History of communism

Thehistory of communismencompasses a wide variety ofideologiesandpolitical movementssharing the core principles ofcommon ownershipofwealth,economic enterprise,andproperty.Most modern forms ofcommunismare grounded at least nominally inMarxism,a theory and method conceived byKarl MarxandFriedrich Engelsduring the 19th century.Marxism subsequently gained a widespread following across much of Europe, and throughout the late 1800s its militant supporters were instrumental in a number of unsuccessful revolutions on that continent.During the same era, there was also a proliferation of communist parties which rejected armed revolution, but embraced the Marxist ideal ofcollective propertyand aclassless society.

Although Marxist theory suggested thatindustrial societieswere the most suitable places forsocial revolution(either through peaceful transition or by force of arms), communism was mostly successful in underdeveloped countries with endemic poverty such as theRussian Empireand theRepublic of China.In 1917, theBolshevik Partyseized power during theRussian Revolutionand in 1922 created theSoviet Union,the world's firstself-declaredsocialist state.The Bolsheviks thoroughly embraced the concept ofproletarian internationalismandworld revolution,seeing their struggle as an international rather than a purely regional cause.This was to have a phenomenal impact on the spread of communism during the 20th century as the Soviet Union installed newMarxist–Leninistgovernments in Central and Eastern Europe followingWorld War IIand indirectly backed the ascension of others in the Americas, Asia and Africa.Pivotal to this policy was theCommunist International,also known as the Comintern, formed with the perspective of aiding and assistingcommunist partiesaround the world and fostering revolution.This was one major cause of tensions during theCold Waras theUnited Statesand its military allies equated theglobal spread of communismwithSoviet expansionismby proxy.

By 1985, one-third of the world's population lived under a Marxist–Leninist system of government in one form or another.However, there was significant debate among communist and Marxist ideologues as to whether most of these countries could be meaningfully considered Marxist at all since many of the basic components of the Marxist system werealtered and revisedby such countries.There was a rapid decline of communism in the late 1980s and early 1990s, including thedissolution of the Soviet Unionin 1991 and several otherMarxist–Leninist statesrepudiating or abolishing the ideology altogether.Later historians have proposed different explanations for this decline, including arguments that Marxist-Leninist governments failed to live up to the ideal of acommunist society,that there was a general trend towards increasingauthoritarianism,that they suffered from excessive bureaucracy, and that they had inefficiencies in their economies.As of the 21st century, only a small number of Marxist–Leninist states remain, namelyChina,Cuba,Laos,North KoreaandVietnam.With the exception of North Korea, all of these states have started allowing more economic competition while maintaining one-party rule.

Origins of communism

Communism in antiquity

Further information:Pre-Marxist communism,Primitive communism,andReligious communism

The 1st century BC Roman philosopherSenecabelieved that humans had fallen from aGolden Ageof primitive communism

Many historical groups have been considered as following forms ofcommunism.Karl Marxand other early communist theorists believed thathunter-gatherersocieties as were found in thePaleolithicthrough tohorticultural societiesas found in theChalcolithicwere essentially egalitarian and he, therefore, termed their ideology to beprimitive communism.One of the first writers to espouse a belief in the primitive communism of the past was theRomanStoicphilosopherSenecawho stated, "How happy was the primitive age when the bounties of nature lay in common...They held all nature in common which gave them secure possession of the public wealth."Because of this he believed that such primitive societies were the richest as there was no poverty.OtherGreco-Romanwriters that believed in a prehistoric humanity that practiced communism includeDiodorus Siculus,Virgil,andOvid.Similarly the earlyChurch Fathers,like their pagan predecessors, maintained that humans society had declined to its current state from a now lost egalitarian social order.

Around the late 5th century BC inAncient Greece,ideas similar to communism were becoming widespread to the extent that they were parodied by the dramatistAristophanesin his comedyThe Assemblywomenin which the women of Athens seize control of theEcclesiaor city government and abolish all private property while making the sharing of women and the collective rearing of children mandatory.Over a decade later inPlato's RepublicSocratesdeclares that an ideal state would eliminate all forms of private property among the elite of society to the extent that even children and wives are shared.He asserts that such practices would prevent internal conflict within a society and promote a sense of unity and common identity.Around AD 500 inIran,theZoroastrianpriest and reformistMazdakpurportedly founded a movement preaching religious communism while under the patronage of theSassanianKingKavad Iwho initially supported the priest and his reforms, but later had theMazdakiansrepressed and Mazdak executed.

Developments in Christian communism

Main article:Christian communism

Early Christianitysupported a form of common ownership based on the teachings in theNew Testamentwhich emphasised sharing.For example, in theBook of Actsthe passagesActs 2:44–45andActs 4:32–37state all believers held their possessions communally and would distribute goods based on need.Additionally, the related Jewish sect known as theEsseneswas committed to, "social and material egalitarianism."Despite these practices falling into decline even before the Christianization of theRoman Empire,the principles of sharing property and holding goods in common continued within the Christian traditions ofmonasticism.

From theHigh Middle Agesto theearly modern periodin Europe, various groups supportingChristian communistandcommunalistideas were occasionally adopted by reformist Christian sects. An early 12th centuryproto-Protestantgroup originating inLyon,Kingdom of Burgundy-Arlesknown as theWaldensiansheld their property in common in accordance with the Book of Acts, but were persecuted by the Catholic Church and retreated to thePiedmont.Some Waldensians led a schism after they felt the group's leader was becomingauthoritarian.With the rise of theMendicant Ordersin the 13th century groups such as theFranciscansbegan challenging the concept of private property to the extent it had to be defended byPope John XXIIin his 1328 papal bullQuia vir reprobus,in which he ruled that because God had gifted Adam with the Earth as his domain, the ownership of property was divinely sanctioned.Also beginning in the 13th century alay orderknown as theBeghards,originating in theLow Countries,started to spread among the underprivileged groups of society, taking in members who renounced private property and dedicated themselves to communal living and pious, frugal lifestyles as artisans.Although the practices were successful enough to spread to other areas on the continent such as France and Germany, the Beghards were later repeatedly condemned by the Catholic Church.Around 1300 theApostolic Brethrenin northern Italy were taken over byFra Dolcinowho formed a sect known as theDulcinianswhich advocated ending feudalism, dissolving hierarchies in the church, and holding all property in common.The 14th centuryEnglishscholasticand founder ofLollardy,John Wycliffe,preached of an idealized Christian state with collective ownership and disapproved of those rejecting the, "common charity and common property of Christian men."Around the same time the revolutionary priestJohn Ball,who was later executed for his prominent role in the doomedWat Tyler Rebellionallegedly declared, "things cannot go well in England, nor ever will, until all goods are held in common."

Tommaso Campanella'sCivitas Solisenvisioned a utopian city where private property is abolished

InTábor,Bohemiaduring the 15th centuryHussite Wars,the radicalTaboritesattempted to institute a system they called a "community of goods" where, "there is no mine or thine but all is held in common", but once initiated the scheme was quickly abandoned.They have been considered precursors of totalitarian governance while under leadership of the dictatorialJan Želivský.After Taborite power was broken atLipanytheir successors fled toMoraviaforming theMoravian Churchunder thepacifistspiritual leaderPetr Chelčickýwho harbored both Christian communist andChristian anarchistbeliefs.The extent to which Chelčický's followers, also known as theBohemian Brethren,adhered to his ideals, namely the abstinence from property, trade, and government, is disputed, and by the 16th century the Brethren definitely no longer embraced them.During theProtestant Reformationof the 16th century theradicalAnabaptists,who originated inSwitzerland,endorsed the communalization of goods as practiced in the Book of Acts.The most notable Anabaptist groups were theHutterites,founded byJacob Hutter,who settled in Moravia in the 1520s and theMünster Anabaptistswho were eradicated in battle during their attempt in 1535 to forcibly convert the city ofMünsterinto a theocraticNew Jerusalem.Various groups on the side of theRoundheadsduring theEnglish Civil Warin the mid-17th century propagated theredistribution of wealthon an egalitarian basis, namely theLevellersand theDiggersalthough only the latter group underGerrard Winstanleypromoted a propertyless, communist society.

