soviet Union]], a popular joke was that the workers pretended to work and the Soviet Union pretended to pay them.<ref>[http://ipezone.blogspot.com/2015/08/you-pretend-to-work-putin-pretends-to.html You Pretend to work and Putin pretends to pay you]</ref>+ + + − On the other hand, [[Harvard University]] historian Niall Ferguson declared: "Through a mixture of hard work and thrift the [[Protestantism|Protestant]] societies of the North and West Atlantic achieved the most rapid economic growth in history."<ref>[http://blog.tifwe.org/the-protestant-work-ethic-alive-well-in-china/ The Protestant Work Ethic: Alive & Well…In China] By Hugh Whelchel on September 24, 2012</ref> + − In China, the growth in religion has accompanied China's fast economic growth over the last twenty years.<ref>[http://blog.tifwe.org/the-protestant-work-ethic-alive-well-in-china/ The Protestant Work Ethic: Alive & Well…In China] By Hugh Whelchel on September 24, 2012</ref> Christianity is seeing rapid growth in China and the historian Niall Ferguson attributes this recent economic growth to the Protestant work ethic being more incorporated into Chinese society.<ref>[http://blog.tifwe.org/the-protestant-work-ethic-alive-well-in-china/ The Protestant Work Ethic: Alive & Well…In China] By Hugh Whelchel on September 24, 2012</ref> See also: [[Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism|Protestant work ethic]] and [[Growth of Christianity in China]]+ + − + − + − {| class="wikitable"+ − + − ! − !Communist Manifesto − ![[Nazi]] Party Platform − !Analysis − |- − |1 − |"Abolition of property in land and application of all rents of land to public purposes." − |"We demand an agrarian reform in accordance with our national requirements, and the enactment of a law to expropriate the owners without compensation of any land needed for the common purpose. The abolition of ground rents, and the prohibition of all speculation in land." − |The stripping away of land from private owners. [[Liberalism]] today demands "eminent domain" on property. − |- − |2 − |"A heavy progressive or graduated income tax." − |"We demand the nationalization of all trusts...profit-sharing in large industries...a generous increase in old-age pensions...by providing maternity welfare centers, by prohibiting juvenile labor...and the creation of a national (folk) army." − |The points raised in the [[Nazi]] platform demand an increase in taxes to support them. Liberalism today demands heavy progressive and graduated income taxes. − |- − |3 − |"Abolition of all rights of inheritance." − |"That all unearned income, and all income that does not arise from work, be abolished." − |Liberalism today demands a "death tax" on anyone inheriting an estate. − |- − |4 − |"Confiscation of the property of all emigrants and rebels." − |"We demand that all non-Germans who have entered Germany since August 2, 1914, shall be compelled to leave the Reich immediately." − |The Nuremberg Laws of 1934 allowed Germany to take Jewish property. − |- − |5 − |"Centralisation of credit in the hands of the state, by means of a national bank with State capital and an exclusive monopoly." − − |Central control of the financial system. − |- − |6 − − − − − − |"Free education for all children in public schools. Abolition of children’s factory labour in its present form. Combination of education with industrial production, &c, &c." − |"In order to make it possible for every capable and industrious German to obtain higher education, and thus the opportunity to reach into positions of leadership, the State must assume the responsibility of organizing thoroughly the entire cultural system of the people. The curricula of all educational establishments shall be adapted to practical life. The conception of the State Idea (science of citizenship) must be taught in the schools from the very beginning. We demand that specially talented children of poor parents, whatever their station or occupation, be educated at the expense of the State. " − |Central control of education, with an emphasis on doing things their way. Liberals today are doing things ''their way'' in our schools. − |- − |} − ==Communists cite scripture==+ − − − Neither was there any among them that lacked: for as many as were possessors of lands or houses sold them, and brought the prices of the things that were sold,+ − And laid them down at the apostles' feet: and distribution was made unto every man according as he had need.+ + + − And Joses, who by the apostles was surnamed Barnabas, (which is, being interpreted, The son of consolation,) a Levite, and of the country of Cyprus,+ − Having land, sold it, and brought the money, and laid it at the apostles' feet.(Acts 4:34-7, KJV)}}+ + + + − But as Arnold Toynbee has pointed out, this Marxist view denies the most crucial points,+ − {{Cquote|The passage in the Acts represents the philanthropy of the primitive Christian Society as flowing from a God-given grace which was the fruit of a belief in the divinity of Jesus. In other words, the charity which is here depicted as moving the primitive Christians to go—in their mutual concern for one another's welfare—to the extreme length of sharing all their worldly goods is not a mere love of Man for Man (which is the limited literal meaning of the word ‘philanthropy’), but is a spiritual relation to which God is a party as well as His human creatures. In fact, this Christian Socialism is a practical application, on the economic surface of life, of the fundamental religious truth that the brotherhood of man is a consequence of the fatherhood of God - a truth which is driven home with special force by a religion which teaches that God is not only the Father and Creator of man, but also his Savior, Who has been incarnate in human shape and has suffered, and triumphed over, death.<ref>Arnold Toynbee, ''A Study of History'', Annex II to Vol. V, Part C (i) (c) 2, p. 585, ''Marxism, Socialism, and Christianity''.</ref>}} − + − [[Adolf Hitler]] noted that Communists made excellent converts to [[National Socialism]] (a.k.a. [[Nazi]]sm), because the same personality type was attracted to both. "[T]here is more that binds us to [[Bolshevik|Bolshevism]] than separates us from it. There is, above all, genuine, revolutionary feeling, which is alive everywhere in Russia except where there are Jewish Marxists. I have always made allowance for this circumstance, and given orders that former Communists are to be admitted to the party at once. The petit bourgeois [[Social democracy|Social-Democrat]] and the trade-union boss will never make a [[National Socialist]], but the Communists always will."<ref>quoted in Hermann Rauschning, ''Hitler Speaks''</ref> [[Josef Stalin]] also recognized that ex-Nazis and ex-[[fascist]]s were natural recruits for post-war Communist regimes. As Stanley Payne notes in his ''A History of Fascism: 1914-1945'', "All over Soviet-occupied eastern Europe (should be: Central and Eastern Europe), most rank-and-file former fascist party members, together with many lower-level leaders, were welcomed to fill the ranks of the initially exiguous local Communist parties. The psychological transition seems to have been an easy one, for obvious reasons."<ref>http://www.lietuvos.org/istorija/communism/</ref>+ − + − ==Cuban Communism==+ − [[Cuba]] remains a Communist state controlled by the Castro brothers since 1960 and under U.S economic sanctions.+ − + − ==Asian Communism==+ − In China, the [[Chinese Communist Party]] retains an autocratic regime controlled by the party, which allows no democracy or dissent. However it does allow capitalism, and has experienced a very rapid growth of the private sector and the middle class. Observers expect that the regime's efforts to control public opinion and forestall the will of the people will be more and more difficult. + − + − − − ==Collapse of the Soviet bloc== − [[File:Timecommiecover.jpg|thumb|[[Time magazine]] from 1989]] − − The shooting down by the Soviets on September 1, 1983 of [[Korean Airlines Flight 007]] may have been a contributing factor for the downfall of the Soviet Union as well as for the whole Soviet block. It being a catalyst for the collapse of the Soviet Union may be inferred from the fact that NATO had decided, under the impetus of the U.S. administration, to deploy Pershing II and cruise missiles in Europe, primarily West Germany. This deployment would have placed missiles just 6–10 minutes striking distance from Moscow. But support for the deployment was wavering and many doubted that the missile deployment would find enough support to effect it. When the Soviet Union shot down Flight 007 with 269 people aboard, including conservative Democratic Congressman [[Larry McDonald]] —an act which U.S. President Ronald Reagan characterized as a "massacre"—enough support was galvanized for the deployment. The deployment caused great resources of the Soviet Union to be diverted from inner economic use to military expenditures to counter the U.S. and NATO missile deployment. − − Between 1989 and 1991, many Communist governments fell. The [[Berlin Wall]] in [[Germany]], which had become a symbol for the division between the Communist states and the rest of Europe, was torn down largely in response to Ronald Reagan in 1989, and there was also a large revolution against Romanian dictator [[Nicolaie Ceausescu]] which led to Ceausescu's arrest on December 22 that year and his subsequent execution on December 25 following a quick trial. In 1991, the USSR broke up into several countries - each of which reformed to capitalism. Some of these remained under autocratic governments, but some have embraced democracy. With the collapse the remnants of Communist parties have dropped their old names and ideologies, but still operate on the left of the political spectrum. − − ==Communist Goals of 1963== − 1. U.S. acceptance of coexistence as the only alternative to atomic war. − − 2. U.S. willingness to capitulate in preference to engaging in atomic war. − − 3. Develop the illusion that total disarmament of the United States would be a demonstration of moral strength. − − 4. Permit free trade between all nations regardless of Communist affiliation and regardless of whether or not items could be used for war. − − 5. Extension of long-term loans to Russia and Soviet satellites. − − 6. Provide American aid to all nations regardless of Communist domination. − − 7. Grant recognition of Red China. Admission of Red China to the U.N. − − 8. Set up East and West Germany as separate states in spite of Khrushchev's promise in 1955 to settle the German question by free elections under supervision of the U.N. − − 9. Prolong the conferences to ban atomic tests because the United States has agreed to suspend tests as long as negotiations are in progress. − − 10. Allow all Soviet satellites individual representation in the U.N. − − 11. Promote the U.N. as the only hope for mankind. If its charter is rewritten, demand that it be set up as a one-world government with its own independent armed forces. (Some Communist leaders believe the world can be taken over as easily by the U.N. as by Moscow. Sometimes these two centers compete with each other as they are now doing in the Congo.) − − 12. Resist any attempt to outlaw the Communist Party. − − 13. Do away with all loyalty oaths. − − 14. Continue giving Russia access to the U.S. Patent Office. − − 15. Capture one or both of the political parties in the United States. − − 16. Use technical decisions of the courts to weaken basic American institutions by claiming their activities violate civil rights. − − 17. Get control of the schools. Use them as transmission belts for socialism and current Communist propaganda. Soften the curriculum. Get control of teachers' associations. Put the party line in textbooks. − − 18. Gain control of all student newspapers. − − 19. Use student riots to foment public protests against programs or organizations which are under Communist attack. − − 20. Infiltrate the press. Get control of book-review assignments, editorial writing, policy-making positions. − − 21. Gain control of key positions in radio, TV, and motion pictures. − − 22. Continue discrediting American culture by degrading all forms of artistic expression. An American Communist cell was told to "eliminate all good sculpture from parks and buildings, substitute shapeless, awkward and meaningless forms." − − 23. Control art critics and directors of art museums. "Our plan is to promote ugliness, repulsive, meaningless art." − − 24. Eliminate all laws governing obscenity by calling them "censorship" and a violation of free speech and free press. − − 25. Break down