Communism

Communism (From communis, "that which is held in common") is a socio-political and economic ideology, philosophy and movement based around the establishment of a new society structured around the, free and open access to consumption, abolition of social classes and the authoritarian state. It is considered to be the most radical form of Socialism, being focused on the total emancipation of the lower classes. It is the guiding philosophy of the Comintern.

The bulk of its theory formulated by German intellectuals Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels (though many early and contemporary thinkers had ideas foreshadowing their work, such as Peter Kropotkin), its principal sociopolitical aspects were codified in the, considered to be one of the founding works of Communism. Then on, it developed into numerous sub-ideologies and strains based on interpretations of Marx and Engels' work, most notably Leninism, Marxism-DeLeonism, and.

The development of the communist movement into the great political force it is now has been seen by some scholars as the blurring the distinction of Communism as a movement--with the ongoing ferment of Communism's social aspects and the recent implementation of its economic aspects by the late 20th century, it has been argued that Communism as a movement is transforming into a full-blown, becoming an ethos and worldview in itself.

Principles
Marxist view of history, Das Kapital, Revolutionary Socialism,

History
Socialist precursors, emphasizing the role of 1848 in the development of Communism, rise of the Paris Commune

Strains and tendencies
Divided between "auth" and "lib"?

Marxism
Marxism is a method of socioeconomic analysis that views class relations and social conflict using a materialist interpretation of historical development and takes a dialectical view of social transformation. It originates from the works of 19th-century German philosophers Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels.

Marxism uses a methodology, now known as historical materialism, to analyze and critique the development of class society and especially of capitalism as well as the role of class struggles in systemic economic, social, and political change. According to Marxist theory, in capitalist societies, class conflict arises due to contradictions between the material interests of the oppressed and exploited proletariat—a class of wage labourers employed to produce goods and services—and the bourgeoisie—the ruling class that owns the means of production and extracts its wealth through appropriation of the surplus product produced by the proletariat in the form of profit.

This class struggle that is commonly expressed as the revolt of a society's productive forces against its relations of production, results in a period of short-term crises as the bourgeoisie struggle to manage the intensifying alienation of labor experienced by the proletariat, albeit with varying degrees of class consciousness. In periods of deep crisis, the resistance of the oppressed can culminate in a proletarian revolution which, if victorious, leads to the establishment of socialism—a socioeconomic system based on social ownership of the means of production, distribution based on one's contribution and production organized directly for use.

Marxism has developed into many different branches and schools of thought, with the result that there is now no single definitive Marxist theory. Since the establishment of the communist sphere in the middle part of the 20th century, Marxism has largely become synonymous with communism, and even the communist strains of anarchism have adopted a Marxian framework, especially with the ascendancy of Platformism.

Leninism
Leninism is the political theory for the organisation of a revolutionary vanguard party and the achievement of a dictatorship of the proletariat as political prelude to the establishment of socialism. Developed by and named for the Soviet revolutionary Vladimir Lenin, Leninism comprises socialist political and economic theories, developed from Marxism and Lenin's interpretations of Marxist theories, for practical application to the socio-political conditions of the Russian Empire of the early 20th century.

Due to the influence the October Revolution had on the global communist movement through its early successes and the establishment of the Third International, most communist tendencies in the 20th century have either explicitly considered themselves Leninist, or have acknowledged major theoretic influence from Lenin.

Marxism-Leninism
Marxism-Leninism historically refers to the political theory codified by Iosif Stalin as the state ideology of the USSR from 1926 until the All-Union Communist Party quietly repudiated it in the years following his death. It also refers to related right-communist tendencies that focus on the transition of undeveloped economies of the global periphery through state-capitalist strategies of modernization.

Referred to perjoratively as Stalinism by critics, Marxism-Leninism concerns itself with the historic deviations made by the Soviet state from the Leninist political programme. In spite of the publication of the widespread mass murder, political repression of dissident communists, and the mass use of forced labor under the Stalin government, particularly during the Yezhovshchina, the rapid industrialisation of the Soviet Union made the developmental model of Marxism-Leninism highly attractive to communists and left-nationalists in the global periphery.

Molotovism
Also referred to as Marxism-Molotovism, Marxisim-Leninism-Molotovism or even the decidedly impractical Marxism-Leninism-Stalinism-Molotovism; Molotovism is a generally informal term used to refer to the policies and writings of Vyacheslav Molotov during his premiership over the Soviet Union. Molotovism is generally regarded as a refinement of Stalin era Marxism-Leninism to reflect the changes to the Soviet condition brought about by the transformation of the Communist International with the addition of America, China and many Asian and New World states as well as the onset of the second world war and the cold war. While it officially discards the thesis of Socialism in One Nation it heavily focuses on industrialisation as well as a policy of caution in spreading the revolution abroad,. Molotov himself explained this policy as a matter of biding time for the best opportunity rather than brash adventurism that might shut out the possibility for future revolution for decades should it fail.

While steadfastly in favour of international solidarity and cooperation, Molotovism is often regarded as somewhat more nationalist than Left Communism and DeLeonism out of a belief that the vanguard of the proleteriat in each nation is best formed from those who are already in tune with the conditions of those nations.

Bolshevik-Leninism
Originally a term coined by Leon Trotsky and the International Left Opposition, Bolshevik-Leninism has come to refer to most non-Stalinist currents of Leninism, particularly following its adoption by centrist currents in the Workers' Communist Party. Following the global realignment caused by the Red May Revolution, theorists of Bolshevik-Leninism have extended Lenin's original theories concerning the internationalisation of global class struggle.

Today, Bolshevik-Leninism is the orthodoxy of many global communist parties. Bolshevik-Leninist thinkers have grappled with many questions pertaining to the political form of the dictatorship of the proletariat, resisting bureaucratization of the workers' parties, and the praxis of continued class struggle by vanguard parties within the capitalist world.

Left Communism
Also referred to as the communist left, it is a position which criticises the political ideas and practices espoused by Marxist–Leninists (e.g. Stalinists) and social democrats. Left communists assert positions which they regard as more authentically Marxist than the views of Marxism–Leninism espoused by the Communist International after its Bolshevization by Joseph Stalin.

Left communism originated in two separate currents; the Dutch-German left of the KAPD, and the Italian left organized by PCI dissidents. The Dutch-German left were more critical of the leadership of Vladimir Lenin, especially as expressed by the official KPD. They criticized the measures of "bourgeois opportunism" in official Soviet policy, and the increasing substitution of bureaucratic state-capitalism in place of the dictatorship of the proletariat. The Italian Sinistra, by contrast, regarded themselves as the Leninist orthodoxy against the deviations made by both Stalin's government as well as the left and right oppositions in the Soviet Union.

These schools achieved a theoretic synthesis and programmatic unity amidst the Great Depression, as German and Italian emigrants began organizing with American currents critical of the Moscow orthodoxy. The left communist synthesis grew into a powerful militant fraction of the Workers' Party. The synthesis current emphasized the necessity of an organic workers' party at one with the working-class, international communist institutions as the leaders of a global revolution, a totalitarian revolutionary struggle, and a militant rejection of collaboration with liberal democratic states.

Councilism
Councilism refers to the currents of the post Great Revolutionary War communist left that emphasize the revolutionary spontaneity of the working class. Councilist groups are typically more critical of hierarchies as well as leftover norms of the bourgeois epoch. One of the world standard-bearers of councilism is the Liberation Communist Party in the UASR.

Organicism
Organicist currents emphasize the role of the vanguard party and the role of international institutions in the spread of proletarian revolution. Organicist parties are more cultural moderate and authoritarian than councilists. The Communist Labor Party is one of the more prominent voices of organicism in international communism.