Communism is the belief that everyone in a society should be equal and
share their wealth. It is an outgrowth of socialism and Anabaptism (Laski 45).
It became a firmly rooted term after the Russian Revolution of 1917. According
to the words of Karl Marx, "From each according to his ability, to each
according to his needs" 1. These theories were spread by
Karl Marx. He believed that what a person made of himself reflected his effort
(McLellan 1). He also believed that communism, or the state of equality was
ones "final stage in life" (Leone 1).
Communism basically started in 1847, with the formation of the London
Communist League. This was an international association of worker, whose sole
purpose was to write a "theoretical and practical program which would serve as
the basis for uniting the working classes of Europe" (Leone 1). The London
Communist League asked Marx for help in drafting a document to represent their
standings. He composed the "Communist Manifesto" or "The Manifesto of the
Communist Party" (Leone 1).
The Russian Revolution helped foster communism. The Russian Revolution
started with the with the assassination of Rasputin. In March of 1917, the Duma
declares a prvisional government, including czars. During this period, there
were also massive strikes by the workers. It was furthered by the abdication of
Czar Nicholas. The Russian Revolution itself occured throughout 1917, with the
start of the March Revolution. In April of 1917, Lenin return from exil in
Switerland and denounced the established provisional government. The next
general step was the gaining of the seats in the Petograd Soviet Parliment by
the Bolsheviks. The Bolsheviks picked Lenin to then head the government, just
several days after the November Revolution. During this revolution the peasants
storm the palace, taking total control of the government. At this point, the
power was given to Lenin. Almost immediatly he issued the New Economic Plan,
which instituted the one party system or communism. They basicaly supported the
basic communist theories of Karl Marx, as interpreted by Lenin. He installed
many of his beliefs and helped reorganize the people, and essentially
emmancipatte the working class. He also is credited with the creation of the
S...
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.... The economic state of China made it much more profitable
for a peasant to work for the warlord that form the land (Shanor 95).
Because of the poor conditions, small Communist groups began to form in
China's cities. At first, they were allies with Sun Yat-Sen and his
Nationalists. But the good feelings between the two parties deteriorated
quickly after Chiang Kai-Shek, Sun's successor, ordered the Shanghai Massacre of
the Communists. Chiang spent the following years alternating between
negotiating with and fighting against the Communists. The situation became so
drastic that the Communists eventually fled during the Long March of 1934-35
(Shanor 95).
The United States, who was very Anti-Communist after WWII, supported
Chiang Kai-Shek. Over a period of four years, the US gave $2.5 billion to
support the Nationalist cause. Despite their efforts, the Communists eventually
overthrew the Nationalist government, forcing Chiang and followers to flee to
Taiwan. On October 1, 1949, Mao Zedong, the leader of the Communists,
proclaimed the country as the People's Republic of China (Shanor 96).
1 Industrial Workers of the World www.iww.org
Communism is a political theory derived from Karl Marx, advocating class war and leading to a society in which all property is publicly owned and each person works and is paid according to their abilities and needs.
have attempted different forms of government. From monarchies to anarchies, it has remained clear what manner of government works best, both for the economy and the people- a capitalist society. Capitalism breeds competition and individual accomplishments. Unfortunately Karl Marx did not feel this way when he published his short piece, The Communist Manifesto, a cry for all those in favor of a communist world to stand up and unite. According to Marx, the capitalist form of government "has torn away from the family its sentimental veil, and has reduced the family relation to a mere money relation" (82). He goes on to describe more of these crimes the government, notably the bourgeoisie, has inflicted upon the populace, the proletariat. Yet Marx proves to over-generalize himself on a majority of issues. Although communism is itself almost infallible theoretically, it simply cannot exist in the overwhelmingly competitive, capitalist world that exists today. George Orwell's Animal Farm is an exceptional example that illustrates the faults of communism. In this fictional tale similar to the Russian Revolution of the early 1900's, a group of farm animals overthrows its corrupt farmer and forms its own society. The parallels to communism become clear as all
In essence, modern communism was founded in 1917 at the height of the First World War, in Russia.4 When Vladimir Ilich Lenin, a strong left wing Marxist intellectual from Russia, was provided passage back into his exiled homeland by train through war torn Europe. The German government agreed to allow Lenin to travel from Switzerland to Russia if he agreed to wi...
In 1905 , Russia had a prerevolution that was put down of the Czar. Instead of learning from this prerevolution, Czar Nicholas II, made a very big mistake by in not introducing some reforms to correct the problems. So because of his actions, the situation grew worse. In 1917, the Russians were fighting in World War I. A good majority of the Russian people were weary and uncontent with the way the war was going and with the Czar's rule. This uncontent along with economic hardships caused riots and demonstrations to break out. The Czar called for the army to put down the revolution as they did in 1905. But the army joined the revolt and the Czar was kicked out of power soon afterwards. A temporary government was set up to decide on what kind of government Russia was gonna set up. Two political parties were set up. The Bolsheviks were one of the two. The leader of the Bolshevik party was a man named Lenin. Lenin was a firm believer of the theories and ideas of Karl Marx. So with his slogan of "Bread, Peace and Land", Lenin gained the support of the peasants and gained control of Russia and setup a communist state.