European writers began depicting idealized communist societies inutopian fictionfrom the 16th century onward. Inspired by largely fictional accounts ofnativecommunities in theNew World,the Englishhumanistand futureLord ChancellorThomas More,wrote the utopian novelUtopia(1516) in which the main character decries private property after traveling to an idyllic island without money or private property and where, "everything is under state control."More coined the termutopiaas a name for his idealized community, which means "nowhere" in Latin, evincing the fact that More did not consider such a society attainable in reality.Tommaso Campanella's 1601 workThe City of the Sunpropagated the concept of a society where the products of society should be shared equally.In Campanella's utopia all people are well educated, there is only a four-hour work day, there is no private property, the population practiceseugenicsto improve mental and physical fitness, most time is devoted to either leisure or self improvement, and society is managed by a ruling scientist who bases his administration on scientific principles all in the interest of benefiting society as a whole.Utopian communist societies were also described by the French writersFrançois FénelonandDenis Vairassewhile English writerFrancis Baconwrote of a utopia that merely had a "communism in knowledge."

Communism during the Enlightenment

During theAge of Enlightenmentin 18th century France, some liberal writers increasingly began to criticize the institution of private property even to the extent they demanded its abolition.One of the first secular visions for a communist society is contained within theFrench CatholicabbéJean Meslier's posthumously publishedTestament(1729).Similarly theAbbé de Mably,also a French philosopher wrote that the individual ownership of land was the source of all mischief and that wealthy inequality brought about social ruin that could only be reversed by adopting a society based on collective ownership. "He did however temper his views by surmising that any attempts at enacting true equality and communal ownership would prove to be too costly and destructive to be worth implementing.Another French thinker,Étienne-Gabriel Morellyalso contended that private property was the source of all vice in society and developed the basic principles for a communist society namely, the abolition of property, the right to live and work for all, and the duty of all citizens to work for the common good.The French philosopherJean Jacques Rousseauin his hugely influentialThe Social Contract(1762) outlined the basis for a political order based on popular sovereignty rather than the rule of monarchs, and in hisDiscourse on Inequality(1755) inveighed against the corrupting effects of private property claiming that the invention of private property had led to the, "crimes, wars, murders, and suffering" that plagued civilization.

I believe that no one will contest the justness of this proposition: that where no property exists, none of its pernicious consequences could exist...if you were to take away property, the blind and pitiless self-interest that accompanies it, you would cause all the prejudices in errors that they sustain to collapse.

—Étienne-Gabriel Morelly,1755

Victor d'Hupayreferred to himself as anauteur communisteor "communist author" in 1782

Restif de la Bretonneused the term "communism" in 1793 to describe a society where all private property was eliminated

In 1785 the popular French novelistRestif de la Bretonnewrote a book review onVictor d'Hupay's1779 bookProject for a Philosophical Communitywhich described a plan for acommunal experimentin Marseille where all private property was banned and which could be considered, "the first full blueprint for a secular communist society in the world."In the review Restif noted that d'Hupay had referred to himself as acommuniste,the French form of the word "communist", in a 1782 letter, the first recorded instance of that term.Restif himself wrote many novels centered around the idea of eliminating private property, first using the term "community of goods" in 1783 and then the term "communism" in 1793, rendered in French ascommunisme.

François-Noël Babeufwas a notable advocate for the abolition of private property during theFrench Revolution

These currents of thought inFrench philosophyproved influential during theFrench Revolutionof 1789 in which variousanti-monarchists,particularly theJacobins,supported the idea of redistributing wealth equally among the people, includingJean-Paul MaratandGracchus Babeuf.The latter was involved in theConspiracy of the Equalsof 1796 intending to establish a revolutionary regime based on communal ownership, egalitarianism and the redistribution of property.Babeuf was directly influenced by Morelly's anti-property utopian novelThe Code of Natureand quoted it extensively, although he was under the erroneous impression it was written byDiderot.Also during the revolution the publisherNicholas Bonneville,the founder of the Parisian revolutionarySocial Clubused his printing press to spread the communist treatises of Restif andSylvain Maréchal.Maréchal, who later joined Babeuf's conspiracy, would state in hisManifesto of the Equals(1796), "we aim at something more sublime and more just, the COMMON GOOD or the COMMUNITY OF GOODS" and "The French Revolution is just a precursor of another revolution, far greater, far more solemn, which will be the last."Restif also continued to write and publish books on the topic of communism throughout the Revolution.Accordingly, through their egalitarian programs and agitation Restif, Maréchal, and Babeuf became the progenitors of modern communism.Babeuf's plot was detected, however, and he and several others involved were arrested and executed. Because of his views and methods, Babeuf is sometimes referred to as the first revolutionary communist, although at the time Babeuf himself used the term "communitist".Despite this setback, the example of theFrench Revolutionaryregime and Babeuf's doomed insurrection was an inspiration for French socialist thinkers such asHenri de Saint-Simon,Louis Blanc,Charles FourierandPierre-Joseph Proudhon.Proudhon, the founder of modern anarchism and libertarian socialism would later famously declare "property is theft!"a phrase first invented by the French revolutionaryBrissot de Warville.

Post-French Revolution communism

Importantly because one of Babeuf's co-conspirators,Philippe Buonarroti,survived the crackdown on the Conspiracy of the Equals he was able, later in his life, to write the influential bookBabeuf's Conspiracy for Equalityfirst published in 1828 which chronicled and popularized Babeouf's beliefs.In it Buonarroti asserted that in society, "burdens, productions, and advantages ought to be equally divided," and believed that this division would lead to, "the greatest possible happiness of all."Bournatti's writings led to a revival of Babeuf's thought in France and the dissemination of political theories referred to asNeo-Babouvism.According to Bournatti's Neo-Babouvism a revolutionary elite of "wise and courageous" citizens who cared only for "ensuring the triumph of equality" would be needed to uplift the masses and establish a new society based on egalitarian principles.

By the 1830s and 1840s, the egalitarian concepts of communism and the related ideas ofsocialismhad become widely popular in French revolutionary circles thanks to the writings of social critics and philosophers such asPierre LerouxandThéodore Dézamy,whose critiques of bourgeoisieliberalismandindividualismled to a widespread intellectual rejection oflaissez-fairecapitalismon economic, philosophical and moral grounds.According to Leroux writing in 1832, "To recognise no other aim than individualism is to deliver the lower classes to brutal exploitation. The proletariat is no more than a revival of antique slavery." He also asserted that private ownership of the means of production allowed for the exploitation of the lower classes and that private property was a concept divorced from human dignity.Dézamy would assert in his 1842 bookCode la Communatéthat what was needed was a, "complete and unrestricted society of communal property" in which all activity was centralized.The systematic, historical and materialist analysis of the nature of communism in Dézamy's work led Marx to consider him among the firstscientific socialistsalong withJules Gay.It was only in the year 1840 that proponents of common ownership in France, including the socialists Théodore Dézamy,Étienne Cabet,andJean-Jacques Pillotbegan to widely adopt the word "communism" as a term for their belief system.

A landmark event that established the popularity of the communist movement in France occurred in 1840 when Dézamy along with Pillot andAlbert Laponnerayeorganized a pro-communist banquet inBelleville,France, the "first public manifestation of the communist party" in France which proved so successful that further planned communist banquets had to be outlawed by the French government.Also in 1840 a society of "Egalitarian Workers" following a communist program was founded in Paris and a general strike was called whose leaders were reportedly inspired by communist ideals.During the 1840s Étienne Cabet had a following of between 100,000 and 200,000 French workers and was considered byFriedrich Engelsto be the representative of the French proletariat.One of the most prominent and influential French communists of the 1840s wasAuguste Blanquiwho was notable for his belief that violent revolutionary action should be used to overthrow the bourgeosie dominated state.In Blanqui's estimation a revolution would be most successful if it was executed by a small, secretive group which could then install a "dictatorship of the proletariat."Dézamy disagreed with any program endorsing a dictatorship, believing instead that the chief focus should be on cultivating proletarian unity through propaganda and education.

