Difference between revisions of "Communism"

From Conservapedia
Jump to navigation Jump to search
m (Reverted edits by Wikipedianprotester (Talk) to last version by RobSmith)
Line 1: Line 1:
−
{{Communism sidebar |expanded=all}}
+
[[Image:Captive-nations-01b----07-19-06.jpg|thumbnail|180px|right|A monument to the Captive Nations stands at the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation in [[Washington, D.C.]]]]
−
{{sprotected2}}{{pp-move-indef}}
+
'''Communism''' is a materialistic and militantly atheistic 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]]" (actually [[nationalization]]).
−
'''Communism''' is a [[social structure]] in which [[Classless society|classes are abolished]] and [[property]] is commonly controlled, as well as a [[political philosophy]] and [[social movement]] that advocates and aims to create such a society.<ref name="columbia">{{Cite encyclopedia|title=[http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/communism.aspx Communism]|encyclopedia = Columbia Encyclopedia| date = 2008|accessdate = 29 November 2009}}</ref> [[Karl Marx]], the father of communist thought, posited that communism would be the final stage in [[society]], which would be achieved through a [[proletarian revolution]] and only possible after a [[socialist]] stage develops the productive forces, leading to a superabundance of [[goods and services]].<ref name="KS">{{cite book |last=Schaff |first=Kory |title=Philosophy and the problems of work: a reader |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield |location=Lanham, Md |year=2001 |pages=[http://books.google.com/books?id=mdLh5EMehwgC&pg=PA224&dq=isbn=0742507955&source=gbs_search_r&cad=0_1&sig=ACfU3U2S6uiRNCig9mq_bY4yKB7877tY4A 224] |isbn=0-7425-0795-5}}</ref><ref name="WA">{{cite book |last=Walicki |first=Andrzej |title=Marxism and the leap to the kingdom of freedom: the rise and fall of the Communist utopia |publisher=Stanford University Press |location=Stanford, Calif |year=1995 |isbn=0-8047-2384-2 |page=95}}</ref>
 
  
−
"[[Pure communism]]" in the Marxian sense refers to a classless, [[Stateless society|stateless]] and oppression-free society where decisions on what to produce and what policies to pursue are made [[direct democracy|democratically]], allowing every member of society to participate in the [[decision making|decision-making process]] in both the political and economic spheres of life. In modern usage, communism is often used to refer to the policies of the various [[communist states]] which were [[authoritarian]] governments that had ownership of all the [[means of production]] and [[Planned economy|centrally planned economies]]. Most communist governments based their ideology on [[Marxism-Leninism]].
+
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 ''[[Nomenklatura]]''.  
  
−
As a political ideology, communism is usually considered to be a branch of [[socialism]]; a broad group of economic and [[political philosophy|political philosophies]] that draw on the various political and intellectual movements with origins in the work of
+
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>[http://dspace.dial.pipex.com/finalconflict/fcrevb102.html The Black Book of Communism]</ref><ref>[http://www.fas.harvard.edu/~hpcws/lelivrenoir.htm The Black Book of Communism]</ref><ref>http://www.hawaii.edu/powerkills/COM.ART.HTM</ref><ref>[http://users.erols.com/mwhite28/warstat1.htm Source List and Detailed Death Tolls for the Twentieth Century Hemoclysm]</ref><ref>[http://www.sarasotamagazine.com/blog/template_permalink.asp?id=365 Memory and Ideology]</ref><ref>[http://www.firstthings.com/article.php3?id_article=2526 The Black Book of Communism: Crimes, Terror, Repression]</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 communism caused the death of approximately 110,286,000 people between 1917 and 1987.<ref>http://www.hawaii.edu/powerkills/COM.ART.HTM</ref>
−
theorists of the [[Industrial Revolution]] and the [[French Revolution]].<ref>"Socialism." Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia. [[Columbia University Press]]. 03 Feb. 2008.<reference.com http://www.reference.com/browse/columbia/socialis>.</ref> Communism attempts to offer an alternative to the [[criticism of capitalism|problems]] with the [[capitalism|capitalist]] [[market economy]] and the legacy of [[imperialism]] and [[nationalism]].  
 
  
−
Marx states that the only way to solve these problems is for the [[working class]] (proletariat), who according to Marx are the main producers of wealth in society and are exploited by the Capitalist-class ([[bourgeoisie]]), to replace the bourgeoisie as the ruling class in order to establish a [[free society]], without class or racial divisions.<ref name="columbia"/> The dominant forms of communism, such as [[Leninism]], [[Stalinism]], [[Maoism]] and [[Trotskyism]] are based on [[Marxism]], as well as others forms of communism (such as [[Luxemburgism]] and [[Council communism]]), but non-Marxist versions of communism (such as [[Christian communism]] and [[Anarchist communism]]) also exist.
+
President [[Ronald Reagan]] in an address before the British [[House of Commons]] said,  
 +
{{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>}}
  
−
Karl Marx never provided a detailed description as to how communism would function as an economic system, but it is understood that a communist economy would consist of common ownership of the means of production, culminating in the negation of the concept of [[private ownership]] of capital, which referred to the means of production in Marxian terminology.  
+
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__
 +
<br clear=all>
  
−
==Terminology==
+
==Communist theory and practice==
−
{{Split section| List of communist ideologies|date=October 2009}}
 
−
In the schema of [[historical materialism]], communism is the idea of a free society with no division or alienation, where mankind is free from oppression and scarcity. A communist society would have no governments, countries, or class divisions. In [[Marxist philosophy|Marxist theory]], the [[dictatorship of the proletariat]] is the intermediate system between capitalism and communism, when the government is in the process of changing the means of ownership from [[privatism]], to collective ownership.<ref> {{cite web |title=Critique of the Gotha Programme--IV |work=Critique of the Gotha Programme |url=http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1875/gotha/ch04.htm |accessdate=2009-10-18}}</ref>
 
−
In [[political science]], the term "communism" is sometimes used to refer to [[communist state]]s, a [[form of government]] in which the [[Sovereign state|state]] operates under a [[single-party state|one-party system]] and declares allegiance to [[Marxism-Leninism]] or a derivative thereof.
 
  
−
==Marxist schools of communism==
+
[[Image:HammerAndSickle.png|thumb|left|200px|The [[hammer and sickle]] is considered throughout much of the world to be offensive in the same manner as the [[swastika]] is.]]
−
Self-identified communists hold a variety of views, including [[Marxism-Leninism]], [[Trotskyism]], [[council communism]], [[Luxemburgism]], [[anarchist communism]], [[Christian communism]], and various currents of [[left communism]]. However, the offshoots of the [[Marxist-Leninist]] interpretations of [[Marxism]] are the most well-known of these and have been a driving force in [[international relations]] during most of the 20th century.<ref name="columbia">{{cite encyclopedia |title=Communism |url=http://www.bartleby.com/65/co/communism.html |encyclopedia=[[The Columbia Encyclopedia]] |edition=6th |year=2007}}</ref>
+
Communism is based upon [[Marxism]], a philosophy which uses [[materialism]] to explain all physical and social phenomena.
  
−
===Marxism===
+
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.
−
[[File:communist-manifesto.png|thumb|left|[[The Communist Manifesto]].]]
 
  
−
{{Main|Marxism}}
+
Even more important, one party controls every organization from the local labor union to the 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.
  
−
Like other socialists, Marx and Engels sought an end to capitalism and the systems which they perceived to be responsible for the exploitation of workers. But whereas earlier socialists often favored longer-term [[Reform movement|social reform]], Marx and Engels believed that popular revolution was all but inevitable, and the only path to the socialist state.{{Citation needed|date=November 2009}}
+
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).
  
−
According to the Marxist argument for communism, the main characteristic of human life in [[Social class|class society]] is [[Marx's theory of alienation|alienation]]; and communism is desirable because it entails the full realization of [[Human Freedom|human freedom]].<ref>Stephen Whitefield. "Communism." ''The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Politics''. Ed. Iain McLean and Alistair McMillan. [[Oxford University Press]], 2003.</ref> Marx here follows [[Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel]] in conceiving freedom not merely as an absence of restraints but as action with content.<ref name="mclean">McLean and McMillan, 2003.</ref> According to Marx, Communism's outlook on freedom was based on an agent, obstacle, and goal. The agent is the common/working people; the obstacles are class divisions, economic inequalities, unequal [[Life chances|life-chances]], and [[false consciousness]]; and the goal is the fulfillment of human needs including satisfying work, and fair share of the product.<ref>Ball and Dagger 118</ref><ref>Terence Ball and Richard Dagger. "Political Ideologies and the Democratic Ideal." [[Pearson Education]], Inc.:2006.</ref> They believed that communism allowed people to do what they want, but also put humans in such conditions and such relations with one another that they would not wish to exploit, or have any need to. Whereas for Hegel the unfolding of this ethical life in history is mainly driven by the realm of ideas, for Marx, communism emerged from material forces, particularly the development of the [[means of production]].<ref name = "mclean"/>
+
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.  
  
−
Marxism holds that a process of [[class conflict]] and revolutionary struggle will result in victory for the [[proletariat]] and the establishment of a [[communist society]] in which private ownership is abolished over time and the means of production and subsistence belong to the community. Marx himself wrote little about life under communism, giving only the most general indication as to what constituted a communist society. It is clear that it entails abundance in which there is little limit to the projects that humans may undertake.{{Citation needed|date=April 2008}} In the popular slogan that was adopted by the [[Communist Movement|communist movement]], communism was a world in which each gave according to their abilities, and received according to their needs. ''[[The German Ideology]]'' (1845) was one of Marx's few writings to elaborate on the communist future:
+
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.
  
