Communism

no one wants to go back

some miss the security provided

low rent

employment

free health care

the losers are

older people

fixed incomes

low education

few skills

good progress

1989 wall coming down

turning economic corner

rapid growth rates

improving standard of living

reformed parties are winning elections

8 joined EU

few protests

not good progress in

wars

Yugoslavia

soviet republics

central Asia

poverty

authoritarian govs

gradual loss of power after WWII

Regan's focus of evil

Gorbachev

turned tide when elected 1985

CPSU Communist Party of Soviet Union

came and left quickly

perestroika

transition from command economy to private ownership

good progress

sustained growth

nominally communist

China

North Korea

Cuba

transition is inevitable

33 countries

each were 1/16 Marxist-Leninist regime

Mongolia

Poland

Czechoslovakia

Romania

Bulgaria

Hungary

East Germany

North Korea

China

Laos

Cambodia

North Vietnam

South Vietnam

Cuba

Soviet Union

not included though left

North Yemen

Angola

Mozambique

Nicaragua

1st came to power in 1917

Satellites of Soviet Union

Leninist State

form of leadership

until 1950 Soviet Union controlled entire communist world

communist party completely controlled political life

media

economy

education

most social and leasure activities

called democratic centralism

name only

control by tiny group

Command economies

gov owns all industry

managed by party planning comittees

detailed plans of production

early on experienced rapid growth

1950's leader in steel

improved standard of living

no homelessness

starvation ended in China

by 1980's trouble

deep economic trouble

better then grandparents but everything was just mediocre

realized once western media influced the masses

key questions

transition inevitable

various speeds

many obsticles to democrataztion

3 doctrinesmisunderstood by est

Socialism

traces back to English civil war

social, political, economic equality

many interpretations

private ownership and capitalismas means of production are flawed

equal oppertunity and outcome

free from...

hunger

poverty

disease

populus control over all decisions that shape people's livesmost notably work

egalitarian society improves human relations in general

Marxism-Leninism

Marx wrong that revolution first occured in non capitalistic countries

Marxist idedified with those in poverty to gain power

Lenin didnt want to wait for history to take course

high diciplined / iron hand

Bolshevik in exile but in 15 years seized power because of centralism

Marx believed the power was in too few hands

Marxism

progress through revolution

many interpretations

societies pass through stages

capitalism is just one stage

agreed with Hegel in that societies pass through wrenchingtransitions called dialectic.

major shifts rather than gradualism

unlike Hegel Marx believed that economy was major driver for change

change occurs because of class conflict

private ownership leads to exploitation of some andeventually the lower class will rise up.

"eligion is the opiate of the masses"

The executive of the modern state is but a committee for managingthe common affairs of the whole bourgeoisie."

Capitalism was a step forward becuase it replaces feudalism

Profit motive of capitalism

Problem: Sales price must include profit and wages. Low wages means greater profit.

Prediction: bourgeoisie or capital class would grow smaller dueto competition driving out the weaker

Proletariat would grow until it included vast population

Then revolution, dictatorship, communism

"From each according to his abilities, to each according to his needs." --Marx

Stalinism

authoritarian / totalitarian became the Bolsheviks defining quality

Most blaim Joseph Stalin 1920-1953

Party state became as close to totalitarian as imaginable

"Animal Farm"

Napoleon power for power's sake

Expansion

Third International or Comintern

spread revelotion of WWI

didn't work out and became weak comapred to surrounding countries

stalin "socialism in one country"

make marxism work her --Stalin

Soviet setup communist regimies in China, North Korea, Indochina, and Cuba

De-Stalinization

Stalin died 1953

replacements relaxed

Nikita Khrushchev's speech outlined Stalin atrocities

works published critizing Stalin

they continued to crack down when things got out of hand.

Warsaw Pact

1964 Khrushchev forced out and Brezhnev took leadership

no longer monolithic communist movement

Brezhnev came to power when change was necessary

The Party State

Graying of communism

reform: too little too late

1989: Year that changed world

remanants of communist world

relative success: eastern and central Europe

troubled transitions: former Soviet Union

What's left of Marxism?

Karl Marx

Friedrich Engels