Communism is a political and economic system that seeks to create a classless society in which the major means of production, such as mines and factories, are owned and controlled by the public.

Understanding Communism
"Communism" is an umbrella term that encompasses a range of ideologies. The term's modern usage originated with Victor d'Hupay, an 18th-century French aristocrat who advocated living in "communes" in which all property would be shared, and "all may benefit from everybody's work." The idea was hardly new even at that time, however: the Book of Acts describes first-century Christian communities holding property in common according to a system known as koinonia, which inspired later religious groups such as the 17th-century English "Diggers" to reject private ownership.

The Communist Manifesto
Modern communist ideology began to develop during the French Revolution, and its seminal tract, Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels' "Communist Manifesto," was published in 1848. That pamphlet rejected the Christian tenor of previous communist philosophies, laying out a materialist and—its proponents claim—scientific analysis of the history and future trajectory of human society. "The history of all hitherto existing society," Marx and Engels wrote, "is the history of class struggles."

The Communist Manifesto presented the French Revolution as a major historical turning point, when the "bourgeoisie" —the merchant class that was in the process of consolidating control over the "means of production" —overturned the feudal power structure and ushered in the modern, capitalist era. That revolution replaced the medieval class struggle, which pitted the nobility against the serfs, with the modern one pitting the bourgeois owners of capital against the "proletariat," the working class who sell their labor for wages.

In the Communist Manifesto and later works, Marx, Engels, and their followers advocated (and predicted as historically inevitable) a global proletarian revolution, which would usher in first an era of socialism, then of communism. This final stage of human development would mark the end of class struggle and therefore of history: all people would live in social equilibrium, without class distinctions, family structures, religion, or property. The state, too, would "wither away." The economy would function, as a popular Marxist slogan puts it, "from each according to his ability, to each according to his needs."

The Soviet Union
Marx and Engels' theories would not be tested in the real world until after their deaths. In 1917, during World War I, an uprising in Russia toppled the czar and sparked a civil war that eventually saw a group of radical Marxists led by Vladimir Lenin gain power in 1922. The Bolsheviks, as this group was called, founded the Soviet Union on former Imperial Russian territory and attempted to put communist theory into practice.

Prior to the Bolshevik Revolution, Lenin had developed the Marxist theory of vanguardism, which argued that a close-knit group of politically enlightened elites was necessary to usher in the higher stages of economic and political evolution: socialism and finally communism. Lenin died shortly after the civil war ended, but the "dictatorship of the proletariat," led by his successor Joseph Stalin, would pursue brutal ethnic and ideological purges as well as forced agricultural collectivization. Tens of millions died during Stalin's rule, from 1922 to 1952, on top of the tens of millions who died as a result of the war with Nazi Germany.

Rather than withering away, the Soviet state became a powerful one-party institution that prohibited dissent and occupied the "commanding heights" of the economy. Agriculture, the banking system, and industrial production were subject to quotas and price controls laid out in a series of Five Year Plans. This system of central planning enabled rapid industrialization, and from 1950 to 1965 growth in Soviet gross domestic product (GDP) outpaced that of the U.S. In general, however, the Soviet economy grew at a much slower pace than its capitalist, democratic counterparts.

Weak consumer spending was a particular drag on growth. Central planners' emphasis on heavy industry led to chronic underproduction of consumer goods, and long lines at understocked grocery stores were a fixture of Soviet life even during periods of relative prosperity. Thriving black markets – termed the "second economy" by some academics – catered to demand for cigarettes, shampoo, liquor, sugar, milk, and especially prestige goods such as jeans smuggled in from the West. While these networks were illegal, they were essential to the party's functioning: they alleviated shortages that, left unchecked, threatened to spark another Bolshevik Revolution; they provided party propagandists with a scapegoat for shortages; and they lined the pockets of party officials, who would either take payoffs to look the other way or grow rich running black market operations themselves.

The Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, following a push to reform the economic and political system and provide greater room for private enterprise and free expression. These reform pushes, known as perestroika and glasnost, respectively, did not halt the economic decline the Soviet Union suffered in the 1980s and likely hastened the Communist state's end by loosening its grip on sources of dissent.

Advantages
Communism has a centrally planned economy; it can quickly mobilize economic resources on a large scale, execute massive projects, and create industrial power. It can move so effectively because it overrides individual self-interest and subjugates the welfare of the general population to achieve critical social goals.

Disadvantages
The most significant disadvantage of communism stems from its elimination of the free market. The laws of supply and demand don't set prices—the government does. Planners lose the valuable feedback these prices provide about what the people want. They can't get up-to-date information about consumers' needs, and as a result, there is often a surplus of one thing and shortages of others.

To compensate, citizens create a market to trade the things the planners don't provide, which destroys the trust in Marx's pure communism. People no longer feel the government can give "to each according to his needs."