The works and teachings of these French writers, many now self identifying as communists, went on to inspire new communist groups such as theLeague of the Just,an organization founded in Paris in 1836 by the Christian communist GermanémigrésWilhelm WeitlingandKarl Schapper.A second group, theCommunist Correspondence Committee,was formed in Brussels in 1846 by another pair of German émigrésKarl MarxandFriedrich Engels.The two groups were merged in 1847 to form theCommunist Leaguewhich was headed by Schapper who then proceeded to task the co-founding members Marx and Engels with writing a manifesto laying out the principles of the new political party.

Marxism

Main article:Marxism

Karl Marx

Main article:Karl Marx

Communism is the riddle of history solved, and it knows itself to be this solution.

— Karl Marx,1844

Karl Marx,whose variety of communist theory is known asMarxism

In the 1840s, German philosopher and sociologistKarl Marx,who was living in England after fleeing the authorities inPrussia,where he was considered a political threat, began publishing books in which he outlined his theories for a variety of communism now known asMarxism.Marx was financially aided and supported by another German émigré,Friedrich Engels(1820–1895), who like Marx had fled from the German authorities in 1849.Marx and Engels took on many influences from earlier socialists such as theUtopian socialistSaint-Simonistschool.Politically, they were influenced byMaximilien Robespierreand several other radical figures of the French Revolution whilst economically they were influenced byDavid Ricardo.Philosophically, they were influenced byGeorg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel.Engels regularly met Marx atChetham's LibraryinManchester,England from 1845 and the alcove where they met remains identical to this day.It was here that Engels relayed his experiences of industrial Manchester, chronicled in theCondition of the Working Class in England,highlighting the struggles of the working class.

Marx stated that "the history of all hitherto existing society is the history ofclass struggles",something that he believed was happening between thebourgeoisie(the select fewupper classandupper middle class) who then controlled society and theproletariat(theworking classmasses) who toiled to produce everything, but who had no political control. He advanced the idea that human society moved through a series of progressive stages from primitive communism through toslavery,feudalismand then capitalism; and that this, in turn, would be replaced by communism. For Marx, communism was seen as inevitable yet uncertain and desirable.

Marx founded theCommunist Correspondence Committeein 1846 through which the various communists,socialistsand otherleftistsacross Europe could keep in contact with one another in the face of political repression. He then publishedThe Communist Manifestoin 1848, which would prove to be one of the most influential communist texts ever written. He subsequently began work on a multi-volume epic that would examine and criticise the capitalist economy and the effect that it had upon politics, society and philosophy – the first volume of the work which was known asCapital: Critique of Political Economywas published in 1869. However, Marx and Engels were not only interested in writing about communism, as they were also active in supporting revolutionary activity that would lead to the creation of communist governments across Europe. They helped to found theInternational Workingmen's Associationwhich would later become known as theFirst Internationalto unite various communists and socialists, with Marx being elected to the Association's General Council.

Marx summarized his system with the slogan, "From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs."This phrasing used to formulate the principles of communism is borrowed from earlier socialist political activists such asAugust BeckerandLouis Blanc.

Early development of Marxism

During the latter half of the 19th century, various left-wing organisations across Europe continued to campaign against the manyautocraticright-wing regimes that were then in power. In France, socialists set up a government known as theParis Communeafter the fall ofNapoleon IIIin 1871, but they were soon overthrown and many of their members executed by counter-revolutionaries.Meanwhile, Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels joined theGerman Social-Democratic Partywhich had been created in 1875, but which was outlawed in 1879 by the German government, then led by ChancellorOtto von Bismarck,who deemed it to be a political threat due to its revolutionary nature and increasing number of supporters.In 1890, the party was re-legalised and by this time it had fully adopted Marxist principles. It subsequently achieved a fifth of the vote in the German elections and some of its leaders, such asAugust BebelandWilhelm Liebknecht,became well-known public figures.

The communists disdain to conceal their views and aims. They openly declare that their ends can be attained only by the forcible overthrow of all existing social conditions. Let the ruling classes tremble at a communist revolution. The proletarians have nothing to lose but their chains. They have a world to win.

—Karl Marx,1848

At the time, Marxism took off not only in Germany, but it also gained popularity inHungary,theHabsburg monarchyand theNetherlands,although it did not achieve such success in other European nations like theUnited Kingdom,where Marx and Engels had been based.Nonetheless, the new political ideology had gained sufficient support that an organisation was founded known as theSecond Internationalto unite the various Marxist groups around the world.

As Marxism took off, it also began to come under criticism from other European intellectuals, including fellow socialists and leftists. For instance, the Russiancollectivist anarchistMikhail Bakunincriticised what he believed were the flaws in the Marxian theory that the state would eventually dissolve under a Marxist government, instead he believed that the state would gain in power and becomeauthoritarian.Criticism also came from other sociologists such as the GermanMax Weber,who whilst admiring Marx disagreed with many of his assumptions on the nature of society. Some Marxists tried to adapt to these criticisms and the changing nature of capitalism andEduard Bernsteinemphasised the idea of Marxists bringing legal challenges against the current administrations over the treatment of the working classes rather than simply emphasising violent revolution as more orthodox Marxists did. Other Marxists opposed Bernstein and other revisionists, with many includingKarl Kautsky,Otto Bauer,Rudolf Hilferding,Rosa Luxemburg,Vladimir LeninandGeorgi Plekhanovsticking steadfast to the concept of violently overthrowing what they saw as the bourgeoisie-controlled government and instead establishing adictatorship of the proletariat.

Periodisation of international communism of 1993

The historical existence of theCommunist International(Comintern) and the broader communist movement is divided among periods, regarding changes in the general policy it followed.

• TheWar Communismperiod (1918–1921) which saw the forming of the International, theRussian Civil War,a general revolutionary upheaval after theOctober Revolutionresulting in the formation of the first communist parties across the world and the defeat ofworkers' revolutionary movementsinGermany,Hungary,FinlandandPoland.
• TheNew Economic Policyperiod (1921–1929) which marked the end of the civil war in Russia and new economic measures taken by the Bolshevik government, the toning down of the revolutionary wave in Europe and internal struggles within the Bolshevik Party and the Comintern after Lenin's death and before Stalin's absolute consolidation of power.
• TheThird Period(1929–1934), anultra-leftturn which saw rapidindustrializationandcollectivizationin theSoviet Union under Stalin's rule,the refusal by communists to cooperate withsocial democratsin other countries (labeling themsocial fascists) and the ultimate rise ofAdolf Hitlerin Germany which led to the abandonment of the hard-line policy of this period. These years also saw the complete subordination of all communist parties across the world to the directives of theAll-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks),making the Comintern more or less an organ of theCommunist Party of the Soviet Union.
• ThePopular Frontperiod (1934–1939) which marked the call by Comintern to all popular and democratic forces (not just communist) to unite in popular fronts against fascism. Products of this period were the popular front governments in theFrench Third Republicand theSecond Spanish Republic.However, this period was also marked by widespread purges of anyone suspected as an enemy of the Stalinist regime, both in the Soviet Union and abroad. These mass purges resulted in the breaking up of thePopular Frontin Spain amidst theSpanish Civil Warand the fall of Spain toFrancisco Franco.
• The period of advocating peace (1939–1941), a result of the signing of theMolotov–Ribbentrop Pactwhich resulted in theSoviet invasion of Poland.In this period, communists were advocating non-participation inWorld War II,labeling the war as imperialist. The term revolutionary defeatism was used by Comintern in this period to refer to anti-war propaganda by communists in Western Europe against their national governments.
• TheEastern Frontperiod, sometimes called the Second Popular Front (1941–1943), was the last period of the Comintern, starting immediately after theGerman invasion of the Soviet Union,with Stalin's 3 July 1941 call to the entire free world to unite and fightNazismby all means. This was a period ofmilitant anti-fascism,the emergence of national liberation movements all across occupied Europe and ultimately the dissolution of the Comintern in 1943.
• TheEarly Cold War(1947–1960) in which the Soviet Union and theRed Armyinstalled theEastern Bloccommunist regimes in most ofEastern Europe(except for Yugoslavia and Albania, which had independent communist regimes). A major effort to support communist party activity in Western democracies, especially theItalian Communist Partyand theFrench Communist Party,fell short of gaining positions in the government.
• TheLate Cold War(1960–1970s) in which China turned against the Soviet Union and organized alternative communist parties in many countries. Intense attention was given to revolutionary movements in theThird Worldwhich were successful in some places such as Cuba and Vietnam. Communism was decisively defeated in other states, includingMalayaandIndonesia.In 1972–1979, there wasdétentebetween the Soviet Union and the United States.
• The end of communism in Europe (1980–1992) in which Soviet client states were heavily on the defensive as inAfghanistanandNicaragua.The United States escalated the conflict with very heavy military spending. After a series of short-lived leaders,Mikhail Gorbachevcame to power in the Kremlin and began a policy ofglasnostandperestroika,designed to revive the stagnatingSoviet economy.European satellites led by Poland grew increasingly independent and in 1989 they all expelled the communist leadership.East Germanymerged intoWest Germanywith Moscow's approval. At the end of 1991, the Soviet Union itself was dissolved into non-communist independent states. Many communist parties around the world either collapsed, or became independent non-communist entities. However, China, North Korea, Laos, Vietnam and Cuba maintained communist regimes. After 1980, China adopted a market oriented economy that welcomed large-scale trade and friendly relations with the United States.

