An economic and political philosophy –
the founders of Communism have known to be Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels
around the latter half of 19th century. When the two met in 1844 they found that
their principles and ideologies were same. Published in 1848, together they
wrote ‘The Communist Manifesto’. Their main aim was to bring an
end to the class system that existed in the society which
exploited the labour class. Once the labour class became aware
then there would be a conflict among the classes which would
be settled through revolution. The worker class would
rise against the bourgeoisie and institute
a communist society. Both Marx and Engels
considered the ‘proletariat’ as people who had
labour power while the ‘bourgeoisie’ were those who owned the means
of production in the capitalist society. The nation would pass through
a phase of socialism and ultimately settle for
a pure communist society. Private ownership would
be eliminated and the community would own the
means of production. The thought was that all
give as per their abilities and receive according
to their requirements. The necessities of the society
would be addressed first before the specific need of
an individual was fulfilled. Many countries in South
America, Asia, Eastern Europe and Africa followed this
political philosophy. Later in the 19th century communism
started to take roots in Russia too. The Bolsheviks gained power when
the October Revolution happened. Russia was the first country where Marxist
view was implemented in such power. They were the Communist
Party and they sent their principles to all the
European socialist parties. Stalin was a leader who ruled Russia
through communist philosophies. China also followed in
the footsteps of Russia. Communism comes from the
French word ‘communisme’ which has Latin roots –
‘communis’ and ‘isme’. The word was used for different social
situations before it came to be in use for more modern ideas of
political and economic organization. ‘Communis’ means for or
of the community while ‘isme’ which means a
condition or action. French philosopher Victor d’Hupay was
the first to have created the modern definition in 1777 in the book of
‘Project de communaute philosophe’. The principles that he mentioned
in the book was followed by him. His book happens to be the backbone
of the communist philosophy. Socialism is something which is
basically something like communism and had become quite popular
in France among the leftists. This was even before communism originated. However, both the words have
different associations. Some developments can be tracked
to different organisations which functioned in Americas and Europe
as different associations, leagues, confederations and parties amalgamated
them with their own political views. Some of the well-known leaders who
have been known to have propagated communism are Fidel Castro, Ho Chi
Minh, Marshal Tito, Lenin, Stalin, Marshal Tito, Karl Marx, Mao Zedong, Kim
Jong il are some of the famous ones. Development of Communism 1840-1916 Pre-Marxist Communism The idea of communal ownership of
wealth and property goes far back to the ancient times as that in Plato’s
‘The Republic’ and Pythagoreanism to as early as Christian Church as
explained in the ‘Acts of Apostles’. German preacher and theologian of the
early Reformation Thomas Muntzer also had led an Anabaptist Communist
movement in the German Peasants War. Muntzer was against both Roman
Catholic Church and Luther. In a book named ‘Utopia’in the 16th
century the author Sir Thomas Moore envisioned a society where there
was common ownership of property and the leaders of the society regulated
its use through their supervision. There were many groups at the time of
English Civil War who supported communism and the most famous of all were the
‘Diggers’ who were Protestants extremists. Several people continued to criticise
the idea of private property and this continued even in the 18th
century where religious thinkers like Jean Jacques Rousseau
who was deeply inspired by the Jansenist movement in
the Roman Catholic Church. The Jansenist movement
was basically meant to put a halt to Protestantism,
secularization and to stop the corruption of church
by the aristocrats through democracy. One of the influential
figures in the French Revolutions Reign of Terror
is Maximilien Robespierre who played an important
role in establishing French Republic is highly praised
by the communists. It is said that Communism
also existed outside Europe in America and other societies
in Western Hemisphere. Karl Marx Karl Marx was born in a
middle-class wealthy family to Henrietta Pressburg
and Heinrich Marx. His father Heinrich was a lawyer and his
mother belonged to a rich business family. He was engaged to Jenny von
Westphalen who was an educated woman and belonged to the
Prussian ruling class family. He became a journalist and he
criticised both right-wing European administrations and the socialist
