Communism_in_Theory_and_in_Practice

Communism in Theory and in Practice The communism that emerged in the 1900’s was based on theories by Karl Marx. It is a political system that has caused much controversy ever since its introduction into politics. Marx’s communist society was a society based on equality more than anything else. He believed that everyone deserved to be equal. In theory it sounds like the perfect society, however, in real life practice it does not at all work. There have been multiple attempts at creating a communist society, but as previously said it simple doesn’t work. In 1848 Karl Marx expressed his ideas of communism in his book, the Communist Manifesto. Marx believed the only way to achieve a harmonious society was by making the workers in charge of the country. His longing to have the workers in control came, in part, in reaction to the Industrial Revolution. The Industrial Revolution began in the 1700’s and with it came low wages, long hours and dangerous jobs. Marx believed that society had developed over time and that communism would be the last stage of this development. He saw this communist society as having economic security and equality for all. He wanted the government to have ownership over land, factories and other means of production, rather than it being owned by private individuals. His main idea for a communist society was to create a society that was completely equal for everybody no matter who you are. Each individual would provide what he or she could provide, and no matter if you provided more or less you would be the same as everyone else. Everything that Marx speaks of can easily be very persuasive, because it does very much sound like the perfect society. Marx had expected his theories to be introduced into one of the countries that had gone through a lot of industrialization, such as United Kingdom or Germany. But it turned out to be the mainly agricultural state Russia, which became the first state ruled by a Communist party. Even though, Marx’s theories sounded like it could create the perfect society it was something much less than that, that Russia created. Starvation in Russia caused the spread of revolutionary activities to grow, along with these revolutionary ideas came Marxism. Then in 1917 the Communist Party took full control over Russia. The government quickly took control of Russian industries and set up management offices to run them. In addition to this a secret police was created called the Cheka. From the beginning the Communist Party leader, Lenin, used fear and force and terror to control the public and compete against his political opponents. In 1922 the country became known as the Soviet Union, and by this time the country had become a one party state. All other non-communist parties had become banned, and all public organization had become tools of the communists. In 1924 Lenin died and through plotting and trickery Stalin gained complete control over the Communist Party. Stalin enforced policies to crush anyone who opposed him. Communists who were suspected of opposing him were either executed or imprisoned. The secret police became an even greater part of daily life for citizens, and normal citizens lived in fear of being labeled as “enemies of the people.” Citizens were constantly being imprisoned, sent to concentration camps and even killed. During the communist rule the Soviet Union was under strict government control run by terror, and the communist leader reaped all the benefits, while most cities lived in extreme poverty. Even though communism was such a failure in the Soviet Union, they were still able to spread their ideas to countries, mainly nations that already had some problems. In the 1920’s Mongolia established a communist government, because they feared take over by the Chinese more than by the Soviets. Near the end of World War II the Soviets Union helped free many countries from German and Japanese control, thus gaining many communist followers. The Soviets enabled the USSR and set up communist governments in several countries, including East Germany, Hungary, North Korea, Poland and Romania. Communist-controlled governments in these countries just like in the Soviet Union created huge economic downfall, starvation and inequality. China also began trying took a chance at a communist government. However, the communist control, lead by Mao Zedong, caused nothing but times of chaos and despair. Mao, like most other communist leaders, gained control of China by cheating and lying and thus gaining the support of the farmers, which were most of the nation. Communistic rule in all these nations only seemed to cause down fall. The Soviet Union was confronted with serious economic problems. In Mao Zedong’s China the government was unable to provide food for its citizens. And all the Communist countries tremendous growth of corruption in the government. The basis of traditional communism was equality, common ownership and production. Karl Marx started communism as a way to achieve complete equality for everyone in society. But through Soviet communism, this was discarded and only atheism and tyranny were left. Although communism in theory seems as if it could create a wonderful society, but when put into practice it simple never seems to work.