The Ideas Of Communism

Communism is a system of social organisation which formerly consumed almost a third of countries in the entire world, having originated in Russia. The first official communist state was founded during the Russian revolutions in 1917, due to the inaugural communist political party ‘Bolsheviks’ gaining primal power. Afterwards, the influence of communism spread to other countries with the likes of Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia and East Germany to name a few. These countries that were governed on communist principles were known as the ‘Eastern Bloc’. Even countries in Asia were persuaded into the theoretically human equality system such as China, Laos and Vietnam. Communism was gathering strength to strength every year in the mid 20th century, but eventually its impact was wiped off in the late 20th century when the Berlin War was knocked down in 1989, ending the barrier between the Eastern and Western blocs. Communism arguably was the most influential social experiment in history, but also the most flawed and its failure to change the world permanently will always remain significant in history.

Three different types of economic systems used by governments are Communism, Capitalism, and Socialism. Each type of system is unique in different ways. Each has distinct aspects that make it what it is. In communism, the government runs everything and there are no social classes. The government in capitalism doesn’t interfere with any businesses and lets the citizens own and operate them. Socialism is basically a mixture of the two economic systems. The government runs certain businesses, but citizens run the rest. The three economic systems are different in the way they run things and regulate things.

The United States mission to eradicate and halt the spread of communism within Europe and Asia was a new challenge and a new responsibility. America hoped to effectively stop and fight against communism; which is had so vigorously fought against in WWII. The United States needed to control the communist ideas and influence it had on other countries; while preventing its influence ever coming to America. The United States planned on and hoped to stop the corruption of communism from the new threats; The Soviet Union and Asia.

In order to discuss the different ways in which economists considered societies could resolve the economic calculation problem and the implications of the economic calculation debate it is important to consider different view points of influential economists from all over the world.

“Mankind must put an end to war or war will put an end to mankind.” John F. Kennedy, September 25, 1961

After World War II the Soviet Union led by Stalin maintained a strong presence and influence in Central and Eastern Europe, specifically, Poland through the communist Polish United Workers’ Party (PZPR). In this paper I aim to address the reason why communism and Marxist ideologies were unsuccessfully received in post war Poland. I will be arguing *that Marxism was made into a tool of oppression by the Soviet Union, and therefore became illegitimate in itself. I intend on arguing this theory by investigating the goal of the Soviet Union. In addition to this I will identifying instances where the Soviets and communist puppet parties in Poland had strayed from traditional Marxist ideologies. Finally I will recognize the opposition groups and parties that had formed against the Soviet oppression and instillment of inequality.

The United State’s was not subtle in their distain for communism and the Soviet Union; they fanned the ideological flames between capitalism and communism rather than putting them out. Directly after the war the US created the Marshall Plan, where they gave $13 billion to European states. In President Truman’s speech ‘The Truman Doctrine’ he talks about Greece and Turkey and threatens if aid is not given, Greece’s democracy will be under threat by armed men supported by communists. This was a strategic ploy to prevent communism, by allowing capitalism to flourish. Full-employment leaves people happy, and accepting of capitalism and less likely to turn to radical communism. However the Soviet Union was not impressed with this because they believed that capitalism was the root of fascism, and their allied states declined the funding.

Marx understanding of society shift into modernism lead to develop a form of communism that would come to be known as Marxism, communism is the economic thought of Marxism. Marx understands that Modernism calls for society to embrace equality for the betterment of society. Part of the problem with Capitalism comes from its exploitation of the working class; Marx understands this problem to be a vein of Pre-modernism and not a pillar of Modernism. Marx calls for the working class to rise up over their bourgeoisie oppressors and seize the equality that rightfully belongs to them. “Society as a whole is more and more splitting up into two great hostile camps, into two great classes directly facing each other – bourgeoisie and proletariat. (Communist pg. 9)” If society wants to embrace modernism, then society needs to shift its focus from fighting each other and one exploiting another to a classless society. Marx highly criticizes the bourgeoisie in The Communist Manifesto, and this stems from the problems they created for themselves and for the rest of society. In their attempt to gain more power, land, and resources, their material conditions, upon the prominence which their families had been formed, were dissipating due to the lack of foresight and selfish greed. If the Bourgeoisie continues to exploit the proletariat then society will head to conflict, as is expected of Pre-modernism, but if the Bourgeoisie cease its exploitation and relinquish its power for the group,

