Comprehensive Summary of 'The Rise and Fall of Communism'
Idea of Communism:
Marx's 1848 Communist Manifesto saw Communism as a 'spectre' haunting Europe.
By the 20th century, it became a reality worldwide, especially in peasant societies like the Soviet Union and China.
Communist systems varied across time and space, eventually collapsing in Europe.
Marx believed communism would bring unprecedented freedom, but his vision lacked safeguards for individual liberty.
Critics like Karl Popper acknowledged the moral basis of Marx's critique of 19th-century capitalism.
Lenin, Stalin, and Mao Zedong used Marxist theory to justify single-party dictatorships.
Communism became a dominant international movement, sparking hope or fear. It led to the Cold War and near 'hot war' scenarios like the Cuban missile crisis.
The end of Communism in Europe marked a significant political event.
Communist parties called their systems 'socialist,' envisioning 'communism' as a future stateless utopia.
Early Communists:
The idea of communism predates Marx, with roots in various idealistic notions.
Medieval social reformers saw early Christians as examples of communal living, drawing inspiration from the Acts of the Apostles.
Christian theologians like John Wycliffe believed the earliest human society was one of 'innocence and communism.'
Revolutionary figures like John Ball advocated for equality and common ownership, challenging feudal lords.
Movements in Bohemia and Germany saw the creation/recreation of a communist society that would combine freedom and equality.
Extreme groups like the Taborites practiced communism in anticipation of Christ's return.
Revolutionaries advocated violent means to achieve egalitarian social order, including massacres and the abolition of private property.
Sir Thomas More's Utopia:
More portrayed an imagined communist society in his 1516 book Utopia.
The book is written in the form of a dialogue where the narrator advocates for abolishing private property for fair distribution of goods.
More himself voices doubt expressing whether people would work hard enough under a communist system.
The principal character critiques the existing social system as a conspiracy of the rich.
Other Utopian Visions:
Tommasso Campanella's The City of the Sun (1602) sees the family as an obstacle to a communistic state, advocating state control over education.
The 18th-century Enlightenment paved the way for new thinking about the future of society, with both evolutionary and revolutionary manifestations.
Montesquieu, Turgot, Adam Smith, John Millar, and Adam Ferguson, elaborated a theory of stages of the development of society which provided the key to understanding the evolution of society.
The French Revolution of 1789 gave rise to radical thought exemplified by Babouvism.
Comte de Saint-Simon advocated for planned affairs in accordance with social needs.
Charles Fourier and Pierre-Joseph Proudhon made contributions to 19th-century socialist thought, calling for worker co-ops and social harmony.
Cabet's Icaria and Robert Owen's New Harmony:
Étienne Cabet introduced the term 'communism' in 1840, envisioning an egalitarian community without private property or money in his Voyage en Icarie.
Robert Owen, an entrepreneur and political thinker, established a model factory at New Lanark and later attempted to set up a co-operative commune at New Harmony in the United States.
The founding of New Harmony was the point at which Owen embraced a form of communism or communitarianism.
Marx and Engels:
Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels were central to the development of the Communist movement.
Marx, from a comfortable bourgeois background, studied at the universities of Bonn and Berlin and spent much time in the British Museum.
Engels, from a wealthier background, entered the family business after school and became a passionate Communist.
Marx and Engels collaborated, advocating for proletarian revolution and class struggle.
Marx stated that the existence of classes is bound up with particular historic phases in the development of production.
The four main stages which followed primitive communism, were ancient society, feudal society, and bourgeois (or capitalist) society.
Engels explained that the term ‘Communist’ implied a commitment to proletarian revolution.
Marx's analysis was a product of the Industrial Revolution, focusing on the existence of a large industrial workforce.
Marx was greatly influenced by German Hegelian philosophy and British political economy.
Communism and Socialism:
Initially sharing a belief in universal public ownership, communism and socialism diverged over revolution vs. evolutionary change.
Communists favored violent overthrow, justifying coercion, while socialists favored peaceful paths and a mixed economy.
Divisions emerged among revolutionaries, notably between Communists and anarchists, leading to personal antagonism between Marx and Bakunin.
Bakunin advocated for freedom and the abolition of the state, leading to telling criticisms of Marx's project.
Doctrinal differences emerged quickly even among followers of Karlmarx.
The Second International:
The Second International (Socialist International) was founded in Paris in 1889, composed of national political parties and trade unions.
There was tension between socialists favoring parliamentary means and those prioritizing revolutionary class struggle.
Participants held diverse views, ranging from class struggle advocates opposed to violence to those basing socialism on ethical foundations.
Lenin and the Origins of Russian Communism:
Vladimir Lenin, a mixed ethnic origin, was a crucial figure in the development of Communism and the principal founder of the Soviet Union.
During Stalin’s reign his origins were closely guarded and seen as a state secret.
His material grandfather converted to orthodox Christianity and changed his name.
In 1887, at the age of seventeen, his older brother Alexander was part of a failed assassination against the Tsar and was hung as a result of it. This led to a hardening of Lenin’s opposition to the Tsarist regime.
Lenin was influenced by Marxism and revolutionary populism.
Lenin's Early Influences and Actions:
The publication of Marx's Capital in Russia was not censored because it was thought it would not have an impact. However minorities were influenced, especially those wishing to subvert the Tsarist rule.
Lenin's key influence was Georgy Plekhanov who co-operated with Lenin but held fast to the orthodox Marxist view of needing a lengthy Bourgeois rule before true Revolution could happen.
Lenin approved of Tkachev’s emphasis on the vital role which should be played by a small circle of revolutionaries.
Nikolay Chernyshevsky's writings and novel, What is to be Done? was a huge impact on Lenin because of the theme of being a pure and utter revolutionary by any means.
Bolsheviks and Mensheviks:
Significant events in the Revolutionary movement occurred in 1903 at the Second Congress of the RSDLP.
Due to the infiltration of the secret police they moved it to London where Lenin could not initially command a majority.
Once those who did not support him walked out, the tactics he used for votes, choosing personnel, and choices of policy turned success.
He named his group the Bolsheviki (the Majorityites, from the Russian word for majority, bol’shinstvo) and his opponents the Menshiviki (the Minorityites).
West European Alternatives:
West European Alternatives can be seen in the differences of opinion between the Bolsheviks and the revolutionary socialism ideas.
The most important long-term challenge to what became Leninism, and, indeed, to the arguments of Marx and Engels, emanated from Eduard Bernstein who was seen as the first great ‘revisionist’.
Evolutionary Socialism was the title of his most famous work
The title directly refers to being evolutionary not revolutionary because gradualism with society parallels evolution but he said ‘the final aim of socialism’ was nothing.
Bernstein argued, that it was time to give up using the phrase ‘the dictatorship of the proletariat’