cultural standards of morality by promoting pornography and obscenity in books, magazines, motion pictures, radio, and TV. − − 26. Present homosexuality, degeneracy and promiscuity as "normal, natural, healthy." − − 27. Infiltrate the churches and replace revealed religion with "social" religion. Discredit the Bible and emphasize the need for intellectual maturity which does not need a "religious crutch." − − 28. Eliminate prayer or any phase of religious expression in the schools on the ground that it violates the principle of "separation of church and state." − − 29. Discredit the American Constitution by calling it inadequate, old-fashioned, out of step with modern needs, a hindrance to cooperation between nations on a worldwide basis. − − 30. Discredit the American Founding Fathers. Present them as selfish aristocrats who had no concern for the "common man." − − 31. Belittle all forms of American culture and discourage the teaching of American history on the ground that it was only a minor part of the "big picture." Give more emphasis to Russian history since the Communists took over. − − 32. Support any socialist movement to give centralized control over any part of the culture—education, social agencies, welfare programs, mental health clinics, etc. − − 33. Eliminate all laws or procedures which interfere with the operation of the Communist apparatus. − − 34. Eliminate the House Committee on Un-American Activities. − − 35. Discredit and eventually dismantle the FBI. − − 36. Infiltrate and gain control of more unions. − − 37. Infiltrate and gain control of big business. − − 38. Transfer some of the powers of arrest from the police to social agencies. Treat all behavioral problems as psychiatric disorders which no one but psychiatrists can understand or treat. − − 39. Dominate the psychiatric profession and use mental health laws as a means of gaining coercive control over those who oppose Communist goals. − 40. Discredit the family as an institution. Encourage promiscuity and easy divorce.+ + + − 41. Emphasize the need to raise children away from the negative influence of parents. Attribute prejudices, mental blocks and retarding of children to suppressive influence of parents.+ − + − 42. Create the impression that violence and insurrection are legitimate aspects of the American tradition; that students and special-interest groups should rise up and use united force to solve economic, political or social problems.+ − + − 43. Overthrow all colonial governments before native populations are ready for self-government.+ − + − 44. Internationalize the Panama Canal.+ − + − 45. Repeal the Connally reservation so the United States cannot prevent the World Court from seizing jurisdiction over nations and individuals alike.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=MgqXNaL-2gwC&pg=PA31 Birthing The Phoenix Vol. III], A copy of the goals as entered into Congressional Record by Albert S. Herlong</ref>+ − + − + − In 1992 President Boris Yeltsin announced that the Russian people had been liberated and that Communism in the former Soviet Union was dead. [http://www.c-spanvideo.org/program/BorisY] Pres. [[George H. W. Bush]] imagined the global threat had passed by telling Congress, "Communism died this year."<ref>[http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=20544 Address Before a Joint Session of the Congress on the State of the Union] - January 28, 1992</ref> Liberal historians called the death of the Soviet Union, "the end of history," when in fact the Communist disease only went into remission. The seat of the global Marxist revolution relocated from Moscow to [[Berkeley]], [[California]], under the [[vanguard party]] name, [[Committees of Correspondence for Democracy and Socialism]]. − − In contrast to Yeltsins statement his successor [[Russia]]n president [[Vladimir Putin]] declared that "[he] liked Communist and socialist ideas very much and [he] like[s] them still." and compared the Soviet code of conduct to the [[Bible]].<ref>http://www.newsweek.com/russias-putin-says-he-always-liked-communist-socialist-ideas-419289</ref> Putin also has compared communism with Christianity.<ref>Newman, Alex (January 16, 2018). [https://www.thenewamerican.com/world-news/asia/item/28051-communism-very-similar-to-christianity-putin-claims Communism “Very Similar” to Christianity, Putin Claims]. ''The New American''. Retrieved January 17, 2018.</ref> − − − [[Image:America Under Communism.jpg|thumb|right|250px|Is This Tomorrow - America Under Communism]] − :''Main article : [[Committees of Correspondence]]'' − With the collapse of Soviet Communism and the conversion of Chinese Communism to "state run capitalism," the spiritual and ideological center of world of Communism and the [[Marxist-Leninist]] tradition shifted to the [[United States]]. Several prominent American Communists, rudderless without [[Moscow]] direction, formed a new organization in 1992 called the [[Committees of Correspondence for Democratic Socialism]]. − − The initial organizational conference was held in [[Berkeley]], [[California]], July 17–19, 1992. Charlene Mitchell, a former leader of the California Communist Party, speaking at the conference said, "the collapse of [[socialism]] in [[Central Europe]] and the [[Soviet Union]] left the [[United States]] in a near unchallenged position of world leadership." Mitchell continued, − − Criticizing U.S. actions in the [[First Gulf War]], Mitchell stated, − − − − ''See also:'' [[Decline of the secular left]] − − Historically, the largest advances of the [[secular left]] has been through utilizing the power of the state (see: [[State atheism]] and [[Atheism and communism]]). For example, secular leftists use the power of the state to promote [[evolution]]ary ideology and to censor [[creationism|creationist]]/[[intelligent design]] models of origins (See: [[Suppression of alternatives to evolution]] and [[Atheist indoctrination]]). − − The historian Martin Van Crevel points out that sovereign states are losing power/influence due to technology democratizing access to information, welfare states increasingly failing, [[fourth-generation warfare]] being waged against countries and sovereign states increasingly losing their ability to maintain internal order.<ref>[The Fate of the State] by MARTIN VAN CREVELD</ref><ref>[https://www.sonshi.com/martin-van-creveld-interview.html Martin van Creveld interview]</ref> See also: [[Decline of the secular left]] − − ==Notorious Communists== − Well known Communists include: − *[[Salvador Allende]] − *[[William Ayers]] − *[[Fidel Castro]] − *[[Raul Castro]] − *[[Hugo Chavez]] − *[[Carl Davidson]] − *[[Frank Marshall Davis]] − *[[Bernardine Dohrn]] − *[[Friedrich Engels]] − *[[Che Guevara]] − *[[Jim Jones]] − *[[Van Jones]] − *[[Kim Il Sung]] − *[[Kim Jong Il]] − *[[Kim Jong Un]] − *[[Lazar Kaganovich]] − *[[Vladimir Lenin]] − *[[Mao Zedong]] − *[[Karl Marx]] − *[[Ho Chi Minh]] − *[[Pol Pot]] − *[[Paul Robeson]] − *[[Joseph Stalin]] − *[[Yakov Sverdlov]] − *[[Leon Trotsky]] − *[[Genrikh Yagoda]] − *[[Yakov Yurovsky]] − *[[Choummaly Sayasone]] − *[[Hu Jintao]] − *The [[Occupy Democrats]] − *[[Noam Chomsky]] − *[[Henry Wallace]] − + − + − + − + + + + + + + + + − + − + − *[[Far Left]]+ − * [[List of Communist States]]+ − * [[List of Socialist States]]+ − * [[Communist Party of the United States of America]] − * [[Cold War]] − * [[List of atheist and agnostic pseudosciences]] − * [[Capitalism]] − * [[Iron Curtain]] − * [[Progressives for Obama]] − * [[Socialism]] − * [[Social Effects of the Theory of Evolution]] − * [[Korean Airlines Flight 007]] for the connection of the shootdown by the Soviets of KAL 007, with 269 people aboard, on Sept. 1, 1983 with the heightened U.S./Soviet confrontations of 1983-4. − * [[The Soviet/ U.S naval confrontation]] over KAL 007 − * [[KAL 007 and the Soviet Top Secret Memos]] − * [[Communist Racism]] − − * [[The Soviet Story]] − * [[Communism and feminism]] − − * [[Big government]] [[Welfare state]] leads to [[Nanny state]], leads to [[Police state]] − * [[Liberal totalitarianism]] − * [[Big government]] [[liberal]] [[Welfare state]] leads to [[socialist]] [[Nanny state]], leads to [[communist]] [[Police state]] - Don't think Communism is incompatible with [[Islam]]. − * [[Gun control]] - [[Ammunition control]] - [[Gun free zone]]s - key elements to create a police state − * [[Anti-Americanism]] − * [[Nazi Party|National Socialist German Workers' Party]] (Nazi Party) − − * [[Communism and cannibalism]] − ==Notes and references==+ − + − + − + − *[https://www.gotquestions.org/communism-Bible.html Does the Bible support Communism?], at [[GotQuestions]]+ − *[http://www.aim.org/wls/category/communism/ What Liberals Say - Category: Communism], [[Accuracy In Media]] − *[https://archive.org/details/IsThisTomorrowAmericaUnderCommunismCatecheticalGuild Is This Tomorrow - America Under Communism], Catechetical Guild − *[https://www.theepochtimes.com/the-dark-origins-of-communism-part-1-of-3_2249661.html The Dark Origins of Communism, Parts 1], [https://www.theepochtimes.com/the-dark-origins-of-communism-part-2-of-3_2251602.html 2], and [https://www.theepochtimes.com/the-dark-origins-of-communism-part-3-of-3_2251601.html 3], The Epoch Times. − + − + − + − [[Category:Forms of Government]]+ − + − + − + − + − + − + − − [[Category:Anti Second Amendment]]
no edit summary
[[Image:HammerAndSickle.png|right|175px]]
{{other uses}}
'''Communism''' is a [[left-wing]] [[materialist]]ic and often violently [[Atheism|atheist]]ic ideology created to justify the overthrow of [[Capitalism]], replacing [[free market]] [[economics]] and [[democracy]] with a "[[dictatorship of the proletariat]]". Under Communism, the [[political]] system replaces the [[private property|private ownership]] of the means of production with "collective ownership" of the [[economy]], this is to be accomplished through direct "[[democratic]]" control by the workers.<ref>http://www.marxists.org/archive/mandel/1968/11/workersdem.htm</ref>
{{distinguish|Communitarianism|Communalism}}
{{pp-move-indef}}
{{pp-semi-indef}}
{{Short description|socialist political movement and ideology}}
{{Use American English|date=January 2014}}
{{Communism sidebar}}
In [[Political science|political]] and [[social science]]s, '''communism''' (from [[Latin]] ''{{lang|la|communis}}'', "common, universal")<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|title=Communism|encyclopedia=Britannica Encyclopedia|url=http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/129104/communism}}</ref><ref>''World Book'', 2008, p. 890.</ref> is the [[Political philosophy|philosophical]], [[Social philosophy|social]], [[Ideology|political]], and [[economic ideology]] and [[Political movement|movement]] whose ultimate goal is the establishment of the [[communist society]], which is a [[Socioeconomics|socioeconomic]] order structured upon the [[common ownership]] of the [[means of production]] and the absence of [[social class]]es, [[money]],<ref>[http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1847/11/prin-com.htm ''Principles of Communism''], Frederick Engels, 1847, Section 18. "Finally, when all capital, all production, all exchange have been brought together in the hands of the nation, private property will disappear of its own accord, money will become superfluous, and production will so expand and man so change that society will be able to slough off whatever of its old economic habits may remain".</ref><ref>[http://www.marxists.org/archive/bukharin/works/1920/abc/03.htm ''The ABC of Communism''], Nikoli Bukharin, 1920, Section 20.</ref> and the [[State (polity)|state]].<ref>[http://www.marxists.org/archive/bukharin/works/1920/abc/03.htm ''The ABC of Communism''], Nikoli Bukharin, 1920, Section 21.</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=The Encyclopedia of Political Science|url=http://sk.sagepub.com/reference/the-encyclopedia-of-political-science|doi=10.4135/9781608712434|editor=George Thomas Kurian|publisher=CQ Press|date=2011|isbn=9781933116440|chapter=Withering Away of the State|accessdate=January 3, 2016}}</ref>
Communism includes a variety of schools of thought, which broadly include [[Marxism]] and [[anarchism]] ([[anarcho-communism]]), as well as the political ideologies grouped around both. All of these share the analysis that the current order of society stems from its economic system, [[capitalism]]; that in this system there are two major social classes; that [[class conflict|conflict between these two classes]] is the root of all problems in society; and that this situation will ultimately be resolved through a [[social revolution]].