Karl Marx, author of The Communist Manifesto and Das Marx, was the originator of the political and economic theory of Scientific Socialism (modern Communism). Communism, by definition, is the complete control of major resources and the means of production by government, initially in the form of autocracy. In theory, under this system all would be equal; all would share in both work, according to their ability, and profit, according to need. According to Marx, the proletariat, or working class, would revolt against the bourgeoisie, or wealthy capitalist class, because of the stark contrast prevalent between the wealthy and poor. The new economy, run by and for the people, would produce not for profit, but for the needs of the people.
As a government, Communism was different from anything else and had distinctive goals. Though, as a whole and in simplified terms, what was Communism? Communism violently attempted to take over a country by eliminating all other political systems and the different classes of people in a socialistic way through the use of dictatorships (Ebenstein). Communism’s main goal was to spread Communism from country to country until the whole world was in a Communistic state. In their eyes, this made the world a better place, but it also removed the opposition of countries with different government systems (Overstreet). Communists did not mind going to war and losing thousands of lives if it would help to spread Communism (Communism, the Courts, and the Constitution). Under Communism, everything was owned by the government including farms and factories. This not only eliminated capitalism, but it also gave the government the power to control the countries’ food supply and other...
The Russian revolution was made with the goal of creating an egalitarian government that was based off of Karl Marx’s socialism principles. In short, they used Karl Marx’s socialist principles as a basis for their communist government that developed after the revolution.
In this paper, I am going to explore the differences between communism and socialism and how different the thoughts and opinions of these two ways of life are from the current western views on religion and God. To explain about the differences between socialism/communism and western thoughts on religion I will explore the writings of Karl Marx and Frederick Engels. They are founders and writers of a lot of the socialist and communist thoughts on religion and God. In our western society when we discuss God and religion, people for the most part are going to lean one way or another when it comes to their beliefs on religion. If you are from the western part of globe like myself the views and thoughts hinge on the belief of God as a superior being, a perfect one, one who controls everything that happens. The other side of the coin in western culture would be the atheist who does not believe in God at all. There are many other views about God and Religion that differ greatly from the views that are held throughout the western regions of the world. In a lot of the Eastern countries of the world the teaching of the Socialist and Communist parties that rule these areas of the world has influenced the views that have been passed down and taught through out the years. Communism and Socialism do not believe in the theory that there is one perfect God and that you can only receive salvation through him.
At this time in history, mankind was moving forward very rapidly, but at the price of the working-class. Wages were given sparsely, and when capital gain improved, the money payed for labour did not reflect this prosperity. This, therefore, accelerated the downfall of the proletarians and progressed towards a justifiable revolt against the oppressive middle class. The conclusion of this revolt was envisioned to be a classless society, one in which its people benefit from and that benefits from its people. The overthrow of capitalism would create a socialist society eventually flourishing into communism. Karl Heinrich Marx (1818 - 1883) was the philosophical analysis who created communism and saw it as an achievable goal. Marx denounced religion and created what were thought to be radical ideas, which resulted in the banishment from his native land of Germany and then France, eventually ending up in England.
The ideology of communism came out of the minds of two men, Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels (Marxism, 11). (Due to Marx being the more widely known influence, he will be the one most often referred to.) It was his belief that private property was the cause of the poverty and degradation of the proletariat. Therefore, he came to settle on the idea that no one person should have control over production of good, ownership of land, and management of funds. In that same token then, no one class should be allowed to have control over these things. He went on to comment that the exploitation of the working class must come to an end.
Karl Marx was born in Trier, Germany in 1818 to a Hirschel and Henrietta Marx. Due to much anti-Semitism, Hirschel changed his name to Heinrich and left his Jewish faith to become Protestant. Later on, while Marx attended Bonn University to study Law, he mainly socialized and increased his debts. When Heinrich found out about Marx’s debt, he agreed to pay off his debt on the condition that he transfers to Berlin University. After Marx transferred to Berlin University he became serious and dedicated to working hard on his studies. A lecturer known as Brüno Bauer, a strong atheist whose radical political ideas made him a well-known figure with the police. Bauer first introduced Marx to G.W.F. Hegel, a well-known author and philosopher at the University of Berlin. Marx inevitably became infatuated with Hegel’s theories thus, becoming radically political. After Heinrich passed, Marx had to become independent and earn his own living by becoming a university lecturer. When Marx finished his doctoral thesis at the University of Jena, he hoped Brüno Bauer would be able to aid him in obtaining a teaching post; however, Bauer was dismissed in 1842 for being an outspoken atheist and couldn’t help Marx.
Capitalism is an economic system in which the means of production and distribution are privately or corporately owned and development is proportionate to the accumulation and reinvestment of profits gained in a free market. Capitalism lead to great changes in banking and business for Europeans It came to Europe after the devastating black death and while Europe was suffering from poor economic growth.
The book 1984, written by George Orwell, focuses on a man named Winston Smith. Winston lives in a society where citizens are taught to hate each other and children are told to betray their parents. Fear is a part of every person’s daily lives and as if that was not enough, citizens are kept busy for the entire day so that thoughts of rebellion or things other than their leader “Big Brother” are kept at bay. If a person is to go against the rules set forth by “Big Brother” and his party then torture or worse would be implemented. This novel, written by George Orwell clearly displays how to maintain a thriving totalitarian society.
This next unit of theory is entitled "Ideology and Discourse." The theorists we're examining--Althusser, Bakhtin, and Foucault--are discussing how ideology works, and how ideologies construct subjects. All of these theorists are coming from a Marxist perspective, using ideas and terms developed in Marxist theory, though only Althusser actually claims to be a Marxist. So to start off, I want to talk a bit about some basic ideas of Marxist theory.