and liberal movements. When Marx met Friedrich
Engels in 1844 he finally found someone who had the
same thoughts as him. By this time Marx had already
sketched an outline of ‘Marxism’. Later he moved to Brussels
and spent three years there. One of the most famous works that Marx and
Engels wrote was ‘Communist Manifesto’. It was first published on February
21, 1948 and the political pamphlet was now the beliefs
of the ‘Communist League’. The league was not a hidden society, they
made their intentions clear to the people. Europe saw several rebellions
and protests in the year 1848. The French overthrew the monarchy ad
established the French Second Republic. He was accused of a revolutionary
action and arrested him. He left for France where the
new government was in power. He settled in Paris
temporarily and also took the headquarters of
Communist League there and set up a German
Workers Club along with different German socialists
who resided there. In 1848 he went back to Cologne,
Germany in hope to see revolution. There he began the publication of a
newspaper – NeueRheinischeZeitung. He was the main writer and the
editor for the paper as he wanted to put across his views
without any obstructions. His thoughts were
revolutionary and because of this he was always in
and out of the court. Soon the democratic parliament in
Prussia collapsed and a new cabinet of members who supported the king
(Frederick William V) came up. His paper was closed down and he
was asked to leave the country. Later he Marx and his friend Engels began
writing for around six newspapers. His first economic work was ‘A
Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy’ which clearly explained the
relationship between use and value. The edition was a hit and
sold out in no time. His first volume of his famous work
‘Das Kapital’ was published in 1867. The book was so much in
demand that even Russia looked forward to an
edition in Russian. The remaining two volumes
were worked on him and Engels throughout their lives and were
published after Marx died. Marx kept up his ideologies despite
facing opposition from many. Most of his works were
published after his death. He was truly an intellectual man. Early Development of Marxism During the late 19th century many left
wing associations throughout Europe continuously campaigned against the right
wing groups who were autocrats and in power. After the fall of Napoleon III
the socialists established ‘Paris Commune’ in 1871
which a form of government but did not last long as
its members were mostly executed by the revolutionaries
of the opposite side. A party known as ‘German
Social-Democratic Party’ was created in 1875 and was joined by Karl Marx
and his friend Frederick Engels. The number of supporters rose swiftly
and party was revolutionary in nature which led to its de-legalization in 1879
by then Chancellor Otto von Bismarck. When it was legalised in 1890 the party
had already adopted Marxist principles. Some German’s did respect its
ideologies and some leaders in the elections such as Wilhelm Liebknecht
and August Bebel became famous. Marxism not only gained fame
in Germany but was also successful in Netherlands,
Hungary and Habsburg Monarchy. Even though there were many other
countries in Europe that did not accept Marxism the new ideology had
gained enough fame and support based on which a new
organisation was founded for all the Marxists across the world
– Second International. There were many people such
as leftists who criticised Marxism even the socialists
added in to its criticism. Marxist theory says
that the state would ultimately dissolve under
a Marxist government but the Russian collectivist activist
Mikhail Bakunin said that instead of this the state would become more
powerful and become dictatorial. Max Weber who admired Marx for
his ideologies also criticised some of his suppositions when
it came to nature of society. Max Weber was a sociologist. Many Marxists tried
to adjust with this changing nature of
capitalism and criticisms. Eduard Bernstein for
example was a Marxist who tried to legally fight
the then administrations on the treatment of the labour
classes instead of just stressing on revolution as the conventional
Marxist ideology says. Otto Bauer, Vladimir
Lenin, Georgi Plekhanov, Rosa Luxemburg and Karl
Kautsky all were against the thoughts of Bernstein
and were staunch supporters of the orthodox
Marx philosophies. They looked forward to overthrowing
the government controlled by the bourgeoisie and establishing a
dictatorship of the worker class. Early Communist States 1917-1944 Russian Revolution Russia was controlled by the Tsars and the
huge nation was dependant on agriculture. Poverty was spread
throughout while a handful of the elites enjoyed
money and luxurious life. The environment was perfect for Marxism
to flourish and the man who brought the ideologies here was Georgi Plekhanov but
it was Lenin who organised the movement. The government of the Tsars had