−
<blockquote>"In communist society, where nobody has one exclusive sphere of activity but each can become accomplished in any branch he wishes, society regulates the general production and thus makes it possible for me to do one thing today and another tomorrow, to hunt in the morning, fish in the afternoon, rear cattle in the evening, criticise after dinner, just as I have a mind, without ever becoming hunter, fisherman, herdsman or critic."<ref>Karl Marx, (1845). ''[[The German Ideology]]'', Marx-Engels Institute, Moscow. ISBN 978-1-57392-258-6. Sources available at [http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1845/german-ideology/ch01a.htm The German Ideology<!--Bot-generated title-->] at www.marxists.org.</ref>
+
== Communism and militant atheism ==
−
</blockquote>
 
  
−
Marx's lasting vision was to add this vision to a theory of how society was moving in a law-governed way toward communism, and, with some tension, a political theory that explained why revolutionary activity was required to bring it about.<ref name="mclean"/>
+
[[Karl Marx]] established atheism as a key part of communism.  He famously said,  "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> 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 the late 19th century, the terms "socialism" and "communism" were often used interchangeably. However, Marx and Engels argued that communism would not emerge from capitalism in a fully [[Developed country|developed state]], but would pass through a "first phase" in which most productive property was owned in common, but with some class differences remaining. The "first phase" would eventually evolve into a "higher phase" in which class differences were eliminated, and a state was no longer needed. Lenin frequently used the term "socialism" to refer to Marx and Engels' supposed "first phase" of communism and used the term "communism" interchangeably with Marx and Engels' "higher phase" of communism.{{Citation needed|date=November 2009}}
+
[[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>
  
−
These later aspects, particularly as developed by [[Vladimir Ilyich Lenin]], provided the underpinning for the mobilizing features of 20th century Communist parties.
+
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>
  
−
===Marxism-Leninism===
+
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>
−
{{Main|Marxism-Leninism}}
 
  
−
Marxism-Leninism is a version of socialism adopted by the Soviet Union and most Communist Parties across the world today. It shaped the Soviet Union and influenced Communist Parties worldwide. It was heralded as a possibility of building communism via a massive program of [[industrialization]] and [[Collectivization in the Soviet Union|collectivization]]. Historically, under the ideology of Marxism-Leninism the rapid development of industry, and above all the victory of the Soviet Union in the Second World War occurred alongside a third of the world being lead by Marxist-Leninist inspired parties. Despite the fall of the Soviet Union and Eastern Bloc countries, many communist Parties of the world today still lay claim to uphold the Marxist-Leninist banner. Marxism-Leninism expands on Marxists thoughts by bringing the theories to what Lenin and other Communists considered, the age of capitalist imperialism, and a renewed focus on party building, the development of a [[socialist state]], and democratic centralism as an organizational principle.
+
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>
  
−
Lenin adapted Marx’s urban revolution to Russia’s agricultural conditions, sparking the “revolutionary nationalism of the poor”.<ref>''Faces of Janus'' p. 133.</ref> The pamphlet ''[[What is to be Done? (pamphlet)|What is to be Done?]]'' (1902), proposed that the (urban) [[proletariat]] can successfully achieve revolutionary consciousness only under the leadership of a [[vanguard party]] of [[professional revolutionaries]] — who can achieve aims only with internal [[democratic centralism]] in the party; tactical and ideological policy decisions are agreed via democracy, and every member must support and promote the agreed party policy.
+
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>  
  
−
To wit, [[capitalism]] can be overthrown only with [[revolution]] — because attempts to ''reform'' capitalism from within ([[Fabianism]]) and from without ([[democratic socialism]]) will fail because of its inherent contradictions. The purpose of a Leninist revolutionary [[vanguard party]] is the forceful [[deposition (politics)|deposition]] of the incumbent government; assume power (as agent of the proletariat) and establish a [[dictatorship of the proletariat]] government. Moreover, as the government, the vanguard party must [[education|educate]] the proletariat — to dispel the societal [[false consciousness]] of [[religion]] and [[nationalism]] that are culturally instilled by the [[bourgeoisie]] in facilitating [[exploitation]]. The dictatorship of the proletariat is governed with a de-centralized [[direct democracy]] practised via [[soviet (council)|soviets]] (councils) where the workers exercise political power (cf. [[soviet democracy]]); the fifth chapter of ''State & Revolution'', describes it:
+
During the late 1930's and later 1940's 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 through out 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.
  
−
<blockquote>
+
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>
−
“. . . the dictatorship of the proletariat — i.e. the organisation of the vanguard of the oppressed as the ruling class for the purpose of crushing the oppressors. . . . An immense expansion of democracy, which for the first time becomes democracy for the poor, democracy for the people, and not democracy for the rich: . . . and suppression by force, i.e. exclusion from democracy, for the exploiters and oppressors of the people — this is the change which democracy undergoes during the ''transition'' from capitalism to communism.”<ref>Hill, Christopher ''Lenin and the Russian Revolution'' (1971) Penguin Books:Londonp. 86.</ref>
 
−
</blockquote>
 
  
−
The Bolshevik government was hostile to nationalism, especially to [[Russian nationalism]], the “Great Russian chauvinism”, as an obstacle to establishing the proletarian dictatorship.<ref>Harding, Neil (ed.) ''The State in Socialist Society'', second edition (1984) St. Antony's College: Oxford, p. 189.</ref> The revolutionary elements of Leninism — the disciplined vanguard party, a dictatorship of the proletariat, and class war.
+
== Atrocities and Repression ==
 +
[[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 maintain communism has never really been tried.  ]]
 +
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>http://dspace.dial.pipex.com/finalconflict/fcrevb102.html</ref><ref>http://www.fas.harvard.edu/~hpcws/lelivrenoir.htm</ref><ref>http://users.erols.com/mwhite28/warstat1.htm</ref>
 +
<ref>http://www.sarasotamagazine.com/blog/template_permalink.asp?id=365</ref><ref>http://www.firstthings.com/article.php3?id_article=2526</ref>
  
−
====Stalinism====
+
Similarly, a 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:
−
{{Main|Stalinism}}
 
−
"Stalinism" refers to the [[political system]] of the [[Soviet Union]], and the countries within the Soviet [[sphere of influence]], during the leadership of Joseph Stalin. The term usually defines the style of a government rather than an ideology. The ideology was "[[Marxism-Leninism]] theory", reflecting that Stalin himself was not a theoretician, in contrast to [[Karl Marx|Marx]] and [[Vladimir Lenin|Lenin]], and prided himself on maintaining the legacy of Lenin as a founding father for the Soviet Union and the future Socialist world. Stalinism is an interpretation of their ideas, and a certain political regime claiming to apply those ideas in ways fitting the changing needs of society, as with the transition from "socialism at a snail's pace" in the mid-twenties to the rapid industrialization of the [[Five-Year Plans for the National Economy of the Soviet Union|Five-Year Plan]]s.
 
  
−
The main contributions of Stalin to communist theory were:
+
<blockquote style="background: #F9F9F9; border: 1px solid #AAAAAA; padding: .3em;">
−
* The groundwork for the Soviet policy concerning nationalities, laid in Stalin's 1913 work ''Marxism and the National Question'',<ref>[http://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/stalin/works/1913/03.htm "Marxism and the National Question"]</ref> praised by Lenin.
+
"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."<ref>http://www.icr.org/index.php?module=articles&action=view&ID=276</ref>
−
* [[Socialism in One Country]],
+
</blockquote>
−
* The theory of [[aggravation of class struggle under socialism|aggravation of the class struggle along with the development of socialism]], a theoretical base supporting the repression of political opponents as necessary.
 
  
−
====Trotskyism====
+
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>
−
[[File:Trotsky militant.jpg|thumb|right|250px|right|[[Leon Trotsky]] reading ''[[The Militant]]''.]]
 
−
{{Main|Trotskyism}}
 
  
−
Trotsky and his supporters 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. During Trotsky's exile, world communism fractured into two distinct branches: [[Marxism-Leninism]] and [[Trotskyism]].<ref name="columbia"/> Trotsky later founded the [[Fourth International]], a Trotskyist rival to the [[Comintern]], in 1938.
+
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 closed.<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>
  
−
Trotskyist ideas have continually found a modest echo among [[political movement]]s in some countries in [[Latin America]] and [[Asia]], especially in [[Argentina]], [[Brazil]], [[Bolivia]] and [[Sri Lanka]]. Many Trotskyist organizations are also active in more stable, developed countries in [[North America]] and [[Western Europe]]. 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 unwavering support for a true dictatorship of the proletariat based on democratic principles.
+
==Communists cite scripture==
  
−
However, as a whole, Trotsky's theories and attitudes were never accepted in worldwide mainstream Communist circles after Trotsky's expulsion, either within or outside of the [[Eastern Bloc|Soviet bloc]]. This remained the case even after the [[Secret Speech]] and subsequent events critics claim exposed the fallibility of [[Stalin]].
+
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:
  
−
Some criticize Trotskyism as incapable of using concrete analysis on its theories, rather resorting to phrases and abstract notions.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.marx2mao.com/Other/OT73NB.html |title=On Trotskyism |publisher=Marx2mao.com |date= |accessdate=2009-10-18}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://home.flash.net/~comvoice/32cTrotskyism.html |title=Swedish FRP on anti-Marxist-Leninist dogmas of Trotskyism |publisher=Home.flash.net |date= |accessdate=2009-10-18}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://web.archive.org/web/20080201115440/http://www.etext.org/Politics/MIM/wim/wyl/ |title=What's Your Line? |publisher=Web.archive.org |date= |accessdate=2009-10-18}}</ref>
+
: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)
  
−
====Maoism====
+
: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,
−
[[File:5PadriComunisti.svg|thumb|right|200px|This poster shows Mao Zedong as continuing the legacy set by former Communist leaders.<ref>This poster has been jokingly referred to as "The History of Shaving" [http://www.iisg.nl/~landsberger/if.html Stefan Landsberger's Chinese Propaganda Poster Pages-Ideological Foundations]</ref>]]
 
−
{{Main|Maoism}}
 
  
−
Maoism is the Marxist-Leninist trend of Communism associated with [[Mao Zedong]] and was mostly practiced within the [[People's Republic of China]]. Khrushchev's reforms heightened ideological differences between the [[People's Republic of China]] and the Soviet Union, which became increasingly apparent in the 1960s. As the [[Sino-Soviet Split]] in the [[History of communism|international Communist movement]] turned toward open hostility, China portrayed itself as a leader of the underdeveloped world against the two superpowers, the United States and the Soviet Union.{{Citation needed|date=April 2008}}
+
:And laid them down at the apostles' feet: and distribution was made unto every man according as he had need.
  
