Communist state: Difference between revisions

Part of a series on
Communism
Concepts Anti-capitalism Class conflict Class consciousness Classless society Collective leadership Communist party Communist revolution Communist state Commune Communist society Critique of political economy Free association "From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs" Market abolitionism Proletarian internationalism Labour movement Social revolution Stateless society Wage slavery Workers' self-management World communism World revolution Dictatorship of the proletariat
Economics Planned economy Gift economy Common ownership Socialization (Marxism) Economic democracy Use value
Variants Anarchist Marxism Leninist Libertarian Pre-Marxist Utopian Primitive Religious Christian
History Communist League First International Second International Third International Fourth International
Organisations Communist Parties WPC WFTU WFDY IUS WIDF WFSW IOR
People Mazdak More Meslier Babeuf Marx Engels Morris Kropotkin Malatesta Pannekoek Du Bois Lenin Luxemburg Kollontai Stalin Trotsky Lukács Thälmann Makhno Bukharin Ho Gramsci Tito Togliatti Benjamin Khrushchev Mao Zhou James Padmore Sartre Hoxha Beauvoir Nkrumah Kim Hobsbawm Althusser Freire Pasolini Mandel Fanon Castro Berger Guevara Guattari Debord Amin Berlinguer Negri Guzmán Badiou Sison Newton Ali Davis Holloway Hampton Zizek Sankara Öcalan Gordillo Gilmore Marcos Hardt Dean Graeber Lordon Kelley Fisher Prashad Hatherley Moufawad-Paul Saito
By region Britain Colombia France India Kerala Korea Nepal Peru Philippines Poland Soviet Union Sumatra Vietnam
Symbols Hammer and sickle Red flag (politics) Red star "The Internationale" "Workers of the world, unite!"
Criticism Anti-communism Communist propaganda Criticism of communist party rule Criticism of Marxism
Related topics 21st-century communist theorists Anti anti-communism Anti-communist mass killings Anti-fascism Communitarianism Mass killings under communist regimes Internationalism Intentional community Left-wing politics Old Left New Left LGBTQ rights Marx's theory of alienation National communism Romania Red Scare Revolutionary socialism Socialist economics Socialist mode of production Trade union War communism Worker cooperative
Communism portal Socialism portal
v t e

Part of the Politics series
Basic forms of government
List of forms of government List of countries by system of government
Source of power Democracy (rule by many) Demarchy Direct Economic Liberal Representative Social Socialist Others Oligarchy (rule by few) Anocracy Aristocracy Gerontocracy Kleptocracy Kritarchy Meritocracy Noocracy Particracy Plutocracy Stratocracy Technocracy Theocracy Autocracy (rule by one) Despotism Dictatorship Military dictatorship Tyranny Anarchy (rule by none) Anarchism Free association Stateless
Power ideology Monarchy Republic (socio-political ideologies) Absolute Communist Constitutional Directorial Legalist Parliamentary Presidential Semi-presidential Authoritarian Libertarian (socio-economic ideologies) Anarchism Colonialism Communism Despotism Distributism Fascism Feudalism Socialism Totalitarianism Tribalism Religious Secular State religion Secular state Separation of church and state State atheism Global Local (geo-cultural ideologies) City-state Intergovernmental organisation National government World government Nationalism Internationalism Globalism
Power structure Unitarism Unitary state Empire Principality Client state Associated state Dependent territory Dominion Protectorate Puppet state Puppet monarch Satellite state Self-governing colony Tributary state Buffer state Vassal state Viceroyalty Federalism Confederation Devolution Federation Superstate Supranational union International relations Small power Regional power Middle power Great power Superpower
Related Administrative division Democracy indices Democratic transition Autocratization Democratisation Hybrid regimes
Politics portal
v t e

"Communist state" is a Western term^[1] for a state with a form of government characterized by single-party rule or dominant-party system by a party which claims to follow communism, usually with a professed allegiance to Marxism-Leninism as the guiding ideology of the state. None of these states achieved communism, and the term is used no matter to what degree that state or the movement associated with it actually follows communism, if at all.^[1] The label is the source of controversy, especially among the left; according to many communist and Marxist tendencies, the system in use in the Soviet Union and the states modeled after it (i.e., "communist states") - which claimed to have reached socialism, not communism - was not socialism but rather state capitalism.^[2] The term "Communist state" is an oxymoron (a contradiction on itself) as a communist society is stateless.^[3] The term Marxist-Leninist state is appropriate to describe a USSR-style state.

