Marxist viewpoint on History and Economy: History revolves around class struggle and violent revolution against the ruling class by the lower class. Economy, "from each which he is able, to to each according to need."

Dictatorship of the proletariat: The rule by people who is the best option for the working class (if they knew what was best for them).

Command economy: The government controls the factors of production and makes all economic decisions.

Idea of belonging to a global movement: Marxist History is prospective, thus, it is naturally ordained that communism will be achieved throughout the world.

Anti-theism: As Marx said "religion is the opioid of the people," religion is typically banned or treated with official disdain and disapproval.

That true communism has never been achieved: No "Communist" country has ever actually claimed to have achieved real communism. Deng Xiao Ping put the achievement of true communism on the shelf in China for a few hundred years by saying that true communism will take many generations to achieve (a generation typically refers to 60 years in Chinese thought). Even North Korea does not believe that it has achieved true communism, it still progressing through the final stage of socialism, having evolved from capitalism (which had evolved through revolutions from feudalism).

One of the two countries to be considered communist today, North Korea has generated some of its own additions that are quite unique in history:

Juche: Meaning self reliance, is a "religion" to which all N. Koreans must subscribe. Interesting as this makes the DPRK the one of the only two countries on Earth where the whole population belongs to a single religion (the other being the Vatican); also interesting because it goes against Marxist anti-theism. Perhaps installed as a means to replace religion rather than ban it; it is similar in many ways to Confucianism.

Necrocracy: (rule by a dead person) Kim Jong Il was proclaimed "President for Life" in response to Kruschev's De-Stalinisation of the USSR. Therefore, he is the only world leader to still be in power despite the fact that he is dead.

Inclusion of intellectuals as a part of the working class. Again, another clever addition. Perhaps in response Pol Pot's woeful attempt at achieving Communism in Cambodia and the realisation that intellectuals are as necessary as factory workers and farmers.

For communism read communial (people working together as a supportive unit to attain a collective goal). It is an acheivable ideal but not in the current political imbalance that is todays global society. Thomas more propounded this ideal in his book 'utopia' written 500 years ago. Orwell shows a more sinister, and relevent to what we see as modern 'communism' in his book 1984. The problem with communism as we experience it in todays world is the desire for power outweighs the desire to share. 'We'll all be equal, only I'm going to be more equal than you'

Communism is a Theocracy to the goddess Athenia

Communism is Marx & Engels application of Athenian philosophia doctrine via the use of the dialectic method, upon an concentration of individuals. Most folks miss the fact that Hegel (instructor of Marx & Engels) taught Athenian philosophia doctrine, which is commonly referred to today as philosophy.

The word philosophy is made up of two Greek words; philos and sophos. Philos means love or affinity or affection for, such as brotherly love Phila-delphia, where the same word is used. Sophos means knowledge or wisdom or understanding, its use is related to Athena which was the patron goddess of Athens and the goddess over all knowledge. Philos-Sophos is the attesting to or love of the quest for knowledge as provided by the goddess Athena. Knowledge is derived through the use of clever argument known as dialectic (argument using thesis and its opposing anththesis, which results in synthesis). There are other encapsulations used with the dialectic method of thinking, some of which are the antithesis must be logical and reasonable and observable by the senses of man.

The idea behind this doctrine, is for man to become enlightened with knowledge, through this dialectic process until he/she reaches the level known as Sage, (all knowing or all understanding). In Athens these Sage were also known as the educators or teachers of the day, often referred to as Sophists. The Sage included adherents to Athenian philosophia doctrine such as Aristotle, Plato, Socrates, and Zeno, as well as many others.

Marx & Engels used their dialectics, especially the dialectic of materialism to establish a political-relgious system (often known as a theocracy), which is called Communism. All believers in communism must also accept Athenian philosophia doctrine, and the use of dialectics.

Communism is a collective which does not allow for the individual separate from the collective. The commune is run, directed, guided, by the self proclaimed Sage, who reside over all decisions, all property and all the means of production within the commune. The system is built upon a utopian idea of the all knowing, all wise Sage who protect and enlighten the people of the commune. The commune is often referred to as "The State". The idea is for all the subjects of the commune to become enlightened trough the application of the doctrine of philosophy via the dialectic method. Live peacefully and prosperously as a commune of all knowing Sage. or those striving for the level of Sage or perfection.

The practical application has historically failed to achieve anything other than a State dictatorship over peasants. Control over the various decisions and means of production and ownership of property, often succumb to human greed and corruption which results in a ruthless dictatorship.

The Apostle Paul engaged believers in this same philosophia doctrine while he was in Athens, the account is documented in the book of Acts chapter 17. Later in the book of Colossians, in chapter 2 we find Paul's warning concerning this same doctrine. Historically we now understand that the application of this philosophia doctrine, ruined both Greece and Roman civilizations.

Theocracy ends

The Vietnam War was the longest war ever fought by the United States. It lasted more than 15 years, from 1959 to 1975. It was also the first war that the United States lost.

WHY THE WAR WAS FOUGHT The United States entered the war to stop the spread of Communism in Southeast Asia. American leaders feared that Communist forces would gain control of Vietnam. After that, nation after nation might fall to Communism. Communism is a political and economic system that the United States strongly opposed. Vietnam had been split in half in 1954, after fighting a war to gain independence from France. When French forces withdrew, Vietnamese Communists gained control of North Vietnam. Ho Chi Minh was the leader of the North Vietnamese Communists. South Vietnam had a non-Communist government. This government was weak. But the United States supported it in order to keep the Communists from taking control of all of Vietnam.

FROM ADVISERS TO TROOPS At first, the United States supported South Vietnam with only money and military advisers. The number of advisers in Vietnam jumped from 800 to nearly 17,000 during the early 1960s while John F. Kennedy was U.S. president. In 1964, U.S. president Lyndon B. Johnson reported that North Vietnam had attacked U.S. Navy ships along Vietnam's coast. Nearly 80,000 U.S. troops were in South Vietnam by the end of 1965. . The United States conducted a brutal air war against North Vietnam. In one year, the air force flew 150,000 bombing missions. By 1967, the United States had dropped more bombs on North Vietnam than it dropped on its enemies during World War II (1939-1945). By 1969, at the height of the war, the United States had about 543,000 troops in Vietnam. Many of them were teenagers. The average age of Americans fighting in Vietnam was 19.

END OF THE WAR Although Nixon increased the bombing of North Vietnam, he began withdrawing U.S. troops. Without U.S. support, South Vietnam's government collapsed. North Vietnam won the war in 1975. Vietnam was reunited as a Communist nation. Millions of people died in the Vietnam War. Many of them were civilians, not soldiers. The war created about 10 million homeless Vietnamese refugees. It left hundreds of thousands of orphans.

They got involved in Vietnam because they wanted to stop the spread of communism (domino theory) and after France left Vietnam the US felt they needed to take matters into their own hands.

After WWII, President Truman (and the other western allies) viewed Communism (in the form of the Soviet Union) as the greatest post-war threat. The turning point for Asia came in Dec. 1949 when Chinese communist forces won the civil war in China. Now the U.S. feared all of Southeast Asia (Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Thailand) might fall to communism.

When France pulled-out of Vietnam in 1955-56, the U.S. basically felt it had to fill the void in order to prevent Ho Chi Minh from unifying Vietnam under communist rule (the 1956 peace accords with France had divided Vietnam in half). So starting in 1955, the U.S. started sending military advisers to assist the South Vietnamese Army. The conflict continued to escalate as communist rebels in the South gained more control of the countryside, which required more & more U.S. military advisers & equipment to prop-up the South Vietnamese army. Finally, in 1965, we sent combat troops to prop-up South Vietnam.

Answer 1

Some similarities are:

1. Opposition to conservatism, liberalism, and social democracy.
2. As in Leninism, use of a vanguard party to initiate a revolution.
3. Opposition to social division by class and class conflict.
4. Opposition to the bourgeoisie.
5. Revolution.

Some differences (fascism supports _____ but communism does not) are:

1. Nationalism.
2. Paramilitarism.
3. Eugenics.
4. Economic self-sufficiency.
5. Purification through violence and conflict (in terms of war).
6. Dictatorship (communism, as a phase of historical development, is not theoretically a dictatorship).
7. Private control of social resources (e.g.) factories).