−
Parties and groups that supported the [[Communist Party of China]] (CPC) in their criticism against the new Soviet leadership proclaimed themselves as 'anti-revisionist' and denounced the CPSU and the parties aligned with it as [[Revisionism (Marxism)|revisionist]] "capitalist-roaders." The Sino-Soviet Split resulted in divisions amongst communist parties around the world. Notably, the [[Party of Labour of Albania]] sided with the People's Republic of China. Effectively, the CPC under Mao's leadership became the rallying forces of a parallel international Communist tendency. The ideology of CPC, Marxism-Leninism-Mao Zedong Thought (generally referred to as 'Maoism'), was adopted by many of these groups.{{Citation needed|date=April 2008}}
+
: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,
  
−
After Mao's death and his replacement by [[Deng Xiaoping]], the international Maoist movement diverged. One sector accepted the new leadership in China; a second renounced the new leadership and reaffirmed their commitment to Mao's legacy; and a third renounced Maoism altogether and aligned with [[People's Socialist Republic of Albania|Albania]].{{Citation needed|date=April 2008}}
+
:Having land, sold it, and brought the money, and laid it at the apostles' feet.(Acts 4:34-7, KJV)
  
−
====Hoxhaism====
+
But as Arnold Toynbee has pointed out, this Marxist view denies the most crucial points,
−
{{main|Hoxhaism}}
 
−
Another variant of [[anti-revisionist]] [[Marxism-Leninism]] appeared after the [[Sino-Albanian split|ideological row]] between the [[Communist Party of China]] and the [[Party of Labour of Albania]] in 1978. The Albanians rallied a new separate international tendency. This tendency would demarcate itself by a strict defense of the legacy of Joseph Stalin and fierce criticism of virtually all other Communist groupings as [[Revisionism (Marxism)|revisionism]]. Critical of the United States, Soviet Union, and China, [[Enver Hoxha]] declared the latter two to be [[social-imperialist]] and condemned the [[Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia]] by withdrawing from the [[Warsaw Pact]] in response. Hoxha declared Albania to be the world's only Marxist-Leninist state after 1978. The Albanians were able to win over a large share of the Maoists, mainly in [[Latin America]] such as the [[Popular Liberation Army]], but also had a significant [[Party of Labour of Albania#External following|international following]] in general. This tendency has occasionally been labeled as 'Hoxhaism' after him.
 
  
−
After the fall of the Communist government in Albania, the pro-Albanian parties are grouped around an [[International Conference of Marxist-Leninist Parties and Organizations (Unity & Struggle)|international conference]] and the publication 'Unity and Struggle'.
+
: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>
  
−
===Titoism===
+
==Cummunisms shared totalitarian ideals with facism and nazism==
−
{{Main|Titoism}}
 
−
Elements of Titoism are characterized by policies and practices based on the principle that in each country, the means of attaining ultimate communist goals must be dictated by the conditions of that particular country, rather than by a pattern set in another country. During Tito’s era, this specifically meant that the communist goal should be pursued independently of (and often in opposition to) the policies of the [[Soviet Union]].
 
  
−
The term was originally meant as a [[pejorative]], and was labeled by Moscow as a heresy during the period of tensions between the Soviet Union and Yugoslavia known as the ''[[Informbiro]]'' period from 1948 to 1955.
+
[[Adolf Hitler]] noted that Communists made excellent converts to Nazism, 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, 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>
  
−
Unlike the rest of [[Eastern Bloc|East Europe]], which fell under [[Stalin]]'s influence post-World War II, [[SFRY|Yugoslavia]], due to the strong leadership of [[Josip Broz Tito|Marshal Tito]] and the fact that the [[Yugoslav Partisans]] liberated Yugoslavia with only limited help from the [[Red Army]], remained independent from Moscow. It became the only country in the [[Balkans]] to resist pressure from Moscow to join the [[Warsaw Pact]] and remained "socialist, but independent" right up until the collapse of Soviet socialism in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Throughout his time in office, Tito prided himself on Yugoslavia's independence from Russia, with Yugoslavia never accepting full membership of the [[Comecon]] and Tito's open rejection of many aspects of [[Stalinism]] as the most obvious manifestations of this.
+
==Cuban communism==
 +
[[Cuba]] remains a communist state controlled by the Castro brothers since 1960 and under U.S economic sanctions.
  
−
===Eurocommunism===
+
==Asian communism==
−
{{Main|Eurocommunism}}
+
The [[CCP]] in China retains an autocratic regime controlled by the Communist 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.  
−
Since the early 1970s, the term [[Eurocommunism]] was used to refer to moderate, reformist Communist parties in western Europe. These parties did not support the Soviet Union and denounced its policies. Such parties were politically active and electorally significant in [[Italy]] ([[Italian Communist Party|PCI]]), [[France]] ([[French Communist Party|PCF]]), and [[Spain]] ([[Communist Party of Spain|PCE]]).{{Citation needed|date=November 2009}}
 
  
−
===Council communism===
+
[[North Korea]] remains a brutal dictatorship controlled by the same family. [[Laos]], and [[Vietnam]] are also run by the old Communist cliques.
−
{{Main|Council communism}}
 
−
Council communism is a [[far-left]] movement originating in [[Germany]] and the [[Netherlands]] in the 1920s. Its primary organization was the [[Communist Workers Party of Germany]] (KAPD). 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 [[Leninism|Leninist]] Communism, is that democratic [[workers' councils]] arising in the factories and municipalities are the natural form of working class organisation and governmental power. This view is opposed to both the [[reformist]] and the Leninist [[ideology|ideologies]], with their stress on, respectively, [[parliament]]s 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).
+
==Collapse of the Soviet bloc==
  
−
The core principle of council communism is that the [[government]] and the [[economic system|economy]] should be managed by [[workers' councils]] composed of [[delegate]]s 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. Council communism (and other types of "[[antiauthoritarianism|anti-authoritarian]] and [[Anti-Leninism|Anti-leninist]] Marxism" such as [[Autonomism]]) are often viewed as being similar to [[Anarchism]] because they criticize Leninist ideologies for being authoritarian and reject the idea of a vanguard party.
 
  
−
===Luxemburgism===
+
The shooting down by the Soviets on Sept. 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.
−
{{Main|Luxemburgism}}
+
Between 1989 and 1991, many communist governments fell. The [[Berlin Wall]] in [[Germany]], which had become a symbol for the division between the West and communist states, was torn down largely in response to Ronald Reagan in 1989, and there was also a large revolution against Romanian dictator [[Nicolaie Ceausescu]]. In 1991, the USSR broke up into several countries - each 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.
−
Luxemburgism, based on the writing of [[Rosa Luxemburg]], is an interpretation of [[Marxism]] which, while supporting the [[Russian Revolution (1917)|Russian Revolution]], as Luxemburg did, agrees with her criticisms of the politics of [[Lenin]] and [[Trotsky]]; she did not see their concept of "[[democratic centralism]]" as democracy.
 
  
−
The chief tenets of Luxemburgism are commitment to [[democracy]] and the necessity of the revolution taking place as soon as possible. In this regard, it is similar to [[Council Communism]], but differs in that, for example, Luxemburgists don't reject [[election]]s by principle. It resembles [[anarchism]] in its insistence that only relying on the people themselves as opposed to their leaders can avoid an [[authoritarian]] society, but differs in that it sees the importance of a revolutionary party, and mainly the centrality of the [[working class]] in the revolutionary struggle. It resembles [[Trotskyism]] in its opposition to the [[totalitarianism]] of [[Stalinist]] government while simultaneously avoiding the reformist politics of modern [[Social Democracy]], but differs from Trotskyism in arguing that Lenin and Trotsky also made undemocratic errors.
+
==American 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]].
  