The two classes are the [[proletariat|working class]]—who must work to survive and who make up the majority within society—and the [[Bourgeoisie|capitalist class]]—a minority who derives profit from employing the working class through private ownership of the [[means of production]].
The revolution will put the working class in power and in turn establish [[social ownership]] of the means of production, which according to this analysis is the primary element in the transformation of society towards communism.
[[Communism#Criticism|Critics of communism]] can be roughly divided into those concerning themselves with the practical aspects of 20th century [[communist state]]s<ref name="Bruno Bosteels 2014">Bruno Bosteels, ''The Actuality of Communism'' (Verso Books, 2014).</ref> and those concerning themselves with communist principles and theory.<ref>Raymond C. Taras, ''The Road to Disillusion: From Critical Marxism to Post-communism in Eastern Europe (Routledge, 2015).</ref>
==History==
===Early communism===
{{main|History of communism}}
The term "communism" was first coined and defined in its modern definition by the [[French people|French]] philosopher and writer [[Victor d'Hupay]]. In his 1777 book ''[[Projet de communauté philosophe]]'', d'Hupay pushes the philosophy of the [[Lumières|Enlightenment]] to principles which he lived up to during most of his life in his [[bastide]] of [[Fuveau]] ([[Provence]]). This book can be seen as the cornerstone of communist philosophy as d'Hupay defines this lifestyle as a "[[commune]]" and advises to "share all economic and material products between inhabitants of the commune, so that all may benefit from everybody's work".<ref name="Jean-Pierre Cassely, 2016">Cassely, 2016 : ''Aix insolite et secrète'' JonGlez {{pp.|192–193}} ([http://catalogue.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/cb45058387v références Bibliothèque nationale de France]).</ref>
[[File:Portrait de Victor d'Hupay (cropped).png|thumb|left|upright=0.9|Portrait of [[Victor d'Hupay]] (c. 1790), founder and first theoretician of modern communism]]
{{Cquote|'''What I am describing now is a plan and hope for the long term — the march of [[freedom]] and [[democracy]] which will leave Marxism-Leninism on the ash heap of history as it has left other tyrannies which stifle the freedom and muzzle the self-expression of the people.'''<ref>President Ronald Reagan [http://www.iri.org/history_ReaganSpeech.asp Speech to the British Parliament], June 8, 1982. Retrieved from International Republican Institute 05/24/07.</ref>}}
[[File:Portrait Pierre-Joseph Proudhon.jpg|thumb|upright=0.8|[[Pierre-Joseph Proudhon]], theoretician of [[libertarian socialism]]]]
According to [[Richard Pipes]], the idea of a classless, egalitarian society first emerged in [[Ancient Greece]].<ref name="Pipes">[[Richard Pipes]] ''Communism: A History'' (2001) {{ISBN|978-0-8129-6864-4}}, pp. 3–5.</ref> The 5th-century [[Mazdak]] movement in [[Iran|Persia (Iran)]] has been described as "communistic" for challenging the enormous privileges of the noble classes and the clergy, for criticizing the institution of [[private property]] and for striving to create an egalitarian society.<ref>''The Cambridge History of Iran'' Volume 3, {{cite web|url=http://www.derafsh-kaviyani.com/english/mazdak.html|title=The Seleucid, Parthian and Sasanian Period|accessdate=March 30, 2008|deadurl=bot: unknown|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20080611075040/http://www.derafsh-kaviyani.com/english/mazdak.html|archivedate=June 11, 2008|df=}}, edited by [[Ehsan Yarshater]], Parts 1 and 2, p. 1019, [[Cambridge University Press]] (1983).</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=Communism: The Great Misunderstanding|last=Ermak|first=Gennady|publisher=|year=2016|isbn=978-1533082893|location=|pages=|via=}}</ref> At one time or another, various small communist communities existed, generally under the inspiration of [[Scripture]].<ref name="Lansford_pp24–25">{{harvnb|Lansford|2007|pp=24–25}}.</ref> For example, in the [[Middle Ages|medieval]] [[Christian Church|Christian church]] some [[Monasticism|monastic]] communities and [[religious order]]s shared their land and their other property (see [[Religious communism|religious]] and [[Christian communism]]).
Communist thought has also been traced back to the works of the 16th-century English writer [[Thomas More]]. In his treatise ''[[Utopia (book)|Utopia]]'' (1516), More portrayed a society based on [[common ownership]] of property, whose rulers administered it through the application of reason. In the 17th century, communist thought surfaced again in England, where a [[Puritan]] [[Religious denomination|religious group]] known as the "[[Diggers]]" advocated the abolition of private ownership of land.<ref name="diggers">{{cite web|url=http://www.rogerlovejoy.co.uk/philosophy/diggers/diggers3.htm|title=Diggers' Manifesto|accessdate=July 19, 2011|archiveurl=https://www.webcitation.org/60XT6NLIO?url=http://www.rogerlovejoy.co.uk/philosophy/diggers/diggers3.htm|archivedate=July 29, 2011|deadurl=no|df=}}</ref> In his 1895 ''Cromwell and Communism'',{{sfn|Bernstein|1895}} [[Eduard Bernstein]] argued that several groups during the [[English Civil War]] (especially the Diggers) espoused clear communistic, agrarian ideals and that [[Oliver Cromwell]]'s attitude towards these groups was at best ambivalent and often hostile.{{sfn|Bernstein|1895}} Criticism of the idea of private property continued into the [[Age of Enlightenment]] of the 18th century through such thinkers as [[Jean Jacques Rousseau]] in [[France]]. Later, following the upheaval of the [[French Revolution]] communism emerged as a political doctrine.<ref>"Communism" ''A Dictionary of Sociology''. John Scott and [[Gordon Marshall (sociologist)|Gordon Marshall]]. Oxford University Press 2005. Oxford Reference Online. Oxford University Press.</ref>
In the early 19th century, various social reformers founded communities based on common ownership. However, unlike many previous communist communities they replaced the religious emphasis with a rational and philanthropic basis.<ref name="britannica">"Communism". ''Encyclopædia Britannica''. 2006. [[Encyclopædia Britannica]] Online.</ref> Notable among them were [[Robert Owen]], who founded [[New Harmony, Indiana|New Harmony]] in Indiana (1825), as well as [[Charles Fourier]], whose followers organized other settlements in the United States such as [[Brook Farm]] (1841–1847).<ref name="britannica"/>
In its modern form, communism grew out of the socialist movement in 19th-century Europe. As the [[Industrial Revolution]] advanced, socialist critics blamed [[capitalism]] for the misery of the [[proletariat]]—a new class of urban factory workers who labored under often-hazardous conditions. Foremost among these critics were [[Karl Marx]] and his associate [[Friedrich Engels]]. In 1848, Marx and Engels offered a new definition of communism and popularized the term in their famous pamphlet ''[[The Communist Manifesto]]''.<ref name="britannica"/>
===Communism in the Soviet Union===
{{main|Communist state}}
[[File:Soviet Union - Russian SFSR (1922).svg|thumb|The [[Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic|Russian SFSR]] as a part of the [[USSR]] in 1922]]
The [[October Revolution|1917 October Revolution]] in Russia set the conditions for the rise to state power of [[Vladimir Lenin]]'s [[Bolsheviks]], which was the first time any avowedly communist party reached that position. The revolution transferred power to the [[All-Russian Congress of Soviets]], in which the Bolsheviks had a majority.<ref name="or_soviets_1">''Russia in the Twentieth Century: The Quest for Stability''. David R. Marples. p. 38.</ref><ref name="or_soviets_2">''How the Soviet Union is Governed''. Jerry F. Hough. p. 81.</ref><ref name="or_soviets_3">''The Life and Times of Soviet Socialism''. Alex F. Dowlah, John E. Elliott. p. 18.</ref> The event generated a great deal of practical and theoretical debate within the Marxist movement. Marx predicted that [[socialism]] and communism would be built upon foundations laid by the most advanced capitalist development. However, [[Russia]] was one of the poorest countries in Europe with an enormous, largely illiterate peasantry and a minority of industrial workers. Marx had explicitly stated that Russia might be able to skip the stage of bourgeois rule.<ref>Marc Edelman, "Late Marx and the Russian road: Marx and the 'Peripheries of Capitalism'"—book reviews. ''Monthly Review'', December 1984.</ref>
The moderate [[Menshevik]]s (minority) opposed Lenin's Bolshevik (majority) plan for [[Communist revolution|socialist revolution]] before capitalism was more fully developed. The Bolsheviks' successful rise to power was based upon the slogans such as "Peace, bread and land" which tapped into the massive public desire for an end to Russian involvement in the [[World War I|First World War]], the peasants' demand for [[land reform]], and popular support for the [[Soviet (council)|soviets]].<ref>[[#Hol09|Holmes 2009]], p. 18.</ref> The [[Soviet Union]] was established in 1922.