Answer 2

Fascism, Communism and Nazi (national Socialist) are all types of Socialism. They all have varying degrees of government control of the means of production. Communism differs slightly because it is the control and ownership of the means of production. These forms of government are called totalitarian because the state assumes power over the economy and the basic decisions of life. There are varying degrees of control and numerous forms of Socialism.

Answer 3

Fascism-became popular between 1919 and 1945 and the term has become an epithet for all bad things.

Communism-is a socio economic system that stands for a class less, state less and an egalitarian society.

Mao Tse Tung (Mao Zedong) in 1949.

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The above answer is the year in which Mao Tse Tung was the leader of China when it became a comminist country. The date was October 1, 1949.

Mao had had a long history with the Chinese communist party. Most historians have said that he took over the leadership of the Party in 1934. In that year he was the primary political & military leader of the Communist Party.

• Economics

If you want a clear, compelling and comprehensive answer to this question, the best person to ask is an economist, or a student of economics, because communism was first and foremost an economic failure.

To wit, communists fail to fully appreciate that economy is predicated upon the principle of supply and demand. Essentially, the Soviet government, "representing the people", dictated what people needed and forced its citizens to generate the needed supply in the allotted time. They would often never produce enough, and what they did produce was of exceptionally poor quality. Also, the grossly over-sized bureaucracy fostered what are known as "dis-economics of scale." In other words, it took more time and resources to produce less.

These are only a few reasons. There are others.

• Human nature

Actually it is probably human nature itself! In theory communism is the best system- everyone gets the same share of everything! So everyone would be equal! The problem is that no one is equal! Some people may be content with a life as farmer, producing goods for the community, but others want to amass a fortune and others don't want to do anything for society! So what sounds good in books, cannot work in real life with real people!

• Lack of incentive

One of the key reasons it fails is the fact that everyone receives an equal share. The USSR was plagued by shortages as the workers simply didn't work as hard as they could. In a capitalist society if you don't work to your best ability you get fired, so you have no money and therefore no food. In a socialist society as long as you do some work you will get paid so there was a general feeling of "why bother?"

• Good idea badly implemented

According to me I believe the theory of communism was never wrong, but I think the way that it was implemented was wrong. Communism generally considers an individual of a country to be an asset of that nation. Each person has the right to education, healthcare, to work, etc.

The communism in USSR failed not because the theoretical concept was wrong but because in practice the security of the state was more important than any individual. The individual then had no personal rights, but were ensured of free education, free health care and work.

Although communism is not present in its pure form we cannot overrule the benefits of the ideology of this theory, since it advocates for everyone and tries to bridge the Gap between the HAVES AND HAVE-NOTS

• Assuming men are basically good

Communist theory assumes that all humans are basically good, well motivated, and possess equal capabilities and motivation. This simply isn't so, and Communism never found any way to overcome the problems this assumption caused. In politics, assuming that all men are basically good means that checks and balances are unnecessary... and abuse of power is the inevitable result, with all rights and power concentrating in the hands of those in power. In economics, all money becomes the property of the state - in effect, the property of those in power. Once this has happened, there's no incentive for anyone to do more than they absolutely have to... with predictable results. The flaw in the theory of Communism is in its most basic assumptions. It can never work unless these assumptions are handled adequately.

• No price signals

In addition to the important incentives problem outlined above, and the problem of trusting a centralized government with the powers of life and death over people ("power corrupts"), there is a more subtle reason for the failure of communism.

It is the coordination problem. Prices in a free market serve a very important function. They are informational signals. Without prices, there is no way to know how best to distribute resources. Entrepreneurship is impossible. The economy stagnates.

• Power corrupts

The failure of communism is due to human nature. Power corrupts. If Stalin was not corrupted by his power, then the system may have worked. Also, since everyone would get paid anyway, they did not overly try at work and in turn their work was shoddy.

• Works on a small scale

Although communism had failed horribly in Russia, China, and Cuba, it has worked in small community/villages in Israel. It always has to take place in a small group of people, that way competition is never expanded to a nation wide level (that creates more competition).

The human nature always has to dominate and create competition. And equality is therefore challenged.

