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Communism is a socialist social system in which the means of production are commonly owned, and which has no state, money, or social classes. It is also a political way of thinking and an idea of how to get to such a society. Communism says that the people of any and every place in the world should all own the factories and farms that are used to make goods and food. This social process is known as common ownership. The main differences between socialism and communism are that, in a Communist society, the state and money do not exist. Work is not something a person must do to stay alive but is rather something people can choose whether or not to do.

According to Communist writers and thinkers, the goal of communism is to create a classless society by eliminating the power of the bourgeoisie (the ruling class, who own the means of production) and creating a dictatorship of the proletariat (the working class). Communism is not anti-individualism, but they do believe that decisions should be made to benefit the collective population rather than to serve the greed of one or several individuals.

Some socialists believed that socialists could take state power in democratic elections. They tried to make socialist parties in their own countries win elections. Others thought that the state was created to maintain capitalism and that capitalists would never allow communists to take power. They thought there needed to be a war or revolution in order to create a new workers' state.

Many countries have claimed to be workers' states, but many communists do not agree with this. Most of these countries did hold elections, but in most cases the only candidates that were allowed belonged to the communist party. The elections were not free ones (many candidates with differing views were not allowed to run for office). Some of these countries' leaders such as Stalin or Mao Zedong had many strict laws and sometimes a secret police force to keep themselves in power. People could be sent to prison or killed for speaking against the government.

Most of these countries had a legislature to make laws. Most of the time, the legislature usually did not have any real power. They usually just approved the proposals of the leaders. The Communist Party had all the real political power.

Most of the countries that claimed to be workers states either had a violent revolution or were invaded by a country that left behind a government. Some democratic countries today have active communist parties, such as in India, Italy and France.

In some countries, especially those that used to be ruled by communist parties, the communist party is illegal or discouraged from holding power (like in Eastern Europe).

In 1848, Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels wrote The Communist Manifesto. It was a short book with the basic ideas of communism. Most socialists and communists today still use this book to help them understand politics and economics. Many non-communists read it too, even if they do not agree with everything in it.

Karl Marx said that for society to change into a communist way of living, there would have to be a transitional period. During this transitional period, the workers would govern society. Marx was very interested in the experience of the Paris Commune of 1870, when the workers of Paris ran the city following the defeat of the French Army by the Prussian Army. He thought that this practical experience was more important than the theoretical views of the various radical groups.

Many groups and individuals liked Marx's ideas. By the beginning of the twentieth century there was a world-wide socialist movement called Social Democracy. It was influenced by his ideas. They said that the workers in different countries had more in common with each other than the workers had in common with the bosses within their own nation. In 1917, Vladimir Lenin and Leon Trotsky led a Russian group called the Bolsheviks in the October Revolution. They got rid of the temporary government of Russia which was formed after the February Revolution against the Tsar (Emperor). They established the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (Also called the Soviet Union or USSR).

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Communism - Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia