Communism Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.Anti-spam check. Do not fill this in! == Etymology and terminology == ''Communism'' derives from the [[French language|French]] word {{lang|fr|communisme}}, a combination of the [[Latin]]-rooted word {{lang|la|communis}} (which literally means ''common'') and the suffix ''isme (''an act, practice, or process of doing something'')''.{{r|Harper 2020}}<ref>{{Cite web |title=-ism Definition & Meaning {{!}} Britannica Dictionary |url=https://www.britannica.com/dictionary/-ism |access-date=26 September 2023 |website=www.britannica.com |language=en-US}}</ref> Semantically, {{lang|la|communis}} can be translated to "of or for the community", while ''isme'' is a suffix that indicates the abstraction into a state, condition, action, or [[doctrine]]. ''Communism'' may be interpreted as "the state of being of or for the community"; this semantic constitution has led to numerous usages of the word in its evolution. Prior to becoming associated with its more modern conception of an economic and political organization, it was initially used to designate various social situations. ''Communism'' came to be primarily associated with [[Marxism]], most specifically embodied in ''[[The Communist Manifesto]]'', which proposed a particular type of communism.{{r|Ball & Dagger 2019}}<ref name="Morris">{{cite web |last=Morris |first=Emily |date=8 March 2021 |url=https://www.ucl.ac.uk/culture-online/ask-expert/your-questions-answered/does-communism-work-if-so-why-not |title=Does communism work? If so, why not |website=Culture Online |publisher=[[University College London]] |access-date=13 August 2021}}</ref> One of the first uses of the word in its modern sense is in a letter sent by [[Victor d'Hupay]] to [[Nicolas Restif de la Bretonne]] around 1785, in which d'Hupay describes himself as an {{lang|fr|auteur communiste}} ("communist author").<ref>{{cite journal |title=Quelques dates à propos des termes communiste et communisme |trans-title=Some dates on the terms communist and communism |first=Jacques |last=Grandjonc |author-link=:de:Jacques Grandjonc |journal=Mots |year=1983 |volume=7 |issue=1 |pages=143–148 |language=fr |doi=10.3406/mots.1983.1122}}</ref> In 1793, Restif first used {{lang|fr|communisme}} to describe a social order based on egalitarianism and the common ownership of property.<ref name="Hodges">{{cite book |first=Donald C. |last=Hodges |author-link=Donald C. Hodges |title=Sandino's Communism: Spiritual Politics for the Twenty-First Century |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Pu7zAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA36 |date=1 February 2014 |publisher=[[University of Texas Press]] |isbn=978-0-292-71564-6 |pages=7 |via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref> Restif would go on to use the term frequently in his writing and was the first to describe communism as a [[Government#Forms|form of government]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://commoningtimes.org/texts/nancy-communism-the-word.pdf |title=Communism, the Word |last=Nancy |first=Jean-Luc |author-link=Jean-Luc Nancy |publisher=Commoning Times |year=1992 |access-date=11 July 2019}}</ref> [[John Goodwyn Barmby]] is credited with the first use of ''communism'' in English, around 1840.<ref name="Harper 2020">{{cite web |last=Harper |first=Douglas |date=2020 |url=https://www.etymonline.com/word/communist |title=Communist |website=[[Online Etymology Dictionary]] |access-date=15 August 2021}}</ref> === Communism and socialism === [[File:Hammer and Sickle and Star.svg|thumb|150px|The [[hammer and sickle]] is a common theme of [[communist symbolism]]. This is an example of a hammer and sickle and [[red star]] design from the [[flag of the Soviet Union]].]] Since the 1840s, the term ''communism'' has usually been distinguished from ''[[socialism]]''. The modern definition and usage of the term ''socialism'' was settled by the 1860s, becoming predominant over alternative terms such as ''associationism'' ([[Fourierism]]), ''[[Mutualism (economic theory)|mutualism]]'', or ''[[co-operative]]'', which had previously been used as synonyms. Meanwhile, the term ''communism'' fell out of use during this period.<ref name="Williams 1985, p. 289">{{cite book |last=Williams |first=Raymond |title=Keywords: A Vocabulary of Culture and Society |edition=revised |location=New York |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |year=1985 |orig-date=1976 |isbn=978-0-1952-0469-8 |page=[https://archive.org/details/keywordsvocabula00willrich/page/289 289] |chapter=Socialism |oclc=1035920683 |quote=The decisive distinction between socialist and communist, as in one sense these terms are now ordinarily used, came with the renaming, in 1918, of the Russian Social-Democratic Labour Party (Bolsheviks) as the All-Russian Communist Party (Bolsheviks). From that time on, a distinction of socialist from communist, often with supporting definitions such as social democrat or democratic socialist, became widely current, although it is significant that all communist parties, in line with earlier usage, continued to describe themselves as socialist and dedicated to socialism. |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/keywordsvocabula00willrich/page/289}}</ref> An early distinction between ''communism'' and ''socialism'' was that the latter aimed to only socialize [[Production (economics)|production]], whereas the former aimed to socialize both production and [[Consumption (economics)|consumption]] (in the form of common access to [[final good]]s).{{r|Steele p.43}} This distinction can be observed in Marx's communism, where the distribution of products is based on the principle of "[[to each according to his needs]]", in contrast to a socialist principle of "[[to each according to his contribution]]".{{r|Gregory & Stuart 2003, p. 118}} Socialism has been described as a philosophy seeking distributive justice, and communism as a subset of socialism that prefers economic equality as its form of distributive justice.<ref>{{cite book |last=Ely |first=Richard T. |author-link=Richard T. Ely |title=French and German socialism in modern times |date=1883 |publisher=[[Harper (publisher)|Harper & Brothers]] |location=New York |pages=29–30 |oclc=456632 |quote=The central idea of communism is economic equality. It is desired by communists that all ranks and differences in society should disappear, and one man be as good as another ... The distinctive idea of socialism is distributive justice. It goes back of the processes of modern life to the fact that he who does not work, lives on the labor of others. It aims to distribute economic goods according to the services rendered by the recipients ... Every communist is a socialist, and something more. Not every socialist is a communist.}}</ref> In 19th century Europe, the use of the terms ''communism'' and ''socialism'' eventually accorded with the cultural attitude of adherents and opponents towards [[religion]]. In European [[Christendom]], ''communism'' was believed to be the [[atheist]] way of life. In [[Protestant England]], ''communism'' was too [[phonetically]] similar to the Roman Catholic ''[[communion rite]]'', hence English atheists denoted themselves socialists.<ref>{{cite book |last=Williams |first=Raymond |author-link=Raymond Williams |title=Keywords: A Vocabulary of Culture and Society |edition=revised |location=New York |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |year=1985 |orig-date=1976 |isbn=978-0-1952-0469-8 |chapter=Socialism |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/keywordsvocabula00willrich/page/289 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/keywordsvocabula00willrich}}</ref> [[Friedrich Engels]] stated that in 1848, at the time when ''[[The Communist Manifesto]]'' was first published,<ref>{{cite book |author-link=Friedrich Engels |last=Engels |first=Friedrich |orig-date=1888 |date=2002 |title=Preface to the 1888 English Edition of the Communist Manifesto |publisher=[[Penguin Books|Penguin]] |pages=202}}</ref> socialism was respectable on the continent, while communism was not; the [[Owenism|Owenites]] in England and the Fourierists in France were considered respectable socialists, while working-class movements that "proclaimed the necessity of total social change" denoted themselves ''communists''. This latter branch of socialism produced the communist work of [[Étienne Cabet]] in France and [[Wilhelm Weitling]] in Germany.<ref>{{cite book |last=Todorova |first=Maria |author-link=Maria Todorova |year=2020 |title=The Lost World of Socialists at Europe's Margins: Imagining Utopia, 1870s–1920s |edition=hardcover |location=London |publisher=[[Bloomsbury Publishing]] |isbn=9781350150331}}</ref> While [[Liberal democracy|liberal democrats]] looked to the [[Revolutions of 1848]] as a [[democratic revolution]], which in the long run ensured [[liberty, equality, and fraternity]], Marxists denounced 1848 as a betrayal of working-class ideals by a [[bourgeoisie]] indifferent to the legitimate demands of the [[proletariat]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Gildea |first=Robert |author-link=Robert Gildea |year=2000 |chapter=1848 in European Collective Memory |editor-last1=Evans |editor-first1=Robert John Weston |editor-link1=R. J. W. Evans |editor-last2=Strandmann |editor-first2=Hartmut Pogge |editor-link2=Hartmut Pogge von Strandmann |title=The Revolutions in Europe, 1848–1849: From Reform to Reaction |edition=hardcover |location=Oxford |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |pages=207–235 |isbn=9780198208402}}</ref> By 1888, Marxists employed the term ''socialism'' in place of ''communism'', which had come to be considered an old-fashioned synonym for the former. It was not until 1917, with the [[October Revolution]], that ''socialism'' came to be used to refer to a distinct stage between [[capitalism]] and communism. This intermediate stage was a concept introduced by [[Vladimir Lenin]] as a means to defend the [[Bolshevik]] seizure of power against traditional Marxist criticism that Russia's [[productive forces]] were not sufficiently developed for [[socialist revolution]].{{r|Steele 1992, pp. 44–45}} A distinction between ''communist'' and ''socialist'' as descriptors of political ideologies arose in 1918 after the [[Russian Social Democratic Labour Party]] renamed itself as the [[Communist Party of the Soviet Union]], which resulted in the adjective ''Communist'' being used to refer to socialists who supported the politics and theories of Bolshevism, [[Leninism]], and later in the 1920s those of [[Marxism–Leninism]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Busky |first=Donald F. |title=Democratic Socialism: A Global Survey |publisher=[[Greenwood Publishing Group|Praeger]] |location=Santa Barbara, California |date=2000 |isbn=978-0-275-96886-1 |page=9 |quote=In a modern sense of the word, communism refers to the ideology of Marxism-Leninism.}}</ref> In spite of this common usage, [[Communist parties]] also continued to describe themselves as socialists dedicated to socialism.{{r|Williams 1985, p. 289}} According to ''The Oxford Handbook of Karl Marx'', "Marx used many terms to refer to a post-capitalist society—positive humanism, socialism, Communism, realm of free individuality, free association of producers, etc. He used these terms completely interchangeably. The notion that 'socialism' and 'Communism' are distinct historical stages is alien to his work and only entered the lexicon of Marxism after his death."<ref name="Hudis et al. 2018">{{cite book |editor1-last=Hudis |editor1-first=Peter |editor2-last=Vidal |editor2-first=Matt |editor2-link=Matt Vidal |editor3-last=Smith |editor3-first=Tony |editor4-last=Rotta |editor4-first=Tomás |editor5-last=Prew |editor5-first=Paul |date=10 September 2018 |url=https://www.oxfordhandbooks.com/view/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780190695545.001.0001/oxfordhb-9780190695545 |title=The Oxford Handbook of Karl Marx |chapter-url=https://www.oxfordhandbooks.com/view/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780190695545.001.0001/oxfordhb-9780190695545-e-50 |chapter=Marx's Concept of Socialism |last=Hudis |first=Peter |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |isbn=978-0-19-069554-5 |doi=10.1093/oxfordhb/9780190695545.001.0001}}</ref> According to the ''[[Encyclopædia Britannica]]'', "Exactly how communism differs from socialism has long been a matter of debate, but the distinction rests largely on the communists' adherence to the revolutionary socialism of Karl Marx."{{r|Ball & Dagger 2019}} === Associated usage and Communist states === In the United States, ''communism'' is widely used as a pejorative term as part of a [[Red Scare]], much like ''socialism'', and mainly in reference to [[authoritarian socialism]] and [[Communist state]]s. The emergence of the [[Soviet Union]] as the world's first nominally Communist state led to the term's widespread association with [[Marxism–Leninism]] and the [[Soviet-type economic planning]] model.{{r|Ball & Dagger 2019}}<ref>{{cite book |last=Busky |first=Donald F. |title=Democratic Socialism: A Global Survey |publisher=[[Greenwood Publishing Group|Praeger]] |location=Santa Barbara, California |date=2000 |isbn=978-0-275-96886-1 |pages=6–8 |quote=In a modern sense of the word, communism refers to the ideology of Marxism–Leninism. ... [T]he adjective democratic is added by democratic socialists to attempt to distinguish themselves from Communists who also call themselves socialists. All but communists, or more accurately, Marxist–Leninists, believe that modern-day communism is highly undemocratic and totalitarian in practice, and democratic socialists wish to emphasise by their name that they disagree strongly with the Marxist–Leninist brand of socialism.}}</ref><ref>{{cite encyclopedia|title=Communism |encyclopedia=The [[Columbia Encyclopedia]] |edition=6th |year=2007}}</ref> In his essay "Judging Nazism and Communism",<ref>{{cite journal |last=Malia |first=Martin |author-link=Martin Malia |date=Fall 2002 |title=Judging Nazism and Communism |journal=The National Interest |publisher=Center for the National Interest |issue=69 |pages=63–78 |jstor=42895560}}</ref> [[Martin Malia]] defines a "generic Communism" category as any Communist [[political party]] movement led by [[intellectual]]s; this [[umbrella term]] allows grouping together such different [[regime]]s as radical [[Soviet]] industrialism and the [[Khmer Rouge]]'s anti-urbanism.{{r|David-Fox 2004}} According to [[Alexander Dallin]], the idea to group together different countries, such as [[Democratic Republic of Afghanistan|Afghanistan]] and [[Hungarian People's Republic|Hungary]], has no adequate explanation.{{r|Dallin 2000}} While the term ''Communist state'' is used by Western historians, political scientists, and news media to refer to countries ruled by Communist parties, these [[socialist states]] themselves did not describe themselves as communist or claim to have achieved communism; they referred to themselves as being a socialist state that is in the process of constructing communism.<ref>{{harvp|Wilczynski|2008|p=21}}; {{harvp|Steele|1992|p=45}}: "Among Western journalists the term 'Communist' came to refer exclusively to regimes and movements associated with the Communist International and its offspring: regimes which insisted that they were not communist but socialist, and movements which were barely communist in any sense at all."; {{harvp|Rosser|Barkley|2003|p=14}}; {{harvp|Williams|1983|p=[https://archive.org/details/keywordsvocabula00willrich/page/289 289]}}</ref> Terms used by Communist states include ''[[National-democratic state|national-democratic]]'', ''[[People's democracy (Marxism–Leninism)|people's democratic]]'', ''[[Socialist-leaning countries|socialist-oriented]]'', and ''[[Socialist state|workers and peasants']]'' states.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Nation |first1=R. Craig |title=Black Earth, Red Star: A History of Soviet Security Policy, 1917–1991 |date=1992 |publisher=[[Cornell University Press]] |isbn=978-0801480072 |pages=85–86 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WK18-OoR0pIC&pg=PA85 |access-date=19 December 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190801050439/https://books.google.ie/books?id=WK18-OoR0pIC&pg=PA85 |archive-date=1 August 2019 |via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref> Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here. You are also promising us that you wrote this yourself, or copied it from a public domain or similar free resource (see Christianpedia:Copyrights for details). Do not submit copyrighted work without permission! Cancel Editing help (opens in new window) Discuss this page