him exiled to Siberia for a long time but be escaped to make sure
that Tsarism came to an end. Russian Social Democratic Labour Party A Marxist group was formed in Russia
which was later on divided into two groups Mensheviks led by Julius Martov
and Bolsheviks led by Lenin himself. In one of the revolutions of 1905
against the Tsar rule ‘soviets’ which was a workers council was formed
in different parts of the country. A democratic reform was
implemented forcefully and the Duma which was an elected form
of government was formed. The newly formed government faced
problems and participation of Russia in the First World War caused more
unrest in the country in 1917. October Revolution made the
Bolsheviks powerful and they began to change the structure of the company
based on the principles of Marx. The industries were nationalised
and the land was confiscated from the rich elites and
redistributed among the peasants. Later they withdrew from the war against
Germany through the Treat of Brest-Litovsk. The Russians did not take
it positively as the nation lost much land and had to
pay heavily to the Germans. The Bolsheviks faced a
lot of resistance from different groups who
had their own forces. These groups had their own
thoughts and ideologies which they wanted to use in reforming the
then much troubled Russia. The Socialist Revolutionary group
formed the Komuch in Samara, the Social Democrats had their power rooted
in Democratic Republic of Georgia, there were the Western
powers and then were some forces of the tsars who
were known as White Guard. This differentiation in thoughts and power
were the cause of so many groups and all this chaos caused revolts and rebellions which
ultimately led to the Russian Civil War. The Bolsheviks with their
Marxist ideologies won the war and took
over the whole nation. They had their base established
at Kremlin in the city of Moscow. The Russian SFA Republic
was re-designated as Union of Soviet Socialist
Republics in 1922. Lenin suffered with poor health
and stepped down from his seat as the leader in 1924 after
which he soon died of sickness. Joseph Stalin took over the
control of the new nation after Lenin carrying forward
the ideologies of Marxism. Mongolia, Cominterm and Communism in Europe The Second International had collapsed
in the year 1916 and the Bolshevik government in Russia took an initiative
to organise the establishment of an international communist organisation
which would be the Third International. However it was known as the
Communist International and was famously
abbreviated as Comintern. Irrespective of its
international status Comintern was dominated by Kremlin
till it functioned. In 1921, Soviet Union attacked Mongolia. The act was to help
the country fight the Chinese who were then
controlling the nation. The Russians instituted a
Marxist form of government and declared Mongolia as the Mongolian
People’s Republic in 1924. All the communist groups that had the
support of Russia soon spread through Europe and the influence of the
Russian Revolution still persisted. There was an uprising known as
Spartacist in 1919, in Germany. The rebellion workers were supported
by the weapon bearing communists. The German government was quick to
react and suppressed the revolt viciously with the help of right
wing paramilitary team – Freikorps. There were some notable deaths in
this rebellion and famous German communists named Rosa Luxemburg and
several others lost their lives. Furious communists took over
Bavaria, Germany after a few months of this uprising and formed
the Bavarian Soviet Republic. Unfortunately their power checked
again and the Freikorps massacred about 1,200 communists and the people
who supported their act in 1919. Hungary was already disturbed
with political ups and downs and soon had to face a defeat in
the First World War in 1919. This commotion led to the formation
of a Social-Democratic Party while the Communists took the reign
of the country in their hands. Bela Kun was the leader of the
Hungarian Soviet Republic. He was quick to take
control and soon began the implementation of reforms
in the communist way. It was not long when Hungary
was invaded by Romania and the government of Bela
Hun came crashing down. Many communist leaders were executed while
some of them escaped to foreign countries. There was a strike of the worker class
in the year 1921 in Milan and Turin in northern Italy which the communists took
as an opportunity and revolted with them. The government quickly crushed the revolt. The communists once again
revolted in Germany in the same year and again
in 1923 both of which proved to be unsuccessful
as the government put an end to both these
rebellions in no time. Bulgaria also saw an uprising from
the communists in 1923 but they were unsuccessful like the others that happened
through the other countries in Europe. Soviet Union Under the Rule of Stalin Joseph Stalin was a
