Communist Party

Origins

While formal organization of the communist party technically began with the ideas of Karl Marx (1818-1883) and Friedrich Engels (1820-1896), the concepts leading to its development are found in writings and philosophies throughout history. Even biblical Old Testament figures such as Jesus, Jeremiah, Amos and Isaiah examined the possible benefits of communal societies.

Plato's The Republic (380–360 BCE) is an early example of the examination of communistic governance. Within The Republic Plato raises three key principals including discussions comparing individual ownership versus community control, understanding subsistence and surplus production levels needed for a healthy society, as well as the need to eliminate societies where mixed systems intertwine. Aristotle further examined these ideas in his work, The Politics (335–322 BCE).

Throughout history, the idea of utopias based on the principals of common ownership has allowed readers to explore implications of communal societies. The Roman Poet Virgil (70–19 BCE) presented the idea of utopia in one of his most famous works the Eclogues. Much later, Sir Thomas More continued the idea of utopia with his 1516 publication Utopia.

Moving into the nineteenth century, Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels put into motion the development of communism as a formal political system with the publication of the Manifesto of the Communist Party. Propagation continued as key leaders such as Vladimir Lenin and Joseph Stalin in the Soviet Union embraced the ideas of communist societies. Soon after World War II, other countries such as East Germany, China, and Poland began to explore communism.

Key Players and Events

Karl Marx was a German socialist leader whose basic ideas referred to as Marxism led to the creation of the communist party. Along with Engels, Marx published the Manifesto of the Communist Party in 1848. The Manifesto, as it is often referred in short, set forth the path a society must take to achieve a higher socialist state eventually leading to a communist state. To Marx, socialism was a prerequisite state whereby a society of equal members is govern by a central committee before achieving the true order of communism.

Together Marx and Engels devoted their lives to spreading interest in communist governments across Europe including the formation of the International Workingmen's Association. The International Workingmen's Association developed into the First International. First International organized communists and socialist for the first time.

The ideas set forth in the Manifesto resonated with Russian underground communist leader, Vladimir Lenin (1870-1924). As leader of the Bolshevik party, Lenin instituted a totalitarian system of rule and created a means of production and system of distribution at the sole discretion of the government. Lenin also established The Comintern, known as the Communist International in 1919. The Comintern continued to shape the development of communist parties around the world until it was disbanded in 1943.

The existence and development of communist parties continued with the rulings of Joseph Stalin in the Soviet Union. By the end of World War II in 1945, Stalin established communist political regimes in Poland, East Germany, Romania, and other bordering countries.

Mao Tse-tung (1893-1976), leader of the Chinese Communist Party, won a long guerrilla war bringing the party to rule China in 1949. As a result of China's strong international position, communist parties in other Asian countries such as North Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia also rose to power over the next several decades.