Communism: Difference between revisions

{{use dmy dates|date=August 2021}}

{{communism sidebar|all}}

 

Communists often seek a voluntary state of self-governance but disagree on the means to this end. This reflects a distinction between a more [[Libertarian socialism|libertarian socialist]] approach of [[communization]], [[revolutionary spontaneity]], and [[workers' self-management]], and a more [[authoritarian socialism|authoritarian]] [[vanguardist]] or [[communist party]]-driven approach through the development of a [[socialist state]], followed by the [[withering away of the state]].<ref name="Kinna 2012">{{cite book |last=Kinna |first=Ruth |author-link=Ruth Kinna |year=2012 |editor-last1=Berry |editor-first1=Dave |editor-last2=Kinna |editor-first2=Ruth |editor-link2=Ruth Kinna |editor-last3=Pinta |editor-first3=Saku |editor-last4=Prichard |editor-first4=Alex |title=Libertarian Socialism: Politics in Black and Red |location=London |publisher=[[Palgrave Macmillan]] |pages=1–34 |isbn=9781137284754}}</ref> As one of the main ideologies on the [[political spectrum]], communism is placed on the [[left-wing]] alongside [[socialism]], and communist parties and movements have been described as radical left or far-left.<ref>{{cite journal |last=March |first=Luke |title=Contemporary Far Left Parties in Europe: From Marxism to the Mainstream? |url=https://library.fes.de/pdf-files/ipg/ipg-2009-1/10_a_march_us.pdf |journal=IPG |volume=1 |date=2009 |pages=126–143 |via=[[Friedrich Ebert Foundation]]}}</ref>{{Sfn|George|Wilcox|1996|p=95|ps=<br />"The far left in America consists principally of people who believe in some form of Marxism-Leninism, i.e., some form of Communism. A small minority of extreme leftists adhere to "pure" Marxism or collectivist anarchism. Most far leftists scorn reforms (except as a short-term tactic), and instead aim for the complete overthrow of the capitalist system including the U.S. government."}}{{refn|Communism is generally considered to be among the more radical ideologies of the [[political left]].<ref>{{cite web |date=15 April 2009 |title=Left |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/left |access-date=22 May 2022 |website=[[Encyclopædia Britannica]] |quote=... communism is a more radical leftist ideology.}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Radical left |url=https://www.dictionary.com/browse/radical-left |access-date=16 July 2022 |website=[[Dictionary.com]] |quote=Radical left is a term that refers collectively to people who hold left-wing political views that are considered extreme, such as supporting or working to establish communism, Marxism, Maoism, socialism, anarchism, or other forms of anticapitalism. The radical left is sometimes called the far left.}}</ref> Unlike [[far-right politics]], for which there is general consensus among scholars on what it entails and its grouping (e.g. various academic handbooks studies), [[far-left politics]] have been difficult to characterize, particularly where they begin on the [[political spectrum]], other than the general consensus of being to the left of a standard political left, and because many of their positions are not extreme,<ref>{{cite journal |last=March |first=Luke |title=Contemporary Far Left Parties in Europe: From Marxism to the Mainstream? |url=https://library.fes.de/pdf-files/ipg/ipg-2009-1/10_a_march_us.pdf |journal=IPG |volume=1 |date=2009 |page=126 |via=[[Friedrich Ebert Foundation]]|quote=The far left is becoming the principal challenge to mainstream social democratic parties, in large part because its main parties are no longer extreme, but present themselves as defending the values and policies that social democrats have allegedly abandoned.}}</ref> or because ''far-left'' and ''[[hard left]]'' are considered to be pejoratives that imply they are marginal.<ref>{{cite book |last=March |first=Luke |year=2012 |title=Radical Left Parties in Europe |edition=E-book |location=London |publisher=[[Routledge]] |page=1724 |isbn=978-1-136-57897-7 }}</ref> In regards to communism and communist parties and movements, some scholars narrow the far left to their left, while others include them by broadening it to be the left of mainstream socialist, social-democratic, and labourist parties.<ref>{{cite book |last=Cosseron |first=Serge |year=2007 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EgQFAQAAIAAJ |title=Dictionnaire de l'extrême gauche |trans-title=Dictionary of the far left |edition=paperback |language=fr |location=Paris |page=20 |publisher=Larousse |isbn=978-2-035-82620-6 |access-date=19 November 2021 |via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref> In general, they agree that there are various subgroupings within far-left politics, such as the radical left and the extreme left.<ref>{{cite journal |last=March |first=Luke |title=Contemporary Far Left Parties in Europe: From Marxism to the Mainstream? |url=https://library.fes.de/pdf-files/ipg/ipg-2009-1/10_a_march_us.pdf |journal=IPG |volume=1 |date=2009 |page=129 |via=[[Friedrich Ebert Foundation]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last=March |first=Luke |date=September 2012 |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/271926910 |title=Problems and Perspectives of Contemporary European Radical Left Parties: Chasing a Lost World or Still a World to Win? |journal=International Critical Thought |location=London |publisher=[[Routledge]] |volume=2 |issue=3 |pages=314–339 |doi=10.1080/21598282.2012.706777 |s2cid=154948426}}</ref>|group=note}}