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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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 ...
user36804
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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 ...
user8690
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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 ...
user17846
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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 ...
user17846
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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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What were the 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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How did Lenin secure his regime? [closed]
As we know, Bolsheviks seemed to overthow Provisional Government easily in November Revolution. Many political parties are inspired and feel like taking over the same way. War Communism also ...
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Are there biographies on Boris Shumyatsky that included his history before 1921?
Zhang Guotao in his memoir recounted his meeting with Shumyatsky in 1921. The then King of Siberia was very busy but managed to treat Zhang with a private dinner in his home. After the dinner, Zhang ...
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How does Louise Bryant's assessment of how the Soviet Union would fall hold up at the beginning of the 21st century?
Louise Bryant, an American bohemian spent six months in Russia during the turbulent times that presaged the October Revolution - and which she wrote up as Six Red Months in Russia. In her conclusion ...
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What good came from the Great Leap Forward?
I'm currently reading the book "Mao's Great Famine" by Frank Dikötter. It's a very harrowing book covering the unimaginable waste and destruction of resources, environment and life that occurred ...
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Were there any long-term benefits from sending Lenin back to Russia [closed]
Sending Lenin back to Russia to start a revolution is usually touted as a good idea by the Germans, since it helped to knock Russia out of the war. But the Great War was still lost for Germany, the ...
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Is there a biography of Pavel Mif?
Pavel Mif by all Chinese accounts was a ruthless scheming Napoleon (the one in animal farm). Fortunate to the Chinese, Mif was later purged by Stalin. I wonder what sort of family he was from; where ...
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What was the Chinese Communist Party's organizational hierarchy in the two weeks between 15JUL1927 and 01Aug1927?
According to Zhang Guotao, Nanchang Upgrising (01Aug1927) was Li Lisan's initiative inaugurated and proposed by Zhou Enlai to Zhang GuoTao. The decision to go ahead was made between Zhou Enlai and ...
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Does anyone know the name of the student who died during the Hungarian Revolution of 1956? If not, why not?
I'm reading up on the Hungarian Revolution of 1956, and it seems that if that one student hadn't died, the revolution never would have started.
The revolt began as a student demonstration, which ...
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Why was most of Europe against communism right from the start?
In "Dark Continent" by M. Mazower, I read the following with regards to the 1920s:
In the first place, democracy’s international backers were less supportive as time passed. Woodrow Wilson’s legacy ...
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What measures were taken by the Bolsheviks to consolidate their position? [closed]
What are four measures taken by the Bolsheviks before December of 1917 to suppress threats to their position?
I know that:
1)They promised elections to the assembly to be held in November 1917.
...
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What was the program of the Mensheviks in their later years? How did they hope to achieve it?
The Mensheviks were an important force in Russia during the February Revolution of 1917. Within Russia proper, they were gradually sidelined after the Bolshevik October Revolution. The Menshevik ...
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Would there have been racially mixed student bodies in schools in communist Bulgaria?
For example, would a high schooler in Bulgaria in the 80s had the occasion to go to school with Arabs or Africans... either exchange students, immigrants, children of diplomats, etc?
I'm assuming yes ...
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Did Mao Zedong and Chinese communists collude with the Japanese during the Sino-Japanese War?
Whilst answering another question on in which the CCP was militarily involved in the Sino-Japanese War, To what extent did the CPC avoid fighting with the Japanese? I came across groundbreaking and ...
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What was the basic structure of power in the CPSU and how were the politicians at each level chosen?
I'm aware of the very-basics like the General Secretary, the Politburo and Central Commitee, but could someone give me a simple rundown of the lower levels to the bottom? Also, I'm particularly ...
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Why didn't the Communist Party in Czechoslovakia use the military to suppress the protests during the Velvet Revolution?
I've been reading a bit about the fairly peaceful transition of power in Czechoslovokia through the protests throughout the country, but I'm wondering, why didn't the ruling party attempt to bring the ...
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How many languages did Zhang Shenfu speak?
Zhang Shenfu (Chinese: 张申府; 1893–1986) was a founder and quitter of the Chinese Communist Party, a philosopher, and a political activist.
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What was the Jiangxi Soviet's language of operation between 1931 and 1934?