In the theories of German philosopher Karl Marx, a state in any society is an instrument of oppression by one social class over another, historically a minority exploiter class ruling over a majority exploited class. Marx saw that in his contemporary time, the new nation states were characterized by increasingly intensified class contradiction between the capitalist class and the working class it ruled over. He predicted that if the class contradictions of the capitalist system continue to intensify, that the working class will ultimately become conscious of itself as an exploited collective and will overthrow the capitalists and establish collective ownership over the means of production, therein arriving at a new phase of development called Socialism. The state ruled by the working class during the transition into classless society is called the Dictatorship of the Proletariat. Russian theoretician Vladimir Lenin further expounded upon this concept with the understanding of the revolutionary vanguard. Lenin saw that science is something that is initially practicable by only a minority of society who happen to be in a position free from distraction so that they may contemplate it, and believed that scientific socialism was no exception. He therefore advocated that the Communist party should be structured as a vanguard of those who have achieved full class consciousness to be at the forefront of the class struggle and lead the workers to expand class consciousness and replace the capitalist class as the ruling class, therein establishing the socialist state.

A Marxist-Leninist state is a state which officially upholds Marxism-Leninism as official ideology, and bases its government, politics and laws upon it. The term denotes a form of government^[4] which existed in the Soviet Union,^[5][6][7][8] where it was first applied and later served as a model for other states associated with the Comintern and Cominform, particularly these in the Eastern bloc. Only one political party is allowed to govern.^[9][10] The Marxist-Leninist party is the supreme political institution of the state.^[11] Elections are held, but are not competitive.^[12] The state claims to have developed socialism and is committed to the development of communism. The economy is fully controlled by the state, and follows Soviet-type economic planning. A significant portion of the communist and Marxist movement assert that socialism was not established in any of the Marxist-Leninist states; instead, state capitalism existed.^[2]

The October Revolution, led by Lenin and Trotsky, eventually led to the creation of the Soviet Union, replacing the former Russian Empire. Lenin died. This led into a struggle for power between opposed factions, with the de facto leaders of each notable faction being Trotsky and Stalin; each claimed to be a more faithful follower of Marx and Lenin. Stalin eventually rose to power and termed his own ideology Marxism-Leninism, which encompasses the policies he implemented.^[13] Because of the influence of the Soviet Union and its international organizations, many communist parties world wide accepted Marxism-Leninism as an official ideology. Sources written after the rise to power of Stalin and application of his policies started labeling the state as a Marxist-Leninist state. The state relies on Stalin's "socialism in one country", which states that socialism can be built within one country, and contradicts other communist thought.^[13][14][15] As such, the Soviet Union nationalized most or all enterprises and started claiming that the stage of a "socialist state" had been reached. From then on, the economy functioned from a type of economic planning, known as Soviet-type economic planning.

A Marxist-Leninist state was established in the German Democratic Republic (commonly referred to as East Germany) following the occupation of eastern Germany by the Soviet Union after the defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II.

Originally and for a long time the concept of a socialist society was regarded as equal to that of a communist society. However, it was Lenin who defined the difference between "socialism" and "communism", explaining that they are similar to what Marx described with the lower and upper stages of communist society. Marx explained that in a society immediately after the revolution, distribution must be based on the contribution of the individual, whereas in the upper stage of communism the from each according to his ability, to each according to his need concept would be applied.^[16]

Stalin built his ideological core of socialism taking Lenin's definition as the base, but adding his own modifications, some of which started to be considered by critics of Marxism–Leninism as distortions which completely invalidated any origin in Marxism. Stalin, for instance, invented the concept of socialism in one country, which according to these critics violates basic principles of Marxism.^[17] Stalin derived this concept from an arbitrary Lenin quote, which in its own context was unlikely to support his argument^[18] taken out of context, and, crucially, supplemented by his own words.^[19] This concept was instrumental to claim that socialism was really being built in the USSR. In 1936, Stalin declared that the USSR had finished the transition to socialism, and that it had been established.^[20]

For Marxism–Leninism, the USSR was a workers' state and thus any property under this State was a type of socialist property. However, the rest of Marxist tendencies based their theory of a non-socialist USSR based on disagreement with this, referencing among others the argument of the difference between socialization and nationalization.

