Politics in Minutes (2016)

Communism

Acommon misconception, particularly among those critical of communism, is that ‘communism’ refers to the political and economic system seen in self-styled ‘communist states’, such as Soviet Russia. These states, however, are very different from communism as it was envisaged by Marx. Despite the label ‘Marxist-Leninist’ they had little in common with either Marx or Lenin, and more to do with the authoritarian rule of Stalin, which many true communists regard as a form of state capitalism.

In contrast, the communism described by Marx and Engels in the Communist Manifesto is the final stage of a historical development, which is realized once a socialist state has been established, and the working class has gained control of the means of production. Once it has been achieved, true communism can be brought about - in Marx’s words ‘characterized by the absence of social classes, money and the state’. A far cry from any so-called communist state ever established.