The Soviet Union was the world ’s first communist country , so why was its prescribed name the Union of SovietSocialistRepublics ( USSR ) ? Aresocialismandcommunismactually the same thing ?
Yes and no , saysNorman Markowitz , a chronicle professor at Rutgers University who has taught a course onthe chronicle of socialist economy and communismfor the past 40 years .
" ' The Communist Manifesto , ' write byKarl Marxand Friedrich Engels in 1848 , became the foundation of both socialism and communism , " tell Markowitz , but there are clearly difference between authoritarian communistic regimes like the Soviet Union and China , and far more popular form of socialist economy practiced in countries like Sweden , Canada and Bolivia .
To infer the difference between socialism and communism , we have to start with their common opposition : capitalist economy .
Capitalism and the Class Struggle
Marx and Engels look at the entireness of human history as a " history of social class struggles . " In ancient Rome , there were patricians , plebeian and slaves . In feudal societies , there were Divine , apprentices and villein . In the eighteenth century , political and economic revolutions in England , America and France had done away with feudalism and substitute it with capitalism .
" By the 1820s and 1830s , capitalism had produced a Earth of forward motion and impoverishment , " says Markowitz , meaning that the Industrial Revolution and the creation of loose - market economy had greatly benefited the wealthy class , who owned the mill and farms ( the " mean value of production " ) , while leave the average prole even worse off than the feudal serf .
Marx and Engels separate the mod world into two class : thebourgeoisiewho have the means of production , and the working class or the working year . capitalist economy , with its emphasis on cheap travail , had created an ever - widening gulf between the bourgeoisie and the proletariat , a problem that could only be specify by completely raze the pol - economic scheme that make it .
The Rise of Socialism
What ’s crucial to point out is that Marx and Engels were n’t the first to have these thought . They were the latest in a long origin of economical and political idealogue who all identified as socialists .
Socialism as a movementbegan in the former nineteenth centurywith creative thinker like Henri de Saint - Simon , Robert Owen and Charles Fourier . revolt with the inequality create by capitalism and competition , early socialists proposed the innovation of worker ' collectives with portion out ownership of property , farm and factory .
" From the 1820s through the 1840s , there were various dissimilar socialistic motion that attracted worker , farmers and alienated intellect , " enunciate Markowitz , " and all variety of plan and programs to establish socialistic collectives . "
Owen , a flush Scottish industrialist , even set up such a community calledNew Harmonyin Indiana in 1825 , which eventually flunk .
Socialism , both then and now , pleader for cooperation rather than competition , by opposing an unrestricted market economic system . Under a socialistic scheme , citizens give high-pitched income revenue enhancement in exchange for free access to government - escape programs and services . In some socialistic model , all industry and means of production are state - owned , while other example reserve for secret ownership of businesses with public control of certain sector like wellness caution , zip , pedagogy and transportation . The goal of socialism is to create a more egalitarian society .
Communism as ‘Revolutionary Socialism’
Marx and Engels were fierce critic of the other " utopian " forms of socialist economy that were " doomed to bankruptcy , " in their wrangle , because they were base on the naive belief that the class struggle could be resolved through peaceful means .
" Marx and Engels believe that eventually the struggle between the middle class and the proletariat would make a crisis in which the capitalist system would postulate to be abolished and replace with a socialist organization , " pronounce Markowitz . " It would n’t be a utopian system , but a system in which the working class have the political power . "
" The Communist Manifesto " was a socialist call to arms . In it , Marx and Engels contend that the only fashion to end the class battle that had set chronicle was through a socialistic revolution . After the revolution , guild would be prevail by a " dictatorship of the proletariat . " Under capitalist economy , the middle class called the shots , but a government rule by the workers would put the workers ' involvement first and not those of a wealthy elite .
From Marxism to Leninism
For Marx and Engels , communism was the most advanced form of socialism . They see the evolution of sophisticated guild as set out with capitalist economy , moving to socialism and lastly get through the ultimate finish of communism . Under labour rule , the communists would get rid of private ownership of domain , farm and manufacturing plant , and reach all control over to the body politic . Housing , aesculapian attention and education would all be free , and every worker would have a job .
In a way , Marx and Engel ’s imagination of a truly communistic society was also utopian . They believed that at some point the commonwealth itself would discontinue to survive , and the prole would simply partake everything . As Marxfamously write : " From each according to his power , to each according to his needs . "
" In that higher degree of communism , there would be cosmopolitan equality and universal copiousness , " says Markowitz . " multitude could do whatever they want without harming others . They would be genuinely free . "
But Marx and Engel ’s version of rotatory socialism , also do it as Marxism , was never really put into practice . or else , the world ’s first communist revolution happened in an unbelievable plaza , Tsarist Russia , and its political genius wasVladimir Lenin .
Lenin was a Marxist , but he put his own twist on communist theory . Lenin was a hotshot of the worker , but he was n’t surefooted that a " dictatorship of the labor " would spontaneously take shape after the revolution . In spot of a " dictatorship " elect or appointed by the worker , Lenin preferred adictatorship of the Communist Party .
Under Leninism , all powerfulness was put in the hand of a political elite group that controlled all aspect of Soviet economic , cultural and intellectual life with the goal of creating a more just socialist smart set . In world , Leninism slipped into monocracy and totalitarianism with violent crackdowns on objection or confrontation .
Socialist and Communist Countries Today
The ideas put forth in " The Communist Manifesto " inspired coevals of political mind and economical theorists . Some of those individual mould socialist political company to win power by democratic means , while others , like Lenin and Mao Zedong , launched communist rotation . The result , today , are country and government that identify as either socialist or communist or both !
Scandinavia is home to a cluster of popular socialist countries . country like Norway , Sweden , Finland and Denmark have elected socialist democrat parties into power , and their legislatures have passed laws establishing expansive " welfare states . " In a socialistic welfare state of matter , citizen compensate high taxis , but relish generous social services including free education ( including college ) , free wellness concern , retreat pensions , pay maternal leave , subsidized housing and more .
" While the traditional openhanded modeling of democracy only emphasizes individual liberty , the social popular manikin , according to its advocate , stress both liberal and classless ideals , " wrote John Patrick in " Understanding Democracy , A Hip Pocket Guide . " critic of popular socialism , he added , would claim that " positively charged state natural action to put up classless social programme ask extensive redistribution of wealthiness and extravagant government regulation of the lodge and saving . " This , in turn of events , would minimize the principle of individual liberty .
It ’s of import to repoint out that in democratic socialist country , secret possession of clientele and free - market capitalism are also appropriate to live . And while socialistic parties are currently in major power , they are not one - party governance . Other political parties are allowed to press and hunt for agency .
That ’s not the case in so - phone communist country like China , Cuba and Vietnam , and was n’t lawful in the former Soviet Union , either . Those body politic are one - company regimes where the authority of the Communist Party is unquestioned and the political party chooses politics officials , not the mass . While there is no substantial democracy in these countries , capitalist economy has made meaning inroads , peculiarly in China and Vietnam .
Meanwhile , just to keep things puzzling , all of the country that we call " communist " still remember of themselves as socialistic , just different flavors of socialism .
" China is build up its own model of socialism that ’s very different from the Soviet Union , " say Markowitz . " China ’s model continue force in the hands of a government command by the Communist Party , but it ’s also create a capitalist sector that ’s become the secondly bounteous economy in the world over the last 40 years . "
The accuracy , pronounce Markowitz , is that there has never been a truly " communistic " country in Marx ’s sense of the word , just as there has never been a true democracy . " These are ideals that one works toward and struggles to achieve . "