Marxism-Leninism was developed by Joseph Stalin.^[21] It contains deviations from Marxism, such as "socialism in one country".^[14][15] By portions of the communist movement which do not accept Marxism-Leninism, it is labelled as a distortion.^[13]

While historically almost all claim lineage to Marxist thought, there are many varieties of socialist states, with indigenous adaptions.

These Socialist states often do not claim to have achieved socialism or communism in their countries; rather, they claim to be building and working toward the establishment of socialism in their countries. For example, the preamble to the Socialist Republic of Vietnam's constitution states that Vietnam only entered a transition stage between capitalism and socialism after the country was re-unified under the Communist party in 1976,^[22] and the 1992 Constitution of the Republic of Cuba states that the role of the Communist Party is to "guide the common effort toward the goals and construction of socialism".^[23]

Alternative names that states adhering to an officially communist ideology may assign themselves is socialist state, socialist republic or "people's republic". This is because these nations have not yet transcended capitalism or state capitalism and progressed toward pure communism in the Marxist sense, which can only be achieved once capitalism exhausts itself.

Marxist-Leninist states share similar institutions, which are organized on the premise that the communist party is a vanguard of the proletariat and represents the long-term interests of the people. The doctrine of democratic centralism, which was developed by Vladimir Lenin as a set of principles to be used in the internal affairs of the communist party, is extended to society at large.^[24]

According to democratic centralism, all leaders must be elected by the people and all proposals must be debated openly, but, once a decision has been reached, all people have a duty to obey that decision and all debate should end. When used within a political party, democratic centralism is meant to prevent factionalism and splits. When applied to an entire state, democratic centralism creates a one-party system.^[24]

The constitutions of most socialist states describe their political system as a form of democracy.^[25] Thus, they recognize the sovereignty of the people as embodied in a series of representative parliamentary institutions. Such states do not have a separation of powers; instead, they have one national legislative body (such as the Supreme Soviet in the Soviet Union) which is considered the highest organ of state power and which is legally superior to the executive and judicial branches of government.^[26]

Such national legislative politics in socialist states often have a similar structure to the parliaments that exist in liberal republics, with two significant differences: first, the deputies elected to these national legislative bodies are not expected to represent the interests of any particular constituency, but the long-term interests of the people as a whole; second, against Marx's advice, the legislative bodies of socialist states are not in permanent session. Rather, they convene once or several times per year in sessions which usually last only a few days.^[27]

When the national legislative body is not in session, its powers are transferred to a smaller council (often called a presidium) which combines legislative and executive power, and, in some socialist states (such as the Soviet Union before 1990), acts as a collective head of state. In some systems, the presidium is composed of important communist party members who vote the resolutions of the communist party into law.

Another feature of socialist states is the existence of numerous state-sponsored social organizations (trade unions, youth organizations, women's organizations, associations of teachers, writers, journalists and other professionals, consumer cooperatives, sports clubs, etc.) which are integrated into the political system.

In some socialist states,^[which?] representatives of these organizations are guaranteed a certain number of seats on the national legislative bodies. In socialist states, the social organizations are expected to promote social unity and cohesion, to serve as a link between the government and society, and to provide a forum for recruitment of new communist party members.^[28]

Historically, the political organization of many socialist states has been dominated by a single-party monopoly. Some communist governments, such as North Korea, East Germany or the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic have or had more than one political party, but all minor parties are or were required to follow the leadership of the communist party. In socialist states, the government may not tolerate criticism of policies that have already been implemented in the past or are being implemented in the present.^[29]

Nevertheless, communist parties have won elections and governed in the context of multi-party democracies, without seeking to establish a one-party state. Examples include San Marino, Republic of Nicaragua,^[30] Moldova, Nepal (presently), Cyprus,^[31] and the Indian states of Kerala, West Bengal and Tripura.^[32] However, for the purposes of this article, these entities do not fall under the definition of socialist state.