Early socialist states (1917–1944)

Russian Revolution, Leninism, and formation of the Soviet Union

Main article:Russian Revolution

Vladimir Lenin,founder of theSoviet Unionand leader of theBolshevik party.

Leon Trotsky,founder of theRed Armyand key figure in theOctober Revolution.

At the start of the 20th century, theRussian Empirewas anautocracycontrolled byTsar Nicholas II,with millions of the country's largely agrarian population living in abjectpoverty.Theanti-communisthistorianRobert Servicenoted that "poverty and oppression constituted the best soil for Marxism to grow in".The man most responsible for introducing the ideology into the country wasGeorgi Plekhanov,although the movement itself was largely organised byVladimir Lenin,who had for a time been exiled to a prison camp inSiberiaby the Tsarist government for his beliefs.A Marxist group known as theRussian Social Democratic Labour Partywas formed in the country, although it soon divided into two main factions, namely theBolsheviksled by Lenin and theMensheviksled byJulius Martov.In 1905,there was a revolutionagainst the Tsar's rule in whichworkers' councilsknown assovietswere formed in many parts of the country and the Tsar was forced to implement democratic reform, introducing an elected government, theDuma.

TheSoviet of Workers' Deputies of St. Petersburgin 1905, Trotsky in the center. Thesovietswere an early example of aworkers council.

In 1917, with further social unrest against the Duma and its part in involving Russia inWorld War I,the Bolsheviks took power in theOctober Revolution.They began remodelling the country by nationalizing various industries and confiscating land from wealthy aristocrats and redistributing it amongst the peasants. They subsequently pulled out of the war against Germany by signing theTreaty of Brest-Litovskwhich was unpopular amongst many in Russia, for it gave away large areas of land to Germany. Lenin's government also instituted a number of progressive measures such asuniversal education,healthcareandequal rights for women.The initial stage of the October Revolution which involved the assault onPetrogradoccurred largely without any humancasualties.

From the outset, the new government faced resistance from a myriad of forces with differing perspectives, includinganarchists,social democrats,who took power in theDemocratic Republic of Georgia,Socialist-Revolutionaries,who formed theKomuchinSamara, Russia,scattered tsarist resistance forces known as theWhite Guardas well asWesternpowers. This led to the events of theRussian Civil Warwhich the Bolsheviks won and subsequently consolidated their power over the entire country, centralising power from theKremlinin the capital city ofMoscow.In the early 1920s, Lenin began recruiting black workers, accusing American political parties of not doing more to campaign forblack civil rights.A handful ofAfrican Americanactivists were fascinated by communism, andCyril Briggsled an organization calledAfrican Blood Brotherhood.In 1922, theRussian Socialist Federative Soviet Republicwas officially redesignated to lead theUnion of Soviet Socialist Republics,simply known as theSoviet Union.

In 1924, Lenin resigned asleader of the Soviet Uniondue to poor health and soon died, withJoseph Stalinsubsequently taking over control.

Comintern, Mongolian invasion, and communist uprisings in Europe

Main articles:Communist International,Soviet intervention in Mongolia,andRevolutions of 1917–1923

TheCommunist Internationalpublished atheoretical magazine of the same namein a variety of European languages from 1919 to 1943

In 1919, theBolshevik governmentin Russia instigated the creation of an international communist organisation that would act as the Third International after the collapse of theSecond Internationalin 1916. This was known as theCommunist International,although it was commonly abbreviated as the Comintern. Throughout its existence, the Comintern would be dominated by the Kremlin despite its internationalist stance. Meanwhile, in 1921, the Soviet Union invaded its neighboringMongoliato aid a popular uprising against theChinese who then controlled the country,instituting a pro-Soviet government which declared the nation to be theMongolian People's Republicin 1924.

The Comintern and other such Soviet-backed communist groups soon spread across much of the world, though particularly in Europe, where the influence of the recent Russian Revolution was still strong. InGermany,theSpartacist uprisingtook place in 1919 when armedSpartacus Leaguecommunists attempted to set up a Bolshevik-style council republic, but the government put the rebellion down violently with the use of right-wing paramilitary groups, theFreikorps.The noted German communistsRosa LuxemburgandKarl Liebknechtwere killed extrajudicially three days later.Within a few months, a group of communists seized power amongst public unrest in the German region ofBavaria,forming theBavarian Soviet Republic,although once more this was put down violently by the Freikorps, who historians believe killed around 1,200 communists and their sympathisers.

That same year, political turmoil inHungaryfollowing their defeat in World War I led to a coalition government of theSocial Democratic Partyand theCommunist Partytaking control. TheHungarian Communist Partyled byBéla Kunsoon became dominant and instituted various communist reforms in the country, but the country itself was subsequently invaded by its neighbouringRomaniawithin a matter of months who overthrew the government, with its leaders either escaping abroad or being executed.In 1921, acommunist revoltagainst theKingdom of Italyoccurred whilst supportive factory workers were on strike inTurinandMilaninnorthern Italy,but the government acted swiftly and put down the rebellion.That same year, afurther communist rebelliontook place in the Weimar Republic only to be crushed, but another occurred in 1923which once again was also defeated by the government.TheBulgarian Communist Partyhad also attempted an uprising in 1923, but like most of their counterparts across Europe they were defeated.

Front organisations

Main article:Communist front

Communist partieswere tight knit organizations that exerted tight control over the members. To reach sympathisers unwilling to join the party, front organizations were created that advocated party-approved positions. Under the leadership ofGrigory Zinovievin the Kremlin, the Comintern established fronts in many countries in the 1920s and after. To coordinate their activities, the Comintern set up various international umbrella organizations (linking groups across national borders) such as theYoung Communist International(youth),Profintern(trade unions),Krestintern(peasants),International Red Aid(humanitarian aid), andRed Sport International(organized sports), among others. In Europe, front organizations were especially influential in Italyand France which became the base for Communist front organizerWilli Münzenbergin 1933.These organizations were dissolved by the late 1930s or early 1940s.

ThePan-Pacific Trade Union Secretariat(PPTUS) was set up in 1927 by the Profintern (the Comintern's trade union arm) with the mission of promoting communist trade unions in China, Japan, Korea, the Philippines, Australia, New Zealand and other nations in the western Pacific.Trapeznik (2009) says the PPTUS was a "Communist-front organization" and "engaged in overt and covert political agitation in addition to a number of clandestine activities".

There were numerous communist front organizations in Asia, many oriented to students and youth.According to one historian, in the labor union movement of the 1920s inJapan,the "Hyogikainever called itself a communist front but in effect, this was what it was ". He points out it was repressed by the government" along with other communist front groups ".In the 1950s, Scalapino argues: "The primary Communist-front organization was the Japan Peace Committee". It was founded in 1949.

