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. The two classes are the
proletariat, who make up the majority of the population within society and must sell their
labor power to survive, and the
bourgeoisie, a small minority that derives profit from employing the working class through private ownership of the means of production. According to this analysis, a
communist revolution would put the working class in power, and in turn establish common ownership of property, the primary element in the transformation of society towards a
communist mode of production.
Communism in its modern form grew out of the socialist movement in 19th-century Europe that argued capitalism caused the misery of urban factory workers. In the 20th century, several ostensibly
Communist governments espousing
Marxism–Leninism and its variants came into power, first in the
Soviet Union with the
Russian Revolution of 1917, and then in portions of Eastern Europe, Asia, and a few other regions after
World War II. As one of the many
types of socialism, communism became the dominant political tendency, along with
social democracy, within the international socialist movement by the early 1920s. (Full article...)
The Communist Party of Peru (Spanish: Partido Comunista del Perú), more commonly known as the Shining Path (Spanish: Sendero Luminoso), is a communist militant group in
Peru. When it first launched the internal conflict in Peru in 1980, its stated goal was to replace the bourgeois democracy with "
New Democracy". The Shining Path believed that by establishing a
dictatorship of the proletariat, inducing
cultural revolution, and eventually sparking
world revolution, they could arrive at pure
communism. Their representatives said that existing socialist countries were revisionist, and they claimed to be the vanguard of the world communist movement. The Shining Path's ideology and tactics have been influential among other
Maoist insurgent groups, notably the
Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) and other
Revolutionary Internationalist Movement-affiliated organizations.
The Shining Path is classified by the Peruvian government, the
U.S., the
European Union, and
Canada as a terrorist organization. Since the capture of its leader
Abimael Guzmán in 1992, the Shining Path has declined in activity.
Georges René Louis Marchais (7 June 1920,
La Hoguette in
Calvados – 16 November 1997,
Paris) was the head of the
French Communist Party (PCF) from 1972 to 1994, and a candidate in the
French presidential elections of 1981—in which he managed to garner only 15.34% of the vote, which was considered at the time a major setback for the party.
He entered the Party in 1947. In 1956, he was appointed a member of the extended
Central Committee and lead the South-
Seine PCF local federation, in the bastion of
Maurice Thorez, the historical leader of the Party. Three years later, he became a full member of the Central Committee and of the
Politburo. His lightning promotion was explained by his professional origins and his devotion to Thorez. Indeed, he was part of the young guard of the General Secretary which participated to the strengthening of
Maurice Thorez's leadership, which was covertly disputed by some members of the
Politburo (
Laurent Casanova and
Marcel Servin). In 1961, after the ousting of these, he was nominated secretary for organization. Then, he supported the new General Secretary
Waldeck Rochet and in his policy of conciliation with the other left-wing parties.
...that Moscow City Hall, built in the 1890s to the tastes of the Russian
bourgeoisie, was converted by
Communists into the Central
Lenin Museum after its rich interior decoration had been plastered over.
Everyone is welcome to participate in WikiProject Socialism, where editors collaborate to improve all aspects related to
socialism on Wikipedia.
Selected quote
“
Here in
Russia,
women of the middle
bourgeoisie – that army of independent wage-earners thrown on to the
labour market during the 1860s – have long since settled in practice many of the confused aspects of the
marriage question. They have courageously replaced the “consolidated”
family of the traditional
church marriage with more elastic types of relationship that meet the needs of that social layer. But the subjective solution of this question by individual women does not change the situation and does not relieve the overall gloomy picture of family life. If any force is destroying the modern form of the family, it is not the titanic efforts of separate and stronger individuals but the inanimate and mighty forces of production, which are uncompromisingly budding life, on new foundation’s. ...
The heroic struggle of individual young women of the bourgeois world, who fling down the
gauntlet and demand of society the right to “dare to love” without orders and without chains, ought to serve as an example for all women languishing in family chains – this is what is preached by the more emancipated
feminists abroad and our progressive equal righters at home. The marriage question, in other words, is solved in their view without reference to the external situation; it is solved independently of changes in the economic structure of society. The isolated, heroic efforts of individuals is enough. Let a woman simply “dare”, and the problem of marriage is solved.
But less heroic women shake their heads in distrust. “It is all very well for the heroines of novels blessed by the prudent author with great independence, unselfish friends and extraordinary qualities of charm, to throw down the gauntlet. But what about those who have no
capital, insufficient
wages, no
friends and little
charm?” And the question of
maternity preys on the mind of the woman who strives for freedom. Is “
free love” possible? Can it be realised as a common phenomenon, as the generally accepted norm rather than the individual exception, given the economic structure of our society? Is it possible to ignore the element of
private property in contemporary marriage? Is it possible, in an individualistic world, to ignore the formal marriage contract without damaging the interests of women? For the marital contract is the only guarantee that all the difficulties of maternity will not fall on the woman alone. Will not that which once happened to the male worker now happen to the woman? The removal of
guild regulations, without the establishment of new rules governing the conduct of the masters, gave capital absolute power over the workers. The tempting slogan “freedom of contract for labour and capital” became a means for the naked
exploitation of labour by capital. “Free love”, introduced consistently into contemporary class society, instead of freeing woman from the hardships of family life, would surely shoulder her with a new burden – the task of caring, alone and unaided, for her
children.
