What is Communism?
As it is defined today, communism is "a system in
which goods are owned in common and are available to all as needed." "Communism"
is the oldest term which is associated with Marxism and Socialism, and
dates back to prehistoric times with Plato's idea of "the people" communally
living off of the land. Karl Marx believed that communism would start out
in a primitive form and progressively mature through time, eventually resulting
in pure communism aka socialism. Just as communism comes in the "primitive"
and "pure" varieties, it is true that even the final stage of communism,
socialism, also comes in two common varieties. These varieties are "utopian"
and "Marxian." Although it is clear that pure communism and Marxian socialism
are analogous, primitive communism and utopian socialism are not necessarily
the same. Both would be starting points in Marx's eyes, but are still different
in substance.
4 Key Contributors to Our Understanding of Communism
Karl Marx
Karl Marx is one of the earliest thinkers within
the boundaries of the ideology of communism. Heavily influenced by Hegel,
Marx saw "communism" as a progressive movement towards a goal society run
under socialism. The following are two quotes which exemplify his thought:
"...When analyzing the production of relative
surplus value: within the capitalist system all methods for raising the
social productiveness of labor are brought about at the cost of the individual
laborer; all means for the development of production transform themselves
into means of domination over, and exploitation of, the producers; they
mutilate the laborer into a fragment of a man, degrade him to the level
of an appendage of a machine, destroy every remnant of charm in his work
and turn it into a hated toil; they estrange from him the intellectual
potentialities of the labor-process in the same proportion as science is
incorporated in it as an independent power; they distort the conditions
under which he works, subject him during the labor-process to a despotism
the more hateful for its meanness; they transform his lifetime into working
time, and drag his wife and child beneath the wheels of the juggernaut
of capital." -Karl Marx, Das Capital
"Let the ruling classes tremble at a Communist
revolution. The proletarians have nothing to lose but their chains. They
have a world to win. Workingmen of all countries, unite!" -Karl Marx, The
Communist Manifesto
The following are three good, scholarly links which
cover Marx and Marxism in greater depth:
Josef Stalin
Josef Stalin was a ruthless leader who wasn't afraid
to shed the blood of his subjects for the sake of creating a better Russia
in his eyes. His idea of communism was particularly cruel and greatly aided
the adoption of the negative stigma which communism carries with it today.
The following are some quites that capture his political thought:
"A single death is a tragedy, a million deaths
is a statistic." - Josef Stalin
"The front of capital will be pierced where the
chain of imperialism is weakest, for the proletarian revolution is the
result of the breaking of the chain of the world imperialist front at its
weakest link; and it may turn out that the country which has started the
revolution, which has made a breach in the front of capital, is less developed
in a capitalist sense than other more developed countries which have forever
remained within the framework of capitalism." -Josef Stalin
The following is a link which further explores Stalin
and his beliefs:
Mao Zedong
Mao Zedong, who is credited with the unification
of the People's Republic and being the leader of the greatest social revolution
in history, was one of the three peasants to rise to rule China in a single
lifetime. His almost humanitarian approach to communism brought together
a nation to make it worlds more powerful than it had ever been before.
A quote which captures Mao's character well is the following:
"Revolutions and revolutionary wars are inevitable
in class society and without them, it is impossible to accomplish any leap
in social development and to overthrow the reactionary ruling classes and
therefore impossible for the people to win political power." -Mao Zedong,
"On Contradiction" Selected Works, Vol 1, p 344
Some good links for further study on Mao Zedong are:
VI Lenin
For information concerning VI Lenin, please click
here.
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