Stalinism

Main articles:StalinismandFirst five-year plan

Members of theCommunist Party of Chinacelebrating Stalin's birthday in 1949

In 1924,Joseph Stalin,a key Bolshevik follower of Lenin, took power in the Soviet Union.Stalin was supported in his leadership byNikolai Bukharin,but he had various important opponents in the government, most notablyLev Kamenev,Leon Trotsky,andGrigory Zinoviev.Stalin initiated his own process of building a communist society, creating a variant of communism known asMarxism–Leninism.As a part of this, he abandoned some of the capitalist, market policies that had been allowed to continue under Lenin such as theNew Economic Policy.Stalinistpolicies radically altered much of the Soviet Union'sagricultural production,modernising it by introducing tractors and other machinery,forced collectivisation of the farmsand forced collection of grains from the peasants in accordance with predecided targets. There was food available for industrial workers, but those peasants who refused to move starved, especially inKazakhstanandUkraine.TheAll-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks)targetedkulaks,who owned a little land.

Stalin took control of the Comintern and introduced a policy in the international organisation of opposing all leftists who were notMarxist–Leninists,labelling them to besocial fascists,although many communists such asJules Humbert-Drozdisagreed with him on this policy, believing that the left should unite against the rise of right-wing movements likefascismacross Europe.In the early 1930s, Stalin reversed course and promotedpopular frontmovements whereby communist parties would collaborate with socialists and other political forces. A high priority was mobilizing wide support for the Republican cause in theSpanish Civil War.

Great Purge

Main article:Great Purge

TheGreat Purgemainly operated from December 1936 to November 1938, although the features of arrest and summary trial followed by execution were well entrenched in the Soviet system since the days of Lenin as Stalin systematically destroyed the older generation of pre-1918 leaders. Stalin did so usually under the justification that the accused were enemy spies or deemed "enemies of the people";in the Red Army, a majority of generals were executed and hundreds of thousands of other" enemies of the people "were sent to thegulag,where inhumane conditions in Siberia led a quick death.

The opening of the Soviet archives has vindicated the lower estimates put forth by the "revisionist school" scholars,despite the popular press continuing to use higher estimates and containing serious errors.By 2009, historianArchie Brownreported that estimates were now lower; about 1.7 million were arrested in 1937–1938 and half were shot.

Pre-war dissident communists

TheInternational Right OppositionandTrotskyismare examples of dissidents who still claim communism today, but they are not the only ones. In Germany, the split in the SPD had initially led to a variety of Communist unions and parties forming which included the councilist tendencies of the AAU-D, AAU-E andKAPD.Councilism had a limited impact outside of Germany, but a number of international organisations formed. In Spain, a fusion of left and right dissidents led to the formation of thePOUM.Additionally, the SpanishCNTwas associated with the development of theFAIpolitical party, a non-Marxist party which stood for revolutionary communism.

Spreading communism (1945–1957)

As theCold Wartook effect around 1947, the Kremlin set up new international coordination bodies including theWorld Federation of Democratic Youth,theInternational Union of Students,theWorld Federation of Trade Unions,theWomen's International Democratic Federationand theWorld Peace Council.Malcolm Kennedy says the "Communist 'front' system included such international organizations as the WFTU, WFDY, IUS, WIDF and WPC, besides a host of lesser bodies bringing journalists, lawyers, scientists, doctors and others into the widespread net".

TheWorld Federation of Trade Unions(WFTU) was established in 1945, to unite trade union confederations across the world and it was based in Prague. While it had non-communist unions it was largely dominated by the Soviets. In 1949 the British, American and other non-Communist unions broke away from the WFTU to form the rivalInternational Confederation of Free Trade Unions(ICFTU). The labor movement in Europe became so polarized between the communist unions and social democratic and Christian labor unions, whereas front operations could no longer hide the sponsorship and they became less important.

Soviet Union after World War II

Main article:History of the Soviet Union (1953–1964)

The devastation of the war resulted in a massive recovery program involving the rebuilding of industrial plants, housing and transportation as well as the demobilization and migration of millions of soldiers and civilians. In the midst of this turmoil during the winter of 1946–1947, the Soviet Union experienced theworst natural famine in the 20th century.There was no serious opposition to Stalin as theNKVDsecret police continued to send possible suspects to the gulag.

Relations with the United States and Britain went from friendly to hostile, as they denounced Stalin's political controls over eastern Europe and hisblockade of Berlin.By 1947, theCold Warhad begun. Stalin himself believed that capitalism was a hollow shell and would crumble under increased non-military pressure exerted through proxies in countries like Italy. However, he greatly underestimated the economic strength of the West and instead of triumph saw the West build up alliances that were designed to permanently stop or contain Soviet expansion. In early 1950, Stalin gave the go-ahead forNorth Korea's invasion ofSouth Korea,expecting a short war. He was stunned when the Americans entered and defeated the North Koreans, putting them almost on the Soviet border. Stalin supportedChina's entry into theKorean Warwhich drove the Americans back to the prewar boundaries, but which escalated tensions. The United States decided to mobilize its economy for a long contest with the Soviets, built thehydrogen bomband strengthened theNATOalliance that coveredWestern Europe.

According to Gorlizki and Khlevniuk (2004), Stalin's consistent and overriding goal after 1945 was to consolidate the nation's superpower status and in the face of his growing physical decrepitude to maintain his own hold on total power. Stalin created a leadership system that reflected historic czarist styles of paternalism and repression, yet was also quite modern. At the top, personal loyalty to Stalin counted for everything. However, Stalin also created powerful committees, elevated younger specialists and began major institutional innovations. In the teeth of persecution, Stalin's deputies cultivated informal norms and mutual understandings which provided the foundations for collective rule after his death.

Eastern Europe

Main article:Eastern Bloc

The military success of theRed ArmyinCentral and Eastern Europeled to a consolidation of power in communist hands. In some cases, such as Czechoslovakia, this led to enthusiastic support for socialism inspired by the Communist Party and aSocial Democratic Partywilling to fuse. In other cases, such as Poland or Hungary, the fusion of the Communist Party with the Social Democratic Party was forcible and accomplished through undemocratic means. In many cases, the communist parties of Central Europe were faced with a population initially quite willing to reign in market forces, institute limited nationalisation of industry and supporting the development of intensive social welfare states, whereas broadly the population largely supported socialism. However, the purges of non-communist parties that supported socialism, combined with forced collectivisation of agriculture and a Soviet-bloc wide recession in 1953 led to deep unrest. This unrest first surfaced in Berlin in 1953, whereBrechtironically suggested that "the Party ought to elect a new People".However,Nikita Khrushchev's "Secret Speech"of 1956 opened up internal debate, even if members were unaware, in both thePolishandHungariancommunist parties. This led to thePolish crisis of 1956which was resolved throughchange in Polish leadershipand a negotiation between the Soviet and Polish parties over the direction of thePolish economy.

Hungarian Revolution of 1956

Main article:Hungarian Revolution of 1956

SovietT-54tanks in Budapest on 31 October

TheHungarian Revolution of 1956was a major challenge to Moscow's control of Eastern Europe.This revolution saw general strikes, the formation of independent workers councils, the restoration of theSocial Democratic Partyas a party for revolutionary communism of a non-Soviet variety and the formation of two underground independent communist parties. Themainstream Communist Partywas controlled for a period of about a week by non-Soviet aligned leaders. Two non-communist parties that supported the maintenance of socialism also regained their independence. This flowering of dissenting communism was crushed by a combination of a military invasion supported by heavy artillery and airstrikes; mass arrests, at least a thousand juridical executions and an uncounted number ofsummary executions;the crushing of the Central Workers Council of Greater Budapest; mass refugee flight; and a worldwide propaganda campaign. The effect of the Hungarian Revolution on other communist parties varied significantly, resulting in large membership losses in Anglophone communist parties.

Prague Spring of 1968

Main article:Prague Spring

TheCzechoslovak Communist Partybegan an ambitious reform agenda underAlexander Dubček.The plan to limit central control and make the economy more independent of the party threatened bedrock beliefs. On 20 August 1968, Soviet leaderLeonid Brezhnevordered amassive military invasionbyWarsaw Pactforces that destroyed the threat of internal liberalization.At the same time, the Soviets threatened retaliation against theBritish-French-Israeli invasion of Egypt.The upshot was a collapse of any tendency towarddétenteand the resignations of more intellectuals from communist parties in the West.

