Research Paper

A great German philosopher, by the name of Karl Marx, once said, “The history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles.”[1] What he is saying is that majority of the conflicts in history is due to differences in class. He believed that in order to establish a utopian society, social class needs to be diminished. Marx’s theories supported what it is today called communism. The theories were very influential that it threatened many government systems, such as capitalism, and gave rise to many conflicts.

Why does communism pose such a threat? Well, communism is a branch of socialism that consists of a classless society where there is equality for all people.[2] In order to have equality for all people, all the wealth have to be distributed evenly amongst everyone in the society.[3] There is only one problem with that. It will not be achieved if capitalism exists. Capitalism is basically every man for themselves. There are free markets where it is privately owned. The people who own them stay on top while the remainders work for them. This concept creates social classes which communism is trying to get rid of. Communism is strictly public-owned businesses. This is what separates communism from socialism. Socialism is more lenient in such a way that it allows some free markets.[4]

The father of communism is considered to be Karl Marx. Marx along with his friend, Friedrich Engels, wrote The Communist Manifesto in 1848. It was a very influential piece read by millions. People who agreed with his theories were known as Marxists. Marx and Engels talked about the various economies of the world, the working of power, finance and the industrial sectors of the economies.[5] They also clarify their theories of why there needs to be a change of government. He explains that the absence of social classes is the key to a more stable government.[6]

To reinforce their theories, Marx and Engels talk about the previous societies such as the Middle Ages. The Middle Ages consists of many classes of feudal lords, vassals, guild masters, apprentices, serfs, etc.[7] But it didn’t last very long. The lower classes usually rebel over throwing the government. As years go by, society is slowly simplifying into only two classes, the bourgeois and the proletarians which is basically capitalism. The bourgeoisie are the class that owns the means of social production and the employers of wage labor and the proletariats are those who are the wage labors.[8] According to Marx, even this society will not last long. In order to get more profit, the bourgeois will abuse the proletariats by increasing more labor and decreasing wages. It is only a matter a time until the proletariats rise to power by overthrowing the bourgeois. He says, “What the bourgeoisie therefore produces, above all, are its own grave-diggers. Its fall and the victory of the proletariat are equally inevitable.”[9] Marx and Engels believe that the end result will be communism.

Marx believes that the end result would be communism because communism supports nothing but the proletariats no matter what their nationality are. “The immediate aim of the Communists is the same as that of all other proletarian parties: Formation of the proletariat into a class, overthrow of the bourgeois supremacy, conquest of political power by the proletariat.”[10] To establish the conversion to communism, Marx and Engels came up with ten guidelines. It consisted of taking away property, rights of inheritance, and the distinction between town and country but at the same time, adding a heavy graduated income tax, centralization of credit, communication and transportation, free education, extension of state ownership of means of productions, distribution of population in the country, and equal obligation of all to work.[11] If all the guidelines are met then, and only then, would there be a classless society.

If communism is all about equality, then why is it bad? Isn’t equality what everyone seeks in a society? The reason why communism is considered to be detrimental to society is because it will never be achievable. First of all, it is contradicting itself when it says that there is equality for all people. It will not be possible because the government officials will always have higher power. This means that only certain people will always be ahead of someone else. Also eventually there is someone that would want more power than others which can lead to dictatorship. Another reason is that if all the wealth is distributed amongst everyone evenly, then majority of the people will not do any work what so ever. They are going to have lazy mentality thinking if everyone gets the same amount then why they should work harder. These possibilities were unacceptable and for about more than two decades, capitalist countries tried to contain communism and prevent it from spreading.

One of the first countries to be ruled under communism was Russia. Before Russia was under communism, it was ruled by Czar Nicholas II. The monarch style government was not working out. After all the losses of WWI and the poverty Russia faced, the czar became very unpopular. On February 1917 the czar was overthrown by a provisional government. But it didn’t stop there. The provisional government still didn’t satisfy the Russians because it still cheated the peasants, patronized the landlords, therefore leaving the capitalists with all the wealth.[12] Not only that but also the provisional government was still in WWI despite all the losses Russia already experienced. On October the same year, one powerful figure, Vladimir Ilich Ulyanov, better known as Lenin, led the Bolshevik Revolution which replaced the provisional government with communism.[13]