"All animals are equal but some are more equal than others."- Animal Farm

If we, as human beings, are able to get rid of that it seems that would make all of the world's problems go away. Alas, it's not as easy as it sounds and seems that it can never be done.

Some people would describe communism "morally wrong". Their beliefs of success would be shattered and they would be considered 'equal' (referring to upper class). They would have to apply the same amount of work everyday and have no hopes of ever changing their position or wage.

The lower and middle class proletariat's favor the theory of communism. Most people believe that famous actors/actresses have an extraordinary amount of money to spend and yet, they spend almost all of it on themselves. In the hands of others, this money could be well spent on national hunger, improving current living conditions, etc.

Communism breaks the feedback connection between effort and reward. It fails to reward those who excel, and fails to punish those who lag behind. There is no incentive for greater effort, neither in creativity, entrepreneurship or hard work.

Communism is an idyllic utopia, a mere but empty expression of good intentions. It is a trite platitude. Communism says "Everyone 'should' have their needs met", and "take away from the wealthy and give it to the needy".

Communism fails to take into account that wealth is not static, it is created. By taking away wealth from its creators, entrepreneurs and businesspeople, and giving it to those that did not create it, don't deserve and don't know what to properly do with it, it destroys the engines that create wealth, and everyone is worse off in the short and the long run.

Some degree of community cooperation and social services is healthy, but it is a question of degrees. In this contributor's opinion, only education could and perhaps should be fully state subsidized, because it affords equality of initial opportunity. But that opportunity should not be squandered by an individual receiving largess from the state, receiving help from his community.

• Failure to account for human nature

Communism does not work in theory because it does not take into account human nature. Humans will not share resources or the work load in a fair and equal manner. Communism depends on a government working on behalf of the people and governments do not ever do that. They function on the principle to do the most for the least, and the least for the most. Additionally, every time a communistic or socialistic government has risen, capitalistic nations have conspired against it. Right after WW I, a couple of months later actually, the US, Britain and France sent troops to Russia to help undermine the Russian Revolution. Look it up; The Whites versus the Reds. At any rate, it would have probably failed anyway, though perhaps with much, much less death and misery had Stalin not come to power. If a theory does not account for all factors, it will fail. Nothing works in theory but fails in practice because if it worked in theory then it would work in practice.

Against ownership of private property

I think communism fails because it disenfranchises people of their own ability to create a goal, and this in turn to work together in a shared goal. Most state forms of communism have been imposed through violence, and people forced into the system whether they liked it or not. If people are allowed to form a goal based on their own values, then I think people would actually be willing to work together. This is why I think small communal communities have worked where larger ones haven't - people in smaller communities have ownership of a shared goal.

• Too extreme

On one hand: I think that political ideologies such as communism and capitalism only fail when implemented and managed in their most extreme forms. For example, China is communist. However, China's gravitation toward capitalism in recent times have contributed to their enormous global economic strength. Whereas, when they adhered strictly to communist values (Mao comes to mind) their economy suffered horrible shifts and devastation's

Poor adaptation

There were many reasons; however, if you compare real examples of communism throughout history and in the present day, these models do not in reality reflect a strict communistic model as first envisioned and written about by the various original philosophers. So to say that communism failed may be a little misleading. Fusion of Communism and the dictatorial nature of the Soviet government

Communism was a system not truly practiced in the USSR. Contributing factors were extreme political corruption, extensive competition with America which involved western sabotage of Socialist interests throughout the world, and Moscow's inability to accurately predict supply and demand.

The Socialists (later dubbed "Communists" at the Third International) and Anarchists may have had some good ideas, but the Bolsheviks co-opted many of these ideas, and presented a warped substitute which, instead of doing away with the State and a privileged class, created a new State and new privileged class. Yes, they may also have ignored some economic realities, but certainly had no problem with accepting German and American corporate underwriting early-on, w/o which their success would not have occurred. And, one cannot say that the "Western Democracies" have a truly "free market" system, as--at least in the USA--there is major "corporate welfare," significant dodging of taxes by the wealthy and corporations, and corruption on so grand a scale, as to make Al Capone seem a "small-fry." The recent bail-out of the banks and Wall Street is nothing less than grand-larceny...and a major reallocation of wealth from one segment of the society to another, something which capitalists claim horrifies them, when anyone speaks of Socialism.