Communist Countries
The last five remaining Communist countries are China, Cuba, Laos, North Korea, and Vietnam. They aren't pure communism but are transitioning from socialism, where the state owns the components of supply. According to Marx, that is a necessary midway point between capitalism and the ideal communist economy. Modern communist societies rely on a mixed economy.

Other Examples in History
In 1922, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was established with six communist countries: Russia, Belorussia, Ukraine, and the Transcaucasian Federation. In 1936, the Federation became Georgia, Azerbaijan, and Armenia.14

By 1991, when it dissolved, the USSR contained 15 total countries. The additional nine were Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan.1516

In 1955, the USSR created the Warsaw Pact with other communist military allies. They included Albania, Bulgaria, East Germany, Hungary, Poland, and Romania.17

The USSR had many other communist allies. Many became communist in the 1970s but shifted to another form of government after the USSR collapsed. They included Afghanistan, Angola, Benin, Congo, Ethiopia, Mongolia, Mozambique, Somalia, South Yemen, and Yugoslavia.1819 Cambodia was a communist country from 1975–1979.20

How Are Socialism and Communism Different?
Though the terms are often used interchangeably, socialism and communism are different in key ways.
SARAH PRUITT

Both socialism and communism are essentially economic philosoph

Первая конституция Советского Союза, принятая в 1924 году, включала союзный договор между различными советскими республиками. В соответствии с этим договором Российская Социалистическая Федеративная Советская Республика стала называться Российская Советская Федеративная Социалистическая Республика (РСФСР). Номинально границы каждого подразделения включали территорию определенной национальности. Конституция наделяла новые республики суверенитетом, хотя, как утверждается, они добровольно делегировали большую часть своих суверенных полномочий советскому центру. Формальный суверенитет подтверждается наличием флагов, конституций и других государственных символов, а также гарантированным конституцией «правом» республик на выход из союза. Россия была самой большой из союзных республик по территории и численности населения. В эпоху холодной войны (около 1947-1991 гг.) Из-за доминирования русских в делах Союза РСФСР не смогла развить некоторые институты управления и администрации, которые были типичными для общественной жизни в других республиках: коммунистическая партия республиканского уровня, Российская академия наук и российские отделения профсоюзов, например. Однако, когда титульные национальности остальных четырнадцати союзных республик начали призывать к расширению республиканских прав в конце 1980-х, этнические русские также начали требовать создания или укрепления различных специфически русских институтов в РСФСР. Определенная политика советского лидера Михаила Горбачева (занимавшего пост Генерального секретаря Коммунистической партии Советского Союза с 1985 по 1991 год) также поощряла национальности в союзных республиках, включая Российскую республику, отстаивать свои права. Эта политика включала гласность (буквально, публичное «высказывание»), которая сделала возможным открытое обсуждение демократических реформ и давно игнорируемые общественные проблемы, такие как загрязнение окружающей среды. Гласность также принесла конституционные реформы, которые привели к избранию законодательных органов новой республики с существенными блоками пореформенных представителей.

В РСФСР новый законодательный орган, названный Съездом народных депутатов, был избран в марте 1990 года в результате в основном свободного и состязательного голосования. После своего созыва в мае съезд избрал Бориса Ельцина, бывшего протеже Горбачева, который ушел в отставку / был изгнан из высших партийных эшелонов из-за его радикальных предложений по реформе и неустойчивой личности, президентом постоянного рабочего органа съезда - Верховного Совета. В следующем месяце Конгресс провозгласил суверенитет России над ее природными ресурсами и примат российских законов над законами центрального советского правительства. В течение 1990-1991 годов РСФСР укрепила свой суверенитет путем создания республиканских отделений таких организаций, как Коммунистическая партия, Академия наук Советского Союза, радио- и телевещание, а также Комитет государственной безопасности (Комитет государственной безопасности - КГБ). . В 1991 году Россия создала новую исполнительную власть, президентство, по примеру Горбачева, который создал такую ​​должность для себя в 1990 году. Президентские выборы в России в июне 1991 года придали ему легитимность, в то время как Горбачев отказался от таких выборов и был назначен советским парламентом. Несмотря на попытки Горбачева отговорить российский электорат голосовать за него, Ельцин победил на всенародных выборах и стал президентом, легко победив пять других кандидатов,

Ельцин использовал свою роль президента России, чтобы провозгласить суверенитет и патриотизм России, а его легитимность в качестве президента стала главной причиной провала переворота, проведенного жесткими правительственными и партийными чиновниками против Горбачева в августе 1991 года Советский переворот 1991 года (см. Августовский переворот 1991 г.) Лидеры переворота пытались свергнуть Горбачева, чтобы помешать его плану подписания Нового Союзного договора, который, как они считали, разрушит Советский Союз. Ельцин демонстративно выступил против заговорщиков и призвал к восстановлению Горбачева, сплотив российскую общественность. Что наиболее важно, фракция Ельцина возглавляла элементы в «силовых министерствах», которые контролировали вооруженные силы, полицию и КГБ, чтобы они отказывались подчиняться