The Pros And Cons Of Communism

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While China and the Soviet Union are regarded as successful manifestations of the communist model, they possess institutional inconsistencies and tensions which caused them to stray from Marxist ideology. Over time, the leaders of these nations adapted the Marxist ideology into unique political systems with varying degrees of deviance. Vladimir Lenin’s revolutionary take on communism permanently altered the global interpretation of the ideology, and today’s communism is a direct product of his vision for the Soviet Union. Furthermore, today’s surviving communist superpower, The People’s Republic of China, possesses a form of communist ideology which would be unrecognizable to a Marxist thinker. Ultimately, Marxism as an ideology and communism …show more content…

Politically, despite the CCP’s attempts to model the success of the Communist Party in Russia, certain missteps by Chinese leaders prove the tension that exists between Marxism as an ideology and communism as a political reality. Mao’s Great Leap Forward points to the tensions which arise when attempting to properly execute the Marxist ideology. Due to the inability to plan the natural phenomenon of agriculture, Chinese society struggled immensely due to the attempt at collectivization and industrialization of the economy. Moreover, the death of Mao points to yet another tension between Marxism and communist political structures: chance. The timing of Mao’s death, coupled with his lack of a formal successor, led to Deng’s rise to power and the liberalization which he allowed. Therefore, because of certain aspects of society that cannot be planned—the failure of crops or the death of a leader—Marxism cannot be wholly executed in reality. In recent times, despite maintaining its status as a communist nation, China has become a capitalist superpower—falling into the ease of free-market exchange and

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