Communism
Part of the series on |
Communism |
---|
Concepts
|
Aspects
|
Variants
|
Internationals
|
Leaders
|
Related topics
|
Communism portal |
A number of states declared an allegiance to the principles of Marxism and have been ruled by self-described Communist Parties, either as a single-party state or a single list, which includes formally several parties, as was the case in the German Democratic Republic. Due to the absolute dominance of the Communist Party in their governments, these states are often called "communist states" by Western political scientists. However, they have described themselves as "socialist", reserving the term "communism" for a future classless society, in which the state would no longer be necessary (on this understanding of communism, "communist state" would be an oxymoron) – for instance, the USSR was the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.
Communist governments have historically been characterized by state ownership of productive resources in a centrally planned economy and sweeping campaigns of economic restructuring such as nationalization of industry and land reform (often focusing on collective farming or state farms.) While they promote collective ownership of the means of production, Communist governments have been characterized by a totaliterian state apparatus in which decisions are made by the ruling Communist Party. Libertarian communists have characterized the Soviet model as state socialism or state capitalism since the concentrated state played the part formerly capitalist played in economy.
Read more about this topic: Marxistic, Political Marxism
Famous quotes containing the word communism:
“Lets not talk about Communism. Communism was just an idea, just pie in the sky.”
—Boris Yeltsin (b. 1931)
“By intervening in the Vietnamese struggle the United States was attempting to fit its global strategies into a world of hillocks and hamlets, to reduce its majestic concerns for the containment of communism and the security of the Free World to a dimension where governments rose and fell as a result of arguments between two colonels wives.”
—Frances Fitzgerald (b. 1940)
“Todays Communism can survive only if it abandons the myth of an infallible party, if it continues to think, and if it becomes democratic.”
—Friedrich Dürrenmatt (19211990)