−
Luxemburg's idea of democracy, which [[Stanley Aronowitz]] calls "''generalized'' democracy in an unarticulated form", represents Luxemburgism's greatest break with "mainstream communism", since it effectively diminishes the role of the [[Communist Party]], but is in fact very similar to the views of [[Karl Marx]] ("''The emancipation of the working classes must be conquered by the working classes themselves''"). According to Aronowitz, the vagueness of Luxembourgian democracy is one reason for its initial difficulty in gaining widespread support. However, since the fall of the [[Soviet Union]], Luxemburgism has been seen by some socialist thinkers as a way to avoid the [[totalitarianism]] of Stalinism. Early on, Luxemburg attacked undemocratic tendencies present in the Russian Revolution.
+
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 [[Eastern Europe]] left the [[United States]] in a near unchallenged position of world leadership." Mitchell continued,
 +
{{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.}}
 +
Criticizing U.S. actions in the [[First Gulf War]], Mitchell stated,  
 +
{{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.}}
  
−
===Juche===
+
==Notorious communists==
−
{{Unreferenced section|date=November 2008}}
 
−
{{Main|Juche}}
 
−
In 1992, [[Juche]] replaced [[Marxism-Leninism]] in the revised North Korean constitution as the official state ideology, this being a response to the [[Sino-Soviet split]]. Juche was originally defined as a creative application of Marxism-Leninism, but after the 1991 collapse of the [[Soviet Union]] (North Korea’s greatest economic benefactor), all reference to Marxism-Leninism was dropped in the revised 1998 constitution. The establishment of the [[Songun]] doctrine in the mid-1990s has formally designated the [[military]], not the [[proletariat]] or [[working class]], as the main revolutionary force in North Korea. All reference to communism had been dropped in the 2009 revised constitution.<ref>http://www.reuters.com/article/latestCrisis/idUSSEO253213</ref>
 
  
−
According to Kim Jong-il's ''On the Juche Idea'', the application of Juche in state policy entails the following:
+
Well known communists include:
−
# The people must have independence (''chajusong'') in thought and [[politics]], economic [[self-sufficiency]], and self-reliance in defense.
+
*[[William Ayers]]
−
# Policy must reflect the will and aspirations of the masses and employ them fully in revolution and construction.
+
*[[Fidel Castro]]
−
# Methods of revolution and construction must be suitable to the situation of the country.
+
*[[Hugo Chavez]]
−
# The most important work of revolution and construction is molding people ideologically as communists and mobilizing them to constructive action.
+
*[[Carl Davidson]]
 +
*[[Frank Marshall Davis]]
 +
*[[Bernardine Dohrn]]
 +
*[[Friedrich Engels]]
 +
*[[Che Guevara]]
 +
*[[Van Jones]]
 +
*[[Lazar Kaganovich]]
 +
*[[Vladimir Lenin]]
 +
*[[Mao Zedong]]
 +
*[[Karl Marx]]
 +
*[[Paul Robeson]]
 +
*[[Joseph Stalin]]
 +
*[[Yakov Sverdlov]]
 +
*[[Leon Trotsky]]
 +
*[[Genrikh Yagoda]]
 +
*[[Yakov Yurovsky]]
  
−
===Prachandapath===
+
==Further reading==
−
[[File:Prachanda.jpg|thumb|left|[[Prachanda]], giving a speech at the Nepalese city of [[Pokhara]].]]
+
* Pipes, Richard. ''Communism: A History'' (2003), by a leading conservative historian
−
{{Main|Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist)}}
+
** Pipes, Richard. ''History of Communism: A Brief History'' (2002)
−
Prachanda Path refers to the ideological line of the [[Unified Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist)|Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist)]]. This thought doesn't make an ideological break with [[Marxism]], [[Leninism]] and [[Maoism]] but it is an extension of these ideologies totally based on home-ground politics of [[Nepal]]. The doctrine came into existence after it was realized that the ideology of Marxism, Leninism and Maoism couldn't be practiced completely as it was done in the past. And an ideology suitable, based on the ground reality of Nepalese politics was adopted by the party.
+
* Priestland, David. ''The Red Flag: A History of Communism'' (2009)
−
 
+
*[http://www.archive.org/stream/100thingsyoushou1949unit#page/n3/mode/2up 100 Things You Should Know About Communism'']
−
After five years of armed struggle, the party realized that none of the proletarian revolutions of the past could be carried out on Nepal’s context. So moving further ahead than Marxism, Leninism and Maoism, the party determined its own ideology, Prachanda Path.
 
−
 
 
−
Having analyzed the serious challenges and growing changes in the [[Global Arena|global arena]], the party started moving on its own doctrine. Prachanda Path in essence is a different kind of uprising, which can be described as the fusion of a protracted people’s war strategy which was adopted by [[Mao Zedong|Mao]] in China and the Russian model of armed revolution. Most of the Maoist leaders think that the adoption of Prachanda Path after the second national conference is what nudged the party into moving ahead with a clear vision ahead after five years of ‘people’s war’.
 
−
 
 
−
Senior Maoist leader Mohan Vaidya alias Kiran says, ‘Just as Marxism was born in Germany, Leninism in Russia and Maoism in China and Prachanda Path is Nepal’s identity of revolution. Just as Marxism has three facets- philosophy, [[political economy]] and scientific socialism, Prachanda Path is a combination of all three totally in Nepal’s political context.’ Talking about the party’s philosophy, Maoist chairman [[Prachanda]] says, ‘The party considers Prachanda path as an enrichment of Marxism, Leninism and Maoism.’ After the party brought forward its new doctrine, the government was trying to comprehend the new ideology, Prachanda Path.
 
  
−
''see also: [[Nepalese Civil War|'People's Revolution' In Nepal]]''
+
==See also==
 +
*[[Communist Party of the United States of America]]
 +
*[[Cold War]]
 +
*[[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.
  
−
==Non-Marxist schools==
+
==Notes and references==
−
The dominant forms of communism, such as [[Leninism]], [[Trotskyism]] and [[Maoism]], are based on [[Marxism]], but non-Marxist versions of communism (such as [[Christian communism]] and [[anarchist communism]]) also exist and are growing in importance since the [[History of the Soviet Union (1985–1991)#Dissolution of the USSR|fall of the Soviet Union]].
+
{{reflist|2}}
−
 
 
−
===Anarcho-communism===
 
−
{{Main|Anarcho-communism}}
 
−
 
 
−
Some of Marx's contemporaries espoused similar ideas, but differed in their views of how to reach to a classless society. Following the split between those associated with Marx and [[Mikhail Bakunin]] at the [[International Workingmen's Association|First International]], the anarchists formed the [[International Workers Association]].<ref>Marshall, Peter. "Demanding the Impossible&nbsp; — A History of Anarchism" p. 9. Fontana Press, London, 1993 ISBN 978-0-00-686245-1</ref> Anarchists argued that capitalism and the state were inseparable and that one could not be abolished without the other. [[Anarchist communism|Anarchist-communists]] such as [[Peter Kropotkin]] theorized an immediate transition to one society with no classes. [[Anarcho-syndicalism]] became one of the dominant forms of [[List of anarchist organizations|anarchist organization]], arguing that [[Trade union|labor unions]], as opposed to Communist parties, are the organizations that can change society. Consequently, many anarchists have been in opposition to Marxist communism to this day.{{Citation needed|date=April 2008}}
 
−
 
 
−
Anarchist communists propose that the freest form of [[social organisation]] would be a society composed of [[self-governance|self-governing]] [[Commune (socialism)|communes]] with collective use of the [[means of production]], organized by [[direct democracy]], and related to other communes through [[federation]].<ref name="LibCom">[[Isaac Puente|Puente, Isaac]].[http://flag.blackened.net/liberty/libcom.html "Libertarian Communism"]. ''The Cienfuegos Press Anarchist Review''. Issue 6 Orkney 1982.</ref> However, some anarchist communists oppose the majoritarian nature of direct democracy, feeling that it can impede individual liberty and favor [[consensus democracy]].<ref>[[David Graeber|Graeber, David]] and Grubacic, Andrej. ''Anarchism, Or The Revolutionary Movement Of The Twenty-first Century''.</ref>
 
−
 
 
−
===Christian communism===
 
−
{{Main|Christian communism}}
 
−
 
 
−
Christian communism is a form of religious communism centered on Christianity. It is a theological and political theory based upon the view that the [[Jesus|teachings of Jesus]] Christ urge Christians to support communism as the ideal [[Social structure|social system]]. Christian communists trace the origins of their practice to teachings in the [[New Testament]], such as this one from [[Acts of the Apostles]] at chapter 2 and verses 42, 44, and 45:
 
−
<blockquote>'''42''' ''And they continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and in fellowship [...]'' '''44''' ''And all that believed were together, and had all things in common;'' '''45''' ''And sold their possessions and goods, and parted them to all men, as every man had need.'' ([[Authorized King James Version|King James Version]])</blockquote>
 
−
 
 
−
Christian communism can be seen as a radical form of [[Christian socialism]]. Also, due to the fact that many Christian communists have formed independent stateless communes in the past, there is also a link between Christian communism and [[Christian anarchism]]. Christian communists may or may not agree with various parts of [[Marxism]].
 
−
 
 
−
Christian communists also share some of the political goals of Marxists, for example replacing capitalism with [[socialism]], which should in turn be followed by communism at a later point in the future. However, Christian communists sometimes disagree with Marxists (and particularly with [[Leninism|Leninists]]) on the way a socialist or communist society should be organized.
 
