Questions tagged [communism]
An ideology derived from socialist theory of the nineteenth century. Communism defines a condition in which socialist development has lead to the virtual elimination of economic class. This is ultimately achieved by worker ownership and control of the means of production (defined as the tools & facilities which produce goods). Throughout the 20th century multiple nation states claimed either to have achieved communism or to have been developing it.
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Why would this word have been an unsuitable name in Communist Poland? Is it because it's a racial slur?
In Marek Hłasko's The Graveyard (set in communist-occupied Poland) there is a scene where, in a political party meeting one of the party members (Nowak) is forced to change the name of his dog. This ...
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How did Mao regain and consolidate power after the Great Famine?
Mao Zedong's position had weakened after the Great Famine, and in the period during and leading up to the Cultural Revolution, he regained and consolidated his power. I am interested in getting a ...
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Why did the French SFIO abandon its anti-militaristic views after Jaures' death?
Before his murder on July 31st 1914, Jaures and the SFIO attempted to unite the workers of the different European countries to not take part in what became WWI. However, only two days after his death, ...
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Why did this anti-communist pamphlet, from the USA in the 1950s, include UNESCO among its targets?
The English language Wikipedia article on McCarthyism includes an image of an "anti-communist" pamphlet, apparently from the 1950s:
I was intrigued by point 4:
RIGHT NOW films are being ...
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Could the leader of the Soviet Union have been removed legally?
The list of Soviet Union's leaders shows that usually leaders remained in office until their death, I'd like to know:
What was the legal status of the Soviet Union's leader? How was he elected or ...
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Were the "Petlurovites" who took Kiev in 1918 commanded by a communist?
Mikail Bulgakov in his novel "White Guard" describes capture of Kiev in 1918 by Petlurovites as a disaster, and them worse than the Whites (whom he supported).
Yet, the history tells us that ...
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Communist Party member Stances on Molotov Ribbentrop Soviety German Treaty [closed]
I am reading "Toward Freedom, The Case against Race Reductionism" by Toure Reed. In his section about Black Progressives, he writes about how the influence of the Communist Party on the NNC ...
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What was the ethnic composition of Soviet government?
One often describes USSR in ethnic terms, as Russian domination over other nations (many of which later became independent states). While the USSR certainly practiced ethnic policies (such as ...
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Why were Chinese and Soviet five year plans shorter than five years? [closed]
In the Chinese and Soviet systems of economic planning, they famously used "five year plans". However, most if not all of these plans apparently lasted shorter than five years. For example, ...
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What was the official theoretical journal of the communist party of the USSR?
Like other ruling communist parties the propaganda organs of the USSR would have also published material covering theoretical topics relating to building socialism, communism, etc. These materials ...
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Was Zhivkov under house arrest partly for inciting racial hatred?
So I was randomly reading about Tohor Zhivkov. The Guardian states:
Zhivkov, who has since died, was tried and sentenced to house
imprisonment, partly for inciting racial hatred in a 1980s campaign ...
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Was Anti-Japaneseism a real political ideology?
According to a page on Wikipedia, there was a movement in the Japanese New Left called "Anti-Japaneseism", which claimed that
"The nation called Japan and the entire Japanese race ...
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Why wasn't Mao purged after the failure of the Great Leap Forward?
In 1958, Mao Zedong launched the Great Leap Forward, an attempt to forcibly collectivise Chinese agriculture and industrialise the country within just a few years. This involved the use of ...
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Why wasn’t the USSR “rebranded” communist?
I found that the Third International sponsored a worldwide transformation of former “socialist” parties (that was concretely related to the rejection of so-called “reformism”, to be somewhat upgraded ...
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Did Soviet people know Stalin's birth name?
We all know now that Stalin's real name was Jughashvili (Ioseb Besarionis dzе Jughashvili). Lenin was actually Ulyanov, Trotsky was Lev Davidovich Bronstein, Kamenev was Leo Rosenfeld, etc.
Searching ...
