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PreviewAdvancedSpecial charactersHelpHeadingLevel 2Level 3Level 4Level 5FormatInsertLatinLatin extendedIPASymbolsGreekGreek extendedCyrillicArabicArabic extendedHebrewBanglaTamilTeluguSinhalaDevanagariGujaratiThaiLaoKhmerCanadian AboriginalRunesÁáÀàÂâÄäÃãǍǎĀāĂ㥹ÅåĆćĈĉÇçČčĊċĐđĎďÉéÈèÊêËëĚěĒēĔĕĖėĘęĜĝĢģĞğĠġĤĥĦħÍíÌìÎîÏïĨĩǏǐĪīĬĭİıĮįĴĵĶķĹĺĻļĽľŁłŃńÑñŅņŇňÓóÒòÔôÖöÕõǑǒŌōŎŏǪǫŐőŔŕŖŗŘřŚśŜŝŞşŠšȘșȚțŤťÚúÙùÛûÜüŨũŮůǓǔŪūǖǘǚǜŬŭŲųŰűŴŵÝýŶŷŸÿȲȳŹźŽžŻżÆæǢǣØøŒœßÐðÞþƏəFormattingLinksHeadingsListsFilesDiscussionReferencesDescriptionWhat you typeWhat you getItalic''Italic text''Italic textBold'''Bold text'''Bold textBold & italic'''''Bold & italic text'''''Bold & italic textDescriptionWhat you typeWhat you getReferencePage text.<ref>[https://www.example.org/ Link text], additional text.</ref>Page text.[1]Named referencePage text.<ref name="test">[https://www.example.org/ Link text]</ref>Page text.[2]Additional use of the same referencePage text.<ref name="test" />Page text.[2]Display references<references />↑ Link text, additional text.↑ Link text=== Socialism and Marxism === [[File:The Soviet Union 1988 CPA 5971 stamp (70th birth anniversary of Nelson Mandela, South African anti-apartheid revolutionary, political leader and philanthropist).jpg|thumb|upright|1988 Soviet commemorative stamp, captioned "Fighter for the freedom of South Africa Nelson Mandela" in Russian]] Mandela advocated the ultimate establishment of a classless society,{{sfnm|1a1=Benson|1y=1986|1pp=231, 232|2a1=Ellis|2y=2016|2p=7}} with Sampson describing him as being "openly opposed to capitalism, private land-ownership and the power of big money".{{sfn|Sampson|2011|p=298}} Mandela was influenced by [[Marxism]], and during the revolution he advocated [[scientific socialism]].{{sfn|Sampson|2011|p=282}} He denied being a communist at the Treason Trial,{{sfnm|1a1=Mandela|1y=1994|1p=365|2a1=Sampson|2y=2011|2pp=135–138}} and maintained this stance both when later talking to journalists,{{sfn|Benson|1986|p=232}} and in his autobiography, where he outlined that the cooperation with the SACP was pragmatic, asking rhetorically, "who is to say that we were not using them?"{{sfn|Ellis|2016|p=18}} According to the sociologist Craig Soudien, "sympathetic as Mandela was to socialism, a communist he was not."{{sfn|Soudien|2015|p=361}} Conversely, the biographer David Jones Smith stated that Mandela "embraced communism and communists" in the late 1950s and early 1960s,{{sfn|Smith|2010|pp=217–218}} while the historian Stephen Ellis commented that Mandela had assimilated much of the [[Marxism–Leninism|Marxist–Leninist]] ideology by 1960.{{sfn|Ellis|2016|p=7}} Ellis also found evidence that Mandela had been an active member of the South African Communist Party (SACP) during the late 1950s and early 1960s,{{sfn|Ellis|2011|pp=667–668}} something that was confirmed after his death by both the ANC and the SACP, the latter of which claimed that he was not only a member of the party, but also served on its Central Committee.<ref name="Mandela'sCommunism"/> His membership had been hidden by the ANC, aware that knowledge of Mandela's former SACP involvement might have been detrimental to his attempts to attract support from Western countries.{{sfn|Ellis|2016|p=17}} Mandela's view of these Western governments differed from those of Marxist–Leninists, for he did not believe that they were anti-democratic or reactionary and remained committed to democratic systems of governance.{{sfn|Smith|2010|p=231}} The 1955 Freedom Charter, which Mandela had helped create, called for the nationalisation of banks, gold mines and land, to ensure equal distribution of wealth.{{sfn|Kalumba|1995|pp=164–165}} Despite these beliefs, Mandela initiated a programme of privatisation during his presidency in line with trends in other countries of the time.{{sfn|Freund|2014|p=294}} It has been repeatedly suggested that Mandela would have preferred to develop a [[social democracy|social democratic]] economy in South Africa but that this was not feasible as a result of the international political and economic situation during the early 1990s.{{sfn|Freund|2014|p=294}} This decision was in part influenced by the fall of the [[socialist states]] in the Soviet Union and [[Eastern Bloc]] during the early 1990s.{{sfn|Sampson|2011|pp=433–435}} Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. 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