Following Lenin's [[democratic centralism]], the Leninist parties were organized on a hierarchical basis, with active cells of members as the broad base. They were made up only of elite [[Professional revolutionaries|cadres]] approved by higher members of the party as being reliable and completely subject to [[party discipline]].<ref>[[Norman Davies]]. "Communism". ''The Oxford Companion to World War II''. Ed. I. C. B. Dear and [[M. R. D. Foot]]. Oxford University Press, 2001.</ref> The [[Great Purge]] of 1937–1938 was [[Joseph Stalin]]'s attempt to destroy any possible opposition within the [[Communist Party of the Soviet Union|Communist Party]]{{Citation needed|date=December 2018}}. In the [[Moscow Trials]], many old Bolsheviks who had played prominent roles during the Russian Revolution of 1917 or in Lenin's Soviet government afterwards, including [[Lev Kamenev|Kamenev]], [[Grigory Zinoviev|Zinoviev]], [[Alexei Rykov|Rykov]] and [[Nikolai Bukharin|Bukharin]], were accused, pleaded guilty of conspiracy against the Soviet Union and were executed.<ref>Sedov, Lev (1980). ''[http://www.marxists.org/history/etol/writers/sedov/works/red/index.htm The Red Book on the Moscow Trial: Documents]''. New York: New Park Publications. {{ISBN|0-86151-015-1}}.</ref>
===Cold War===
{{main|Cold War}}
Its leading role in the [[World War II|Second World War]] saw the emergence of the [[Soviet Union]] as a [[superpower]], with strong influence over [[Eastern Europe]] and parts of [[Asia]]. The [[Colonial empire|European]] and [[Empire of Japan|Japanese]] empires were shattered and communist parties played a leading role in many independence movements. Marxist–Leninist governments modeled on the Soviet Union took power with Soviet assistance in [[Bulgaria]], [[Czechoslovakia]], [[East Germany]], [[Poland]], [[Hungary]] and [[Romania]]. A Marxist–Leninist government was also created under [[Joseph Tito|Marshal Tito]] in [[Yugoslavia]], but Tito's independent policies led to the expulsion of [[Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia|Yugoslavia]] from the [[Cominform]] which had replaced the [[Comintern]] and [[Titoism]] was branded "[[Deviationism|deviationist]]". [[People's Socialist Republic of Albania|Albania]] also became an independent Marxist–Leninist state after World War II.<ref name="communistalbania">{{cite web|url=http://searchworks.stanford.edu/view/1880822|title=Kushtetuta e Republikës Popullore Socialiste të Shqipërisë : [miratuar nga Kuvendi Popullor më 28. 12. 1976]. – SearchWorks (SULAIR)|language=Albanian|accessdate=June 3, 2011|archiveurl=https://www.webcitation.org/60XT817wU?url=http://searchworks.stanford.edu/view/1880822|archivedate=July 29, 2011|deadurl=no|df=}}</ref> Communism was seen as a rival of and a threat to western capitalism for most of the 20th century.<ref name="Georgakas1992">{{cite encyclopedia|title=The Hollywood Blacklist|last=Georgakas|first=Dan|encyclopedia=Encyclopedia of the American Left|publisher=University of Illinois Press|year=1992}}</ref>
===Dissolution of the Soviet Union===
{{main|Dissolution of the Soviet Union}}
The Soviet Union was dissolved on December 26, 1991. It was a result of the declaration number 142-Н of the [[Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union|Soviet of the Republics of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union]].<ref name="ReferenceC">{{ru icon}} [[:s:ru:Декларация Совета Республик ВС СССР от December 26, 1991 № 142-Н|Declaration № 142-Н]] of the [[Soviet of Nationalities|Soviet of the Republics of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union]], formally establishing the dissolution of the Soviet Union as a state and subject of international law.</ref> The declaration acknowledged the independence of the former [[Soviet republics]] and created the [[Commonwealth of Independent States]], although five of the signatories ratified it much later or did not do it at all. On the previous day, Soviet President [[Mikhail Gorbachev]] (the eighth and final [[leader of the Soviet Union]]) resigned, declared his office extinct and handed over its powers – including control of the [[Cheget|Soviet nuclear missile launching codes]] – to [[President of Russia|Russian President]] [[Boris Yeltsin]]. That evening at 7:32, the [[Flag of the Soviet Union|Soviet flag]] was lowered from the [[Moscow Kremlin|Kremlin]] for the last time and replaced with the pre-revolutionary [[Flag of Russia|Russian flag]].<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/1225.html|title=Gorbachev, Last Soviet Leader, Resigns; U.S. Recognizes Republics' Independence|work=New York Times|accessdate=April 27, 2015}}</ref>
Previously, from August to December all the individual republics, including Russia itself, had seceded from the union. The week before the union's formal dissolution, eleven republics signed the [[Alma-Ata Protocol]] formally establishing the Commonwealth of Independent States and declaring that the Soviet Union had ceased to exist.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1991/12/22/world/end-soviet-union-text-declaration-mutual-recognition-equal-basis.html|title=The End of the Soviet Union; Text of Declaration: 'Mutual Recognition' and 'an Equal Basis'|work=The New York Times|date=December 22, 1991|accessdate=March 30, 2013}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/1225.html|title=Gorbachev, Last Soviet Leader, Resigns; U.S. Recognizes Republics' Independence|work=The New York Times|accessdate=March 30, 2013}}</ref>
===Present situation===
{{see also|List of anti-capitalist and communist parties with national parliamentary representation}}
[[File:Communism.svg|thumb|upright=1.25|Countries of the world now (red) or previously (orange) having nominally [[Marxism–Leninism|Marxist–Leninist]] governments]]
At present, states controlled by Marxist–Leninist parties under a single-party system include the [[People's Republic of China]], [[Cuba]], [[Laos]] and [[Vietnam]]. [[North Korea]] currently refers to its leading ideology as ''[[Juche]]'', which is portrayed as a development of Marxism–Leninism. Communist parties, or their descendant parties, remain politically important in a number of other countries. The [[South African Communist Party]] is a partner in the [[African National Congress]]-led government. In [[Socialism in India|India]], {{as of|2018|March|lc=y}}, communists lead the government of only one [[states and territories of India|state]], Kerala. In [[Nepal]], communists hold a majority in the [[Nepalese Constituent Assembly|parliament]].<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.economist.com/displaystory.cfm?story_id=11057207|title=Nepal's election The Maoists triumph Economist.com|publisher=Economist.com|date=April 17, 2008|accessdate=October 18, 2009|archiveurl=https://www.webcitation.org/60XT8Sk3J?url=http://www.economist.com/displaystory.cfm?story_id=11057207|archivedate=July 29, 2011|deadurl=no|df=}}</ref> The [[Communist Party of Brazil]] was a part of the parliamentary coalition led by the ruling [[Democratic socialism|democratic socialist]] [[Workers' Party (Brazil)|Workers' Party]] until August 2016.
The People's Republic of China has reassessed many aspects of the Maoist legacy and along with Laos, Vietnam and to a lesser degree Cuba has decentralized state control of the economy in order to stimulate growth. [[Chinese economic reform]]s were started in 1978 under the leadership of [[Deng Xiaoping]] and since then China has managed to bring down the poverty rate from 53% in the Mao era to just 6% in 2001.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://econ.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/EXTDEC/EXTRESEARCH/0%2C%2CcontentMDK%3A20634060~pagePK%3A64165401~piPK%3A64165026~theSitePK%3A469382%2C00.html|title=Fighting Poverty: Findings and Lessons from China's Success|publisher=World Bank|accessdate=August 10, 2006|deadurl=yes|archiveurl=https://www.webcitation.org/60XT8XpKl?url=http://econ.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/EXTDEC/EXTRESEARCH/0,,contentMDK:20634060~pagePK:64165401~piPK:64165026~theSitePK:469382,00.html|archivedate=July 29, 2011|df=}}</ref> These reforms are sometimes described by outside commentators as a regression to [[capitalism]], but the communist parties describe it as a necessary adjustment to existing realities in the post-Soviet world in order to maximize industrial productive capacity. In these countries, the land is a universal public monopoly administered by the state, as are natural resources and vital industries and services. The [[public sector]] is the dominant sector in these economies and the state plays a central role in coordinating economic development.
