Fall Of Communism In Russia

While communism is meant to help achieve equality for everyone it has been proven we can’t achieve a perfect communist state. Communism first originated from the Greek idea during the Golden Age that harmony and bliss would be achieved without owning private property (Beer, "Origins of Communism"). Lopez 2 It later than resurfaced around 1848 when Karl Marx published his book The Communist Manifesto. During Karl Marx’s time he wanted the proletariat, the working class, to overthrow the government due to bourgeoisie, the high class, having more opportunities and unfair advantages.

One man, Vladimir Lenin saw that Russia was spiraling downwards, having lost two battles in a row and having the highest death count out of all the European countries he saw that a change was needed. Lenin was the leader of the Bolsheviks who were a communist group that wanted to draw out of the war and over thrown Czar Nicholas II. Preaching peace, and food he wanted, ¨the offer of peace, the salvation of Petrograd, salvation from famine, and the transfer of land to the peasants who depended on them,¨ (Document 8). People were drawn into this and, ¨increasingly taken in by the propagandists of the united Socialist Party and their internationalis ideas,¨ (Document 9). This combined with high death rates, starvation, communist ideals started the overthrow of Russia and the end of the war.

Russian Revolution In 1922, as a result of the Russian Revolution, a new political party emerged: the USSR or the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union was the world’s first communist state. Communism was a new political and economic model that was supposed to get rid of class distinction. From the beginning, communism opposed capitalism and capitalist countries like the United States. The Russian Revolution united the socialists against the capitalists, with the USSR, a communist country, siding with the socialists.

Andre Abi Haidar PSPA 210 INTRODUCTION It is always difficult to write about and discuss Karl Marx, or more importantly the applications of Marx’s theories, due to the fact that he inspired and gave rise to many movements and revolutionaries, not all of which follow his theories to the point. Although Marx tends to be equated with Communism, it might not seem righteous to blame him for whatever shortcomings occurred when his theories were put to the test; Marx passed away well before the revolution in Russia, and he played no role in the emergence of the totalitarian regime at the time. When discussing Marx, however, Vladimir Lenin is one of the biggest highlights when it comes to studying the outcomes of Marx’s theories.

Communism Communists strive for extermination of social class and inequality through equal distribution of collective output. The government is authorized to control and make decisions. All means of production and property are occupied centrally, which is in opposition to capitalism. The mere existence of private property ownership, free markets as well as social class are abolished and replenished with collective ownership of means of production and redistribution. In due cause, the significance of government declines due to social equality, establishing a stateless society (Harold, 1968).

Following Lenin’s death the enormous difficulties involved in trying to build socialism in a very underdeveloped country, encircled by imperialism, led to struggles in the party and then to backward steps. Soviet leader Joseph Stalin purged Bolshevik opponents while making concessions to careerists and increasing inequality. Nevertheless, at the same time

Communism builds on the idea that everyone is the same and should earn the same amount of money regardless of their profession. The most important with communism is that there should not be any class distinctions. China, Laos, Cuba and Vietnam

Within the time of a long war the Bolsheviks won. They stated that everything was going to change but nothing did. The Bolsheviks also tried to spread it to other countries, they wanted communism

The Russian Revolution, which was started by Lenin and his followers, was a rebellion that occurred in 1917 which forced higher powers to act to the needs of the lower class. For instance, many citizens were worried for their protection in consequence to the lack of survival necessities due to an early drought. Furthermore, their current czar during the time was incapable for his position as a czar and made horrendous decisions as czar. For example, when the czar, Nicholas, entered in World War I, he sent untrained troops into countless battles of failure which costed in mass amounts of lost life (paragraph 23).

Marx saw capital and liberal democracies as the fundamental reasons for the low standards of living and the low social conditions of workers. Karl Marx in particular is especially concerned with the political assumptions behind these two ideologies. According to him, these two types of government should be replaced by communism, since communism would provide a more equal and socially just society. Although this statement may seem unusual, since we tend to associate communism with Stalin and China, the type of communism implemented in these countries is different from the communism that Marx and Engels envisaged in their Communist Manifesto. Marx and Engels’ vision of communism is based on the principle of equality among the people and freedom

“Communism, fundamentally, a system of social organization in which property (especially real property and the means of production) is held in common.” (Communism 1) In the modern usage, the term Communism means a movement that aims to overthrow the capitalist order. In other words, to establish a classless society in which all goods will be socially owned. Russia and China are both the two largest countries to be communist government. This became because of violent revolutions in both countries which led to the former government and ruling party to be executed in both parties.

“The Soviet group known as the Bolsheviks played a crucial role in the Russian Revolution... They [would] come under the leadership of V.I. Lenin” (PowerPoint 8-3). In addition, the Bolsheviks would later change their title to the Communists. Lenin was exiled, but later seized an opportunity

The Revolutionary group pushing for change in Russia were the Bolsheviks. The Bolshevik Party led the Russian Revolution, and under the new name of the Communist Party, would be the sole ruling political party of the Soviet Union. This revolutionary group was directed by Vladimir Lenin. Lenin was brought up in a well-educated family, he excelled at school and continued on to study law. While he was attending a university he was exposed to radical thinking which was influenced by the death of his elder brother; whom was a member of a revolutionary group.

The Bolsheviks introduced political, economic and social reforms as they sought to consolidate power between 1917-1924. These policies appealed to many of Russia’s citizens, as the people believed that the reforms would give them a better future. There would be a redistribution of land, better working conditions and wages, a withdraw from the World War that had destroyed the economy, and the promise of ‘Peace, Land, Bread’. At the beginning of 1917, Russia was in a poor state; people starved, the population decreased, and conscription was hard to enforce. The Treaty of Brest Litovsk, War Communism and the New Economic Policy contributed to the Bolsheviks consolidation of power.

By the early 1900s, weariness with the monarch of Russia swelled to the breaking point. New ideas were floating around, ideas about a free and equal society. Many of the Russian citizens in poverty looked to Communism- a new political theory derived from german philosopher Karl Marx. Communism advocates class war, which, theoretically, would lead to a society in which all property is publicly owned and each person works and is paid according to their abilities and needs (Merriam Webster Dictionary). The working class of Russia soon drifted from ideas of a Monarchy and towards the concept of equality in economy, thus being the first steps towards a revolution.