It wasn’t easy for Lenin because everyone despised communism even foreign powers. He was able to take them out of WWI but there was still internal conflict in Russia. Once Lenin took power, civil war broke out from 1918-1921. It was between the communists which were considered the Red Army and the rest, including tsarists, liberalists, etc. which formed the White Army.[14] Foreign powers intervened by helping out the White Army. They were hoping that if the White Army wins then it will be the end of communism. They feared the spread of communism. During the war, Lenin came up with a temporary policy called war communism. This policy was an attempt to convert the Soviet Union into a communist country. It outlawed private businesses and nationalized industries.[15] It helped the Red armies by supplying them with a surplus of food. Despite the disadvantage, the Red Army still came out victorious. Unfortunately the fear of foreign powers came true. At first, communism was only located in central Russia but after the war, it spread throughout the rest of Russia taking over Moscow.[16] Russia then became the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) or the Soviet Union.

After the death of Lenin, one of advisors, Joseph Stalin, took over. He followed Lenin’s idea but in a more ruthless manner. Stalin had two main goals in mind. One of his main goals was to modernize the Soviet Union as quick as possible, since majority of the Soviet Union was surrounded by capitalist countries; he wanted to make sure the Soviet Union will be able to defend themselves.[17] To obtain this goal, Stalin came up with multiple five year plans, where he set goals for the Soviet Union and expected them to complete it in those five years. For instance, the first five year plan, Stalin introduced collective farming. Collective farming is when a group of farms unite under one group. Not only did it help the Soviet Union’s economy, but also it was a step towards communism. It abandoned any capitalist policies in the Soviet Union by persecuting the kulaks, or the rich farmers who rented out their land.[18] The second goal was to spread communism to the rest of the world. He did it in a ruthless manner. During the reign of Stalin, communism became a form of totalitarianism called Stalinism, where he had control of everything.[19] Anyone that opposed him were either exiled or executed.

After the decline of Germany in WWII in 1945, the battle was still not over for the United States and the Soviet Union. There was still turmoil between communism and capitalism.  The Soviet Union, the super power for communism was still trying to spread communism while the United States, the super power for capitalism, tried to contain it. This was a start of a passive war which was coined Cold War. The two sides never reached a physical confrontation but used other countries as pawns to fight for and spread their philosophies.

Around this time communism was able to reach out to Asian countries such as China, Korea, and Vietnam. In 1949, Mao Zedong took power and established the People’s Republic of China which was based on Marxist’s views.[20] Just like the Soviet Union, Mao tried to modernize China with his own set of five year plans. Initially Mao isolated China from other capitalist countries by cutting of trade.[21] Mao also attempted to establish communism in other countries. For instance, in 1945, when Korea was liberated from the Japanese power, they were in a state of conflict. The North Korea consisted of communists while South Korea consisted of capitalists. When the conflict turned to war in 1950, foreign countries got involved. The United States sent in troops to support South Korea while Mao created and sent in the People’s Volunteer Army to help North Korea.[22] Mao’s army along with the Soviet Union’s artillery support prevented the North Korea from losing. No side was able to advance and take control of the opposite force. As a result, they agreed upon dividing Korea in the 38th parallel, leaving it North Korea and South Korea.[23] Even though it was a stalemate, it was a moral victory for communism.

The Korean War was one of the many major conflicts between communism and capitalism. In 1955 the Vietnamese faced a similar internal conflict. Ho Chi Minh gathered communists in the north along with Viet Cong, southern communists, to take over South Vietnam.[24] In 1965, once again the United States joined the war in the side of South Vietnam hoping to contain communism. Unfortunately the events didn’t turn out in the United States favor. They stayed in the war for about eight years until they withdrew in 1973.[25] Two years later, North Vietnam took over South making it the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.[26] This was a very demeaning lost for the United States. Many people started questioning if communism can be contained.