devoted follower of Lenin who was quite powerful
in Soviet Union. Nikolai Bukharin supported
Stalin in his leadership but they have several
opponents in the government. Some of the famous people who
were against the thoughts of Stalin were Grigory Zinoviev,
Leon Trotsky and Lev Kamenev. Stalin had his own way of
making a communist society he created a variation in his work
which was known as Stalinism. Some of the policies such as the New
Economic Policy which was a free market policy that Lenin had permitted under
his rule was abandoned by Stalin. He overran several capitalist
ideologies and implemented his rules. There were changes made in
Union agricultural production and modernised it with the help
of machinery and tractors. He collectivised the farms
persuasively and even collected their grains according
to the decided targets. The industrial workers had
enough food but the peasants who did not wish to move to
the industry went hungry. People owning little lands
were usually targeted. Comitern was under the control of Stalin. He had a policy introduced in
this international organisation which opposed all the leftists who
were not followers of Marxism. He called them ‘social-fascists’. There were many communists
who did not agree to this policy of Stalin
like Jules Humbert-Droz. He said that the left wing
should unite against the rise of right wing movements such
as fascism throughout Europe. Stalin promoted a movement in 1930’s
which was known as ‘Popular Front’. Under this movement the
Communist parties the Socialists along with some
other political groups came together for a cause which
was to organize support for Republican Cause in
the Spanish Civil War. The Great Terror The Great Terror or Great
Purge is referred to the period in Soviet Union
between 1936 and 1938 when there was a situation of political
repression in the nation that involved the execution of rebels from the Communist
Party and to unite Stalin’s authority. The targeted people were the leaders
of the Communist Party and those of armed forces and government officials
all of who were party members. There were other people in the society
who were also affected by this. The Party and the officials were afraid
of rebellions from the peasant class – there were mass migration of peasants
who moved to the cities in millions. This came as a threat to Stalin who
feared an invasion from these peasants. There were three big trials
conducted in Moscow. The prior senior leaders of
Communist Party were held accused for conspiring against the
capitalist and fascist powers to have Stalin and other eminent
leaders of the Party murdered, to dislodge Soviet Union and bring
back capitalism in the nation. The first trial took place
in the month of August, 1936 where there were
16 people executed. Two famous people among them were
Lev Kamenev and Grigory Zinoviev. The second trial saw 17 people
executed on January, 1937. These people were of lesser
importance but were blamed of conspiring with Germany
against Soviet Union. Yuri Piatakov, Karl Radek
and GrigorySokolnikov were among the assassinated. The third trial was a secret one and
was held in the month of June of 1937. The Red Army commanders had to face
trial and many more were assassinated. The first two trials happened
publically and every one of the assassinated person
was given a chance to speak. They confessed their crimes
after which they were executed. But the others have something else
to say – extortion and psychological pressure such as threats to kill their
families were used to have them confess. Kamenev and Zinoviev requested
that their families be spared if they
confessed their crimes. Stalin did not keep his promise
and most of the family members of the executed
were caught and killed. Spread of Communism 1945-1957 Kremlin established new international
co-ordination bodies under the Communist government in 1947 which comprised of Women’s
International Democratic Federation, World Federation of Democratic Youth,
International Union of Students, World Peace Council and World
Federation of Democratic Youth. There were other bodies
which comprised of scientists, journalists,
lawyers and doctors. The World Federation of Trade Unions
was set up with a purpose to unite trade union federations throughout
the globe and was based in Prague. Despite the presence of
non-Communist unions the federation was controlled by
the Communists of Soviet. Britain, America along with
some more non-Communist unions separated
from the federation. Soviet Union Revolts, rebellions and especially
the war had devastated Soviet Union and there was a recovery program
that was required, which did happen. Housing, reconstruction of industries
and transportation began to take place. Along with the construction
work the soldiers were demobilized and the
civilians were migrated. The period for turmoil for
Soviet Union was not yet over. In the winters of 1946 – 1947
famine struck the lands which turned out to be one of the