West Germany

West GermanyandWest Berlinwere centers of East–West conflict during the Cold War and numerous communist fronts were established. For example, theEast GermanyorganizationSociety for German–Soviet Friendship(GfDSF) had 13,000 members in West Germany, but it was banned in 1953 by someLänderas a communist front.The Democratic Cultural League of Germany started off as a series of genuinely pluralistic bodies, but in 1950–1951 came under the control of the communists. By 1952, theUnited States Embassycounted 54 "infiltrated organizations" which started independently as well as 155 "front organizations" which had been communist inspired from their start.

The Association of the Victims of the Nazi Regime was set up to rally West Germans under the anti-fascist banner, but it had to be dissolved when Moscow discovered it had been infiltrated by "Zionistagents ".

China

Main article:History of the People's Republic of China

Great Leap Forward

Main article:Great Leap Forward

Mao Zedongand theChinese Communist Partycame to powerin China in 1949 as theNationalistsheaded by theKuomintangfled to the island of Taiwan. In 1950–1953, China engaged in a large-scale, undeclared war with theUnited States,South KoreaandUnited Nations forcesin theKorean War.While its hostility ended in a military stalemate, it gave Mao the opportunity to identify and purge elements in China that seemed supportive of capitalism. At first, there was close cooperation with Stalin, who sent in technical experts to aid the industrialization process along the line of the Soviet model of the 1930s.After Stalin's death in 1953, relations with Moscow soured – Mao thought Stalin's successors had betrayed the Communist ideal. Mao charged that Soviet leaderNikita Khrushchevwas the leader of a "revisionist clique" which had turned against Marxism and Leninism was now setting the stage for the restoration of capitalism.The two nations were at sword's point by 1960. Both began forging alliances with communist supporters around the globe, thereby splitting the worldwide movement into two hostile camps.

Rejecting the Soviet model of rapid urbanization, Mao Zedong and his top aideDeng Xiaopinglaunched theGreat Leap Forwardin 1957–1961 with the goal ofindustrializing Chinaovernight, using the peasant villages as the base rather than large cities.Private ownership of land ended and the peasants worked in large collective farms that were now ordered to start up heavy industry operations, such as steel mills. Plants were built in remote locations, despite the lack of technical experts, managers, transportation or needed facilities. Industrialization failed, but the main result was a sharp unexpected decline in agricultural output, which led to mass famine and millions of deaths. The years of the Great Leap Forward in fact saw economic regression, with 1958 through 1961 being the only years between 1953 and 1983 in which China's economy saw negative growth. Political economistDwight Perkinsargues, "Enormous amounts of investment produced only modest increases in production or none at all. [...] In short, the Great Leap was a very expensive disaster".Put in charge of rescuing the economy, Deng adopted pragmatic policies that the idealistic Mao disliked. For a while, Mao was in the shadows, but he returned to center stage and purged Deng and his allies in theCultural Revolution(1966–1969).

Early post-war dissident communists

Following the Second World War,Trotskyismwas wracked by increasing internal divisions over analysis and strategy. This was combined with an industrial impotence that was widely recognised. Additionally, the success of Soviet-aligned parties in Europe and Asia led to the persecution ofTrotskyistintellectuals such as the infamous purge ofVietnamese Trotskyists.The war had also strained social democratic parties in the West. In some cases, such as Italy, significant bodies of membership of the Social Democratic Party were inspired by the possibility of achieving advanced socialism. In Italy, this group, combined with dissenting communists, began to discuss theory centred on the experience of work in modern factories, leading toautonomist Marxist.In the United States, this theoretical development was paralleled by theJohnson–Forest Tendencywhereas in France a similar impulse occurred.

Cold War and revisionism (1958–1979)

Main articles:Cold WarandRevisionism (Marxism)

Maoism and the Cultural Revolution in China

Main articles:MaoismandCultural Revolution

The propaganda oil painting of Mao during the Cultural Revolution (1967).

TheCultural Revolutionwas an upheaval that targeted intellectuals and party leaders from 1966 through 1976. Mao's goal was to purify communism by removing pro-capitalists and traditionalists by imposingMaoistorthodoxy within theChinese Communist Party.The movement paralyzed China politically and weakened the country economically, culturally and intellectually for years. Millions of people were accused, humiliated, stripped of power and either imprisoned, killed or most often sent to work as farm laborers. Mao insisted that these he labelledrevisionistsbe removed through violentclass struggle.The two most prominent militants were MarshallLin Biaoof the army and Mao's wifeJiang Qing.China's youth responded to Mao's appeal by formingRed Guardgroups around the country. The movement spread into the military, urban workers and the Communist Party leadership itself. It resulted in widespread factional struggles in all walks of life. In the top leadership, it led to a mass purge of senior officials who were accused of taking a "capitalist road",most notablyLiu ShaoqiandDeng Xiaoping.During the same period,Mao's personality cultgrew to immense proportions. AfterMao's deathin 1976, the survivors were rehabilitated and many returned to power.

Cuban Revolution

Main articles:Cuban RevolutionandCuba under Fidel Castro

TheCuban Revolutionwas a successful armed revolt led byFidel Castro's26th of July Movementagainst the regime of Cuban dictatorFulgencio Batista.It ousted Batista on 1 January 1959, replacing his regime with Castro's revolutionary government. Castro's government later reformed along communist lines, becoming the presentCommunist Party of Cubain October 1965.The United States response was highly negative, leading to afailed invasion attempt in 1961.The Soviets decided to protect its ally by stationing nuclear weapons in Cuba in 1962. In theCuban Missile Crisis,the United States vehemently opposed the Soviet Union move. There was serious fear of nuclear war for a few days, but a compromise was reached by which Moscow publicly removed its weapons and the United States secretly removed its weapons from bases in Turkey and promised never to invade.

African communism

See also:African socialism

Monument to Marxism built by theDerginAddis Ababa

During thedecolonization of Africa,the Soviet Union took a keen interest in that continent's independence movements and initially hoped that the cultivation of communist client states there would deny their economic and strategic resources to the West.Soviet foreign policy with regard to Africa assumed that newly independent African governments would be receptive to communist ideology and that the Soviets would have the resources to make them attractive as development partners.During the 1970s, the ruling parties of severalsub-Saharan Africanstates formally embraced communism, including thePeople's Republic of Benin,thePeople's Republic of Mozambique,thePeople's Republic of the Congo,thePeople's Democratic Republic of Ethiopia,and thePeople's Republic of Angola.Most of these regimes ensured the selective adoption and flexible application of communist theory set against a broad ideological commitment to Marxism or Leninism.The adoption of communism was often seen as a means to an end and used to justify the extreme centralization of power.

Angola was perhaps the only African state which made a longstanding commitment to communism,but this was severely hampered by its own war-burdenedeconomy,rampantcorruptionand practical realities which allowed a few foreign companies to wield considerable influence despite the elimination of the domestic Angolan private sector and a substantial degree ofcentral economic planning.Both Angola and Ethiopia built new social and political communist institutions modeled closely after those in the Soviet Union and Cuba.However, their regimes either dissolved after the collapse of the Soviet Union due to civil conflict or voluntarily repudiated communism in favour ofsocial democracy.

Eurocommunism

Main article:Eurocommunism

An important trend in several countries in Western Europe from the late 1960s into the 1980s wasEurocommunism.It was strongest inSpain's PCE,Finland's partyand especially inItaly's PCI,where it drew on the ideas ofAntonio Gramsci.It was developed by communist party members who were disillusioned with both the Soviet Union and China and sought an independent program. They accepted liberal parliamentary democracy and free speech as well as accepting with some conditions a capitalistmarket economy.They did not speak of the destruction of capitalism, but sought to win the support of the masses and by a gradual transformation of the bureaucracies. In 1978, theCommunist Party of Spainreplaced the historic "Marxist–Leninist" catchphrase with the new slogan of "Marxist, democratic and revolutionary". The movement faded in the 1980s and collapsed with the fall of communism in Eastern Europe in 1989.

