Lecture 1 – Overview

The term communism stands for a permanently socially just and free future society and was
coined in the 19th century. According to Lorenz von Stein, the French revolutionary François
Noël Babeuf was the first communist (see also the Conspiracy of the Equals). The most famous
representative of communism was Karl Marx (1818–1883). According to the theory of Marx and
his close companion Friedrich Engels (1820–1895), communism could develop from capitalism,
an economic system in which the capitalist class and the working class (proletariat) stand in
opposition (class struggle), only through a revolutionary transitional society (dictatorship of the
proletariat). During this rule of the working class, private ownership of the means of production
and the associated exploitation would be abolished. In the Communist Manifesto and the
"Demands of the Communist Party in Germany," Marx and Engels call for nationalizations. In the
preface to the English edition of the Communist Manifesto of 1888, Engels later modified the
relationship to the state and mere nationalization: "In view of the immense development of
large-scale industry since 1848 and the accompanying improved and increased organization of
the working class, in view of the practical experiences, first of the February Revolution and much
more of the Paris Commune, where the proletariat held political power for the first time for two
months, this program is now outdated in some respects. In particular, the Commune has proven
that the working class cannot simply take over the ready-made state machinery and set it in
motion for its own purposes." (Friedrich Engels, MEW 21, p. 358)

After the experiences of the Paris Commune (1871), the general demand for nationalizations
remained as a first step. In his 1880 work "Socialism: Utopian and Scientific," Engels writes: "The
proletariat seizes state power and turns the means of production into state property." (MEW 19,
223) Engels sharply distinguished this type of socialist nationalization of the means of
production from Bismarck's state socialism. According to the theory, by eliminating private
ownership of the means of production, all class antagonisms would gradually be abolished.
During this transition to classless communism, the state, which is a product of political-
economic relations and an expression of political class rule, would not be abolished but would
wither away when it becomes unnecessary and thus superfluous. How the form of communist
society, i.e., the classless society, should look in detail was not prescribed by Marx but would,
according to his theory, be determined by concrete societal developments and contradictions.
Marx sketched the developed communism with social wealth and the socialist principle of
performance: "From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs!" Marx also
described communism as the end of the prehistory of humanity, as people in this society form
would consciously and independently shape their history, instead of being determined by the
historical laws of their preceding social forms.

The term communism, in the anti-capitalist conflicts and activities initiated and driven by its
followers from the beginning, designated various directions. Therefore, it still refers to several
social models and their attempts at implementation today.

Primitive Communism: a hypothesized communal sharing of goods in early societies, evidenced

in some traditions. It became part of the messianic expectation in Judaism and was later
practiced in early Christianity as "love communism."
Early Socialism or Early Communism: e orts towards social, not just political-legal, equality for
all people concerning property (common ownership, collective). These limited attempts and
utopias became a general political goal derived from the idea of equality since the French
Revolution of 1789.

Marxism: the worldwide abolition of private ownership of the means of production and its
transfer into common ownership (socialization) by the political rule of the working class
(dictatorship of the proletariat) as a necessary condition for a classless society. This
revolutionary change is seen as a foreseeable result of the escalating class antagonisms in
capitalism and is distinguished from "early" or "utopian" socialism and communism.

Council Communism: the revolutionary transformation of capitalist society through the self-
organization of workers in council republics. Council communists rejected the leadership and
vanguard claims of communist parties. The Paris Commune is regarded as a model.

Leninism: the implementation of a socialist, then communist mode of production through the
"dictatorship of the proletariat," understood as the sole rule of a revolutionary cadre party that
seizes state power. It should then administratively enforce the classless social order step by
step and prevent the return of new capitalist class rule ("counter-revolution").

Stalinism: the perpetuation of a centralized one-party dictatorship and state-mandated

industrialization internally, with the international leadership claim of the Soviet CPSU externally,
derived from Marxism-Leninism as a state ideology.

Trotskyism: the theory of permanent revolution, which posits that communism, contrary to the
Stalinist idea of building socialism in one country, can only be implemented globally, through a
world revolution.

Maoism: a communist revolutionary movement and worldview that combines Marxism-

Leninism with the traditional Chinese philosophy of Confucianism.

Titoism: the system in Yugoslavia between 1948 and 1980, developed by Josip Broz Tito, aimed
at realizing communism in Yugoslavia with worker self-management and national balance as
well as non-alignment.

Real Socialism: the self-perception of states led by a communist party that see themselves in
the transition from socialism to communism, such as the former Soviet Union, the People's
Republic of China, North Korea, Cuba, and the former Eastern Bloc states.

Eurocommunism and Reform Communism: the programs of European parties and groups that
distanced themselves from Soviet leadership and aimed for an independent communism
through parliamentary means and mixed forms between private and state ownership of the
means of production.