Communism In Simple Terms

‘Communism,’ was derived from the Latin word communis, meaning ‘common’ or ‘shared,’ signifying its main principle. This word was first used in English around 1841. Communism is a system in a country that it involves the profit gained by the people to be distributed equally between the public. This essay will focus on the rise of communism, its ideology, and the reasons why it has become an uncommon practice.

The theory of communism was first introduced in the 19th century by two German economists named Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. Marx and Engels met in 1844. As both men shared their ideas on the rulings, they discovered that they had similar principals and desired an end to the capitalism regime, which was a common practice followed by many countries from the 14th century till the present day. Marx resented the exploitation of workers and spoke about a government which introduced a way of creating and sharing wealth. His inclination towards changing the governing systems got him banished from France and his birth country, Germany. With generous financial contributions from his friend, Engels, Marx got back up on his feet. Their friendship led to the beginning of ‘Communism’ or also known as ‘Marxism.’ The rules and theories of both partners were later converted into a book known as ‘The Communist Manifesto.’

The key rules and regulations in a communist regime allow equal sharing of work done by each member of the social order and stands for a society that does not see the difference between rich and poor. According to Marx, the government must have supreme authority and control of land and means of production. Since the government distributes land and property among the people, they must give equal portions to each member. The main idea was to create an image of an ideal government, whose finances would destroy the upper class freeing the lower class from oppression.

Although, communist rules were created to form the perfect society, they have in return become the greatest fault in the theory. A communist government’s total control over the public possessions leads to stagnancy in the framework of the society which restricts development in the country. Communism’s bane is that there is no public freedom- no control over your own land, labor and enterprise. Having no permanent legal right over your own possessions leads to the break down in systems economy as business cannot compensate their costs from their sales profit. This leads to a havoc in industries and eventually abolishes unity and democracy between the people of the country. The strongest critic over this philosophy is that communism removes the incentive for people to work harder, as people who work less achieve the same. Competition in the country decreases due to the lack of motivation, causing shortages, wastefulness and low-quality goods produced by the country.

Additionally, this regime has said to have led to millions of deaths, alone by famine from 1917-1979. A book, ‘The Black Book of Communism: Crimes, Terror, Repression,’ by Harvard’s press is known for including the merciless political restraints taken by communist states, to destroy any form of liberty or freedom in the society. As Grover Cleveland-a politician- said, ‘Communism is a hateful thing, and a menace to peace and organized government.’

Nowadays, many countries follow a tweaked version of communism which is known as ‘Socialism.’ The fall of communism took place at the end of 1989 as its flaws were prominent to the world, and hence many countries decided upon improving the rules to suit their needs. Socialism’s main ideas is similar to the one in a communist govern. Both policies promote equality and destroy social classes in the society. Though, in socialist class an individual is paid based on their hard work for the society. While in communism, an individual’s efforts are over looked, and they receive the same as those who work the least. Nowadays, socialist countries like: China, North Korea, Laos, Cuba, and Vietnam claim to uphold some communist characteristics.

To sum up, communism has come a long way and has finally been concluded to be great in theory but disastrous in practice. Many countries are struggling to hold up the communist name, knowing the theory is impossible to be fully be accomplished. However, the key rules introduced by Marx and Engels are still considered in socialism, it is as Vladimir Lenin-a Russian politician- said ‘The goal of socialism is communism.’