−
 
 
−
==History==
 
−
{{Main|History of communism}}
 
−
 
 
−
===Early communism===
 
−
{{See|Primitive communism|Religious communism}}
 
−
 
 
−
Karl Heinrich Marx saw [[primitive communism]] as the original, [[hunter-gatherer]] state of humankind from which it arose. For Marx, only after humanity was capable of producing [[Economic surplus|surplus]], did private property develop.{{Citation needed|date=April 2008}}
 
−
 
 
−
In the [[History of Western philosophy|history of Western thought]], certain elements of the idea of a society based on common ownership of property can be traced back to [[Ancient history|ancient times]] .{{Citation needed|date=November 2009}} Examples include the [[Spartacus]] [[Slave rebellion|slave revolt]] in Rome.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.vroma.org/~bmcmanus/spartacus.html |title=Historical Background for Spartacus |publisher=Vroma.org |date= |accessdate=2009-10-18}}</ref> The [[5th century|fifth century]] [[Mazdak]] movement in what is now [[Iran]] has been described as "communistic" for challenging the enormous privileges of the noble classes and the clergy, criticizing the institution of private property and for striving for an egalitarian society.<ref>''The Cambridge History of Iran'' Volume 3, [http://web.archive.org/web/20080611075040/http://www.derafsh-kaviyani.com/english/mazdak.html The Seleucid, Parthian and Sasanian Period], edited by [[Ehsan Yarshater]], Parts 1 and 2, p1019, [[Cambridge University Press]] (1983)</ref>
 
−
 
 
−
At one time or another, various small communist communities existed, generally under the inspiration of [[Scripture]].<ref name="britannica">"Communism." ''Encyclopædia Britannica''. 2006. [[Encyclopædia Britannica]] Online.</ref> In the [[Middle Ages|medieval]] [[Christian Church|Christian church]], for example, some [[Monasticism|monastic]] communities and [[religious order]]s shared their land and other property (see [[religious communism]] and [[Christian communism]]). These groups often believed that concern with [[private property]] was a distraction from religious service to God and neighbor.{{Citation needed|date=November 2009}}
 
−
 
 
−
Communist thought has also been traced back to the work of [[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.{{Citation needed|date=November 2009}} In the 17th century, communist thought arguably surfaced again in England. In 17th century England, a [[Puritan]] [[Religious denomination|religious group]] known as the [[Diggers]] advocated the abolition of private ownership of land.{{Citation needed|date=May 2008}} [[Eduard Bernstein]], in his 1895 ''Cromwell and Communism''<ref>[http://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/bernstein/works/1895/cromwell/ Eduard Bernstein: Cromwell and Communism (1895)]</ref> argued that several groupings in the [[English Civil War]], especially the [[Diggers]] espoused clear communistic, agrarian ideals, and that [[Oliver Cromwell]]'s attitude to these groups was at best ambivalent and often hostile.<ref>Eduard Bernstein, (1895). ''Kommunistische und demokratisch-sozialistische Strömungen während der englischen Revolution'', J.H.W. Dietz, Stuttgart. {{OCLC|36367345}} Sources available at [http://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/bernstein/works/1895/cromwell/ Eduard Bernstein: Cromwell and Communism (1895)<!--Bot-generated title-->] at www.marxists.org.</ref>
 
−
 
 
−
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.{{Citation needed|date=November 2009}} 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]]. Oxford University Press 2005. Oxford Reference Online. Oxford University Press.</ref> [[François-Noël Babeuf|François Noël Babeuf]], in particular, espoused the goals of common ownership of land and total economic and political equality among citizens.{{Citation needed|date=November 2009}}
 
−
 
 
−
Various social reformers in the early 19th century founded communities based on common ownership. But unlike many previous communist communities, they replaced the religious emphasis with a rational and philanthropic basis.<ref name="britannica"/> Notable among them were [[Robert Owen]], who founded [[New Harmony, Indiana|New Harmony]] in Indiana (1825), and [[Charles Fourier]], whose followers organized other settlements in the United States such as [[Brook Farm]] (1841–47).<ref name="britannica"/> Later in the 19th century, Karl Marx described these social reformers as "[[utopian socialism|utopian socialists]]" to contrast them with his program of "[[scientific socialism]]" (a term coined by [[Friedrich Engels]]). Other writers described by Marx as "utopian socialists" included [[Claude Henri de Rouvroy, comte de Saint-Simon|Saint-Simon]].
 
−
 
 
−
In its modern form, communism grew out of the socialist movement of 19th century Europe.{{Citation needed|date=November 2009}} As the [[Industrial Revolution]] advanced, socialist critics blamed capitalism for the misery of the [[proletariat]]&nbsp; — a new class of urban factory workers who labored under often-hazardous conditions. Foremost among these critics were the [[List of German-language philosophers|German philosopher]] 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"/> Engels, who lived in [[Manchester]], observed the organization of the [[Chartism|Chartist]] movement (''see [[History of British socialism]]''), while Marx departed from his university comrades to meet the proletariat in France and Germany.{{Citation needed|date=April 2008}}
 
−
 
 
−
===Growth of modern communism===
 
−
[[File:Soviet Union, Lenin (55).jpg|thumb|left|[[Vladimir Lenin]], following his return to [[Saint Petersburg|Petrograd]].]]
 
−
{{Main|History of Communism}}
 
−
 
 
−
In the late 19th century, Russian Marxism developed a distinct character. The first major figure of Russian Marxism was [[Georgi Plekhanov]]. Underlying the work of Plekhanov was the assumption that Russia, less urbanized and industrialized than Western Europe, had many years to go before society would be ready for proletarian revolution to occur, and a transitional period of a bourgeois democratic regime would be required to replace [[Tsar]]ism with a socialist and later communist society.&nbsp;(EB){{Citation needed|date=October 2009}}
 
−
 
 
−
In Russia, the [[October Revolution|1917 October Revolution]] was the first time any party with an avowedly Marxist orientation, in this case the [[Communist Party of the Soviet Union|Bolshevik Party]], seized [[Political power|state power]]. The assumption of state power by the Bolsheviks 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. Russia, however, 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 bourgeoisie capitalism.<ref>Marc Edelman, "Late Marx and the Russian road: Marx and the 'Peripheries of Capitalism'" - [[book review]]s. ''Monthly Review'', Dec., 1984. [http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1132/is_v36/ai_3537723 Late Marx and the Russian road: Marx and the "Peripheries of Capitalism." - book reviews Monthly Review Find Articles at BNET<!--Bot-generated title-->] at www.findarticles.com.</ref> Other socialists also believed that a [[October Revolution|Russian revolution]] could be the precursor of workers' revolutions in the West.
 
−
 
 
−
The moderate [[Menshevik]]s opposed Lenin's Bolshevik plan for [[Communist revolution|socialist revolution]] before capitalism was more fully developed. The Bolsheviks' successful rise to power was based upon the slogans "peace, bread, and land" and "All power to the Soviets", slogans which tapped 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]].{{Citation needed|date=April 2008}}
 
−
 
 
−
The usage of the terms "communism" and "socialism" shifted after 1917, when the Bolsheviks changed their name to the Communist Party and installed a [[single party state|single party]] regime devoted to the implementation of socialist policies under [[Leninism]].{{Citation needed|date=April 2008}} The [[Second International]] had dissolved in 1916 over national divisions, as the separate national parties that composed it did not maintain a unified front against the [[World War I|war]], instead generally supporting their respective nation's role. Lenin thus created the [[Third International]] (Comintern) in 1919 and sent the [[Twenty-one Conditions]], which included [[democratic centralism]], to all European [[Democratic socialism|socialist parties]] willing to adhere. In France, for example, the majority of the [[French Section of the Workers' International]] (SFIO) party split in 1921 to form the [[French Communist Party|French Section of the Communist International]] (SFIC).{{Citation needed|date=April 2008}} Henceforth, the term "Communism" was applied to the objective of the parties founded under the umbrella of the Comintern. Their program called for the uniting of workers of the world for revolution, which would be followed by the establishment of a [[dictatorship of the proletariat]] as well as the development of a [[Socialist economics|socialist economy]]. Ultimately, if their program held, there would develop a harmonious classless society, with the [[withering away of the state]].{{Citation needed|date=April 2008}}
 
−
 
 
−
[[File:Sino-Soviet split 1980.svg|thumb|right|300px|A map of countries who declared themselves to be socialist states under the Marxist-Leninist or Maoist definition (in other words, "communist states") in 1980. The map also includes Communist alignment: either to the Soviet Union, China or independent]]
 
−
During the [[Russian Civil War]] (1918–1922), the Bolsheviks [[nationalization|nationalized]] all productive property and imposed a policy of ''[[war communism]]'', which put factories and railroads under strict government control, collected and rationed food, and introduced some bourgeois management of industry. After three years of war and the 1921 [[Kronstadt rebellion]], Lenin declared the [[New Economic Policy]] (NEP) in 1921, which was to give a "limited place for a limited time to capitalism." The NEP lasted until 1928, when [[Joseph Stalin]] achieved party leadership, and the introduction of the first Five Year Plan spelled the end of it. Following the Russian Civil War, the Bolsheviks formed in 1922 the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), or [[Soviet Union]], from the former [[Russian Empire]].
 
−
 
 
−
Following Lenin's democratic centralism, the Communist parties were organized on a hierarchical basis, with active cells of members as the broad base; they were made up only of elite [[cadre]]s 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>
 
−
 
 
−
After [[World War II]], Communists consolidated power in [[Eastern Europe]], and in 1949, the [[Communist Party of China]] (CPC) led by [[Mao Zedong]] established the [[People's Republic of China]], which would later follow its own ideological path of Communist development.{{Citation needed|date=April 2008}} [[Cuba]], [[North Korea]], [[Vietnam]], [[Laos]], [[Cambodia]], [[Angola]], and [[Mozambique]] were among the other countries in the [[Third World]] that adopted or imposed a pro-Communist government at some point. Although never formally unified as a single political entity, by the early 1980s almost one-third of the world's population lived in [[Communist state]]s, including the former [[Soviet Union]] and [[People's Republic of China]]. By comparison, the [[British Empire]] had ruled up to one-quarter of the world's population at its greatest extent.<ref>{{cite news |last=Hildreth |first=Jeremy |title=The British Empire's Lessons for Our own |url=http://online.wsj.com/article/SB111870387824258558.html |work=[[The Wall Street Journal]] |date=2005-06-14 |accessdate=2009-10-18}}</ref>
 
−
 
 
−
Communist states such as the Soviet Union and China succeeded in becoming industrial and technological powers, challenging the capitalists' powers in the [[arms race]] and [[space race]] and military conflicts.
 
−
 
 
−
===Cold War years===
 
−
[[File:Sputnik-stamp-ussr.jpg|right|150px|thumb|USSR postage stamp depicting the [[communist state]] launching the first artificial satellite [[Sputnik 1]].]]
 
−
 
 
−
By virtue of the Soviet Union's victory in the [[World War II|Second World War]] in 1945, the [[Red Army|Soviet Army]] had occupied nations in both [[Eastern Europe]] and [[East Asia]]; as a result, communism as a movement spread to many new countries. This expansion of communism both in Europe and Asia gave rise to a few different branches of its own, such as [[Maoism]].{{Citation needed|date=April 2008}}
 
−
 
 
−
Communism had been vastly strengthened by the winning of many new nations into the sphere of Soviet influence and strength in Eastern Europe. Governments modeled on Soviet Communism took power with Soviet assistance in [[Bulgaria]], [[Czechoslovakia]], [[East Germany]], [[Poland]], [[Hungary]] and [[Romania]]. A Communist 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]]. [[Titoism]], a new branch in the world communist movement, was labeled ''[[deviationism|deviationist]]''. [[Albania]] also became an independent Communist nation after World War II.{{Citation needed|date=April 2008}}
 
−
 
 
−
By 1950, the [[Communist Party of China|Chinese Communists]] held all of [[Mainland China]], thus controlling the most populous nation in the world. Other areas where rising Communist strength provoked dissension and in some cases led to actual fighting through conventional and [[guerrilla warfare]] include the [[Korean War]], [[Laos]], many nations of the [[Middle East]] and [[Africa]], and notably succeeded in the case of the [[Vietnam War]] against the [[Armed forces|military power]] of the United States and its allies. With varying degrees of success, Communists attempted to unite with [[nationalism|nationalist]] and [[socialism|socialist]] forces against what they saw as [[Western world|Western]] [[imperialism]] in these poor countries.
 
−
 
 
−
===Fear of communism===
 
−
[[File:Is this tomorrow.jpg|thumb|left|150px|A 1947 [[propaganda]] book published by the Catechetical Guild Educational Society "warning of the dangers" of a Communist takeover.]]
 
−
{{Main|Red Scare}}
 
−
 
 
−
With the exception of the Soviet Union's, China's and the [[Italian resistance movement]]'s great contribution in [[World War II]], communism was seen as a rival, and a threat to western democracies and capitalism for most of the twentieth century.{{Citation needed|date=November 2009}} This rivalry peaked during the [[Cold War]], as the world's two remaining superpowers, the United States and the Soviet Union, polarized most of the world into two camps of nations (characterized in the West as "The Free World" vs. "Behind the Iron Curtain"); supported the spread of their economic and political systems (capitalism and democracy vs. communism); strengthened their military power, developed new weapon systems and stockpiled [[nuclear weapon]]s; competed with each other in space exploration; and even fought each other through proxy client nations.
 
−
 
 
−
Near the beginning of the Cold War, on February 9, 1950, Senator [[Joseph McCarthy]] from [[Wisconsin]] accused 205 Americans working in the [[United States Department of State|State Department]] of being "card-carrying Communists".<ref>{{cite book |title=Without Precedent |last=Adams |first=John G. |year=1983 |publisher=W. W. Norton & Company |location=New York, N.Y. |isbn=0-393-01616-1
 
−
|page=285}}</ref> The fear of communism in the U.S. spurred aggressive investigations and the [[red-baiting]], [[blacklist]]ing, jailing and deportation of people suspected of following Communist or other left-wing ideology. Many famous actors and writers were put on a "blacklist" from 1950 to 1954, which meant they would not be hired and would be subject to public disdain.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |title=The Hollywood Blacklist |last=Georgakas |first=Dan |encyclopedia=Encyclopedia of the American Left |publisher=University of Illinois Press |year=1992}}</ref>
 
−
 
 
−
===After the collapse of the Soviet Union===
 
−
[[File:Sino-Soviet split 2008.svg|thumb|right|300px|A map of countries who declare themselves to be socialist states under the Marxist-Leninist or Maoist definition (in other words, "communist states") today. The map also includes Communist alignment: either to China or independent]]
 
−
 
 
−
In 1985, [[Mikhail Gorbachev]] became leader of the Soviet Union and relaxed central control, in accordance with reform policies of [[glasnost]] (openness) and [[perestroika]] (restructuring). The Soviet Union did not intervene as [[Poland]], [[East Germany]], [[Czechoslovakia]], [[Bulgaria]], [[Romania]], and [[Hungary]] all abandoned Communist rule by 1990. In 1991, the Soviet Union itself dissolved.
 
−
 
 
−
By the beginning of the 21st century, states controlled by Communist parties under a single-party system include the [[People's Republic of China]], [[Cuba]], [[Laos]], [[Vietnam]], and informally [[North Korea]]. Communist parties, or their descendant parties, remain politically important in many countries. President [[Dimitris Christofias]] of [[Cyprus]] is a member of the [[Progressive Party of Working People]], but the country is not run under single-party rule. In [[South Africa]], the [[SACP|Communist Party]] is a partner in the [[African National Congress|ANC]]-led government. In [[India]], communists lead the governments of three [[states and territories of India|states]], with a combined population of more than 115 million. In [[Nepal]], communists hold a majority in the [[Nepalese Constituent Assembly|parliament]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.economist.com/displaystory.cfm?story_id=11057207&fsrc=nwl |title=Nepal's election The Maoists triumph Economist.com |publisher=Economist.com |date=2008-04-17 |accessdate=2009-10-18}}</ref>
 
−
 
 
−
The People's Republic of China has reassessed many aspects of the Maoist legacy; and the People's Republic of China, Laos, Vietnam, and, to a far lesser degree, Cuba have reduced state control of the economy in order to stimulate growth. The People's Republic of China runs [[Special Economic Zone]]s dedicated to market-oriented enterprise, free from [[central government]] control. Several other communist states have also attempted to implement market-based reforms, including Vietnam.
 
−
[[File:Kerala communist tableaux.jpg|thumb|left|150px|A [[tableau vivant|tableau]] in a communist rally in [[Kerala]], [[India]], of a young farmer and worker.]]
 
−
 
 
−
Theories within Marxism as to why communism in Eastern Europe was not achieved after socialist revolutions pointed to such elements as the pressure of external capitalist states, the relative backwardness of the societies in which the revolutions occurred, and the emergence of a bureaucratic stratum or class that arrested or diverted the transition press in its own interests. (Scott and Marshall, 2005) Marxist critics of the Soviet Union, most notably Trotsky, referred to the [[Politics of the Soviet Union|Soviet system]], along with other Communist states, as "[[degenerated workers' state|degenerated]]" or "[[deformed workers' state]]s", arguing that the Soviet system fell far short of Marx's communist ideal and he claimed the [[working class]] was politically dispossessed. The ruling stratum of the Soviet Union was held to be a bureaucratic [[caste]], but not a new [[ruling class]], despite their political control. Anarchists who adhere to [[Participatory economics]] claim that the Soviet Union became dominated by powerful intellectual elites who in a capitalist system crown the proletariat’s labor on behalf of the bourgeoisie.
 
−
 
 
−
Non-Marxists, in contrast, have often applied the term to any society ruled by a Communist Party and to any party aspiring to create a society similar to such existing [[Nation state|nation-state]]s. In the [[social sciences]], societies ruled by Communist Parties are distinct for their single party control and their socialist economic bases. While some social and [[List of political scientists|political scientists]] applied the concept of "[[totalitarianism]]" to these societies, others identified possibilities for independent political activity within them,<ref>{{cite journal |author=H. Gordon Skilling |month=April | year=1966 |title=Interest Groups and Communist Politics |journal=World Politics |volume=18 |issue=3 |pages=435–451 |doi=10.2307/2009764}}?UNIQ3ab34e171166e61b-HTMLCommentStrip7c7dfbc41ccbeb7000000002</ref><ref>{{cite book |author=[[J. Arch Getty]] |year=1985 |title=Origins of the Great Purges: The Soviet Communist Party Reconsidered: 1933–1938 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-33570-6}}</ref> and stressed their continued evolution up to the point of the dissolution of the Soviet Union and its allies in Eastern Europe during the late 1980s and early 1990s.{{Citation needed|date=December 2008}}
 
−
 
 
−
Today, Marxist revolutionaries are conducting armed insurgencies in [[India]], [[Philippines]], [[Peru]], [[Bangladesh]], [[Iran]], [[Turkey]], and [[Colombia]].
 
−
 
 
−
==Criticism==
 
−
{{Main|Criticisms of communism|anti-communism}}
 
−
 
 
−
A diverse array of writers and political activists have published [[criticisms of communism|criticism of communism]], such as:
 
−
* Soviet bloc dissidents [[Lech Wałęsa]], [[Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn]] and [[Václav Havel]];
 
−
* Social theorists [[Hannah Arendt]], [[Raymond Aron]], [[Ralf Dahrendorf]], [[Seymour Martin Lipset]], and [[Karl August Wittfogel|Karl Wittfogel]];
 
−
* Economists [[Ludwig von Mises]], [[Friedrich Hayek]], and [[Milton Friedman]];
 
−
* Historians and social scientists [[Robert Conquest]], [[Stéphane Courtois]], [[Richard Pipes]], and [[R. J. Rummel]];
 
−
* [[Anti-Stalinist left]]ists [[Ignazio Silone]], [[George Orwell]], [[Saul Alinsky]], [[Richard Wright (author)|Richard Wright]], [[Arthur Koestler]], and [[Bernard-Henri Levy]];
 
−
* Russian-born novelist and philosopher [[Ayn Rand]]
 
−
* Philosophers [[Leszek Kołakowski]] and [[Karl Popper]].
 
