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[[Image:Hammer_and_sickle.png‎ |thumbnail|300px|right|The Hammer and Sickle is the symbol of the communist movement.]]

[[Image:Hammer_and_sickle.png‎ |thumbnail|300px|right|The Hammer and Sickle is the symbol of the communist movement.]]

'''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.  

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 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.  

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 private ownership and claims to support a communal society in the abstract, the practical reality of communism is strikingly different.  

As a political movement, communism advocates the establishment of a classless society.  

As a political movement, communism advocates the establishment of a classless society.  

In actuality it has middle and upper classes just as [[social stratification|stratified]] as in the "[[Capitalism|Capitalist]]" societies it critiques or seeks to overthrow (see ''[[Nomenklatura]]'').

In actuality it has middle and upper classes just as [[social stratification|stratified]] as in the "[[Capitalism|Capitalist]]" societies it critiques or seeks to overthrow (see ''[[Nomenklatura]]'').

It generally advocates a [[socialist]] economy in which the public, whether the state or other group, owns the [[means of production]] and in which the wealth of the nation is divided fairly among the citizens. Yet in communist countries party members (there is only one Party) have special stores in which ordinary people cannot shop, stores which are immune to the perennial shortages which the lower class must endure (see [[queuing]]).  

It generally advocates a [[socialist]] economy in which the public, whether the state or other group, owns the [[means of production]] and in which the wealth of the nation is divided fairly among the citizens. Yet in communist countries party members (there is only one Party) have special stores in which ordinary people cannot shop, stores which are immune to the perennial shortages which the lower class must endure (see [[queuing]]).