== Communism and militant atheism ==
==Marxist communism==
===Marxism===
[[File:Marx et Engels à Shanghai.jpg|thumb|upright=0.8|A monument dedicated to [[Karl Marx]] (left) and [[Friedrich Engels]] (right) in Shanghai, China]]
[[Marxism]], first developed by [[Karl Marx]] and [[Friedrich Engels]] in the mid-1800s, has been the foremost ideology of the communist movement. Marxism considers itself to be the embodiment of [[scientific socialism]], and rather than model an "ideal society" based on intellectuals' design, it is a non-idealist attempt at the understanding of society and history through an analysis based in real life. Marxism does not see communism as a "state of affairs" to be established, but rather as the expression of a real movement, with parameters which are derived completely from real life and not based on any intelligent design.<ref>Marx, Karl. The German Ideology. 1845. Part I: Feuerbach. Opposition of the Materialist and Idealist Outlook. A. Idealism and Materialism. "Communism is for us not a state of affairs which is to be established, an ideal to which reality [will] have to adjust itself. We call communism the real movement which abolishes the present state of things. The conditions of this movement result from the premises now in existence".</ref> Therefore, Marxism does no blueprinting of a communist society and it only makes an analysis which concludes what will trigger its implementation and discovers its fundamental characteristics based on the derivation of real life conditions.
At the root of Marxism is the [[materialist conception of history]], known as historical materialism for short. It holds that the key characteristic of economic systems through history has been the [[mode of production]] and that the change between modes of production has been triggered by [[class struggle]]. According to this analysis, the Industrial Revolution ushered the world into a new mode of production: [[Capitalist mode of production (Marxist theory)|capitalism]]. Before capitalism, certain working classes had ownership of instruments utilized in production, but because machinery was much more efficient this property became worthless and the mass majority of workers could only survive by selling their labor, working through making use of someone else's machinery and therefore making someone else profit. Thus with capitalism the world was divided between two major classes: the proletariat and the bourgeoisie.<ref>Engels, Friedrich. Marx & Engels Selected Works, Volume One, pp. 81–97, Progress Publishers, Moscow, 1969. "Principles of Communism". No. 4 – "How did the proletariat originate?".</ref> These classes are directly antagonistic: the bourgeoisie has private ownership of the means of production and earns a profit off [[surplus value]], which is generated by the proletariat, which has no ownership of the means of production and therefore no option but to sell its labor to the bourgeoisie.
Historical materialism goes on and says: the rising bourgeoisie within feudalism, through the furtherance of its own material interests, captured power and abolished, of all relations of private property, only the feudal privileges and with this took out of existence the feudal ruling class. This was another of the keys behind the consolidation of capitalism as the new mode of production, which is the final expression of class and property relations and also has led into a massive expansion of production. It is therefore only in capitalism that private property in itself can be abolished.<ref>Engels, Friedrich. Marx & Engels Selected Works, Volume One, pp. 81–97, Progress Publishers, Moscow, 1969. "Principles of Communism". No. 15 – "Was not the abolition of private property possible at an earlier time?".</ref> Similarly, the proletariat will capture political power, abolish bourgeois property through the common ownership of the means of production, therefore abolishing the bourgeoisie and ultimately abolishing the proletariat itself and ushering the world into a new mode of production: communism. In between capitalism and communism there is the [[dictatorship of the proletariat]], a democratic state where the whole of the public authority is elected and recallable under the basis of [[universal suffrage]].<ref>Thomas M. Twiss. ''Trotsky and the Problem of Soviet Bureaucracy''. Brill. pp. 28–29.</ref> It is the defeat of the bourgeois state, but not yet of the capitalist mode of production and at the same time the only element which places into the realm of possibility moving on from this mode of production.
[[Vladimir Lenin]] similarly wrote: "A Marxist must be a materialist, i. e., an enemy of religion, but a dialectical materialist, i. e., one who treats the struggle against religion not in an abstract way, not on the basis of remote, purely theoretical, never varying preaching, but in a concrete way, on the basis of the class struggle which is going on ''in practice'' and is educating the masses more and better than anything else could."<ref>Lenin, Vladimir Ilyich, ''Proletary'', No. 45, May 13 (26), 1909, translated by Andrew Rothstein and Bernard Issacs, quote from [http://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1909/may/13.htm].</ref>
An important concept in Marxism is socialization vs. nationalization. Nationalization is merely state ownership of property, whereas socialization is actual control and management of property by society. Marxism considers socialization its goal and considers nationalization a tactical issue, with state ownership still being in the realm of the capitalist mode of production; in the words of Engels: "[The transformation [...] into State-ownership does not do away with the capitalistic nature of the productive forces. [...] State-ownership of the productive forces is not the solution of the conflict, but concealed within it are the technical conditions that form the elements of that solution".<ref>Engels, Friedrich. [[Socialism: Utopian and Scientific]]. Chapter 3. "But, the transformation—either into joint-stock companies and trusts, or into State-ownership—does not do away with the capitalistic nature of the productive forces. In the joint-stock companies and trusts, this is obvious. And the modern State, again, is only the organization that bourgeois society takes on in order to support the external conditions of the capitalist mode of production against the encroachments as well of the workers as of individual capitalists. The modern state, no matter what its form, is essentially a capitalist machine—the state of the capitalists, the ideal personification of the total national capital. The more it proceeds to the taking over of productive forces, the more does it actually become the national capitalist, the more citizens does it exploit. The workers remain wage-workers—proletarians. The capitalist relation is not done away with. It is, rather, brought to a head. But, brought to a head, it topples over. State-ownership of the productive forces is not the solution of the conflict, but concealed within it are the technical conditions that form the elements of that solution".</ref> This has led some Marxist groups and tendencies to label states such as the Soviet Union—based on nationalization—as [[State capitalism|state capitalist]].<ref name="hetsa.org.au">[http://www.hetsa.org.au/pdf/34-A-08.pdf "State capitalism" in the Soviet Union], M.C. Howard and J.E. King.</ref>
===Leninism===
[[File:Lenin-statue-in-Kolkata.jpg|thumb|upright=0.8|[[Vladimir Lenin]]'s statue in Kolkata, West Bengal]]
{{quotation|We want to achieve a new and better order of society: in this new and better society there must be neither rich nor poor; all will have to work. Not a handful of rich people, but all the working people must enjoy the fruits of their common labour. Machines and other improvements must serve to ease the work of all and not to enable a few to grow rich at the expense of millions and tens of millions of people. This new and better society is called socialist society. The teachings about this society are called 'socialism'.<br>–Vladimir Lenin, 1903<ref>[http://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1903/rp/1.htm "To the Rural Poor" (1903)]. ''Collected Works''. vol. 6. p. 366.</ref>}}
[[Leninism]] is the body of political theory, developed by and named after the Russian revolutionary and later Soviet premier [[Vladimir Lenin]] for the democratic organisation of a revolutionary vanguard party and the achievement of a dictatorship of the proletariat, as political prelude to the establishment of socialism. Leninism comprises socialist political and economic theories developed from Marxism, as well as Lenin's interpretations of Marxist theory for practical application to the socio-political conditions of the agrarian early-twentieth-century [[Russian Empire]]. In February 1917, for five years Leninism was the Russian application of Marxist economics and political philosophy, effected and realised by the Bolsheviks, the vanguard party who led the fight for the political independence of the working class.
===Marxism–Leninism, Stalinism and Trotskyism===
====Marxism–Leninism and Stalinism====
[[File:JStalin Secretary general CCCP 1942 flipped.jpg|thumb|upright=0.7|[[Joseph Stalin]], 1942]]
[[Marxism–Leninism]] is a political ideology developed by [[Joseph Stalin]],<ref name="made_by_stalin">Г. Лисичкин (G. Lisichkin), Мифы и реальность, Новый мир (''[[Novy Mir]]''), 1989, № 3, p. 59 {{ru icon}}.</ref> which according to its proponents is based in [[Marxism]] and [[Leninism]]. The term describes the specific political ideology which Stalin implemented in the [[Communist Party of the Soviet Union]] and in a global scale in the [[Comintern]]. There is no definite agreement between historians of about whether Stalin actually followed the principles of Marx and Lenin.<ref name="stalin_follow_marx_lenin">Александр Бутенко (Aleksandr Butenko), Социализм сегодня: опыт и новая теория// Журнал Альтернативы, №1, 1996, pp. 2–22 {{ru icon}}.</ref> It also contains aspects which according to some are deviations from Marxism, such as "[[socialism in one country]]".<ref name="sioc1">''Contemporary Marxism'', issues 4–5. Synthesis Publications, 1981. p. 151. "[S]ocialism in one country, a pragmatic deviation from classical Marxism".</ref><ref name="sioc2">North Korea Under Communism: Report of an Envoy to Paradise. Cornell Erik. p. 169. "Socialism in one country, a slogan that aroused protests as not only it implied a major deviation from Marxist internationalism, but was also strictly speaking incompatible with the basic tenets of Marxism".</ref> Marxism–Leninism was the ideology of the most clearly visible communist movement. As such, it is the most prominent ideology associated with communism.
Marxism–Leninism refers to the socioeconomic system and political ideology implemented by Stalin in the Soviet Union and later copied by other states based on the [[Ideology of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union|Soviet model]] (central planning, [[one-party state]] and so on), whereas [[Stalinism]] refers to Stalin's style of governance. Marxism–Leninism stayed after [[de-Stalinization]], Stalinism did not. In the last letters before his death, Lenin in fact warned against the danger of Stalin's personality and urged the Soviet government to replace him.<ref>{{cite book|title=Communism: The Great Misunderstanding|last=Ermak|first=Gennady|year=2016|isbn=978-1533082893}}</ref>
[[Maoism]] is a form of Marxism–Leninism associated with Chinese leader [[Mao Zedong]]. After de-Stalinization, Marxism–Leninism was kept in the Soviet Union, but certain [[Anti-revisionism|anti-revisionist]] tendencies such as [[Hoxhaism]] and Maoism argued that it was deviated from, therefore different policies were applied in Albania and China, which became more distanced from the Soviet Union.
