Many people hope for an ideal society in which everyone is equal in all aspects, and thereby, lacking from the flaws of social issues. Such a society would be free from prejudices like racism, sexism and all other classes of oppression. This is the basic idea which surrounds the theory of communism. Communism is the philosophical thought which preaches “liberation of the proletariat” , which is the working class of the 19th century. The social classes of proletariat and bourgeoisie were developed during the age of the Industrial revolution. People were divided based on their roles in society: the laborers or poorer class (the proletariat) and the bourgeoisie who reaped the benefits from the proletariat’s work on their lands. Communism boasted equal shares of the fruits of labor to all people in a society. This form of equality would facilitate the working class or proletariat peoples to achieve higher social and financial status, equal to that of the bourgeoisie. Indeed, it is a wonderful sentiment to liberate the poor and achieve equality between the bourgeoisie and proletariat classes. However, the means through which this is achieved is further clarified by Karl Marx. In a truly communist society, there must be an “abolition of private property.” Therefore, the state or government would be in control of all the assets of production in order to properly redistribute and appropriate the funds to the different classes on the basis of their needs.
Communism originated with Karl Marx and Frederich Engels. Marx was German born and grew up in a neighborhood which had been in the eras between modern, revolutionary France and ancien regime Prussia. (The ancien regime or the old regime was the period between the 1770s to 1780s in which the French Revolution took place and there was an abolishment of the monarchy and nobility systems.) Like many youths of his time, Marx was obsessed with the way in which ‘progressive’ politics could be brought to a ‘backward’ country. Under the teachings of Georg Hegel, he further developed his socialist views and determined the injustices of private property ownership. Often, he was impoverished and found himself among the poor working class. Karl Marx developed a friendship with Frederich Engels who shared similar ideas concerning the proletariat and bourgeoisie classes. However, Engels had personal experience with the upper class and on hand experience with capitalism since he came from a wealthy family; which Marx was lacking. This further cemented their ideas and they began compiling their works. In 1848, Marx and Engels published The Communist Manifesto. This medium afforded Marx and Engels the means to easily disperse their works throughout Europe.
Karl Marx’s hopes for communism was for it to be spread to all countries of the world so that they may adopt his ideals into every society. This would lead to the spread of equality and dissolve the proletariat and bourgeoisie classes altogether throughout the world. Thus, providing the liberation of the poor and the eradication of poverty and all other forms of oppression from all communities; inclusive of racism or sexism. Marx’s dream was facilitated by the dispersal of his and Engels’ Communist Manifesto. It was originally written in German, however, in the years following its release, it was translated to many other languages. By the late 19th century, the Communist Manifesto was translated to Polish, English, Italian and Russian under the advisement of Frederich Engels. Although, Marx was not alive to witness his theory of communism in action, eventually it spread and was adopted by many countries worldwide. Communism travelled to Russia first, then onwards to China, North Korea, Vietnam, Cuba and even the Americas and inculcated into these societies for a short while of the 20th century.
Russia was the first country to adopt communism into their government and implement it into their countries. It began with the February Revolution in which the Romanov Dynasty was overthrown. Russia was a czarist nation and was long ruled by a monarchical system. However, the citizens grew restless and became wary of their leaders as they suffered at the hands of World War I while the royals lived in luxury. As such, an uprising took place which led to the execution of the czar and his family. The Bolshevik’s were largely responsible for this revolution with Vladimir Ilich Lenin as their leader. Lenin was a strong believer in Marxism and thus he ruled with communist ideals. Their party was later renamed the Russian Communist Party. Following Karl Marx’s guidelines, Lenin was able to gain state control of the lands belonging the bourgeoisie and nobles through three methods: famine, slave labor camps and by executing those who went against him. This led to millions of deaths in a short span of years under his rule. After the end of the Russian Civil War, the Soviet Union formed, or USSR. Wealth was often redistributed by the state to create equality amongst the working and middle classes. Joseph Stalin, was the successor to Lenin, and he further pushed communism onto the citizens of Russia, and introduced it to other countries. He began forced industrialization and total collectivization of agriculture. Stalin completely industrialized Russia by building an abundance of factories, which were placed strategically to prevent intervention from outside sources. However, by the end of Stalin’s rule, millions of peasants had perished due to famine or killed by his militia for their refusal to give up their farm lands and livestock to the state. By the end of Stalin’s rule, many countries of Western Europe did not support the communist rule of their eastern neighbors. Ultimately, the Cold War between the United States and Russia proved to be the downfall of the Soviet Union and communist leadership. However, it took almost 50 years until policies were changed and ties reconciled under the presidencies of Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev.
As was the vision for Marx and his utopian society, communism spread to many other countries and was adopted by their governments. China is one of the few countries which remained communist even after the fall of the Soviet Union. Mao Zedeong, fashioned his country with communist philosophies in mind largely influenced the soviet practices. Similarly, to Stalin’s command, many of the peasants succumbed under the harsh treatment of Mao’s rule. He would famously say, “We must be aware that political power grows out of the barrel of a gun.” He set up slave labor camps for the peasants who refused to adjust their lives under communist society. He did not agree that there may be peace with other non-communist countries, that is, between communists and capitalists. He focused on the heavy industrialization of China and the Great Leap Program which is the collectivization of China’s agriculture by the government. People were forced to give up their property in rural areas and be subjected to relocations in communes. Like Russia, the peasants suffered, leading to millions of deaths under cruel treatment and starvation or prosecution. After Mao’s death, the government policies relaxed, allowing the people contractual rights to the farmlands. This greatly improved the agriculture of the country and led to dismantling of the people’s communes’. While China remains a communist country to date, they have inculcated many capitalist practices and is one of the most leading technological societies in the world.
Communism travelled even further around the globe, to the fringes of Latin America and the Caribbean; Cuba. Cuba’s economy was majorly intertwined with that of the United States. It was a huge sugar industry by exports to the States, of which many plantations were owned by foreigners. To the intellectual Cubans, it seemed their country was stuck in an endless cycle of outside control on their economy. The only way to remedy thi
s was by radical change. Fidel Castro, studied law in Havana, where he learnt many of Marx’s teachings and communist philosophes of other countries. The USSR and China were well established communist countries at this time.