Lenin was very clear about the Revolution being headed by officials of the Party, not by the masses themselves...so, clearly, a sell-out of democratic (and anarchistic) ideals.

Lenin did many things when he was in charge of Russia and then the Soviet Union. Some are:

• He abolished the private ownership of property and nationalized all industry.
• He ended Russia's participation in World War 1 by entering into the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk.
• He abolished every other political party except for the Bolshevik Party and restricted any criticism of his way of governing the country.
• He eliminated the capitalist system and imposed socialism.
• He imposed "war communism" on the people of the country during the Russian Civil War, whereby all peasant farmers had to give almost all their crops to the government to feed people in the cities.
• He ran the Red side of the Civil War against the White forces.
• He had the Tsar Nicholas II, his wife, his children and three servants murdered in cold blood.
• He ended "war communism" when it ruined the Soviet economy and then imposed the "New Economic Policy" which reintroduced limited forms of capitalism in order to improve the economy.
• He created the Soviet Union by joining with Ukraine, Belorussia and the Transcaucasus Federation by signing the Treaty of the Soviet Union in 1922.
• He created the Chekka, a secret police organization, which terrorized the population and any person who dared to disagree with what he felt was best for the country.

There are of course many things he did, but these are the most significant.

Simple Answer:

Communism. China is a single-party republic ruled by the Communist Party.

International Relations Theory Answer:

China is a right-wing Leninist State, not a Communist one. Leninism is the political theory that a single party rules the government and governs all affairs as opposed to individual politicians. The confusion stems from the fact that the single party in China is the Communist Party even though they do not practice Communist political theory, but rather state-directed, right-wing economic and political theory.

CIA Factbook Answer

The CIA classifies China's government as a "communist state". The CIA further defines communism as:

"a system of government in which the state plans and controls the economy and a single - often authoritarian - party holds power; state controls are imposed with the elimination of private ownership of property or capital while claiming to make progress toward a higher social order in which all goods are equally shared by the people (i.e., a classless society)."

However, the actual functioning of Chinese society and economy is a bit schizophrenic. In its attempt to become a more powerful economic force in the world and to improve its industrial infrastructure, China's laws about private property and private companies have become more and more capitalist in nature. Property rights are starting to be taken seriously, which encourages private development and private investment in the Chinese economy.

The communist tendency to control all industry is still at odds with this growing quasi-capitalist economy, and they have not yet worked out the difference between "restrictions for the sake of government control" and "protecting consumers from dangerous products and fraud".

Communist.

Other opinions:

• They are not communist. Communism does not have a centralized government. They are closer to socialism than communism. I would say a mixture of totalitarian and socialism.
• China was never Communist, it was Socialist, but now it's basically a single party, part socialist, part capitalist, authoritarian/ totalitarian oligarchy with figurehead leaders.
• Functionally, it is a highly bureaucratic, multi-level, single-party republic. Starting at the very lowest levels, the Chinese elect a representative to serve on a local council. These councils elect a representative to the city council, which elects a member to a regional council, etc. The current system requires everyone to be a member of the same political party. The system can be called communist, however, it is a relatively unique system in which an established bureaucracy is interwoven into a republican structure with Marxist overtones (philosophy). Frankly, it's a bit of puzzle to classify.
• The People's Republic of China is a single-party republic. The only political party is the Communist Party so even though there are "elections" in China, they are all members of the same political party. And even then, the Chinese people have a lot less say in who their leaders are than in a western-style democracy or republic.
• There is the concept of "One country, Two systems". Since the return of Hong Kong and Macau to China is 1997 and 1999 respectively, the Central government has granted the two special administrative regions some forms of political freedom, such as the democratic election of the Chief Executive in 2012 in Hong Kong.
• The Current Government of China is one party Communist State, that has embraced right-wing economic and right-wing social institutions.
• China is not communist, like many people believe. It's a single-party republic led by the Communist Party of China and can be characterized as capitalist. There's a difference.
• China has an autocratic socialist system of government.
• It is a Communist country effectively governing and operating as a Dictatorship.