what is communism?

Answer 1

Communism without a capital "c" was developed by Karl Marx and Friederich Engels in their book, "The Communist Manifesto" in 1848. Their belief was that history had been influenced by interactions between two groups of people: the haves and the have-nots. In the end, they argued that the proletariat would overthrow their bourgeoisie employers (capitalist factory-owners, etc) and establish a state based on the collective rights and desires of the workers. Everyone would own property, factories, etc. collectively and work the same amount. It would be very equal. "From each according to his abilities, to each according to his needs."

In a way, communism in theory had good intentions. It was democratic, because everyone was supposed to work together and be equal. There would be no employers, no employees. Everyone would work for the common good. In Marx's vision, there would eventually be no need for government.

Unfortunately, that situation does not work in reality. Human beings are by nature competitive and without competition, there is no impetus to improve.

Communism with a capital "C" was established by the Bolsheviks under V. Lenin after the Bolshevik revolution in Russia in 1917. In this situtaion, Lenin felt that the people of Russia (mostly peasants, not workers like in Marx's vision) were not yet ready for true communism, and that they needed to be led by a group of competent and dedicated leaders (ie. him). Lenin's form of Communism was a system in which the government was controlled by the Communist party. It turned out to be more like a dictatorship than communism in the style that Marx had laid out decades earlier in "The Communist Manifesto." This dictatorship was strengthened by Lenin's successor, Stalin.

In Russia, Communism was strengthened by Stalin's efforts to collectivize farms and factories and to make people work for the same pay and produce ridiculous quotas. In other places, people worked for the highly structured and wasteful bureaucracy were equally lazy. A common saying in communist China was "we pretend to work and they pretend to pay us." With low pay, the motivation to work hard is also low.

Communism in its intellectual form laid out by Marx, "marxism," never really existed. The Communist regimes that sprang up in the 20th century in China and other places followed the Soviet (Russian) model. Communist countries in Eastern Europe like Poland, Hungary, and East Germany were all under the control of Russia. Other "third world" or global south countries like North Vietnam and Cuba were more socialist and turned to the Soviets only for financial and military aid, then they took on the Communist label.

Answer 2

Its a theoretical way of life where every one works but noone gets paid or they get paid very little. Each person gets a equal portion of food, clothing, shelter, medical care and so on. The money that one would normally make goes into a pot, the government or governing body and it doled out equally in the form of necessities. In theory communism works and in some cases variations of communism exist in today's society and work fairly well enough to sustain a community or country. The most important thing that communism does not take into account is the "individual". Not everyone is equal and trying to treat everyone equally when they are not does not work. Not all people work hard, some are lazy, some are stupid, some are brilliant, some are mean some are nice. Eventually the smart, hard working ones get tired of getting the same as the stupid lazy people and well thats when we have revolutions and such. This is the main reason that true communism does not work. Its interesting to read about the various forms of communism and marxism.

Answer 3

What communism is, in practical terms is: Taking all properties from the rich and placing the poor, in their place, to live and work, and when all is equal and all are the same, everyone becomes poor and the government actually owns it all., no one has the incentive to work, then the government fails and colapses, it is the end of comunism .

Answer 4

It is a system of government in which the government controls everything to achieve true equality for the people. A society without racism, inequality, or a concept of rich and poor

Answer 5

Communism is where the government totally takes precedence over the people. Democracy ideally is where the people take precedence over the government.

Answer 6

It is living in communities and dividing what each of you earns. It has little to do with socialism and certainly not the old totalitarian sustem of russia.

Answer 7

Read a book, find the answer. Communism is a concept of equality, though its fatal flaw is that it, in truth, is not equal.
No Wikipasting.

Answer 8

a theory or system of social organization based on the holding of all property in common, actual ownership being ascribed to the community as a whole or to the state.

Answer 9

A theory advocating elimination of private property is what the dictionary says. Basically it is where all businesses are owned by the government.

Answer 10

no private ownership of the primary means of production.