deadliest in the twentieth century. Stalin faced no oppression
as he had ‘Gulag’ in place. Anyone showing signs of disobeying the
orders of Stalin were sent to Gulag. Gulag was a Soviet government
administered forced labour camp. It was an important instrument
of Stalin through which he brought a sense of
fear within the Russians. Britain and United States no more had
friendly relations with Soviet Union. They were against the way Stalin exercised
political powers on Eastern Europe. Cold War had already started by 1947. Stalin too believed that
capitalism would not sustain for long if countries
started to put pressure. Stalin misjudged the economic strength
of the West and saw the Western countries join hands to contain or
stop the expansion of Soviet Union. In 1950, he permitted North
Korea to invade South Korea – he was wrong when he though
that the war would end soon. It came to him as a shock when
the Americans joined in the war to support South Korea and
defeated the North Koreans. China also entered the Korean
war and Stalin was happy about it, as the Americans moved back
to the pre-war boundaries. However, this just gave rise to
more tension between the nations. United States began to
prepare its economy to get into a long conflict
with Soviet Union. They build the hydrogen
bomb and fortified the NATO alliance which now
covered Western Europe. After 1945 Stalin
concentrated on building up the reputation of Soviet
Union as a superpower. However, Stalin was
physically growing weak but wished to hold on to
the power that he had. The system that was created
by him mirrored the style of tsarist rule but
in a more modern way. Stalin needed loyal people and he
also build committees so that the youth could join in and support
the system that he had set up. The deputies of Stalin used
rigorous ways to train them which helped in ruling the
country in a united way. Eastern Europe The Red Army was quite
successful in uniting Eastern and Central Europe giving
control to the Communists. While Czechoslovakia
welcomed it Hungary and Poland were forced to
accept Communist power. The Social Democratic Party was force
to fuse with the Communist Party. Earlier the people were willing
to accept change such as limited nationalism of industry and growth
of exhaustive social welfare states. There were many groups that were
non-Communists but supported socialism, besides the concept
of forced collective agriculture and recession of 1953 in
Soviet which first came up in Berlin led to a deep
unrest in the nation. The biggest challenge of Stalin was to
control the Hungarian Revolution of 1956. There was a Social Democratic Party
formed that stood against communism. There were strikes and revolts and many
independent worker councils were formed. There were two non-communist
parties that sided socialism and also got
their independence. The communists retaliated and crushed this
move with military strikes and executions. The Central Workers Council of
Greater Budapest was also crushed. The whole world knew about
this revolt and because of this many people left
the communist party. Leonid Brezhnev who was a Soviet
leader ordered a military attack on August 20, 1968 as
it destroyed the Warsaw Pact. The Soviets also threatened
to go against the British French Israeli
invasion in Egypt. This again led to resignation
of people from Parties. West Germany The Cold War was concentrated
in the West Germany and West Berlin and there were many
Communist fronts that were set up. For instance in West Germany the Society
of German-Soviet Friendship had about 13,000 members but it was called
a Communist front and banned in 1953. Democratic Cultural League of
Germany functioned differently when had been created but then it came
under the control of Communists. There were 155 organizations
that were already Communists and about 54 of them that had been
infiltrated by the Communists. China Mao Zedong came to power
in 1949 in China and with him came the rule
of Communist Party. China supported North Korea
in a war against South Korea that was supported by United
Nations and United States. The war lasted from 1950 to 1953. The undeclared war ended in a
military standstill but Mao took this opportunity to learn who was
supporting capitalism in China. China had close relations with
Moscow because of Stalin. Stalin had sent many technical
experts to China to assist the process of
industrialization in China. In 1953 Stalin died and with his death
the friendly relations between China and Soviet also ended as Mao thought Stalin’s
successors did not support Communism. Mao said that the new Soviet leader
Nikita Khrushchev did not support Marxism and Leninism and was
trying to bring back capitalism. By 1960, things between the two
nations had become quite sour. Both the nations began taking support
of Communist supporters across the globe – basically the globe was split
into two unfriendly campaigns. Zedong along with his supporter