−
 
 
−
Part of this criticism is on the policies adopted by one-party states ruled by Communist parties (known as "[[Communist state]]s"). Critics are specially focused on their economic performance compared to market based economies. Their [[human rights]] records are thought to be responsible for the flight of refugees from communist states, and are alleged by some scholars to be responsible for famines, purges and warfare resulting in deaths far in excess of previous empires, capitalist or Axis regimes.<ref>{{cite book |title= [[Red Holocaust (2009 book)|Red Holocaust]] |last= Rosefielde |first= Steven |authorlink= Steven Rosefielde |coauthors= |year= 2009 |publisher= [[Routledge]] |location= |isbn= 978-0-415-77757-5 |page= |pages= |url= |accessdate=}}</ref><ref>[[Daniel Jonah Goldhagen]]. ''Worse Than War: Genocide, Eliminationism, and the Ongoing Assault on Humanity.'' [[PublicAffairs]], 2009. ISBN 1586487698 p. 54: "...in the past century communist regimes, led and inspired by the Soviet Union and China, have killed more people than any other regime type."</ref><ref>Benjamin A. Valentino. ''Final Solutions: Mass Killing and Genocide in the Twentieth Century.'' [[Cornell University Press]], 2004. [http://books.google.com.au/books?id=LQfeXVU_EvgC&pg=PA91#v=onepage&q=&f=false p.91] ISBN 0801439655</ref>
 
−
 
 
−
Some writers, such as Courtois, argue that the actions of Communist states were the inevitable (though sometimes unintentional) result of Marxist principles;<ref>Nicolas Werth, Karel Bartošek, Jean-Louis Panne, Jean-Louis Margolin, [[Andrzej Paczkowski]], [[Stéphane Courtois]], ''[[Black Book of Communism|The Black Book of Communism: Crimes, Terror, Repression]]'', [[Harvard University Press]], 1999, hardcover, 858 pages, ISBN 978-0-674-07608-2</ref> thus, these authors present the events occurring in those countries, particularly under Stalin and Mao, as an argument against Marxism itself. Some critics were former Marxists, such as Wittfogel, who applied Marx's concept of "[[Oriental despotism]]" to Communist states such as the [[Soviet Union]],<ref>Wittfogel, Karl ''Oriental Despotism'', Vintage, 1981</ref> Silone, Wright and Koestler (among other writers) who contributed essays to the book ''[[The God that Failed]]'' (the title refers not to the [[God|Christian God]] but to Marxism).<ref> Crossman, Richard, ed., ''[[The God That Failed]]''. [[Harper & Brothers|Harper & Bros]], 1949</ref> [[Czesław Miłosz]], author of the influential essay ''[[The Captive Mind]]'', was an example of a sceptic holding a party post, that of [[cultural attaché]].<ref>[http://www.nytimes.com/2004/08/15/obituaries/15milosz.html?pagewanted=all Czeslaw Milosz, Poet and Nobelist Who Wrote of Modern Cruelties, Dies at 93], ''[[The New York Times]]'', accessed 3 January 2010.</ref>
 
−
 
 
−
There have also been more direct [[criticisms of Marxism]], such as criticisms of the [[labor theory of value]] or [[criticisms of Marxism#Marx's predictions|Marx's predictions]]. Nevertheless, Communist parties outside of the [[Warsaw Pact]], such as the Communist parties in Western Europe, Asia, Latin America, and Africa, differed greatly.
 
−
 
 
−
Economic criticisms of communal and/or government property are described under [[criticisms of socialism]].
 
−
 
 
−
==References==
 
−
{{reflist|colwidth=30em}}
 
−
 
 
−
==Further reading==
 
−
* [http://www.marxist.com/rircontents-5.htm Reason in Revolt: Marxism and Modern Science By Alan Woods and Ted Grant]
 
−
* Forman, James D., "Communism from Marx's Manifesto to 20th century Reality", New York, Watts. 1972. ISBN 978-0-531-02571-0
 
−
* [http://www.marxist.com/marxist-books.htm Books on Communism, Socialism and Trotskyism]
 
−
* [[François Furet|Furet, Francois]], Furet, 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
 
−
* 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
 
−
* [[Karl Marx|Marx, Karl]] and [[Friedrich Engels]], "Communist Manifesto", (Mass Market Paperback - REPRINT), Signet Classics, 1998, ISBN 978-0-451-52710-3
 
−
* Dirlik, Arif, "Origins of Chinese Communism", Oxford University Press, 1989, ISBN 978-0-19-505454-5
 
−
* Beer, Max, "The General [[History of socialism|History of Socialism]] and Social Struggles Volumes 1 & 2", New York, Russel and Russel, Inc. 1957
 
−
* Adami, Stefano, 'Communism', in Encyclopedia of Italian [[Literary criticism|Literary Studies]], ed. Gaetana Marrone - P.Puppa, Routledge, New York- London, 2006
 
  
 
==External links==
 
==External links==
−
{{Commonscat|Communism}}
+
*[http://www.memorialsighet.ro/en/colectie.asp?id=3 Memorial to the Victims of Communism and the Resistance]
−
{{Wikiquote|Communism}}
+
*[http://www.aim.org/wls/category/communism/ What Liberals Say - Category: Communism], [[Accuracy In Media]]
−
{{Wiktionary|communism}}
 
−
* [http://www.europarl.europa.eu/news/expert/infopress_page/019-53246-091-04-14-902-20090401IPR53245-01-04-2009-2009-false/default_en.htm European Parliament resolution on European conscience and totalitarianism]
 
−
* [http://www.marxist.com/ In Defense of Marxism]
 
−
* [http://dwardmac.pitzer.edu/anarchist_archives/index.html Anarchy Archives] Includes the works of anarchist communists.
 
−
* [http://www.libcom.org/library Libertarian Communist Library]
 
−
* [http://www.marxists.org/ Marxists Internet Archive]
 
−
* [http://www.marxist.net/ Marxist.net]
 
−
* [http://www.wumingfoundation.com/english/outtakes/communism.htm The Mu Particle in "Communism"], a short etymological essay by [[Wu Ming]].
 
−
* [http://www.osaarchivum.org/guide/fonds/communismandcoldwar.shtml Open Society Archives], one of the biggest history of communism and cold war archives in the world.
 
−
* [http://www.quran-miracle.info/Quran-Communism.htm Islam and Communism]
 
  
−
<!--spacing, please do not remove-->
 
−
{{Template group
 
−
|list =
 
−
{{Political ideologies}}
 
−
{{Communism}}
 
−
}}
 
  
 
[[Category:Communism]]
 
[[Category:Communism]]
−
[[Category:Economic ideologies]]
+
[[Category:Forms of Government]]
−
[[Category:Far-left politics]]
 
−
[[Category:Political ideologies]]
 
−
[[Category:Political culture]]
 
−
 
 
−
{{Link FA|cs}}
 
−
{{Link FA|yi}}
 
−
<!--Interwikis-->
 
−
 
 
−
[[af:Kommunisme]]
 
−
[[ar:شيوعية]]
 
−
[[an:Comunismo]]
 
−
[[ast:Comunismu]]
 
−
[[az:Kommunizm]]
 
−
[[bn:কমিউনিজম]]
 
−
[[zh-min-nan:Kiōng-sán-chú-gī]]
 
−
[[be:Камунізм]]
 
−
[[be-x-old:Камунізм]]
 
−
[[bs:Komunizam]]
 
−
[[br:Komunouriezh]]
 
−
[[bg:Комунизъм]]
 
−
[[ca:Comunisme]]
 
−
[[cs:Komunismus]]
 
−
[[cy:Comiwnyddiaeth]]
 
−
[[da:Kommunisme]]
 
−
[[de:Kommunismus]]
 
−
[[et:Kommunism]]
 
−
[[el:Κομμουνισμός]]
 
−
[[es:Comunismo]]
 
−
[[eo:Komunismo]]
 
−
[[eu:Komunismo]]
 
−
[[fa:کمونیسم]]
 
−
[[fo:Kommunisma]]
 
−
[[fr:Communisme]]
 
−
[[fy:Kommunisme]]
 
−
[[ga:Cumannachas]]
 
−
[[gl:Comunismo]]
 
−
[[gan:共產主義]]
 
−
[[ko:공산주의]]
 
−
[[hi:साम्यवाद]]
 
−
[[hr:Komunizam]]
 
−
[[io:Komunismo]]
 
−
[[id:Komunisme]]
 
−
[[is:Kommúnismi]]
 
−
[[it:Comunismo]]
 
−
[[he:קומוניזם]]
 
−
[[jv:Komunisme]]
 
−
[[kn:ಕಮ್ಯೂನಿಸಮ್]]
 
−
[[ka:კომუნიზმი]]
 
−
[[sw:Ukomunisti]]
 
−
[[ku:Komûnîzm]]
 
−
[[la:Communismus]]
 
−
[[lv:Komunisms]]
 
−
[[lb:Kommunismus]]
 
−
[[lt:Komunizmas]]
 
−
[[li:Communisme]]
 
−
[[ln:Komynisimɛ]]
 
−
[[jbo:kaurpo'esi'o]]
 