Communism is the system where the factories are owned by the workers that work in them; this system is the brainchild of Friedrich Engels and Karl Marx. Although many argue that communism has never been given a fair chance at success, communism was a very powerful movement in the early twentieth century.

1. Without the fetters of religion to offer an easy answer to the ontological question, a communist would respond with a Descartian vision: I think, therefore I am. As Chambers states, "The Communist vision is the vision of Man without God. It is the vision of man's mind displacing God as the creative intelligence of the world. It is the vision of man's liberated mind." With a liberated mind, the communist is free to think openly and critically about the ontological questions. Religion no longer binds the person and proscribes modes of thinking. I am a rational human being with the potential for growth, intelligence, and understanding. As a rational being, the communist is "the most intelligent of the animals" and certainly no longer needs to be told that human beings are created in God's image.

Communism could be an intriguing theory, especially to a poor developing country. A society where not one person is superior to another, where everyone shares products of their labor, and where the government provides for their people by providing employment and medical care for all. However, the political leaders are always better than the people and there is no way of improvement and growth economically, politically and socially. After WWII and the success of the USSR conquering Nazi Germany with communism, the idea of communist governments began to flourish. The Vietnam War, also known as the second Indochina War, was a conflict that pitted the communist government of North Vietnam against South Vietnam’s government and its ally, the United States. The main conflict was the desire of North Vietnam, who had defeated the French colonial administration of Vietnam in 1954, to unite the country under one communist nation which modeled China’s government. The South Vietnamese government however, fought to maintain a capitalist society. On the American side, the nation feared of a the continuation of the Domino Theory, which essentially meant that the fall of one country in a region to communism would cause the neighboring states to tumble like dominoes into communism. In order to prevent Vietnam from being the next domino to collapse after China, the United States decided to support South Vietnam while China and the Soviet Union supported the North with political direction

German philosopher and socialist Karl Marx once famously said, “The theory of Communism may be summed up in one sentence: Abolish all private property.” In other words, no one owns any private property and everyone receive equal shares of the benefits that they labored for. Class divisions do not exist anymore as everyone is equal, at least in theory. Karl Marx’s theory of communism popularized into a practice that forever altered the world. Even though Marx's idea of communal property sounds appealing, the main communist theory is rotten at its core and resulted in a terrorizing practice.

     Communism had one of the greatest political impacts than any other political ideas in the 20th century around the world. What is important and interesting about communism is its background, concept, and why many countries apply to this idea. This essay will generally focus on the background, ideology, and why the countries and political parties applied to this idea.

     What is Communism? Communism is the doctrine of the conditions of the liberation of the proletariat. It also can be defined as a conceptualized system of government in which resources and production facilities are the property of the entire society rather than individuals. In a communist society, labor is shared equally as well, and the benefits of labor are distributed according to need (Communism.4all 1). No one person shall be ranked higher than another and there is to be one person in charge of the society in a communism government. There are still to this day many countries that fall under the rule of communism and the ways they were transformed under communist rule is quite interesting.

In the beginning Communism seemed to the people of Russia as a utopian ideal. The promise of the elimination of classes, of guaranteed employment, "The creation of a comprehensive social security and welfare system for all citizens that would end the misery of workers once and for all." Lenin's own interpretation of the Marxian critique was that to achieve Communism there would first have to be a socialist dictatorship to first suppress any dissent or protest. Through coercive tactics this new government seized power and in 1917 Lenin came to power. Under his "rule" Russia underwent radical changes in it's economic doctrines adopting a mixed which was termed the New Economic Policy, also referred to as NEP. This