Deng Xiaoping began the ‘Great Leap Forward’ in 1957 to 1961 aiming at
quick industrialization of China. Villages were used as the
base instead of cities and all ownership of
private lands ended. The peasants had to work
together big combined farms and industries such as steel mills
were ordered to be started. Industrial plants were
built in secluded areas without proper experts,
managers or transportation. Industrialization failed badly
and agriculture output swooped down which resulted in famine and
led to the death of millions. Deng was appointed to take
out China from this mess. Deng used practical policies
which Mao did not like. The failure of
Industrialization had made Mao unpopular and he had to
remain quiet for some time. Later when he returned back in power
he had Deng and his allies removed in the ‘cultural revolution’ which
took place between 1966 and 1969. Cold War and Revisionism 1958-1979 Cultural Revolution in China Cultural Revolution in China was
mayhem that happened between 1966 and 1976 where all the party leaders
and intelligentsias were targeted. Mao wanted to cleanse communism by
getting rid of all traditionalists and pro-capitalists – he did this by
imposing Maoist belief in the Party. This was something like the
‘Great Terror’ of Stalin. Mao’s Cultural Revolution left a
deep impact on China making it weak politically, culturally, economically
and culturally for several years. There were millions who were accused of
treachery against Communism and were removed from their posts and killed or imprisoned
or sent to work in farms as labourers. Two of the most important
people who assisted him in this movement were his wife Jiang
Qing and Marshall Lin Biao. Mao said that the revisionists
should be violently removed. The youth of China formed Red Guard groups
throughout the nation which led to the purge of leaders who were looking to follow
capitalism and Deng Xiaoping was among them. Mao’s cult grew his power and after
his death in 1976 the people whom he had imprisoned or sent to work as
labours were returned to their power. Cuban Revolution Fulgencio Batista was supported by
the Democratic Socialist Coalition. He was twice the President of Cuba
and forcefully used his powers. Fidel Castro led a Cuban Revolution
and removed Batista from his post. Fidel Castro and his
revolutionaries were all Communists and they set
up their government. United States who had
supported Cuba earlier was not happy about the
overthrow of Batista. They invaded Cuba in 1961 but were unable
to defeat Fidel Castro’s government. Soviet stationed nuclear
weapons in 1962 in Cuba so they could protect
their Communist allies. United States also installed
its weapons in Turkey secretly and there was a fear of
nuclear war for some time. However, there was a compromise
made and Soviet had their nuclear weapons removed from
Cuba and so did the Americans. Eurocommunism Eurocommunism had become quite
popular in countries of Western Europe that lasted
from 1960s to the 1980s. The Communist Party of Spain,
Finland’s Party and Italian Communist Party were where
it was the strongest. The thoughts and ideologies were developed
by those members of the Communist Party who were disheartened with
both China and Soviet and looked forward to
an independent program. They did not seek in destroying the
ideologies of Capitalism entirely and they did support democracy and
free speech and liberal parliament and they wished to win the
support of the people by transforming the
bureaucracies slowly. The Communist Party of Spain
replaced “Marxist-Leninist” with a new slogan that read “Marxist,
Democratic and Revolutionary”. This was done in 1978 but the
movement did not last long and soon bleached out in 1980s when
Communist fell in Eastern Europe. Fall of Communist Powers 1980-1992 After decades of being embraced by millions
Communism slowly began to near its fall. There were a series of events that took
place between 1989 and 1991 which led to the fall of Communist governments
in Soviet Union and Eastern Europe. Countries started facing
opposition and the when the President of Soviet
- Mikhail Gorbachev, did not send the Russian
troops to suppress the revolts the governments
began to fall slowly. Poland was the first to be crushed. The communists here had
agreed to free elections which resulted in a change
of power in June 1989. People began to demand to be freed
from communism throughout the East. Germany followed soon. The Berlin Wall fell and East
and West Germany were united. The Communist Czechoslovakian
government resigned in November 1989. There was an upheaval in
December 1989 that fell the Romanian communist
leader Nicolae Ceausescu. The Parliament of Bulgaria
invalidated the monopoly of Communist Party on
1990 and again in 1991 the popular opposition
forced the communist cabinet in Albania to put
down their resignation. In August 1991 the communists
organised a coupd'état against the President of Soviet Union