Marxism–Leninism has been criticized by other communist and Marxist tendencies. They argue that Marxist–Leninist states did not establish socialism, but rather [[state capitalism]].<ref name="hetsa.org.au"/> According to Marxism, the dictatorship of the proletariat represents the rule of the majority (democracy) rather than of one party, to the extent that co-founder of Marxism [[Friedrich Engels]] described its "specific form" as the [[republicanism|democratic republic]].<ref>''A Critique of the Draft Social-Democratic Program of 1891''. "Marx & Engels Collected Works", Vol 27, p. 217. "If one thing is certain it is that our party and the working class can only come to power under the form of a democratic republic. This is even the specific form for the dictatorship of the proletariat".</ref> Additionally, according to Engels state property by itself is private property of capitalist nature<ref>"Socialism: Utopian and Scientific". Friedrich Engels. [http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1880/soc-utop/ch03.htm Part III]. Progress Publishers. "But, the transformation—either into joint-stock companies and trusts, or into State-ownership—does not do away with the capitalistic nature of the productive forces".</ref> unless the proletariat has control of political power, in which case it forms public property.<ref>"Socialism: Utopian and Scientific". Friedrich Engels. [http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1880/soc-utop/ch03.htm Part III]. Progress Publishers. "The proletariat seizes the public power, and by means of this transforms the socialized means of production, slipping from the hands of the bourgeoisie, into public property. By this act, the proletariat frees the means of production from the character of capital they have thus far borne, and gives their socialized character complete freedom to work itself out".</ref> Whether the proletariat was actually in control of the Marxist–Leninist states is a matter of debate between Marxism–Leninism and other communist tendencies. To these tendencies, Marxism–Leninism is neither Marxism nor Leninism nor the union of both, but rather an artificial term created to justify Stalin's ideological distortion,<ref name="stalin_distortion">History for the IB Diploma: Communism in Crisis 1976–89. Allan Todd. p. 16. "The term Marxism–Leninism, invented by Stalin, was not used until after Lenin's death in 1924. It soon came to be used in Stalin's Soviet Union to refer to what he described as 'orthodox Marxism'. This increasingly came to mean what Stalin himself had to say about political and economic issues." [...] "However, many Marxists (even members of the Communist Party itself) believed that Stalin's ideas and practices (such as socialism in one country and the purges) were almost total distortions of what Marx and Lenin had said".</ref> forced into the CPSU and Comintern. In the Soviet Union, this struggle against Marxism–Leninism was represented by [[Trotskyism]], which describes itself as a Marxist and Leninist tendency.
====Trotskyism====
[[File:Stalin-kill.jpg|thumb|300px|left|Exhumed skeletons of [[class war]] victims murdered by Communists.<ref>[http://www.mega.nu/ampp/rummel/rm1.stalin.kill.htm.]</ref> Apologists frequently claim Communism has "never really been tried".]]
[[Trotskyism]] is a Marxist and Leninist tendency that was developed by [[Leon Trotsky]], opposed to Stalinism. It supports the theory of [[permanent revolution]] and [[world revolution]] instead of the [[two stage theory]] and [[socialism in one country]]. It supported [[proletarian internationalism]] and another communist revolution in the Soviet Union, which Trotsky claimed had become a "[[degenerated worker's state]]" under the leadership of Stalin, in which class relations had re-emerged in a new form, rather than the [[dictatorship of the proletariat]].
Trotsky and his supporters, struggling against Stalin for power in the Soviet Union, organized into the [[Left Opposition]] and their platform became known as Trotskyism. Stalin eventually succeeded in gaining control of the Soviet regime and Trotskyist attempts to remove Stalin from power resulted in Trotsky's exile from the Soviet Union in 1929. While in exile, Trotsky continued his campaign against Stalin, founding in 1938 the [[Fourth International]], a Trotskyist rival to the [[Comintern]] In August 1940, Trotsky was assassinated in Mexico City on Stalin's orders.
Trotsky's politics differed sharply from those of Stalin and Mao, most importantly in declaring the need for an international proletarian revolution (rather than socialism in one country) and support for a true dictatorship of the proletariat based on democratic principles.
===Libertarian Marxism===
[[Libertarian Marxism]] is a broad range of economic and political philosophies that emphasize the [[anti-authoritarian]] aspects of [[Marxism]]. Early currents of libertarian Marxism, known as left communism,<ref>Pierce, Wayne.[http://www.utopianmag.com/files/in/1000000034/12___WayneLibMarx.pdf Libertarian Marxism's Relation to Anarchism]. "The Utopian". 73–80.</ref> emerged in opposition to [[Marxism–Leninism]]<ref name="Non-Leninist Marxism">{{cite book|title=Non-Leninist Marxism: Writings on the Workers Councils|date=2007|publisher=Red and Black Publishers|isbn=978-0-9791813-6-8|location=St. Petersburg, Florida|page=|pages=|authors=Hermann Gorter, Anton Pannekoek and Sylvia Pankhurst}}</ref> and its derivatives, such as [[Stalinism]], [[Maoism]] and [[Trotskyism]].<ref>Marot, Eric. [http://libcom.org/library/trotsky-left-opposition-rise-stalinism-theory-practice-john-eric-marot "Trotsky, the Left Opposition and the Rise of Stalinism: Theory and Practice"]</ref> Libertarian Marxism is also critical of [[reformist]] positions, such as those held by [[social democrats]].<ref>[http://libcom.org/library/social-democracy-1-aufheben-8 The Retreat of Social Democracy ... Re-imposition of Work in Britain and the 'Social Europe']. ''Aufheben''. Issue No. 8. 1999.</ref> Libertarian Marxist currents often draw from Marx and Engels' later works, specifically the ''[[Grundrisse]]'' and ''[[The Civil War in France]]'',<ref>Ernesto Screpanti, ''Libertarian Communism: Marx Engels and the Political Economy of Freedom'', Palgrave Macmillan, London, 2007.</ref> emphasizing the Marxist belief in the ability of the [[working class]] to forge its own destiny without the need for a revolutionary party or [[State (polity)|state]] to mediate or aid its liberation.<ref>{{cite book|author=[[Hal Draper]]|title=The Principle of Self-Emancipation in Marx and Engels|url=http://socialistregister.com/index.php/srv/article/view/5333|location=|publisher=The Socialist Register|page=|date=1971|isbn=|accessdate=April 25, 2015}}</ref> Along with [[anarchism]], libertarian Marxism is one of the main currents of [[libertarian socialism]].<ref>Chomsky, Noam. [https://web.archive.org/web/20130116194522/http://www.chomsky.info/audionvideo/19700216.mp3 "Government In The Future"] Poetry Center of the New York YM-YWHA. Lecture.</ref>
Libertarian Marxism includes such currents as [[Luxemburgism]], [[council communism]], [[left communism]], ''[[Socialisme ou Barbarie]]'', the [[Johnson-Forest tendency]], [[world socialism]], [[Lettrism]]/[[Situationist International|Situationism]] and [[operaismo]]/[[autonomism]] and [[New Left]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://libcom.org/library/libertarian-marxist-tendency-map|title=A libertarian Marxist tendency map|publisher=libcom.org|date=|accessdate=October 1, 2011}}</ref> Libertarian Marxism has often had a strong influence on both [[Post-left anarchism|post-left]] and [[Social anarchism|social anarchists]]. Notable theorists of libertarian Marxism have included [[Anton Pannekoek]], [[Raya Dunayevskaya]], [[CLR James]], [[Antonio Negri]], [[Cornelius Castoriadis]], [[Maurice Brinton]], [[Guy Debord]], [[Daniel Guérin]], [[Ernesto Screpanti]] and [[Raoul Vaneigem]].
===Council communism===
{{main|Council communism}}
[[Council communism]] is a movement originating in [[Germany]] and the [[Netherlands]] in the 1920s. Its primary organization was the [[Communist Workers Party of Germany]]. Council communism continues today as a theoretical and activist position within both left-wing Marxism and [[libertarian socialism]].
The central argument of council communism, in contrast to those of [[social democracy]] and Leninist communism, is that democratic [[workers' councils]] arising in the factories and municipalities are the natural form of working class organization and governmental power. This view is opposed to both the [[reformist]] and the Leninist [[ideology|ideologies]], with their stress on respectively parliaments and [[New institutionalism|institutional]] government (i.e. by applying social reforms on the one hand and [[Vanguard party|vanguard parties]] and participative [[democratic centralism]] on the other).
The core principle of council communism is that the government and the [[economic system|economy]] should be managed by [[workers' councils]] composed of delegates elected at workplaces and [[recall election|recallable]] at any moment. As such, council communists oppose [[Planned economy|state-run]] [[Authoritarianism|authoritarian]] "[[state socialism]]"/"[[state capitalism]]". They also oppose the idea of a "revolutionary party", since council communists believe that a revolution led by a party will necessarily produce a party dictatorship. Council communists support a worker's democracy, which they want to produce through a federation of workers' councils.