−
[[hu:Kommunizmus]]
 
−
[[mk:Комунизам]]
 
−
[[ml:കമ്യൂണിസം]]
 
−
[[mr:साम्यवाद]]
 
−
[[ms:Komunisme]]
 
−
[[mwl:Quemunismo]]
 
−
[[my:ကွန်မြူနစ်ဝါဒ]]
 
−
[[nl:Communisme]]
 
−
[[nds-nl:Kommunisme]]
 
−
[[ne:साम्यवाद]]
 
−
[[ja:共産主義]]
 
−
[[no:Kommunisme]]
 
−
[[nn:Kommunisme]]
 
−
[[nrm:Commeunisme]]
 
−
[[oc:Comunisme]]
 
−
[[nds:Kommunismus]]
 
−
[[pl:Komunizm]]
 
−
[[pt:Comunismo]]
 
−
[[ro:Comunism]]
 
−
[[qu:Kumunismu]]
 
−
[[ru:Коммунизм]]
 
−
[[sah:Коммунизм]]
 
−
[[stq:Kommunismus]]
 
−
[[st:Bokominisi]]
 
−
[[sq:Komunizmi]]
 
−
[[scn:Cumunismu]]
 
−
[[si:සමසමාජවාදය]]
 
−
[[simple:Communism]]
 
−
[[sk:Komunizmus]]
 
−
[[sl:Komunizem]]
 
−
[[sr:Комунизам]]
 
−
[[sh:Komunizam]]
 
−
[[fi:Kommunismi]]
 
−
[[sv:Kommunism]]
 
−
[[tl:Komunismo]]
 
−
[[ta:பொதுவுடமை]]
 
−
[[te:కమ్యూనిజం]]
 
−
[[th:คอมมิวนิสต์]]
 
−
[[tr:Komünizm]]
 
−
[[uk:Комунізм]]
 
−
[[vec:Comunismo]]
 
−
[[vi:Chủ nghĩa cộng sản]]
 
−
[[fiu-vro:Kommunism]]
 
−
[[zh-classical:共產主義]]
 
−
[[war:Komunismo]]
 
−
[[wuu:共产主义]]
 
−
[[yi:קאמוניזם]]
 
−
[[zh-yue:共產主義]]
 
−
[[bat-smg:Kuomonėzmos]]
 
−
[[zh:共产主义]]
 

Revision as of 15:58, February 22, 2010

A monument to the Captive Nations stands at the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation in Washington, D.C.

Communism is a materialistic and militantly atheistic 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 ownership of the means of production with "collective ownership" (actually nationalization).

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 Nomenklatura.

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.[1][2][3][4][5][6] 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 communism caused the death of approximately 110,286,000 people between 1917 and 1987.[7]

President Ronald Reagan in an address before the British House of Commons said,

“ 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.[8] ”

Today, communism continues to rule over at least one-fifth of the world's people.[9]


Communist theory and practice

The hammer and sickle is considered throughout much of the world to be offensive in the same manner as the swastika is.

Communism is based upon Marxism, a philosophy which uses materialism to explain all physical and social phenomena.

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 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 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 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.

Communism and militant atheism

Karl Marx established atheism as a key part of communism. He famously said, "Religion ... is the opium of the masses."[10] 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."[11]

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."[12]

In 1955, Chinese communist leader Chou En-lai declared, "We Communists are atheists".[13]

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.[14][15][16][17][18][19][20]

Marxists justification for its persecution of the Russian Orthodox Church was based upon the claim that the Church was a "willing tool of Tsarism."[21]

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. [22]

During the late 1930's and later 1940's 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 through out 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 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." [23]

Atrocities and Repression

Exhumed skeletons of class war victims murdered by communists.[24] Apologists maintain communism has never really been tried.

Communist regimes have engaged in mass killings on a scale of millions of individuals.[25] 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.[26] This book is fairly controversial partly due to the various estimates regarding the millions of people who died under communist regimes.[27][28][29] [30][31]

Similarly, a 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.[32] In 1983, Alexander Solzhenitsyn in which he gave his explanation of the cause of why millions of people died under Russian communism:

"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."[33]

In communist North Korea, abuse and killing in prison camps is occurring today.[34][35] In addition, the North Korean government practices brutal repression and atrocities against North Korean Christians.[36][37]

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."[38] In 2003, owners of Bibles in China were sent to prison camps and 125 Chinese churches were closed.[39] China continues to practice religious oppression today.[40]

Communists cite scripture

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:

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)
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,

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.[41]

Cummunisms shared totalitarian ideals with facism and nazism

Adolf Hitler noted that Communists made excellent converts to Nazism, because the same personality type was attracted to both. "[T]here is more that binds us to 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-Democrat and the trade-union boss will never make a National Socialist, but the Communists always will."[42] Josef Stalin also recognized that ex-Nazis and ex-fascists 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, 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."[43]

Cuban communism

Cuba remains a communist state controlled by the Castro brothers since 1960 and under U.S economic sanctions.

Asian communism

The CCP in China retains an autocratic regime controlled by the Communist 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.

North Korea remains a brutal dictatorship controlled by the same family. Laos, and Vietnam are also run by the old Communist cliques.

Collapse of the Soviet bloc

The shooting down by the Soviets on Sept. 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 West and communist states, was torn down largely in response to Ronald Reagan in 1989, and there was also a large revolution against Romanian dictator Nicolaie Ceausescu. In 1991, the USSR broke up into several countries - each 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.

American 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 Eastern Europe left the United States in a near unchallenged position of world leadership." Mitchell continued,

“ 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. ”

Criticizing U.S. actions in the First Gulf War, Mitchell stated,

“ 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 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. ”

Notorious communists

Well known communists include:

Further reading

  • Pipes, Richard. Communism: A History (2003), by a leading conservative historian
    • Pipes, Richard. History of Communism: A Brief History (2002)
  • Priestland, David. The Red Flag: A History of Communism (2009)
  • 100 Things You Should Know About Communism

See also

Notes and references

  1. ↑ The Black Book of Communism
  2. ↑ The Black Book of Communism
  3. ↑ http://www.hawaii.edu/powerkills/COM.ART.HTM
  4. ↑ Source List and Detailed Death Tolls for the Twentieth Century Hemoclysm
  5. ↑ Memory and Ideology
  6. ↑ The Black Book of Communism: Crimes, Terror, Repression
  7. ↑ http://www.hawaii.edu/powerkills/COM.ART.HTM
  8. ↑ President Ronald Reagan Speech to the British Parliament, June 8, 1982. Retrieved from International Republican Institute 05/24/07.
  9. ↑ Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation, Documenting Communism's Crimes Against Humanity.
  10. ↑ Marx, K. Introduction to A Contribution to the Critique of Hegel's Philosophy of Right (Classic Quotations) (Standard translation from the original German).
  11. ↑ Marx, Karl, Private Property and Communism, 1944.
  12. ↑ Lenin, Vladimir Ilyich, Proletary, No. 45, May 13 (26), 1909, translated by Andrew Rothstein and Bernard Issacs, quote from [1].
  13. ↑ Noebel, David, The Battle for Truth, Harvest House, 2001.
  14. ↑ http://www.academia.org/campus_reports/2000/March_2000_4.html
  15. ↑ http://www.orthodoxinfo.com/ecumenism/frroman1.aspx
  16. ↑ http://www.nysun.com/article/23082?page_no=1
  17. ↑ http://www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2003/5/7/120250.shtml
  18. ↑ http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1058/is_26_116/ai_56249447
  19. ↑ http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=35818
  20. ↑ http://theworldnow.wordpress.com/tag/around-the-world/asia/china/
  21. ↑ http://www.marxist.com/religion-soviet-union170406-6.htm
  22. ↑ http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-42047/Union-of-Soviet-Socialist-Republics#277888.hook
  23. ↑ Stride Toward Freedom : The Montgomery Story, Martin Luther King, Jr., Harper and Rowe, New York, 1958, p. 92.
  24. ↑ [http://www.mega.nu/ampp/rummel/rm1.stalin.kill.htm.
  25. ↑ http://www.gmu.edu/departments/economics/bcaplan/museum/comfaq.htm#part3
  26. ↑ http://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog/COUBLA.html
  27. ↑ http://dspace.dial.pipex.com/finalconflict/fcrevb102.html
  28. ↑ http://www.fas.harvard.edu/~hpcws/lelivrenoir.htm
  29. ↑ http://users.erols.com/mwhite28/warstat1.htm
  30. ↑ http://www.sarasotamagazine.com/blog/template_permalink.asp?id=365
  31. ↑ http://www.firstthings.com/article.php3?id_article=2526
  32. ↑ http://www.nytimes.com/books/98/03/01/home/solz-gulag.html
  33. ↑ http://www.icr.org/index.php?module=articles&action=view&ID=276
  34. ↑ http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=5596
  35. ↑ http://www.kimsoft.com/korea/nkdefec3.htm
  36. ↑ http://www.nysun.com/article/23082?page_no=1
  37. ↑ http://www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2003/5/7/120250.shtml
  38. ↑ http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1058/is_26_116/ai_56249447
  39. ↑ http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=35818
  40. ↑ http://theworldnow.wordpress.com/tag/around-the-world/asia/china/
  41. ↑ Arnold Toynbee, A Study of History, Annex II to Vol. V, Part C (i) (c) 2, p. 585, Marxism, Socialism, and Christianity.
  42. ↑ quoted in Hermann Rauschning, Hitler Speaks
  43. ↑ http://www.lietuvos.org/istorija/communism/

External links

Retrieved from "https://www.conservapedia.com/index.php?title=Communism&oldid=756214"