Gong Chu (龔楚) in his Memoir mentioned that the Chinese Communists in Jinggangshan soviet district between 1931 and 1934 had a shortage of representatives in a Cantonese unit of the red army because ...
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What do Marxists mean by "class basis of law"? As seen in linked article
R. Judson Mitchell's article The Brezhnev Doctrine and Communist Ideology uses the term "class basis of law".
I'm not sure but I think:
Because this concept almost always appears hand in ...
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Who made those 1:50,000 maps in 1930's China
Gong Chu in his Memoir mentioned several times Red Army officers poring over 1:50,000 maps of the most backward areas of China in early 1930s. I wonder who could possibly make those maps.
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Did any intelligence agents defect to the Cheka before 1921? [closed]
Did any intelligence agents defect to the Cheka (USSR secret police) before 1921? Does that have any historical precedent? If not, 1926.
Either former Czarist agents, or spies working for other ...
user15163
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Why was the US table tennis team sent to communist China even after a difference in ideology? [closed]
The USA had an embargo in place with China, due to having fought the Chinese in Korea during the Korean war. For 20 years no American set foot in PRC territory. At last though, the American table ...
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How much impact did US Policy of containment have?
This will border dangerously close to a discussion rather than question/answer, but I would like to know whether there exists any consensus regarding the effects of the United States' policy of ...
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How was Germany involved in the Russian Civil War after the Paris Peace Conference?
What was Germany's involvement in the Russian Civil War after the Paris Peace Conference? After signing the Treaty of Versailles, Germany's economy was pretty much in ruins, but which side of the ...
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The allure of totalitarianism/ communism/ fascism [closed]
In the 1930s there was a rise of totalitarianism whether fascism or communism such as Hitler's Germany, Mussolini's Italy, and Stalin's Soviet Union
What would've been the allure of totalitarianism ...
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Looking for a (preferably digital) collection of McCarthy speeches (transcripts)
I am analysing the history of demagogy and it's rhetoric using modern data science. I have acquired some collections of speeches dating back to George Washington, but unfortunately I have not been ...
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How many Bolsheviks were Jewish?
There is an old canard to the effect that Bolshevism was a Jewish phenomenon (the Nazis, for example, referred to it as Judeo-Bolshevism), and there are still many people today who stress the ...
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What were the limitations on possession of wealth in Soviet Russia and how were they enforced?
Specifically:
How were workers compensated, was wage equal everywhere? If not - what affected the variations?
What were the limitations of possession of money and/or assets? How were they enforced?
...
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Was communism a weaponized idea deployed against Imperial Russia? [closed]
I remember a lecture by a historian praising Imperial Germany for defeating Imperial Russia by both political (financing and "deploying" Lenin) and military means, a feat that both Napoleon and Hitler ...
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Lenin Jacket Picture: What's the story?
What is the story behind this photo?
When was this photo taken? Who are the models?
This photo, in many places on the internet, even in this article on "Chinese wikipedia", is shown as an example of ...
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Was the population of Moscow wildly overstated during the Cold War?
The science fiction author Robert Heinlein was a socialist in his youth, but became a strident anticommunist during the Cold War. In 1960, he and his wife Virginia went as tourists to the USSR, and he ...
user2848
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Was Fascism capitalist or communist or as many say, was it a "third type" of ideology? [closed]
Was Fascism capitalist or communist or as many say, was it a "third type" of ideology? I have searched wikipedia and other sources but due to different opinions, I am confused.
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Why did Bierut threaten to murder families of those who did not join him?
My knowledge is very small on this. Boleslaw Bierut was a Polish Communist leader who became the President of Poland after the Soviet takeover of the country, in the aftermath of WW2 as Wikipedia says....
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Did Amadeo Bordiga tell off Stalin this way?
I read somewhere that Amadeo Bordiga, Italian Communist, said something along these lines to Stalin's face:
If the Soviet Union is the homeland of all proletarians and the revolution, then let it ...
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How much resemblance did the industrialization of the Soviet Union bear to those of the rest of the world?
I was thinking about the industrialization of the Soviet Union, most notably the death toll involved. The policies (such as forced-labour, prison camps for those who under performed, extremely poor ...
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