Communism simple definition

Communism from Latin communis , 'common, universal' [ 1 ] [ 2 ] is a sociopolitical , philosophical , and economic ideology within the socialist movement , [ 1 ] whose goal is the creation of a communist society , a socioeconomic order centered around common ownership of the means of production , distribution, and exchange that allocates products to everyone in society based on need.

Communists often seek a voluntary state of self-governance but disagree on the means to this end. This reflects a distinction between a libertarian socialist approach of communization , revolutionary spontaneity , and workers' self-management , and an authoritarian socialist , vanguardist , or party -driven approach under a socialist state , which is eventually expected to wither away.

Variants of communism have been developed throughout history, including anarchist communism , Marxist schools of thought , and religious communism , among others. Communism encompasses a variety of schools of thought, which broadly include Marxism , Leninism , and libertarian communism, as well as the political ideologies grouped around those.

All of these different ideologies generally share the analysis that the current order of society stems from capitalism , its economic system , and mode of production , that in this system there are two major social classes, that the relationship between these two classes is exploitative, and that this situation can only ultimately be resolved through a social revolution.

Communism in its modern form grew out of the socialist movement in 18th-century France , in the aftermath of the French Revolution.

Communism government definition

During most of the 20th century, around one-third of the world's population lived under Communist governments. These governments were characterized by one-party rule by a communist party, the rejection of private property and capitalism, state control of economic activity and mass media , restrictions on freedom of religion , and suppression of opposition and dissent.

With the dissolution of the Soviet Union in , several previously Communist governments repudiated or abolished Communist rule altogether. While the emergence of the Soviet Union as the world's first nominally Communist state led to communism's widespread association with the Soviet economic model , several scholars posit that in practice the model functioned as a form of state capitalism.

Communism may be interpreted as "the state of being of or for the community"; this semantic constitution has led to numerous usages of the word in its evolution. Prior to becoming associated with its more modern conception of an economic and political organization, it was initially used to designate various social situations.

After , communism came to be primarily associated with Marxism , most specifically embodied in The Communist Manifesto , which proposed a particular type of communism. One of the first uses of the word in its modern sense is in a letter sent by Victor d'Hupay to Nicolas Restif de la Bretonne around , in which d'Hupay describes himself as an auteur communiste "communist author".

Since the s, the term communism has usually been distinguished from socialism.