[[File:Flag of the PRC.png|thumbnail|left|250px|In [[China]], the growth in religion has accompanied China's fast economic growth over the last twenty years.<ref>[http://blog.tifwe.org/the-protestant-work-ethic-alive-well-in-china/ The Protestant Work Ethic: Alive & Well…In China] By Hugh Whelchel on September 24, 2012</ref>]]
===Left communism===
[[File:Rosa Luxemburg.jpg|thumb|upright=0.7|[[Rosa Luxemburg]]]]
[[Left communism]] is the range of communist viewpoints held by the communist left, which criticizes the political ideas and practices espoused—particularly following the series of revolutions which brought the [[First World War]] to an end—by [[Bolshevik]]s and by [[Social Democracy|social democrats]]. Left communists assert positions which they regard as more authentically [[Marxism|Marxist]] and [[Proletariat|proletarian]] than the views of [[Marxism–Leninism]] espoused by the [[Comintern|Communist International]] after its [[1st Congress of the Comintern|first congress]] (March 1919) and during its [[2nd World Congress of the Comintern|second congress]] (July–August 1920).<ref>''Non-Leninist Marxism: Writings on the Workers Councils'' (includes texts by [[Herman Gorter|Gorter]], [[Antonie Pannekoek|Pannekoek]], [[Sylvia Pankhurst|Pankhurst]] and [[Otto Rühle|Rühle]]), Red and Black Publishers, St. Petersburg, Florida, 2007. {{ISBN|978-0-9791813-6-8}}.</ref>
Left communists represent a range of political movements distinct from Marxist–Leninists (whom they largely view as merely the left-wing of capital), from [[anarcho-communist]]s (some of whom they consider internationalist socialists) as well as from various other revolutionary socialist tendencies (for example [[De Leonist]]s, whom they tend to see as being internationalist socialists only in limited instances).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://en.internationalism.org/book/export/html/761|title=The Legacy of De Leonism, part III: De Leon's misconceptions on class struggle|date=2000–2001|accessdate=|website=Internationalism|publisher=|last=|first=}}</ref>
==Non-Marxist communism==
The dominant forms of communism are based on Marxism, but non-Marxist versions of communism (such as [[Christian communism]] and [[anarcho-communism]]) also exist.
== Similarities between Communism, Nazism and liberalism ==
===Anarcho-communism===
''See also:'' [[Similarities between Communism, Nazism and liberalism]]
[[Anarcho-communism]] (also known as [[libertarian communism]]) is a theory of [[anarchism]] which advocates the abolition of the [[State (polity)|state]], [[private property]] and [[capitalism]] in favor of [[common ownership]] of the [[means of production]],<ref name="Mayne">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6MkTz6Rq7wUC&pg=PA131|title=From Politics Past to Politics Future: An Integrated Analysis of Current and Emergent Paradigms|author=Alan James Mayne|publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group|page=316|isbn=978-0-275-96151-0|year=1999}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/?id=jeiudz5sBV4C&pg=PA14|title=Anarchism for Know-It-Alls|publisher=Filiquarian Publishing|year=2008|isbn=978-1-59986-218-7}}</ref> [[direct democracy]] and a horizontal network of [[voluntary association]]s and [[workers' council]]s with production and consumption based on the guiding principle: "[[From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs|From each according to his ability, to each according to his need]]".<ref>{{cite web|last=Fabbri|first=Luigi|title=Anarchism and Communism. Northeastern Anarchist #4. 1922|date=13 October 2002|url=http://dwardmac.pitzer.edu/anarchist_archives/worldwidemovements/fabbrianarandcom.html|deadurl=yes|archiveurl=https://www.webcitation.org/60XT4dCPz?url=http://dwardmac.pitzer.edu/anarchist_archives/worldwidemovements/fabbrianarandcom.html|archivedate=29 July 2011|df=}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|author=Makhno, Mett, Arshinov, Valevski, Linski (Dielo Trouda)|website=The Organizational Platform of the Libertarian Communists|year=1926|title=Constructive Section|url=http://www.nestormakhno.info/english/platform/constructive.htm|deadurl=yes|archiveurl=https://www.webcitation.org/60XT4n8gw?url=http://www.nestormakhno.info/english/platform/constructive.htm|archivedate=July 29, 2011|df=}}</ref>
[[File:Kropotkin2.jpg|thumb|upright=0.7|[[Peter Kropotkin]], main theorist of [[anarcho-communism]]]]
|-
Anarcho-communism differs from Marxism rejecting its view about the need for a state socialism phase before building communism. The main theorist of anarcho-communism, [[Peter Kropotkin]], argued that a revolutionary society should "transform itself immediately into a communist society", that is should go immediately into what Marx had regarded as the "more advanced, completed, phase of communism".<ref name="theanarchistlibrary.org">{{cite web|url=http://www.theanarchistlibrary.org/HTML/Wayne_Price__What_is_Anarchist_Communism_.html|title="What is Anarchist Communism?" by Wayne Price|archiveurl=https://www.webcitation.org/60XT4wIPV?url=http://www.theanarchistlibrary.org/HTML/Wayne_Price__What_is_Anarchist_Communism_.html|archivedate=July 29, 2011|deadurl=no|df=}}</ref> In this way, it tries to avoid the reappearance of "class divisions and the need for a state to oversee everything".<ref name="theanarchistlibrary.org"/>
|"We demand the nationalization of all trusts."
|"Centralisation of the means of communication and transport in the hands of the State."
|"We demand that there be a legal campaign against those who propagate deliberate political lies and disseminate them through the press...editors and their assistants on newspapers published in the German language shall be German citizens...Non-German newspapers shall only be published with the express permission of the State...the punishment for transgressing this law be the immediate suppression of the newspaper..."
|Central control of the press. Liberals today demand control or suppression of talk radio and Fox News.
|-
|7
Some forms of anarcho-communism such as [[insurrectionary anarchism]] are [[Egoist anarchism|egoist]] and strongly influenced by radical [[individualism]],<ref>Christopher Gray, ''Leaving the Twentieth Century'', p. 88.</ref><ref name="creativenothing">{{cite web|url=http://www.theanarchistlibrary.org/HTML/Renzo_Novatore__Toward_the_Creative_Nothing.html|title=Towards the creative Nothing|first=Renzo|last=Novatore|authorlink=Renzo Novatore|deadurl=yes|archiveurl=https://www.webcitation.org/60XT5H7mi?url=http://www.theanarchistlibrary.org/HTML/Renzo_Novatore__Toward_the_Creative_Nothing.html|archivedate=July 29, 2011|df=}}</ref><ref name="ReferenceA">{{cite web|url=http://www.theanarchistlibrary.org/HTML/Bob_Black__Nightmares_of_Reason.html#toc22|title=Bob Black. ''Nightmares of Reason''|archiveurl=https://www.webcitation.org/60XT5e8sI?url=http://www.theanarchistlibrary.org/HTML/Bob_Black__Nightmares_of_Reason.html#toc22|archivedate=July 29, 2011|deadurl=no|df=}}</ref> believing that anarchist communism does not require a communitarian nature at all. Most anarcho-communists view anarchist communism as a way of reconciling the opposition between the individual and society.<ref>"Communism is the one which guarantees the greatest amount of individual liberty—provided that the idea that begets the community be Liberty, Anarchy ... Communism guarantees economic freedom better than any other form of association, because it can guarantee wellbeing, even luxury, in return for a few hours of work instead of a day's work". {{cite web|url=http://www.theanarchistlibrary.org/HTML/Petr_Kropotkin__Communism_and_Anarchy.html|title=Communism and Anarchy|last=Kropotkin|first=Peter|authorlink=Peter Kropotkin|archiveurl=https://www.webcitation.org/60XT5iyby?url=http://www.theanarchistlibrary.org/HTML/Petr_Kropotkin__Communism_and_Anarchy.html|archivedate=July 29, 2011|deadurl=yes|df=}}</ref><ref>This other society will be libertarian communism, in which social solidarity and free individuality find their full expression, and in which these two ideas develop in perfect harmony. {{cite web|url=http://www.theanarchistlibrary.org/HTML/Dielo_Truda__Workers__Cause___Organisational_Platform_of_the_Libertarian_Communists.html|title=Organisational Platform of the Libertarian Communists|author=Dielo Truda (Workers' Cause)|deadurl=yes|archiveurl=https://www.webcitation.org/60XT5tf40?url=http://www.theanarchistlibrary.org/HTML/Dielo_Truda__Workers__Cause___Organisational_Platform_of_the_Libertarian_Communists.html|archivedate=July 29, 2011|df=}}</ref><ref>"I see the dichotomies made between individualism and communism, individual revolt and class struggle, the struggle against human exploitation and the exploitation of nature as false dichotomies and feel that those who accept them are impoverishing their own critique and struggle". {{cite web|url=http://www.reocities.com/kk_abacus/vb/wd12persp.html|title=MY PERSPECTIVES – Willful Disobedience Vol. 2, No. 12|archiveurl=https://www.webcitation.org/60XT65UUG?url=http://www.reocities.com/kk_abacus/vb/wd12persp.html|archivedate=July 29, 2011|deadurl=yes|df=}}</ref>
Some Communist ideology has made its way into the Church as a [[Social Gospel]], interpreting the Gospel as less redemptive of sin and more of a public works campaign and activism. They often cite Jesus feeding the masses and warnings to the wealthy who believed self-seeking is all this world has to offer. Communists often cite the Acts of the Apostles, as early Christians practicing some form of sharing for the common good:
{{Cquote|And all that believed were together, and had all things common; And sold their possessions and goods, and parted them to all men, as every man had need. (Acts 2:44-45, KJV)
To date in human history, the best-known examples of an anarcho-communist society, established around the ideas as they exist today and that received worldwide attention and knowledge in the historical canon, are the anarchist territories during the [[Spanish Revolution of 1936|Spanish Revolution]] and the [[Free Territory]] during the [[Russian Revolution (1917)|Russian Revolution]]. Through the efforts and influence of the [[Anarchism in Spain|Spanish anarchists]] during the [[Spanish Revolution of 1936|Spanish Revolution]] within the [[Spanish Civil War]], starting in 1936 anarcho-communism existed in most of [[Aragon]], parts of the [[Levante, Spain|Levante]] and [[Andalusia]] as well as in the stronghold of [[Anarchist Catalonia]] before being brutally crushed. During the Russian Revolution, anarchists such as [[Nestor Makhno]] worked to create and defend—through the [[Revolutionary Insurrectionary Army of Ukraine]]—anarcho-communism in the [[Free Territory]] of the Ukraine from 1919 before being conquered by the Bolsheviks in 1921.
===Christian communism===
{{main|Christian communism}}
[[Christian communism]] is a form of [[religious communism]] based on [[Christianity]]. It is a theological and political theory based upon the view that the teachings of [[Jesus in Christianity|Jesus Christ]] compel Christians to support communism as the ideal social system. Although there is no universal agreement on the exact date when Christian communism was founded, many Christian communists assert that evidence from the [[Bible]] suggests that the first Christians, including the [[Acts of Apostles|Apostles]], established their own small communist society in the years following Jesus' death and resurrection. As such, many advocates of Christian communism argue that it was taught by Jesus and practiced by the Apostles themselves.
Christian communism can be seen as a radical form of [[Christian socialism]]. Christian communists may or may not agree with various aspects of [[Marxism]]. They do not agree with the [[Marxism and religion|atheist and antireligious views held by secular Marxists]], but they do agree with many of the economic and existential aspects of Marxist theory, such as the idea that [[capitalism]] exploits the [[working class]] by extracting [[surplus value]] from the workers in the form of [[Profit (economics)|profits]] and the idea that [[Wage labour|wage labor]] is a tool of human [[Social alienation|alienation]] that promotes arbitrary and unjust [[authority]]. Like Marxism, Christian communism also holds the view that capitalism encourages the negative aspects of humans, supplanting values such as mercy, kindness, justice and compassion in favor of greed, selfishness and blind ambition.
==Criticism==
{{main|Criticism of communist party rule|Criticisms of Marxism}}
{{see also|Anti-communism}}
[[Criticism of communism (disambiguation)|Criticism of communism]] can be divided into two broad categories: that which concerns itself with the practical aspects of 20th century [[communist state]]s<ref name="Bruno Bosteels 2014"/> and that which concerns itself with communist principles and theory.<ref>Raymond C. Taras, ''The Road to Disillusion: From Critical Marxism to Post-communism in Eastern Europe'' (Routledge, 2015).</ref>
Marxism is also subject to general criticisms, criticisms related to [[historical materialism]] that it is a type of [[historical determinism]], the necessary suppression of [[Liberal democracy|liberal democratic rights]], issues with the implementation of communism and economic issues such as the distortion or absence of [[price signal]]s. In addition, empirical and epistemological problems are frequently identified.<ref name=howard>See M. C. Howard and J. E. King, 1992, ''A History of Marxian Economics: Volume II, 1929–1990''. Princeton, NJ: Princeton Univ. Press.</ref><ref name=popper>{{cite book|last=Popper|first=Karl|authorlink=Karl Popper|title=Conjectures and Refutations: The Growth of Scientific Knowledge|publisher=Routledge|year=2002|isbn=978-0-415-28594-0|page=49}}</ref><ref name=keynes>John Maynard Keynes. Essays in Persuasion. W. W. Norton & Company. 1991. p. 300. {{ISBN|978-0-393-00190-7}}.</ref>
==Communists shared totalitarian ideals with fascism and Nazism==
==See also==
{{Portal|Communism}}
* [[Commons-based peer production]]
* [[:Category:Communism by country|Communism by country]]
* [[Communist party]]
* [[List of communist parties]]
* [[Post-scarcity economy]]
* [[Socialist state]]
* [[Sociocultural evolution]]
[[North Korea]] remains a brutal dictatorship controlled by the same family. [[Laos]], and [[Vietnam]] are also run by the old Communist cliques.
==References==
===Citations===
{{reflist|30em}}
=== Bibliography ===
{{refbegin}}
{{columns-list|colwidth=30em|<!-- Column start. -->
* {{cite book|last=Bernstein|first=Eduard|date=1895|title=Kommunistische und demokratisch-sozialistische Strömungen während der englischen Revolution|trans-title=Cromwell and Communism: Socialism And Democracy in the Great English Revolution|language=en|publisher=J.H.W. Dietz|location=Stuttgart|url=http://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/bernstein/works/1895/cromwell|website=marxists.org|oclc=36367345|ref=harv}}
* {{cite book|last=Holmes|first= Leslie|title=Communism: A Very Short Introduction|year=2009|publisher=Oxford University Press|location=Oxford and New York|isbn=978-0-19-955154-5|nopp=|ref=Hol09}}
* {{cite book|last=Lansford|first=Tom|title=Communism|publisher=Marshall Cavendish|year=2007|isbn=978-0-7614-2628-8|ref={{harvid|Lansford|2007}}}}
* {{cite book|last=Link|first=Theodore|title=Communism: A Primary Source Analysis|publisher=The Rosen Publishing Group|year=2004|isbn=978-0-8239-4517-7|ref={{harvid|Link|2004}}}}
* {{cite book|last=Rabinowitch|first=Alexander|title=The Bolsheviks come to power: the Revolution of 1917 in Petrograd|publisher=Pluto Press|year=2004|ref={{harvid|Rabinowitch|2004}}}}
* {{cite encyclopedia|year=2008|title=Ci–Cz Volume 4|encyclopedia=World Book|publisher=World Book, Inc.|location=Chicago, Illinois|isbn=978-0-7166-0108-1}}
}}<!-- Split column end. -->
==Alleged death of Communism==
{{refend}}
==American Communism==
{{Cquote|What began as a moment to take stock and ponder where to go from there has now become a very different entity. People from the Communist Party, from CrossRoads, from the [[Democratic Socialists of America]], from NCIPA [National Committee for Independent Political Action], from Solidarity, from the Socialist Organizing Network and many others, including independent leftists and independent socialists, have come together here in Berkeley.}}
{{Cquote|[[progressive]] forces were nearly powerless in the face of an onslaught of demagogic, [[patriotic]] [[jingoism]] and yellow ribbons. This war, fought for no legitimate reason, was the crowning height of [[George H.W. Bush|President [George H.W.] Bush]]'s [[New World Order]]. Previously, the Soviet Union helped to provide a certain balance to rein in the crazies in this country. Now, that balance is no longer there. It is now up to us, the American people, to rein in our own crazies. The [[left]] must take a major responsibility in organizing this task.}}
== Decline of the secular Left expected in the 21st century ==
==Further reading==
==Further reading==
* Pipes, Richard. ''Communism: A History'' (2003), by a leading conservative historian
* Adamczak, Bini. ''Communism for Kids''. Translated by Jacob Blumenfeld and Sophie Lewis. [[MIT Press]], 2017. {{ISBN|9780262533355}}.
** Pipes, Richard. ''History of Communism: A Brief History'' (2002)
* Adami, Stefano. "Communism", in ''Encyclopedia of Italian [[Literary criticism|Literary Studies]]'', ed. Gaetana Marrone – P. Puppa, Routledge, New York, London, 2006.
* Priestland, David. ''The Red Flag: A History of Communism'' (2009)
* Beer, Max. ''The General History of Socialism and Social Struggles Volumes 1 & 2''. New York, Russel and Russel, Inc. 1957.
*[http://www.archive.org/stream/100thingsyoushou1949unit#page/n3/mode/2up 100 Things You Should Know About Communism'']
* Daniels, Robert Vincent. ''A Documentary History of Communism and the World: From Revolution to Collapse''. University Press of [[New England]], 1994. {{ISBN|978-0-87451-678-4}}.
* [[Jodi Dean|Dean, Jodi]]. ''The Communist Horizon''. Verso, 2012. {{ISBN|978-1844679546}}.
* Dirlik, Arif. ''Origins of Chinese Communism''. Oxford University Press, 1989. {{ISBN|978-0-19-505454-5}}.
* Forman, James D. ''Communism From Marx's Manifesto To 20th century Reality''. New York, Watts. 1972. {{ISBN|978-0-531-02571-0}}.
* [[François Furet|Furet, Francois]] and Deborah Kan (translator). ''The Passing of An Illusion: The Idea of Communism In the Twentieth Century''. [[University of Chicago Press]], 2000. {{ISBN|978-0-226-27341-9}}.
* [[Kristen R. Ghodsee|Ghodsee, Kristen R.]] ''Red Hangover: Legacies of Twentieth-Century Communism''. [[Duke University Press]], 2017. {{ISBN|978-0822369493}}.
* [[Karl Marx|Marx, Karl]] and [[Friedrich Engels]]. ''[[The Communist Manifesto|Communist Manifesto]]''. (Mass Market Paperback – REPRINT), Signet Classics, 1998. {{ISBN|978-0-451-52710-3}}.
* Pons, Silvio and Robert Service. ''A Dictionary of 20th century Communism''. 2010.
* [[Alexandre Zinoviev|Zinoviev, Alexandre]]. ''The Reality of Communism'' (1980), Publisher Schocken, 1984.
==See also==
==External links==
* [[Bernie Sanders]] and [[Democratic socialism]]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20051211121016/http://libcom.org/library/ Libcom.org]. Extensive library of almost 20,000 articles, books, pamphlets and journals on [[libertarian communism]].
* {{cite EB1911|wstitle=Communism|short=x}}
* {{cite NIE|last=Lindsay|first=Samuel McCune|wstitle=Communism|year=1905|short=x}}
* [https://www.loc.gov/rr/rarebook/coll/rad.html The Radical Pamphlet Collection] at the [[Library of Congress]] contains materials on the topic of communism.
* [[National Bolshevik Party]]
* [[American Anti-Communist Alliance]]
* [[National Socialism]] - the Nazis were elitist [[Police state]] [[liberals]] not [[conservative]]s
{{Communism}}
{{reflist|2}}
{{Political ideologies}}
{{Social and political philosophy}}
==External links==
{{Subject bar|commons=yes|commons-category=Category:Communism|s=yes|s-search=Portal:Communism|q=yes|wikt=yes|wikt-search=communism|d=yes|d-search=Q6186}}
{{Authority control}}
[[Category:Communism]]
[[Category:Communism| ]]<!-- Please leave the empty space as standard. -->
[[Category:Oppression]]
[[Category:Anarchism]]
[[Category:Marxist Terminology]]
[[Category:Anti-capitalism]]
[[Category:Anti-fascism]]
[[Category:Anti-American]]
[[Category:Economic ideologies]]
[[Category:Atheism]]
[[Category:Far-left politics]]
[[Category:Liberalism]]
[[Category:Political ideologies]]
[[Category:Police State]]
[[Category:Political culture]]
[[Category:Welfare State]]
[[Category:Socialism]]
[[Category:Man-Made Disasters]]
[[Category:Words coined in the 1770s]]
[[Category:Threats]]