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How true is the Soviet killing quota under Stalin? [closed]
In The Soviet Story from 1:37:54 to 1:38:54, killing quotas of Soviet citizens are talked about. I could not find any concrete reason, evidence, or documentation suggesting that such "killing ...
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Is it true that novel 1984 became famous under US propaganda? [closed]
I've heard from some one that novel 1984 was not a very excellent novel but under US propaganda and CIA's pressure it became famous.
And also the opposite of this happened to novel Brave New World.
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How were USSR oblasts and cities governed?
From Wikipedia “During the Soviet period, the high authority in the oblast was shared between three persons: The first secretary of the “Oblast” CPSU Committee (who in reality had the biggest ...
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Why was there a "workers' militia" in Eastern Europe but not in the USSR?
After WWII, especially after 1956 in several Eastern European countries the ruling Communist Parties formed "workers' and peasants' militias", see for example, Worker's Militia or Combat ...
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Would Indonesia have become a communist country if Soekarno hadn't stepped down? [closed]
Along with Josip Tito and some other leaders, Soekarno is one of the founders of Non-Aligned Movement in 1961, which Britannica describes as an "abstention from the use of arrangements of ...
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How much of the Jonestown money actually got given to the USSR?
So, I was reading the Wikipedia page on the Jonestown massacre, and I noticed that several members of the People's Temple (including their leadership) willed all of their money to the Communist Party ...
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What is this illustration portraying?
While doing my presentation I have come across this illustration titles "Downfall of the Soviet Union". I am, however, unable to determine, who are the people on this illustration and what is it ...
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Why was there so little information about sex in Eastern Block countries?
By "Taboo" I meant the lack of widespread access to the information (very few sources, sparse information in biology books etc). I've edited the title for clarification.
As you all probably ...
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What was Karl Marxs views on drug use?
Considering the involvement of leftist guerrillas in south america in the drug trade got me thinking. How does that consolidate with the idea that the communist revolution is supposed to be for the ...
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Was it ever possible to see students with burka/paranji having education at the schools and universities of the Uzbek Soviet Republic?
Despite strict 'hujum' (assault in English) policies against veiling as part of the liberation of women in Muslim populated less-developed areas of the Soviet Union during the early years of the ...
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What does Deng Xiaoping mean by "Hide your capacities, bide your time '?
I came across this interesting quote by Deng Xiaoping:
Hide your capacities and bide your time
however I didn't find much about this quote on the Internet explaining the exact context and meaning ...
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Why doesn’t Cuba's flag have any communist symbolism?
The wikipedia page on the flag of Cuba says:-
It is one of the two flags of a currently socialist country (the other being Laos) that does not use any Communist Symbolism.
The symbolism is (from ...
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What prompted Cuba to fight against South African Imperialism? [closed]
After the Cuban Revolution, Cuba fought against South African apartheid against the advice of its Soviet sponsors who were looking for a rapprochement with the US.
What prompted such a move? Although ...
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Are there any communist countries that were model high functioning societies? [closed]
low pollution rate
high living standards
Are there any historically model communist countries?
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Were Communists drafted for the Vietnam war?
Given that it wasn't illegal to be a member of a Communist party in the US, how did the military handle draftees who might be sympathetic to North Vietnam? Were men who were members of the Communist ...
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Was there any politization of "hard" science (math, physics, chemistry, biology) in the Asian communist countries?
Where proven science results contradict political views, the most obvious solution is to try to discredit those results, by creating your own versions. It has been done multiple times in history, for ...
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How (not why) did the Bolshevik party seize such complete control of the All-Russian Congress of Soviets?
How (not why) did the Bolshevik party seize such complete control of the All-Russian Congress of Soviets ("the supreme governing body of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic from 1917 ...
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"...as stated by its atheistic leaders more than 30 years ago" in McCarthy speech
I read this quote in a speech given on June 2, 1950 by Joseph McCarthy that said:
"We know that the major aim of communism, as stated by its atheistic leaders more than 30 years ago, is to create ...
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Has a sovereign Communist government ever run, and conceded loss, on a fair election?