Mikhail Gorbachev which failed. With this failure also ended
the communist party’s authority on the
government and military. Communism 1993 to Present When the communist governments fell in
Soviet Union the power that was held by the state based Marxist philosophies
throughout the world was enfeebled. Yet there still remained
many communist movements big and small that continued
to display their thoughts. Vietnam, People’s Republic of China
and Laos all began market economies but there was not much privatization
done in the 1980s and 1990s. France, Portugal, Spain and Greece all
have strong communist parties and actively participate in strikes and marches
especially on International Workers Day. This shows how communism is
still alive in several hearts. Communism is still alive in Europe. China still happens to have
a communist government. After market economies were introduced
in China somewhere in the 1970s the economy of the nation has
been growing in leaps and bounds. Most of Mao’s ideas were not in the benefit
of China yet it continues to function as a communist nation as it was the
communist ideologies that reformed China. Korea spilt into North and South
and North Korea was taken over by the Kim family who have
been dictating it since 1948. Although China helps to
protect the borders of North Korea it doesn’t supply
it with any other things. Communism still persists in North Korea. Fidel Castro overthrew the reign of Batista
and established communism in Cuba. Cuba however, seems to be concerned
about their people and is known to have one of the best
healthcare systems in the world. Laos happens to be a communist nation too. Laos is highly corrupted and is one
of the poorest nations in the world. It has limited trade relations
with other countries. Vietnam still continues to be
communist in its government. Till 1986 Vietnam continued to be a true
communist nation after which it had to take international aids for which it brought about
many political reforms in the country. Although there still persist some
problems in the country such as income and gender inequality the nation it
is quickly developing its economy. For Angola Communism ended
on August 27, 1992. They had strong relations with Russia, Cuba
and Mozambique which were all communists. The Chinese government has made
a lot of investments in Angola. The nation is slowly progressing
and has also increased their GDP. Between the period of 1976 and
1992 Angola saw many revolts and rebellions; there was a period of
unrest when the communists governed. The nation enjoys peace and conflicts
are nowhere to be seen now. Afghanistan was also a country
that followed communism earlier but April 28, 1992
was the last day for it. The Soviet armies backed
the nation but after 1992 the Russian armies
could help them anymore. However United States have been
in Afghanistan since then. Yugoslavia saw the end of
communism on April 27, 1992. Communism began in 1943 here. Yugoslavia was ruled by Tito who was the
opposite of other communist states. His relations with the
Soviet were not good but he had quite good
relations with America. Yugoslavia had become a ground
for internal wars which protracted to 1990s after
Tito’s death in 1980. Second largest Marxist state in Africa,
Congo was initially led by Marien Ngouabi. Both Soviet Union and France supported
Congo and when communism established itself in 1970s there was peace but later
on civil war started in late 1990s. Congo is still not a peaceful nation
even after Communism ended in 1992. Neighbour of Yugoslavia – Albania was
also place where communism had its roots. The nation is slowly established
a new constitution and has been trying to adopt western style
of democracy in the nation. Communism was the thought
of being free to live a decent life, free of the
dominating aristocrats. It also shows that the determination
of the working class –if they want they can overthrow thrones
and tumble the governments. The ideologies were basically to use
violence and remove the class struggle. Yet some of them have
seemed to have gone to extremes in using Marxism
to reform the society. The violence not only
engulfed those who were guilty but also those
who were innocent. There is no count in the number of
lives that were lost in this struggle. People who gained power
did not seem to use it well as they might have
concentrated on just implementing the ideologies
rather than actually using it for the
betterment of the society. The extremist views of
the communist leaders were the main cause of
downfall of Communism. While there are still people who vouch
for communism and support it but they haven’t been able to get enough
votes to establish their governments. There are countries that are still
running on communist governments but the effectiveness of most
of them are questionable. Whether or not communism would
gain back the same power as it had previously is a
question unanswered for now!
