History of Communism

History Of Communism

Most modern forms of communism are based upon Marxism, a variant of the ideology formed by the sociologist Karl Marx in the 1840s. Some religious societies that have stressed egalitarianism and common ownership of goods have been described as communist, including early Christianity and the Shakers of 19th century America. Marxism subsequently gained support across much of Europe, and under the control of the Bolshevik Party, a communist government seized power during the Russian revolution, leading to the creation of the Soviet Union, the world’s first Marxist state, in the early 20th century.

During ensuing decades, governments using the "Communist" name obtained power in many parts of the world through conquest, including most of eastern Europe, eastern Asia and parts of Africa. During the late 1980s and early 1990s most of these "Communist" regimes collapsed and adopted capitalistic economic policies, even if remaining nominally communist, like the People’s Republic of China. Today, nominal communist governments control countries like Cuba and Vietnam.

Various historians have studied the history of communism, including Robert Service and Archie Brown, many of whom have taken a negative view of the ideology, which they viewed as having a tendency towards authoritarianism, totalitarianism and for allowing human rights abuses.