Other forms

Further information:Anarcho-communism,Left communism,andLibertarian Marxism

Anarcho-communismis a political philosophy and anarchist school of thought which advocates theabolition of the state,capitalism,wage labour,social hierarchiesandprivate property(while retaining respect forpersonal property,along withcollectively-owned items, goods and services) in favor ofcommon ownershipof themeans of productionanddirect democracyas well as a horizontal network of workers' councils with production and consumption based on the guiding principle "From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs."

Left communismis a position held by the left wing of communism, which criticises the political ideas and practices espoused by Marxist–Leninists and social democrats. Left communists assert positions which they regard as more authentically Marxist than the views of Marxism–Leninism espoused by the Communist International after its Bolshevization by Joseph Stalin and during its second congress.

Libertarian Marxismis a broad scope of economic and political philosophies that emphasize the anti-authoritarian and libertarian aspects of Marxism.

End of the Eastern Bloc – Reform and collapse (1980–1992)

Main article:Revolutions of 1989

Soviet General SecretaryMikhail Gorbachev,who sought to end the Cold War between the Soviet-ledWarsaw Pactand the United States-ledNATOand other its other Western allies, in a meeting with PresidentRonald Reagan

Social resistance to the policies of communist regimes in Eastern Europe accelerated in strength with the rise of theSolidarity,the first non-communist controlled trade union in the Warsaw Pact that was formed in thePeople's Republic of Polandin 1980.

In 1985,Mikhail Gorbachevrose to power in the Soviet Union and began policies of radical political reform involving political liberalisation calledperestroikaandglasnost.Gorbachev's policies were designed to dismantle the authoritarian elements of the state that were developed by Stalin, aiming to restore the supposed ideal Leninist state and retaining aone-party structurebutallowing the democratic election of competing candidates to political office within the party.Gorbachev also aimed to restore détente with the West and he also aimed to end the Cold War that was being waged by the Soviet Union because it was no longer economically sustainable. The Soviet Union and the United States under PresidentGeorge H. W. Bushjoined in pushing for the dismantlement of apartheid and they also oversaw the dismantlement ofSouth African colonial ruleofNamibia.

Meanwhile, the Eastern European communist states politically deteriorated in response to the success of the PolishSolidarity movementand the possibility of Gorbachev-style political liberalisation. In 1989, revolts began across Eastern Europe and China against communist regimes. In China, the government refused to negotiate with student protestors, resulting in theTiananmen Square attacksthat stopped the revolts by force.

The opening of a border gate between Austria and Hungary at thePan-European Picnicon August 19, 1989, then set in motion a peaceful chain reaction, at the end of which there was no longer a GDR and the Eastern Bloc had disintegrated. It was the largest escape movement from East Germany since theBerlin Wallwas built in 1961. But with the mass exodus at the Pan-European Picnic, the subsequent hesitant behavior of theSocialist Unity Party of East Germanyand the non-intervention of the Soviet Union broke the dams. The revolts culminated with the revolt inEast Germanyagainst the communist regime ofErich Honecker.The event in East Germany developed into apopular mass revoltwithsections of the Berlin Wall being torn downand East and West Berliners uniting. Gorbachev's refusal to use Soviet forces based in East Germany to suppress the revolt was seen as a sign that the Cold War had ended. Honecker was pressured to resign from office and the new government committed itself toreunification with West Germany.TheCommunist Partyregime ofNicolae CeaușescuinRomaniawas forcefully overthrown in theRomanian Revolutionof 1989 andCeaușescu was executed.The otherWarsaw Pactregimes also fell during theRevolutions of 1989,with the exception of theSocialist People's Republic of Albaniathat continued until 1992.

The fall of theBerlin Wallin 1989

Unrest and the eventual collapse of communism also occurred inYugoslavia,but the collapse of communism in Yugoslavia and the collapse of communism in the Warsaw Pact occurred for different reasons. Thedeath of Josip Broz Titoin 1980 and the subsequent vacuum of strong leadership allowed the rise of rival ethnic nationalism in the multinational country. The first leader to exploit such nationalism for political purposes wasSlobodan Milošević,who usedSerbian nationalismto seize power aspresident of Serbiaand demanded concessions to theSocialist Republic of SerbiaandSerbsby the other republics in the Yugoslav federation. This resulted in a surge ofSloveneandCroat nationalismin response and the collapse of theLeague of Communists of Yugoslaviain 1990, the victory of nationalists in multi-party elections in most of Yugoslavia's constituent republics and eventuallycivil war between the various nationalitiesbeginning in 1991.Yugoslavia was dissolvedin 1992.

TheSoviet Union itself collapsedbetween 1990 and 1991, due to the rise of secessionist nationalism and the outbreak of a political power dispute between Gorbachev andBoris Yeltsin,the new leader of theRussian Federation.The collapse of the Soviet Union was also aided by political pressure from capitalist powers, loans from world banks, and pressure for liberal democracy and increased consumerism within the Soviet Bloc.U.S. monetary and fiscal policy raised interest rates, making borrowing money very difficult for the Soviet Union.With theSoviet Union collapsing,Gorbachev prepared the country to become a loose federation of independent states called theCommonwealth of Independent States.Hardline communist leaders in the military reacted to Gorbachev's policies with theAugust Coupof 1991 in which hardline communist military leaders overthrew Gorbachev and seized control of the government. This regime only lasted briefly as widespread popular opposition erupted in street protests and refused to submit. Gorbachev was restored to power, but the variousSoviet republicswere now set for independence. On 25 December 1991, Gorbachev officially announced the dissolution of the Soviet Union, ending the existence of the world's first communist state.

Contemporary communism (1993–present)

See also:21st-century communist theoristsandList of anti-capitalist and communist parties with national parliamentary representation

With the fall of the communist governments in the Soviet Union and the Eastern Bloc, the influence of state-basedMarxist–Leninistideologies in the world was weakened, but there are still many communist movements of various types and sizes around the world. Three other communist nations, particularly those inEast Asiasuch as the People's Republic of China, Vietnam and Laos, all moved towardmarket economies,but without any majorprivatizationof the state sector during the 1980s and 1990s (seesocialism with Chinese characteristicsanddoi moifor more details).Spain,France,PortugalandGreecehave very publicly strong communist movements that play an open and active leading role in the vast majority of their labor marches and strikes as well as alsoanti-austerity protests,all of which are large, pronounced events with much visibility. Worldwide marches onInternational Workers Daysometimes give a clearer picture of the size and influence of current communist movements, particularly within Europe.

Cubahas recently emerged from thecrisiswhich was sparked by the fall of the Soviet Union due to the growth in the volume of its trade with its new allies,Venezuelaand China (the former nation has recently adopted asocialism of the 21st centuryaccording toHugo Chávez). Various other countries throughoutLatin America and the Caribbeanhave also made similar shifts to more clearly socialistic policies and rhetoric in a phenomenon which academics are calling thepink tide.

North Koreaclaims that its success in avoiding the downfall of socialism is a result of its homegrown ideology ofJuchewhich it adopted in the 1970s, replacing Marxism–Leninism. Cuba has an ambassador to North Korea and China still protects North Korean territorial integrity even as it simultaneously refuses to supply the state with material goods or other significant assistance.

South Korea's elites had strange ideas that were positive and negative at the same time, focusing especially on communism while thinking about exploiting the Chinese economy.Even compared to growing India, Chinese communism is considered important to South Korea's elite.Korea's ruling elite strongly abhorred communism as a hindrance to them, and the massacre of potential communists occurred as a result of the decision of the highest levels of the Syngman Rhee government. At the time, the mobilization of various national agencies, including the military, police, investigative and intelligence agencies, to this incident was in accordance with the decisions and instructions of the highest level. However, from whom did such arrest and kill orders come, when and in what unit were these decisions made? has not been revealed.

InNepal,theCommunist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist–Leninist)leaderMan Mohan Adhikaribriefly becamePrime Minister of Nepaland national leader from 1994 to 1995 and theMaoistguerrilla leaderPrachandawas elected prime minister by theConstituent Assembly of Nepalin 2008. Prachanda has since been deposed as prime minister, leading the Maoists to abandon their legalistic approach and return to their typical street actions and militancy and to lead sporadicgeneral strikesusing their quite substantial influence on the Nepalese labor movement. These actions have oscillated between mild and intense, only the latter of which tends to make world news. They consider Prachanda's removal to be unjust.Since 2008, Nepal has been ruled by a coalition of communist parties:Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist–Leninist)andCommunist Party of Nepal (Maoist Centre)which they merged in 2018 in theNepal Communist Party.

