communism Hear it!

communism Definition

com·mu·nism (käm′yo̵̅o̅ niz′əm, -yə-)

noun

  1. any economic theory or system based on the ownership of all property by the community as a whole
    1. a hypothetical stage of socialism, as formulated by Marx, Engels, Lenin, and others, to be characterized by a classless and stateless society and the equal distribution of economic goods, and to be achieved by revolutionary and dictatorial, rather than gradualistic, means
    2. the form of government of various, esp. former, socialist states which profess to be working toward this stage by means of state planning and control of the economy, a one-party political structure, and an emphasis on the requirements of the state rather than on individual liberties
    1. a political movement for establishing a communist system
    2. the doctrines, methods, etc. of the Communist parties
  4. loosely communalism
  5. loosely any political ideas or activity thought of as being leftist or subversive

Etymology: Fr communisme < commun (< OFr comun) + isme: see common & -ism

communism Synonyms

communism

n.

state socialism, Marxism, Marxism-Leninism, Bolshevism, Stalinism, Leninism, dictatorship of the proletariat, collectivism, state ownership of production, equal distribution of wealth; see also socialism.

Terms for communist organizations include: Communist Party, The Party, Comintern, The Third International, Red International, Maoism, Castroism, Titoism.

communism Usage Examples

Converse of object

  • defeat: It took a long protracted Cold War to defeat communism, a war against enemies who sought to overpower a way of life.
  • fight: The US wanted the media there to show them fighting Communism.
  • spread: We must spread Communism in the parliaments, in the trades unions and in the Party organizations.
  • want: Why join the CPGB if you do not want communism?
  • promote: Education was vital both to eradicate illiteracy and to promote Communism.
  • think: I wouldn't mind asking Lenin if he really thought communism would work in practice.

Preposition: in

  • 1990s: The espionage, or spying, threat did not end with the collapse of Soviet communism in the early 1990s.

Adjective modifier

  • 'official: Most of the representatives of mainstream 'official communism ' have little to offer in the face of the challenges presented by the EU.
  • Soviet: With the demise of Soviet communism, however, the entire movement was dealt a decisive blow.
  • Stalinist: For instance, the followers of Stalinist communism were confronted by this dilemma at the end of the 1980s.
  • primitive: Primitive communism is negated by the exploitation of man by man.
  • Russian: As with 20th-century Russian communism, it also lays claims to a monopoly on world views and remains intolerant of competition.

Modifies a noun

  • cannot: Marx's concept of communism cannot be separated from his description of the estranged life which we live today.
  • today: Return to Article Index The Specter of Communism: Communism Today The Manifesto of the Communist Party was published 150 years ago this month.

Noun used with modifier

  • anarchist: Anarchist Communism in Britain Anarchist Communism in Britain Armstrong, Alan All Hail, the Scottish Workers ' Republic!
  • war: Trotsky attributed two aspects to " war communism " .
  • world: Permanent Revolution was Leon Trotsky's belief for the future of world communism.
  • state: The evils natural to state communism have been increased ten-fold under the pretext that all our misery is due to foreign intervention.
communism Quotes

Thereisa certainbasis oftruth inthefear thatthe Russian government is beginning to have of communism, for communism isTsarist autocracy turned upside down.

—Herzen, Alexander Ivanovich

Communism doesn't really starve or execute that many people. Mostly it just bores them to death.

—O'Rourke, P(atrick) J(ake)

Communism fits Germany as a saddle fits a cow.

—Stalin,Joseph originally Iosif Vissarionovich Dzhugashvili

For us in Russia, communism is a dead dog, while, for many people in the West, it is still a living lion.

—Solzhenitsyn, Aleksandr Isayevich

Communism is like prohibition, it's a good idea but it won't work.

—Rogers,Will

Communism is the opiate of the intellectuals, with no cure except as a guillotine might be called a cure for dandruff.

—Luce, Clare Booth

There is no such thing as communism versus capitalism. There are only degrees of communism and degrees of capitalism.

—Nguyen, Xuan Oanh

No one has been a more consistent opponent of Communism than I have for the last 25 years. I will unsay no word that I have spoken about it, but all that fades away before the spectacle that is now unfolding. The past, with its crimes, its follies, and its tragedies, flashes away.I seethe Russian soldiersstanding on thethreshold of their native land, guarding the fields that their fathers have tilled from time immemorial. Any man or state who fights on against Nazidom will have our aid. Any man or state who marches with Hitler is our foe.

—Churchill, Lord Randolph Henry Spencer

   But just think how good communism is! The state won't bother us anymore.

—Mao Zedong or MaoTse-tung

Russian communism isthe illegitimate child of Karl Marx and Catherine the Great.

—1st Earl

Between complete socialism and communism there is no difference whatever in my mind.Communism is in fact the completion of socialism; when that ceases to be militant and becomes triumphant, it will be communism.

—Morris,William

   A spectre is haunting Europeöthe spectre of communism. All the powers of old Europe have entered into a holyalliance to exorcise this spectre; Pope and Tsar, Metternich and Guizot, French Radicals and German police spies.

—Marx, Karl Heinrich

Those who wait for the USSR to reject Communism must wait until a shrimp learns to whistle.

—Khrushchev, Nikita Sergeyevich

When we reach communism, will there still be cases of marriage without love?

—Zhang,Jie