Archive for the ‘Communism’ Category

Communism | Define Communism at Dictionary.com

Contemporary Examples

After all, the interventions in Guatemala and other places were carried out for a noble causestopping the spread of communism.

After World War II, anxiety turned more toward the Cold War threat of communism.

For the anti-Semite, both capitalism and communism are Jewish plots.

Keynes well understood the attractions of communism to the affluent young.

The absence of those rights, she said in her speech, is an abuse of power and principle equal to slavery or communism.

Historical Examples

Much, no doubt, could be done even by what is now called communism, but what in earlier days was called Christianity.

An early form of communism with a sort of military-priesthood at the top.

communism, Socialism abolish private property and push us back into Collectivism.

communism possesses a language which every people can understand.

I hasten to say, that if Protection can be and ought to be likened to communism, it is not that which I am about to attack.

British Dictionary definitions for communism Expand

advocacy of a classless society in which private ownership has been abolished and the means of production and subsistence belong to the community

any social, economic, or political movement or doctrine aimed at achieving such a society

(usually capital) a social order or system of government established by a ruling Communist Party, esp in the former Soviet Union

(often capital) (mainly US) any leftist political activity or thought, esp when considered to be subversive

communal living; communalism

Word Origin

C19: from French communisme, from communcommon

Word Origin and History for communism Expand

"social system based on collective ownership," 1843, from French communisme (c.1840) from commun (Old French comun; see common (adj.)) + -isme (see -ism). Originally a theory of society; as name of a political system, 1850, a translation of German Kommunismus (itself from French), in Marx and Engels' "Manifesto of the Communist Party." Cf. communist. In some cases in early and mid-20c., a term of abuse implying anti-social criminality without regard to political theory.

communism in Culture Expand

An economic and social system envisioned by the nineteenth-century German scholar Karl Marx. In theory, under communism, all means of production are owned in common, rather than by individuals (see Marxism and Marxism-Leninism). In practice, a single authoritarian party controls both the political and economic systems. In the twentieth century, communism was associated with the economic and political systems of China and the Soviet Union and of the satellites of the Soviet Union. (Compare capitalism and socialism.)

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Communism | Define Communism at Dictionary.com

Communism: A Glossary of Political Economy Terms – Dr …

Any ideology based on the communal ownership of all property and a classless social structure, with economic production and distribution to be directed and regulated by means of an authoritative economic plan that supposedly embodies the interests of the community as a whole. Karl Marx is today the most famous early theoretician of communism, but he did not invent the term or the basic social ideals, which he mostly borrowed and adapted from the less systematic theories of earlier French utopian socialists -- grafting these onto a philosophical framework Marx derived from the German philosophers Hegel and Feuerbach, while adding in a number of economic theories derived from his reinterpretation of the writings of such early political economists such as Adam Smith, Thomas Malthus, and David Ricardo. In most versions of the communist utopia, everyone would be expected to co-operate enthusiastically in the process of production, but the individual citizen's equal rights of access to consumer goods would be completely unaffected by his/her own individual contribution to production -- hence Karl Marx's famous slogan "From each according to his ability; to each according to his need." The Marxian and other 19th century communist utopias also were expected to dispense with such "relics of the past" as trading, money, prices, wages, profits, interest, land-rent, calculations of profit and loss, contracts, banking, insurance, lawsuits, etc. It was expected that such a radical reordering of the economic sphere of life would also more or less rapidly lead to the elimination of all other major social problems such as class conflict, political oppression, racial discrimination, the inequality of the sexes, religious bigotry, and cultural backwardness -- as well as put an end to such more "psychological" forms of suffering as alienation, anomie, and feelings of powerlessness.

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Communism: A Glossary of Political Economy Terms - Dr ...

communism – Dictionary Definition : Vocabulary.com

At the opposite end of the spectrum from capitalism, communism is an economic theory favoring a classless society and the abolition of private property.

Communism derives from the French commun (common). Ideally, according to communism, society shares all property in common, everyone shares the burden of labor, and everyone shares the profits of that labor. Or, as the German philosopher Karl Marx wrote, "From each according to his ability, to each according to his need." As a system of government, communism is often closer to a form of socialism, in which the state owns and operates industry on behalf of the people.

