Communism: Just for Remember. Communism (from Latin communist – common, universal) is a socioeconomic system structured upon common ownership of the means of production and characterized by the absence of social classes, money, and the state; as well as a social, political and economic ideology and movement that aims to establish this social order. The movement to develop communism, in its Marxist–Leninist interpretations, significantly influenced the history of the 20th century, which saw intense rivalry between the states which claimed to follow this ideology and their enemies. Communism is most associated with Marxism, which considers itself the embodiment of scientific socialism. According to Marxism, capitalism is a historically necessary stage of society, which has led to the concentration of social classes into two major groups: proletariat - who must work to survive, and who make up a majority of society - and bourgeoisie - a minority who derive profit from employing the proletariat, through private ownership of the means of production. The political, social, and economical conflict between both groups (class struggle), each attempting to push their interests to their logical extreme, will lead into the capture of political power by the proletariat. Public ownership and management of the means of production by society will be established - this is known associalism. As the development of the productive forces end scarcity, goods and services are made available on the basis of free access. This results in the disappearance of social classes and money. Eventually, as the class struggle ends, the state ceases to be relevant and fades from recognition, as the social institutions for the collective self-management of the human community continue without it. The result is communism: a stateless, classless and moneyless society, structured upon common ownership of the means of production. The October Revolution, led by Lenin and Trotsky, set the conditions for the rise to power of a Marxist party in Russia, eventually resulting in the creation of the Soviet Union, with the aim of developing socialism and eventually communism. Lenin never claimed that the Soviet Union had achieved socialism; in fact, Lenin openly admitted that state capitalism was in place, but also stated that socialism was eventually going to be developed. Lenin, in his last days, asked for Stalin to be removed from his position. Lenins death led to a struggle for power between opposed factions, eventually resulting in the victory of Stalin, whose rule saw the elimination of any opposition. Stalin invented the term Marxism-Leninism, a promotional term designed to emphasize a professed adhererence to Marxism and Leninism (which is controversial) and a more accurate interpretation of these than other tendencies, which describes the political ideology Stalin implemented in the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and, in a global scale, in the Committer. Marxism-Leninism sets deviations from both Marxism and Leninism (such as the acceptance of socialism in one country). There is no definite agreement between historians of about whether Stalin actually followed the principles of Marx and Lenin. Marxism-Leninism is based on the creation of a single-party state which has full control of the economy. According to Marxism-Leninism, the Soviet Union had achieved socialism and was on the way to communism; other communist tendencies disagree, some (of which some are Marxist, some others not) claiming that it had in fact established state capitalism, and that socialism was not being developed but rather that its development was halted since the come to power of Stalin. To these tendencies, Marxism-Leninism is neither Marxism, Leninism, nor the union of both; but rather an artificial term created to justify Stalins ideological distortion, forced upon the CPSU and Committer. In the Soviet Union, the struggle against Marxism-Leninism was led by the Left Opposition (with Trotsky as defactor leader). Trotskyism describes itself as a Marxist and Leninist tendency. Marxism-Leninism was made into the official ideology of the Comintern, and exported to other countries. This body of thought formed the basis for the most clearly visible communist movement in the 20th century and, as such, in the Western world, the term communism came to refer to social movements and states associated with the Comintern. However, these states did not develop communism, and the degree to which they had achieved socialism is debated
Posted on: Thu, 02 Oct 2014 07:50:47 +0000
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