Communism is a political ideology that aims to achieve an equal, stateless and most importantly a classless Society. The concept of Communism or the “theory” was given by two people, Karl Marx and Frederick Engels. The Ideology got extremely popular in 1850s and 1860s and spread like a wildfire across Europe and North America.
The movement gained insane support by factory workers as the people pushing this Ideology often fought for workers' rights such as higher wages, Better living conditions and less working hours. The movement was embraced primarily by the lower classes of Society who were tired of oppression by the upper class.
Where has it been seen ?
Unlike popular belief, real Communism (Ideology given by Marx) has never been implemented anywhere in the world. One of the key incidents of movements centred around Communism but which weren’t exactly Communist was the Paris Commune. It was a large movement of people that took place in Paris in 1871 after the French defeat in Franco-Prussian War.
Perhaps the most famous example of “communism” is the Soviet union (USSR) and the Bolshevik party. The full form of USSR is quite revealing in itself which is Union of Soviet Socialist republics. North Vietnam which went on to unify the entire Vietnamese nation after the Vietnam war is also a good example. Even though the country has took a capitalistic approach in last 2 decades, the nation under its leader Ho Chi Minh was a fine example of Authoritarian socialism. North Korea or Democratic people’s republic of Korea (DPRK) is a modern example of Authoritarian socialist Ideology. Led by Kim il Sung, the nation was quick to adopt a lot of aspects of a USSR inspired society. Cuba, as a socialist nation formed by Fidel Castro and Ernesto “Che” Guevara and led by former has and is still regarded as the nation that has been the closest to achieve Communism, the kind which Marx thought about.
A Case For Communism
Communism focuses on the idea of equality for everyone. Equality regardless of economic status, birth, gender, religion, race, sexuality, et cetera.
The idea that Marx promoted of “From each According to his ability, to each According to his need” focused on the fact that no single person should own too much resources and means of production while other lack them to a point that they become what we today call wage slaves. Quick mobilisation of economic resources. This can be see particularly well in the rapid industrialization of USSR under Joseph Stalin, all “communist” countries have seen very high levels of economic progress and industrialisation levels despite factors like lack of resources and economic sanctions and embargoes.
A Case Against Communism
One of the key problems with Communism is that hard-work does not get as much credit as compared to a capitalist system.
The great economic mobility comes at a price, as seen in Mao Zedong's great leap forward and Joseph Stalin's rapid industrialization of USSR, the government officials failed to acknowledge the real on ground conditions and inflated the numbers of production even while they were low which resulted in famines and mass killings.
The supply and demand economics are oftentimes not respected and that is why there always used to be a shortage of basic supplies and long lines in front of government ration buildings in former Communist countries like China, Poland, USSR, et cetera.
Till Next Time, The Alpha Theory
~Uddeshya Agrawal