Have there been cases where a sovereign Communist government ran in an open and fair multi-party election and conceded a loss?
The reason for the sovereign qualifier is simple. If, for example, the ...
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Which historians argue that WWII was caused by Fascism as a reaction to Communism?
It's been suggested that fascist movements of post-WW1 Europe emerged
in reaction to the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia and against worker
sympathies to similar internationalist socialist movements ...
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Were communists opposed to Jews in France?
After reading the very insightful question to what extent were the Jewish persecuted during the Soviet Union and its first two answers reminded me my high school History classes to the extent that the ...
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Did Karl Marx Fight in the Second Schleswig War?
I have recently seen the Danish made series (1864) which is about two brothers fighting in the Second Schleswig War between Prussia and Denmark. It's a really gory and "raw" series about how brutal ...
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Why is North-Korean communist leader Kim Il-sung called Kim Ir Sen in some languages?
Looking on Wikipedia I see that in many of the languages of the former communist countries, namely East European, the North Korean leader Kim Il Sung (or Song) (1912-1994) is called Kim Ir Sen. (I am ...
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How many times was Vaclav Havel under arrest and under what - presumably trumped up charges - was he indicted?
Vaclav Havel, was one of the leading figures of the Velvet revolution that toppled the Czech communist government.
He was arrested multiple times by the regime, the longest being for four years. The ...
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Did China's life expectancy at birth rise 30.5 years from 1960 to 1980? If so, what were the particular changes made to their society's structure?
I have been reading The Rise of China and the Demise of the Capitalist World Economy by Minqi Li. The author reads like a fan of Mao and is succeeding in convincing me I need to dig deeper in to the ...
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What were the policies of the Sammarinese communist party?
I've heard of things not going very well for many socialist countries in the 20th and 21st centuries with problems such as famine, civil war and genocide. However in contrast to states like the USSR ...
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During the Great Depression in America, was there an increase in popularity of Communism?
During the Great Depression, was there an increase in the popularity of Communism among the everyday American and if so, was this due to a longing for better living conditions?
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What was the logic behind Stalin's brutality?
In this article Stalin's behaviour is argued to be the result of a calculated and fanatical strategy. Stephen Kotkin's book 'Stalin' is referenced, and the suggestion is that criticism of Stalin as ...
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Why did Romania create a personality cult long after Russia's "overcoming of the cult of personality"? [closed]
During the Cold War the Socialist Republic of Romania was aligned with the USSR and within the Soviet sphere of influence. What appears odd is that while Russian Communism slowly liberalised after ...
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Is this a true quote of Engels about vague Russian leaders and their vague followers?
In the recent movie "The Young Karl Marx", Engels refers to Russian communist leaders being confused and finding confused followers.
Is this a true quote and if yes, whom did he mean?
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Why did Shock Therapy fail so badly?
Why did shock therapy fail during perestroika? Has shock therapy ever worked in other situations?
Was it responsible for the creation of the nomenclature and oligarchs?
Are there any authors who ...
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Ideological differences between Mensheviks and Bolsheviks
As I understand from this brief explanation, the main doctrinal difference was that the Bolsheviks were more radical (class struggle) while the Mensheviks were more in favor of class cooperation and ...
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Was there really a Communist presidential nominee or political party in the 1876 election?
In David Leip's political atlas, it says that 'Communist' gained 32 votes in the 1876 presidential election. The name of the candidates and the state where these votes were counted doesn't appear.
Of ...
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Can anyone find a picture of NSDAP & KPD Workers eating lunch together in 1932 during Berlin Transit Workers Strike?
A few months back I saw a picture on the web of NSDAP and KPD strikers eating lunch together during the November, 1932, Berlin Transit Workers strike. The picture showed strikers of both parties ...
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Was Nikolai Bukharin told at trial his job was “to confess and repent, not to argue”?
A recent Economist article claims:
As Nikolai Bukharin, a close Lenin ally, was told during his own
trial, his job was “to confess and repent, not to argue”.
I've searched without success for a ...
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