Communism is a political ideology. It is a type of government where the state owns the main resources, including means of production, property, education, agriculture and transportation. It proposes a society where-in everyone equally shares the benefits of labor, eliminating the class system by redistributing income. Let us see what is communism!
This Blog Includes:
Definition
Communism is a political and economic ideology. It aims to establish a socioeconomic order that is based on the ideas of common ownership of the means of production. It believes in the absence of money, social class, and the state.
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Beliefs of Communist Ideology
Karl Marx is known as the Father of Communism. He proposed this ideology in a book named Communist Manifesto which he wrote with Friedrich Engels. The manifesto focused on the following beliefs
- Class struggle in all historical societies
- Instability created by capitalism
- Equal division of labor profit
History
- November 7, 1917: Emergence of the Soviet Union, the first communist government, after the October Revolution inspired by The Communist Manifesto
- July 1, 1921: Inspired by the Russian Revolution, the Communist Party of China is formed.
- January 21, 1924: Lenin dies and Joseph Stalin eventually takes over, industrializing the country with a state-controlled economy. However, leading to famine. The world witnesses the Great Purge
- May 9, 1945: Cold War Begins
- World War II ends, U.S.S.R. declares victory over Nazi Germany.
- Korea divides into the Soviets-occupied communist North and the United States-occupied South.
- March 12, 1947: Under President Harry S. Truman the U.S. provides defense from communist takeovers by entering into the wars in Vietnam and Korea.
- October 1, 1949: After the civil war, Mao Zedong, China’s Communist Party leader, declares the creation of the People’s Republic of China. The US ends diplomatic ties with China.
- January 1, 1959: Fidel Castro takes over Cuba and makes it a Communist state
- April 25, 1975: Formation of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam under Communist rule
- November 9, 1989: Fall of the Berlin Wall
- 1989-90: Collapse of communist regimes in Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Bulgaria, Romania, Poland, Benin, Nicaragua, Mozambique, and Yemen.
- December 25, 1991: The Soviet Union dissolves with the resignation of Mikhail Gorbachev.
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Communist Countries
In the 1900s, one-third of the world’s population had communist governments. However, today only five countries have a communist form of government:
- North Korea
- China
- Laos
- Vietnam
- Cuba.
Debatably these countries do not meet the true definition of communism. And stand in a transitional phase between the end of capitalism and the creation of communism.
Quiz
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