| | '''Communism''' is an economic system, social organization, and [[leftist]] political movement. Historian [[Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr.]] has described how the "rise of fascism and communism illustrate vividly the fallacies of the linear conception of Right and Left. In certain basic respects - a [[totalitarian]] state structure, a single party, a leader, a secret police, a hatred of political, cultural and intellectual freedom - fascism and communism are clearly more like each other than they are like anything in between.<ref>[http://www.writing.upenn.edu/~afilreis/50s/schlesinger-notrightleft.html Not Right, Not Left, But a Vital Center], [[Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr.]], ''New York Times Magazine'', April 4, 1948.</ref> | | '''Communism''' is an economic system, social organization, and [[leftist]] political movement. Historian [[Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr.]] has described how the "rise of fascism and communism illustrate vividly the fallacies of the linear conception of Right and Left. In certain basic respects - a [[totalitarian]] state structure, a single party, a leader, a secret police, a hatred of political, cultural and intellectual freedom - fascism and communism are clearly more like each other than they are like anything in between.<ref>[http://www.writing.upenn.edu/~afilreis/50s/schlesinger-notrightleft.html Not Right, Not Left, But a Vital Center], [[Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr.]], ''New York Times Magazine'', April 4, 1948.</ref> |
| − | However, by the strict sense of communism, no truly communist society has ever existed as communism by definition is a stateless [[society]]. Although countries has claimed to be a communist state, it was not true communism, as the term "communist state" is in fact an oxymoron. Thus it is not possible to strictly condemn communism based on examples, as none have ever existed. | + | However, by the strict sense of communism, no truly communist society has ever existed as communism by definition is a classless [[society]]. Although countries has claimed to be a communist state, it was not true communism, for, in each "communist" state a class system eventually pervades. Thus it is not possible to strictly condemn communism based on examples, as none have ever existed. |
| | While Communism calls for the absence of personal ownership and claims to support a communal society in the abstract, the practical reality of communism is strikingly different. | | While Communism calls for the absence of personal ownership and claims to support a communal society in the abstract, the practical reality of communism is strikingly different. |