Marxist-Leninist states have been criticized for their one-party dictatorships, and what according to its critics is totalitarian control of the economy and society and repression of civil liberties by the Council of Europe,^[33] economic focus on heavy industry at the expense of consumer goods, sometimes resulting in shortages of vital products or even famine,^[34] and militarism and propaganda to cover up the mistakes of the government .^[35]

In his critique of states run under Marxist-Leninist ideology, economist Michael Ellman of the University of Amsterdam notes that in international comparisons, such states compared favorably with Western states in health indicators such as infant mortality and life expectancy.^[36] Similarly, Amartya Sen's own analysis of international comparisons of life expectancy found that several Marxist-Leninist states made significant gains, and commented "one thought that is bound to occur is that communism is good for poverty removal."^[37]

Within the socialist and communist movements themselves, there are a number of criticisms of self-declared "socialist states". Many communist tendencies argue that their economic system actually was state capitalism.^[2]

The following countries are one-party states in which the institutions of the ruling communist party and the state have become intertwined; hence they fall under the definition of self-defined Socialist states that officially support communism. They are generally adherents of Marxism-Leninism in particular and as such represent a particular ideology that many communists may not share. They are listed here together with the year of their founding and their respective ruling parties:^[38]

Country	Since	Party	Leader(s)
People's Republic of China	1 October 1949	Communist Party of China	Xi–Li Administration: Xi Jinping Li Keqiang
Republic of Cuba	1 July 1961	Communist Party of Cuba	Raúl Castro
Lao People's Democratic Republic	2 December 1975	Lao People's Revolutionary Party	Choummaly Sayasone
Socialist Republic of Vietnam	2 September 1945 (in the north) 2 July 1976 (unified)	Communist Party of Vietnam	Tetrarchy: Nguyễn Phú Trọng Trương Tấn Sang Nguyễn Tấn Dũng Nguyễn Sinh Hùng

•  North Korea (since 1948); Many people, especially in the west, would describe the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) as a Socialist state^{[citation needed]}. The DPRK asserts that its system is socialist. The government's official ideology, on the other hand, is now the Juche policy of Kim Il-sung, as opposed to traditional Marxism–Leninism. In 2009, the constitution of the DPRK was quietly amended so that not only did it disavow all Marxist-Leninist references present in the first draft, but it also dropped all reference to 'Communism'.^[39] Similar to officially Marxist-Leninist states, the Workers' Party governs the country as a single-party state.

These are multi-party states that currently have communist parties leading the government. Such states are not considered to be communist states as the countries themselves allow for multiple parties, and do not provide a constitutional role for their communist parties.

• Currently none (The last state was Nepal (2008 - 2013). The Unified Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) participated in a multi-party coalition government, an alliance of 22 parties that held 350 seats in the 601-member constituent assembly.)

• The Guyanese democratically elected ruling party, the People's Progressive Party is officially Marxist-Leninist^[40] but is actually Democratic Socialist and Left-wing Nationalist.

There are also some parties that participate as junior partners in ruling coalitions, as listed below.

•  Argentina - Communist Party of Argentina and Communist Party of Argentina (Extraordinary Congress) participate in the ruling coalition
•  Bangladesh - Workers Party of Bangladesh participates in the ruling coalition
•  Brazil - Communist Party of Brazil participates in the ruling coalition
•  Chile - Communist Party of Chile participates in the ruling coalition
•  Donetsk People's Republic - Communist Party of the Donetsk People's Republic participates in ruling coalition (Note: No sovereign state recognizes the existence of the Donetsk People's Republic. All sovereign states officially recognize its claimed territory as part of Ukraine).
•  Greece - Anticapitalist Political Group, Communist Organization of Greece, Renewing Communist Ecological Left, Communist Platform of Syriza, Internationalist Workers' Left, Movement for the United in Action Left, Radical Left Group Roza and Red participate in the ruling coalition
•  Mali, the Malian Party of Labour participates in the ruling coalition
•    Nepal - Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist–Leninist) participates in the ruling coalition lead by Nepali Congress
•  Peru - Peruvian Communist Party participates in the ruling coalition
•  South Africa - South African Communist Party participates in the ruling coalition
•  Syria - Syrian Communist Party and Syrian Communist Party (Unified) participate in the ruling coalition
•  Uruguay - Communist Party of Uruguay and People's Victory Party participate in the ruling coalition
•  Venezuela - Communist Party of Venezuela and Tupamaro participate in the ruling coalition

• Capitalist state
• Socialist state
• Socialism in one country
• Communist society
• List of socialist countries, which includes a list of current and former socialist states.
• List of communist parties
• Criticisms of communist party rule
• List of anti-capitalist and communist parties with national parliamentary representation
• People's Republic