Communism not only spread in Asia but it also reached to the Americas particularly in Cuba. United States fear had come true. Communism spread so far that it was only just a few miles away from the coast of the United States. This was a threat to the United States government. As precaution, they devised a secret plan to overthrow the leader, Fidel Castro. In 1961 they launched the attack on the Bay of Pigs but unluckily, the plan failed.[27] Also in 1962, the United States discovered that the Soviet Union established nuclear bases in Cuba pointing at the United States. During the Cold War, the United States were ahead of the Soviet Union in scientific technology. Scientists made breakthroughs in nuclear technology which led to atomic weaponry. Both the United States and the Soviet Union had their hands on them but the United States had enough to take out the Soviets in one blow. Therefore Nikita Khrushchev, the Soviet Premier, thought that the nuclear bases in Cuba would give the Soviets the upper hand in the war.[28] When John F. Kennedy found out about the missiles, he ordered the Soviets to remove them. He declared that if any missiles were launched from Cuba, it would be considered as an attack from the Soviets therefore they can retaliate.[29]

The four decade Cold War, slowly came to an end when Mikhael Gorbachev stepped into power in 1985. He had completely different views than his predecessors. He acknowledged that there was corruption in the communist government. Gorbachev followed the policy of glasnost, which meant openness. He exposed the corruption of the Soviets under Stalin and others that many government officials tried to hide to the public.[30] Gorbachev also used a political movement called perestroika, to reconstruct the Soviet’s political and economic systems.[31] Under Gorbachev, the Soviet Union made the change from a communist state to a more democratic one.[32]

Communism today is not much of a threat to capitalism since the fall of the Soviet Union. There are still a few communist countries such as China, Vietnam, North Korea, and Cuba. Karl Marx had a great vision for society but it is very difficult to achieve. In a communist government it is very easy for it to be corrupted. It became more of totalitarianism. When it got corrupted, many conflicts arose.


[1] Friedrich Engels and Karl Marx, The Communist Manifesto (Penguin Books Ltd., London, England, 1967), 3.

[2] Kundan Pandey, History of Communism, http://www.buzzle.com/articles/history-of-communism.html

[3] Ibid.

[4] Mubasherin Sayed, Communism vs. Socialism, http://www.buzzle.com/articles/communism-vs-socialism.html

[5] Ibid.

[6] Friedrich Engels and Karl Marx, The Communist Manifesto (Penguin Books Ltd., London, England, 1967), 3.

[7] Ibid.

[8] Ibid.

[9] Friedrich Engels and Karl Marx, The Communist Manifesto (Penguin Books Ltd., London, England, 1967), 12.

[10] Friedrich Engels and Karl Marx, The Communist Manifesto (Penguin Books Ltd., London, England, 1967), 13.

[11] Friedrich Engels and Karl Marx, The Communist Manifesto (Penguin Books Ltd., London, England, 1967), 20.

[12] Robert Daniels, A Documentary History of Communism (Random House, New York, 1960), 42.

[13] Robert Daniels, A Documentary History of Communism (Random House, New York, 1960), 42.

[14] Robert Daniels, A Documentary History of Communism (Random House, New York, 1960), 91.

[15] Archie Brown, The Rise and Fall of Communism, (Ecco, New York, 2009), 47.

[16] Archie Brown, The Rise and Fall of Communism, (Ecco, New York, 2009), 56.

[17] Archie Brown, The Rise and Fall of Communism, (Ecco, New York, 2009), 47.

[18] Robert Daniels, A Documentary History of Communism (Random House, New York, 1960), 171.

[19] Ibid.

[20] Archie Brown, The Rise and Fall of Communism, (Ecco, New York, 2009), 314.

[21] Ibid.

[22] Archie Brown, The Rise and Fall of Communism, (Ecco, New York, 2009), 334.

[23] Prabhakar Pillai, Causes of Korean War, http://www.buzzle.com/articles/cause-and-effects-of-korean-war.html

[24] Vietnam War — History.com Articles, Video, Pictures and Facts. http://www.history.com/topics/vietnam-war

[25] Ibid.

[26] Ibid.

[27] Archie Brown, The Rise and Fall of Communism, (Ecco, New York, 2009), 297.

[28] Archie Brown, The Rise and Fall of Communism, (Ecco, New York, 2009), 297.

[29] Archie Brown, The Rise and Fall of Communism, (Ecco, New York, 2009), 309.

[30] Archie Brown, The Rise and Fall of Communism, (Ecco, New York, 2009), 549.

[31] Ibid.

[32] Ibid.

This entry was posted in Uncategorized. Bookmark the permalink.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *