Other pages about communism
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Communism
is an idea in
politics
consisting of economical equality that wants a world without different
social class
groups. Communists believe these differences are extremely bad behaviour by the powerful. They say that things like
factories
,
tools
and
farms
(the relations of production) are owned by the
bourgeoisie
, which gives them unfair power over workers. Communists want these things to be owned by the
workers
instead of the bosses.
[1]
They believe this will bring about the end of all
money
and
private property
.
[2]
This is the opposite to
capitalism
where there is money, and a state and class structure. In capitalism, there is a
working class
(people who don't own the means of production, also called the
proletariat
) and the owning class (people who own the
means of production
, sometimes called the ruling class or the
bourgeoisie
).
Communist thinkers believe a communist world can happen if the working class take away the power of the bourgeoisie and start to control the
means of production
.
Countries
that officially follow forms of communism include
Vietnam
,
China
,
Cuba
and
Laos
, which are
Marxist?Leninist
, and
North Korea
, which follows
Juche
.
The most famous communist thinkers were
Karl Marx
and
Friedrich Engels
; other prominent thinkers include
Vladimir Lenin
,
Joseph Stalin
,
Leon Trotsky
, and
Mao Zedong
.
In 1848,
Karl H. Marx
and
Friedrich Engels
wrote
The Communist Manifesto
. It was a short book with the basic ideas of communism. Most socialists and communists today still use this book to help them better and more accurately understand politics and
economics
. Many non-communists read it too, even if they do not agree with everything in it.
Karl Marx said that for society to change into a communist way of living, there would have to be a period of change. During this period, the workers would govern society. This is called a
dictatorship of the proletariat
. Marx was very interested in the
Paris Commune
of 1870, when the workers of
Paris
ran the city after the
Prussian Army
defeated the
French Army
. He thought that this practical experience was more important than the
theoretical
views of the various
radical
groups.
Many groups and individuals liked Marx's ideas. By the beginning of the
twentieth century
, there was a worldwide socialist movement called
Social Democracy
. It was influenced by his ideas. They said that the workers in different countries had more in common with each other than the workers had in common with the bosses within their own countries. In 1917,
Vladimir Lenin
and
Leon Trotsky
led a
Russian
group called the
Bolsheviks
in the
October Revolution
. They got rid of the temporary government of Russia, which was formed after the
February Revolution
against the
Tsar
(
Emperor
). They established the
Union of Soviet Socialist Republics
, also called the Soviet Union.
The Soviet Union was the first country claiming to have established a workers' state.
During the 20th century, many people tried to establish workers' states. In the late 1940s, China also
had a revolution
and created a new government with
Mao Zedong
as its leader. In 1959, the island of
Cuba
had
a revolution
and created a new government with
Fidel Castro
as its leader. At one time, there were many such countries, and it seemed as though communism would overtake capitalism. However, communist party governments didn't use
democracy
. Because of this, the governments became separated from the people, making communism difficult. This also led to disagreements and splits between countries.
By the 1960s, one third of the world had overthrown capitalism and were trying to build communism. Most of these countries followed the model of the Soviet Union. Some followed the model of China. The other two thirds of the world still lived in capitalism, and this led to a worldwide divide between capitalist countries and communist countries. This was called the "
Cold War
" because it was not fought with
weapons
or
armies
, but competing ideas. However, this could have turned into a large war. During the 1980s, the
United States
and the Soviet Union were
competing
to have the biggest army and having the most dangerous weapons. This was called the "Arms Race". President
Ronald Reagan
called communist countries like the Soviet Union the "
Evil Empire
".
Since 1989, when the
Berlin Wall
was torn down, most countries that used to be communist have returned to capitalism. Communism now has much less
influence
around the world. In 1991, the
Soviet Union broke up
. However, around a fifth of the world's people still live in states controlled by a communist party. Most of these people are in China. The other countries include
Cuba
,
Vietnam
,
Laos
, and
North Korea
. There are also communist movements in
Latin America
and
South Africa
.
Many people have written their own ideas about communism.
Vladimir Lenin
of Russia thought that there had to be a group of hard-working
revolutionaries
(called a
vanguard
) to lead a
socialist
revolution worldwide and create a communist society everywhere.
Leon Trotsky
, also from Russia, argued that socialism had to be
international
, and it was not important to make it happen first in Russia. He also did not like
Joseph Stalin
, who became the leader of the USSR after Lenin's death in 1924. Trotsky was
made to leave the Soviet Union
by Stalin in 1928, and then
killed in 1940
. This scared many people, and lots of communists argued about whether this was right and whose ideas should be followed.
Mao Zedong
of China thought that other classes would be important to the revolution in
China
and other
developing countries
because the working classes in these countries were small. Mao's ideas on communism are usually called
Maoism
or Mao Zedong Thought. After Stalin's death in 1953, Mao saw himself as the leader of worldwide communism until he died in 1976. Today the Chinese government is still ruled by the
Communist Party
, but they actually have what is called a mixed economy. They have borrowed many things from
capitalism
. The government in China today does not follow Maoism. Some
revolutionaries
in other countries like
India
and
Nepal
still like his ideas and are trying to use them in their own countries.
The word "communism" is not a very specific description of
left-wing
political organizations. Many political parties calling themselves "communist" may actually be more reformist (supportive of
reforms
and slow change instead of revolution) than some parties calling themselves "socialists". Many communist parties in Latin America have lost many members because these parties do different things than what they promised once they get into power. In
Chile
, between 1970 and 1973, under the left-wing
Coalition
(groups of parties) of Popular Unity, led by
Salvador Allende
, the
Communist Party of Chile
was to the right of the
Socialist Party of Chile
. This means it was more
reformist
than the socialist party.
Many communist parties will use a
reformist
strategy
. They say working-class people are not organized enough to make big changes to their societies. They put forward
candidates
that will be elected democratically. Once communists become elected to
parliament
or the
Senate
, then they will fight for the working class. This will allow working-class people to change their
capitalist
society into a socialist one.
The color
red
is a
symbol
of communism around the world. A red five-pointed star sometimes also stands for communism. The
hammer and sickle
is a well-known symbol of communism. It was on the
flags
of many communist countries, like the Soviet Union (see top of article). Some communists also like to use pictures of famous communists from history, such as
Marx
,
Lenin
, and
Mao Zedong
, as symbols of the whole
philosophy
of communism.
A song called
The Internationale
is the international song of communism. It has the same
music
everywhere, but the words to the song are translated into many languages. The Russian version was the
national anthem
of the Soviet Union from 1922 until 1944.
The
sickle
in the Soviet Union's flag shows the struggle of the
peasants
-farmers. The
hammer
in the flag represents the struggle for the workers. Both of them crossing shows their support for each other.
There is also a special kind of
art
and
architecture
found in many communist and former communist countries.
Paintings
done in the style of
socialist realism
are often done for
propaganda
to show a perfect version of a country's people and political leader. Art done in the socialist realism style, such as
plays
,
movies
,
novels
, and
paintings
show hard-working, happy, and well-fed factory workers and farmers.
Movies,
plays
and
novels
in this style often tell stories about workers or
soldiers
who
sacrifice
themselves for the good of their country. Paintings often showed
heroic
portraits
of the leader, or
landscapes
showing huge fields of
wheat
.
Stalinist
architecture was supposed to represent the power and glory of the state and its political leader. Some non-communists also enjoy this kind of art.
- ↑
The ABC of Communism
, Nikoli Bukharin, 1920, Section 20
- ↑
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."