Communist party

In modern usage, a communist party is a political party which promotes communism, a sociopolitical philosophy based on the particular interpretation of Marxism put forth by Vladimir Lenin. Communist parties today may or may not formally use the term "Communist" in their name. Even if they do, not all follow a strict interpretation of any of the main 'schools' of communism (chiefly Leninism, Maoism, Stalinism or Trotskyism).

History of Communist Parties

Early Communist groups

The first international Marxist organization was called the Communist League, advocates of the principles put forth in Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels' Communist Manifesto. The group dissolved in 1852 after breaking into factional quarrels.

Related Topics:
Communist League - Karl Marx - Friedrich Engels - Communist Manifesto - 1852

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The Bolshevik party seized power in the 1917 Russian Revolution. In March, 1918, the party changed its name to "All-Russian Communist Party (Bolsheviks)", and was generally known as "The Communist Party" from that point on.

Related Topics:
Bolshevik - 1917 - Russian Revolution - 1918

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Many other Communist parties, especially in Europe, were created in the 1910s and 1920s as the result of factional splits within most of the socialist parties that existed at the time. Some factions advocated the creation of socialism through existing legal channels, while others advocated armed revolution and the ejection of the bourgeois from power through the use of force. The revolutionary groups usually called themselves communists, while those who wanted a gradual transition from capitalism to socialism kept the names socialists or social democrats.

Related Topics:
Europe - 1910s - 1920s - Socialist parties - Socialism - Revolution - Bourgeois - Social democrat

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Shortly after the split, more differences between the two sides began to emerge. During the 1920s, Communists supported the Soviet Union and Marxism-Leninism, while the socialists supported only Marxism and rejected Leninism. This rift grew even wider as both sides started to develop separate branches of their own.

Related Topics:
Soviet Union - Marxism-Leninism - Marxism

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Most mainstream social democrats had abandoned Marxism by the 1950s. Trotskyism and several other branches of revolutionary Marxism contend that, under the influence of Stalinism, the Soviet-influenced Communist Parties drifted far away from the original Marxist-Leninist position during the same period. In contrast, Anti-Revisionists say that the Soviet Union broke decisively with true socialism and turned state capitalist with Nikita Khrushchev's Secret Speech of 1956.

Related Topics:
Social democrat - Trotskyism - Stalinism - Anti-Revisionist - Socialism - State capitalist - Nikita Khrushchev - Secret Speech - 1956

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Stalin-era Communist Parties

Following Stalin's orders, the Communist International was dissolved in 1943. In the period between 1945 and 1949, following the end of World War II, Moscow-controlled Communist parties such as the Polish Polish United Workers' Party and the German Socialist Unity Party were put in power throughout much of Central and Eastern Europe, creating the Eastern bloc.

Related Topics:
Stalin - World War II - Polish - Polish United Workers' Party - German - Socialist Unity Party - Eastern bloc

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The Communist Party of the United States was considered within the political mainstream during the 1930s and 1940s, but the advent of the Cold War got it declared illegal for a time and led to McCarthyism, a vigorous anti-Communist political repression movement in America during the 1950s which effectively destroyed the American Communist Party's influence.

Related Topics:
Communist Party of the United States - 1930s - 1940s - Cold War - Illegal - McCarthyism - 1950s

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Non-Soviet controlled Communist governments

In Yugoslavia, Communist guerrillas liberated the country from Nazi occupation and established a government without Soviet assistance. As a result, the Communist Party of Yugoslavia was not controlled from Moscow. Indeed, it opposed the Soviet Union vigorously on a number of major policy points, leading to Stalin's excommunication of the Yugoslav Communist government from the Soviet bloc.

Related Topics:
Yugoslavia - Guerrilla - Nazi - Communist Party of Yugoslavia

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In 1949, Chinese communists ended a civil war that had raged for decades, and established the People's Republic of China. Shortly thereafter, another communist party, the Workers Party of Korea, came to power in North Korea and was backed by the new communist Chinese government during the Korean War.

Related Topics:
1949 - Civil war - People's Republic of China - Workers Party of Korea - North Korea - Korean War

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Chinese Communist leader Mao Zedong entertained major differences of vision, however, precipitating the Sino-Soviet split between the Soviet Union and the People's Republic of China in the early 1960s.

Related Topics:
Mao Zedong - Sino-Soviet split - People's Republic of China

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Albania was liberated by Communist partisans in a similar fashion, but it developed in a very different way from Yugoslavia. The Albanian government sided with the Soviet Union early on, then took the side of the Communist Party of China in the Sino-Soviet split.

Related Topics:
Albania - Communist Party of China - Sino-Soviet split

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Western European Communist Parties after the war

Members of communist parties were persecuted in many countries in the early Cold War period, when anticommunist sentiment was fueled by Western governments as part of their Cold War strategy. Nevertheless, in capitalist countries such as Italy and France, large Communist Parties gathered lots of popular support and played a prominent part in politics throughout the post-war decades. They developed a variant of Communist ideology known as Eurocommunism. This called for a socialist planned economy under the administration of a democratic government, and a multi-party system of free elections. This was a clear break with the Soviet line, but many of these parties continued to maintain good, or at least diplomatic, relations with the Soviet Union.

Related Topics:
Cold War - Anticommunist - Western - Capitalist - Italy - France - Eurocommunism - Socialist - Planned economy - Democratic - Multi-party - Election - Soviet Union

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Third world Communist parties

In the third world, communist parties became quite popular in some areas because they promised the overthrow of governmental structures that many people considered oppressive, and a higher standard of living for the poor. Often, Communists played the dominant role in struggles for independence against colonial powers. The resulting wars usually became enmeshed into the Cold War, with the Soviet Union supporting Communist forces and the United States supporting anti-Communist ones. The two superpowers waged wars by proxy, as in, for example, the Vietnam War, where American troops fought local Communists; or in the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, where Soviet troops fought mujahideen forces supported by the United States which sought to overthrow the pro-Soviet Communist government of Afghanistan. Vietnam and Laos are still ruled by Communist Parties.

Related Topics:
Third world - Cold War - Vietnam War - Soviet invasion of Afghanistan - Mujahideen - Vietnam - Laos

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Cuba

After Fidel Castro's nationalistic revolt in Cuba, he was snubbed by President Eisenhower, who went out to play golf on the day he was scheduled to meet with Castro, and assigned Vice President Richard Nixon to meet with Castro instead. Castro was extremely annoyed at the slight, and entered into negotiations with the Soviet Union. Castro aligned with the Soviets and declared himself a communist shortly afterward.

Related Topics:
Fidel Castro - Cuba - Eisenhower - Golf - Richard Nixon

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Cuba survived the collapse of the Soviet Union, and with careful market-oriented reforms and strategic alliances, known as the "Special Period," the Communist Party of Cuba remains in power as of 2005. Some question, however, how Castro's personal health will fare in the near future, and it remains to be seen if his party will remain in power after his death.

Related Topics:
Market - Special Period - Communist Party of Cuba - 2005

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Post-Soviet Eastern bloc Communists

With the collapse of the Soviet Union, communist parties lost their power monopolies in most of Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union. In many places, communist parties re-organized themselves as new socialist or social democratic organizations (though some have remained orthodox late-Soviet era communist). Many of the communist parties in those countries and their various successor organizations remain highly influential in local government elections and political struggles throughout the former Eastern bloc.

Related Topics:
Collapse of the Soviet Union - Eastern Europe - Socialist - Social democratic - Eastern bloc

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