Definitions of communism

1

a form of communism developed in Cuba by Fidel Castro

the political and economic theories of Lenin which provided the guiding doctrine of the Soviet Union; the modification of Marxism by Lenin stressed that imperialism is the highest form of capitalism (which shifts the struggle from developed to underdeveloped countries)

a form of communism developed in China by Mao Zedong

the economic and political theories of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels that hold that human actions and institutions are economically determined and that class struggle is needed to create historical change and that capitalism will ultimately be superseded by communism

the form of communism advocated by Leon Trotsky; calls for immediate worldwide revolution by the proletariat

an orientation that characterizes the thinking of a group or nation

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communism - Dictionary Definition : Vocabulary.com

Communism

=================================== 3 =================================== The Self-Organizing Moneyless Economy The first scientific speculation on how a communist economy and political system will function in the 21st century. Featuring brief sketches of the organization of political, cultural and economic life in a future where all authority flows from principles that have been distributed universally and are part of everyone's internal compass rather than institutions which are external to the individual and which use one or another form of carrot or stick. The future communist economy, based on the principle of from each according to his ability, to each according to his need, will not be based on the market, money, capital, commodities or wages (ie: the economy will not be based on exchange or trade of any kind) nor will there exist any kind of supreme central authority telling everyone what to do. All work and all economic actions will be voluntary (ie: gifts freely given without strings attached--nor expectations of reciprocity). The communist economy will consist of myriad self-organizing assemblies of economic units in competition with one another to most efficiently transform skilled labor and other resources into forms of social wealth serving the the material and cultural needs of the masses. (1995) =================================== 4 =================================== =================================== 5 =================================== =================================== 6 =================================== The Future Transparent Workers' State Will a workers' state be a brutal police state or a machine controlled by workers? Are we paralyzed by fear of violent and brutal repression? Or defiant, courageous and determined to win victory with mass-based information war? Who's afraid of "red fascism"? The solution to the crisis of theory Thermador vs. Transparency Mass-based information war Why "censorship by filter" is doomed to fail Productivity of labor inseparable from revolution in communications How the bourgeois political machine undermines the independence of the mass oppositional movements =================================== 7 =================================== =================================== 8 =================================== =================================== 9 =================================== The cyberLeninist Manifesto Theprinciplethat"informationwantstobefree" fitsLeninismlikeabulletdoesarifle inwhatturnsouttobe theultimatenightmareforthebourgeoisie. Leninism, as a continuation of the practical and theoretical work of Karl Marx, had two stages in the period that Lenin was alive. The period from Lenin's death to approximately the present time has represented the third stage of Leninism. Now, as the coming revolution in digital communications promises to link-up class-conscious workers in every country, we are entering the fourth stage.

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Communism

How Communism Works – HowStuffWorks

The political theory of socialism, which gave rise to communism, had been around for hundreds of years by the time a German philosopher named Karl Marx put pen to paper. Marx, also known as the father of communism, spent most of his life in exile in Great Britain and France. He wrote the Communist Manifesto in 1848, which later served as the inspiration for the formation of the Communist Party. Communism is also known as "Marxism."

Marx believed that a truly utopian society must be classless and stateless. (It should be noted that Marx died well before any of his theories were put to the test.) Marx's main idea was simple: Free the lower class from poverty and give the poor a fighting chance. How he believed it should be accomplished, however, was another story. In order to liberate the lower class, Marx believed that the government would have to control all means of production so that no one could outdo anyone else by making more money. Unfortunately, that proves to this day to be more difficult than he might have realized.

Marx described three necessary phases toward achieving his idea of utopia.

Marx also detailed the 10 essential tenets of communism, namely:

In the communist society that Marx described, the government has supreme authority through its total control of land and means of production. Because the government distributes land and property among the people, communism sets a standard of equality -- both economically and socially -- among its followers.

The system seems to work in theory, but how did communism work in practice? Read on to learn about the rise of the first communist nation.

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How Communism Works - HowStuffWorks