Communism

A 20th-century social theory and political movement based on Marxist philosophies and the collective control of society. Fundamentally, communism is a theoretical economic system that calls for the collective [Page 143]ownership of property and the organization of labor for the common advantage of all members. The movement was a reaction to the extreme poverty of the lower classes in Europe and a rejection of capitalism in the 18th and 19th centuries.

Roots of Communism

The modern capitalist system was a product of the Industrial Revolution, which many social critics blamed for the appalling environment of the working-class poor. The low wages, long hours, and horrid working conditions that prevailed under early capitalism gave rise to modern communism. As social unrest grew, a broad span of protest theories emerged to challenge the status quo. In the early 19th century, ardent opponents of industrial society aroused a host of critics and idealistic revolutionaries. In Germany, France, and Italy, revolutionary societies burst forth to call for the overthrow of established governments and the formation of a new society that would reject the notion of private property in favor of collective ownership for the public good. It was in the context of these movements that the terms “communism” and “socialism” were used initially. At first vague and often times interchangeable, socialism became associated primarily with the notion of a strong state as the owner of all means of production, whereas communism stood for the abolition of all private property.

In 1848, Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels published The Communist Manifesto, which outlined the theory of communism. With its publication, Marxist doctrine took its place among unique political thought, and its sociopolitical views unleashed the greatest upheavals of the 19th and 20th centuries. The Communist Manifesto assumes the inevitability of a communist society. Marxism states that in every stage of history, the productive forces of the prevailing economic system determine social relationships. These social relationships are divided along class lines, which are drawn according to whether members of a particular class are exploited or responsible for the exploitation. Inherent in Marxism is the concept that history moves in one direction toward full communism, and as it moves, it sheds its imperfections until it reaches a historical stage unimpeded by class differences and formal organs of the state. The final stage of full communism is a stateless, classless society.

During the mid-19th century, Marxist theories and programs came to dominate left-wing thought. Although The Communist Manifesto was written for the Communist League (the first international communist organization), the Marxist movement went forward under the name of socialism. Communism applies to the movement that calls for the end of the capitalist order through revolution rather than evolutionary means. In this sense, communism is to be distinguished from socialism, which (as the term is commonly understood) seeks similar ends but without the chaos of revolt. The Marxist-Leninist version of communist doctrine advocates the overthrow of capitalism by the revolution of the proletariat, the working class. The contribution of Russian revolutionary Vladimir Lenin to Marxist doctrine seems to defy Marx's own cautionary tone and words: “Man makes history, but not of his own choosing.”

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