The previous national government ofIndiadepended on the parliamentary support of theCommunist Party of India (Marxist)and Communist Party of India. Presently CPI(M) along with CPI leads thestate governmentinKerala.The armed wing of theCommunist Party of India (Maoist),thePeople's Liberation Guerrilla Army,is fighting theNaxalite–Maoist insurgencyagainst theGovernment of Indiaand is active insome parts of the country.Indian government forces have been successful in eliminating insurgency to quite an extent.

InCyprus,the veteran communistDimitris ChristofiasofAKELwon the2008 presidential election,the first and only communist head of state of aEuropean Unioncountry.

InUkraineandRussia,the communists came second in the2002 Ukrainian parliamentary electionand the2003 Russian legislative election,respectively. TheCommunist Party of the Russian Federationremains strong in Russia, but the2014 Ukrainian parliamentary electionfollowing theRussian invasion of Ukraineand theannexation of Crimearesulted in the loss of its 32 members and noVerkhovna Radarepresentation by theCommunist Party of Ukraine.The party has been banned since 2015.

In theCzech Republic,theCommunist Party of Bohemia and Moraviacame third in the 2002 electionsas did thePortuguese Communist Partyin 2005.

InSouth Africa,theSouth African Communist Party(SACP) is a member of theTripartite alliancealongside theAfrican National Congressand theCongress of South African Trade Unions.Sri Lankahas communist ministers in their national governments.

InZimbabwe,former presidentRobert Mugabeof theZimbabwe African National Union – Patriotic Front,the country's longstanding leader, was a professed communist.

Colombiahas been in the midst of acivil warwhich has been waged since 1966 between the Colombian government and alignedright-wing paramilitariesagainst two communist guerrilla groups, namely theRevolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia–People's Army(FARC–EP) and theNational Liberation Army(ELN).

TheRevolutionary Communist Party, USAled by its chairmanBob Avakiancurrently organizes for a revolution in the United States to overthrow the capitalist system and replace it with asocialist state.

As of the early 2020s, thePhilippinesis still experiencing alow-scale guerrilla insurgencyby theNew People's Army,the armed wing of the outlawedCommunist Party of the Philippines.Actions of an armed group likely affiliated with NPA resulted in eight casualties after a gunfight with thePhilippine Armed Forcesin late March 2021.

See also

• The Black Book of Communism
• Bolshevization
• Comparison of Nazism and Stalinism
• Crimes against humanity under communist regimes
• Criticism of communist party rule
• Foreign relations of China
• Foreign relations of Cuba
• Foreign relations of Laos
• Foreign relations of North Korea
• Foreign relations of the Soviet Union
• Foreign relations of Vietnam
• Mass killings under communist regimes

References

Bibliography

• Billington, James H.(2011).Fire in the Minds of Men: Origins of the Revolutionary Faith.Transaction Publishers.ISBN978-1-4128-1401-0.
• Brown, Archie(2009).The Rise and Fall of Communism.HarperCollins.ISBN978-0-06-188548-8.
• Fried, Albert;Sanders, Ronald(1992).Socialist Thought: A Documentary History.Columbia University Press.ISBN978-0-231-08265-5– viaGoogle Books.
• Getty, J. Arch.; Manning, Roberta T., eds. (1993).Stalinist Terror: New Perspectives.Cambridge.{{cite book}}:CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
• Gorlizki, Yoram;Khlevniuk, Oleg(2004).Cold Peace: Stalin and the Soviet Ruling Circle, 1945–1953.Oxford University Press.pp. 3ff.doi:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195165814.001.0001.ISBN9780195165814.
• Kautsky, Karl(1897).Communism in Central Europe in the Time of the Reformation.T. F. Unwin – viaGoogle Books.
• Lindemann, Albert S.(1983).A History of European Socialism.Yale University Press.ISBN978-0-300-03246-8– viaGoogle Books.
• Lowy, Michael(2020).The Theory of Revolution in the Young Marx.Brill.ISBN978-90-04-44160-6.OCLC1239987105– viaGoogle Books.
• Major, Patrick (1997).The Death of the KPD: Communism and Anti-Communism in West Germany, 1945–1956.Oxford University Press.
• Priestland, David(2010).The Red Flag: Communism and the Making of the Modern World.Penguin Books.ISBN978-0-14-029520-7.OCLC762107381.
• Service, Robert(2007).Comrades!: A History of World Communism.Cambridge:Harvard University Press.ISBN978-0-674-02530-1– viaGoogle Books.
• van Ree, Erik (2015).Boundaries of Utopia – Imagining Communism from Plato to Stalin.Routledge.ISBN978-1-134-48533-8– viaGoogle Books.

Further reading

Books

• Borkenau, Franz.World communism; a history of the Communist International(1938)online
• Crozier, Brian.The Rise and Fall of the Soviet Empire(1999), long detailed popular history
• Davin, Delia (2013).Mao: A Very Short Introduction.Oxford UP.ISBN9780191654039.
• Deakin, F. W. ed.A history of world communism(1975)online
• Furet, François.The Passing of an Illusion: The Idea of Communism in the Twentieth Century(1999).
• Garver, John W.China's Quest: The History of the Foreign Relations of the People's Republic(2nd ed. 2018) comprehensive scholarly history.excerpt
• Harvey, Robert,A Short History of Communism(2004),ISBN0-312-32909-1.
• Kotkin, Stephen.Stalin, Volume I: Paradoxes of Power, 1878–1928(2014) highly detailed scholarly biography; vol 2Stalin: Waiting for Hitler, 1929–1941(2017)
• Pathak, Rakesh, and Yvonne Berliner.Communism in Crisis 1976–89(2012)
• Pipes, Richard.Communism: A History(2003)
• Pons, Silvio and Robert Service, eds.A Dictionary of 20th-Century Communism(Princeton University Press, 2010). 944 pp.ISBN978-0-691-13585-4online review
• Priestland, David.The Red Flag: A History of Communism(2010)
• Sandle, Mark.Communism(2nd ed. 2011), short introduction
• Service, Robert.Lenin: A Biography(2000)excerpt and text search;alsoonline
• Service, Robert.Stalin(2005)online
• Seton-Watson, Hugh.From Lenin to Khrushchev, the history of world communism(1954)online
• Taubman, William.Khrushchev: The Man and His Era(2004)excerpt and text search;alsocomplete text
• Taubman, William.Gorbachev: His Life and Times(2018)
• Tucker, Robert C.Stalin as Revolutionary, 1879–1929(1973);Stalin in Power: The Revolution from Above, 1929–1941.(1990)online ed.ArchivedMay 25, 2012, at theWayback Machinea standard biography;online at ACLS e-books
• Ulam, Adam B.Expansion and Coexistence: Soviet Foreign Policy 1917–73(1974)online

Journals

• American Communist History(United States)
• Communisme(France)
• Twentieth Century Communism(United Kingdom)

Primary sources

• Daniels, Robert V., ed.A Documentary History of Communism in Russia: From Lenin to Gorbachev(1993)
• Daniels, Robert V. ed.A Documentary History of Communism: Communism and the World(1985)
• Gruber, Helmut.International Communism in the Era of Lenin: A Documentary History(1967)

Memoirs

• Chambers, Whittaker(1952).Witness.New York:Random House.
• Davis, Hope Hale(1994).Great Day Coming: A Memoir of the 1930s.Steerforth Press.ISBN9781883642174– viaGoogle Books.
• Tchernavin, Tatiana(1934).Escape From The Soviets.Translated byNatalie Duddington (under the pseudonym N. Alexander).E. P. Dutton and Co.
• Ulanovskaya, Maya;Ulanovskaya, Nadezhda(2016).The Family Story.Translated by Hoffman, Stefani. Lulu.ISBN9781326667573– viaGoogle Books.

Animation

• Mapping the fall of communism