English -isms

Communism

a totalitarian system of government in which a single-party authoritarian state eliminates private property and owns and controls the means of production

Socialism

a political and economic system in which the means of production are owned and controlled by the government rather than by individual people and companies; between capitalism and communism that is distinguished by unequal distribution of goods and pay according to work done

Marxism

based off Karl Marx’s political, economic, and social theories of communism, including the belief that there will eventually be a society in which there are no classes. It calls for the dictatorship of the proletariat (working class) until the establishment of a classless society.

Totalitarianism

 a political system in which individuals and society are completely submissive to an all-powerful state that is administered by an authoritarian, or undisputed, leader.

Democracy

a form of government in which the people choose their leaders by voting in elections and power is exercised by the majority, either directly or indirectly, typically through a system of representation.

Capitalism

an economic practice characterized by private or corporate ownership of capital goods (those goods used to produce other goods, not those purchased directly by consumers), by investments that are determined by private decision, and by prices, production, and the distribution of goods that are determined mainly by competition in a free market without government control.

Republic

 a form of government in which supreme power resides in a body of citizens entitled to vote and is exercised by elected officers and representatives responsible to the people and the rule of law.