11/24/2017 WorldcommunismWikipedia

Worldcommunism
World communism (also international communism and global communism) is a form of communism of
internationalscope.Thelongtermgoalofworldcommunismisaworldwidecommunistsocietythatisstateless(lacking
anystate),whichmaybeachievedthroughanintermediatetermgoalofeitheravoluntaryassociationofsovereignstates
(aglobalalliance)oraworldgovernment(asingleworldwidestate).Aseriesofinternationalshaveworkedtowardworld
communism they have included the First International, the Second International, the Third International (the
Communist International or Comintern), the Fourth International, the Revolutionary Internationalist Movement, the
WorldSocialistMovement,andvariantoffshoots.Theseareaquiteheterogeneousgroupdespitetheircommonultimate
goalofastatelessandglobalcommunistsociety.

During the Stalinist era, the idea of Socialism in One Country, which many international communists considered
unworkable,becamepartoftheideologyoftheCommunistPartyoftheSovietUnion,asJosephStalinandhissupporters
concludedthatitwasnaivetothinkthatworldrevolutionwasimminent.Thiscausedgreatdisillusionmentamongmany
communistsworldwide,whoagreedwithMarxandLeninthatinternationalscopewasvitaltocommunistsuccess.Other
currents of national communism, especially after World War II, tempered the prewar popularity of international
communism.

TheendoftheColdWar,whichbroughttherevolutionsof1989andthedissolutionoftheSovietUnion,isoftencalledthe
fall of communism and a broad consensus since then is that any advent of international communism is not likely.
Nevertheless,someinternationalcommunistsremainamongsomefactionsofMaoists,leftcommunists, some present
dayRussiancommunists,andothers.

Contents
1 Earlyera(1830s1930s)
2 StalinistandColdWarera(1930s1980s)
3 PostSovietera(1990spresent)
4 References

Earlyera(1830s1930s)
Marxistphilosophyheldthatbecausecapitalismhadbecomeglobal(andthuscapitalistscouldbeexpectedtocooperate
internationallytomaintaindominanceinclassconflict),theproletariatwouldneedtocooperateinternationallyaswell,
viaproletarianinternationalism,toavoidcontinuedsubjugationviadivideandrule(thustherallyingcryofworkersof
theworld,unite!).Inthisview,afteraperiodofinternationalsocialism,theterminalstageofdevelopmentofthe(future)
history of communism would be world communism. Such theory may treat world communism as a peaceful and
prosperous end result, something almost anyone could endorse, but it is the transition to world communism that is
contentious. World communism is to be achieved by world revolution, according to a theory that was popular in the
period 1917 to around 1933 (at least). World communism is incompatible with the existence of nation states, because
most communists believe that nations should unite, whether in supranational unions of sovereign states or world

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government,untilsuchtimeaseitherabolitionofthestateorwitheringawayofthestatewouldoccurbecausegovernance
wouldnolongerrequirestateinstitutions.Inotherwords,thepeopleofacommunistsocietywouldbeselfgoverningvia
directdemocracysodirectthatthestatewouldnotevenexist.

Abolition of the state is not in itself a distinctively Marxist doctrine. It was

FlagoftheChineseSovietRepublic,
whichdepictsahammerandsickle
spanningtheglobe.Proletarian
internationalistsbelievedthatone
focusofacommunistrevolutionwas
toensureanothersuccessful
revolutionelsewhere.[1]
resistanceofwageslavery.
sometimeitwashappenedbyanyofthecountryheldbyvarioussocialistand
anarchist thinkers of the nineteenth century, as well as some presentday
anarchists.(Libertariansareantistatisttypicallyinasubtlydifferentsense,in
that they support smallgovernment although not absence of government or
state.)ThecruxhereisatextoftheFriedrichEngels,fromhisAntiDhring.It
isoftencitedas"Thestateisnot'abolished,'itwithersaway.Thisisfromthe
pioneer work of historical materialism, a formulation of Marx's idea of a
materialistconceptionofhistory.Thewitheringawayofthestateisagraphic
formulation,thathaspassedintoclich.Thetranslation(Engelswaswriting
in German) is also given as: "The state is not 'abolished'. It dies out."[2]
Reference to the whole passage shows that this happens only after the
proletariat has seized the means of production. The schematic is therefore
revolution,transitionalperiod,ultimateperiod.Althoughtheultimateperiod
sounds like a utopia, Marx and Engels did not consider themselves utopian
socialistsbutratherscientificsocialists.Theyconsideredviolencenecessaryfor

WhereasforEngelsthetransitionalperiodwasreducedtoasingleact,forVladimirLenin, 30 to 40 years later, it had

becomeextendedand"obviouslylengthy". [3]InthesameplacehearguesstronglythatMarx'sconceptionofcommunist
societyisnotutopian,buttakesintoaccounttheheritageofwhatcamebefore.

Thisgives,atleastroughly,thepositiononworldcommunismastheCominternwassetupin1919:worldrevolutionis
necessaryforthesettingupofworldcommunism,butnotasanimmediateorclearlysufficientevent.

StalinistandColdWarera(1930s1980s)
During the Stalinist era, the idea of Socialism in One Country, which many internationalists considered unworkable,
becamepartoftheideologyoftheCommunistPartyoftheSovietUnion,asJosephStalinandhissupportersconcluded
thatthetransitionalperiodwouldindeedbeverylongandcomplicated.AdvocatesofSocialisminOneCountryhadnot
abandonedthegoalofultimateworldcommunism,buttheyconsidereditnaivetothinkworldrevolutionwasimminent.
Thus the Soviet Union dissolved the Third International during World War II. However, despite this onecountry
approach,Stalindidnotintendtoimplementisolationism.DespiteretainingtheearlierBolshevikterminologyequating
imperialismwithcapitalismandthusdecryingempire,theSovietUnioninsteadpursuedadefacto empire of satellite
states, similar in ways to the czarist Russian Empire although Soviet ideology could not admit that, to counter the
influenceofcapitalistcountries.Italsosupportedrevolutionarysocialismaroundtheworldtocontinuetoworktoward
worldcommunism,howeverdistantitmightbe.Thusitbackedthe26thofJulyMovementintheCubanRevolution,the
NorthVietnameseintheVietnamWar,andtheMPLAintheAngolanCivilWar.ThedominotheoryoftheColdWarwas
drivenbythisintent,asanticommunistsfearedthatisolationismbycapitalistcountrieswouldleadtothecollapseof
theirselfdefense.

PostSovietera(1990spresent)

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The reform and opening of China and the restructuring and openness of the Soviet Union, although they were quite
different,bothmarkedachangeofdirectionawayfromtheproselytizingnatureofinternationalcommunismasLeninand
Trotskyhadknownit.TheendoftheColdWar,whichbroughttherevolutionsof1989andthedissolutionoftheSoviet
Union, is often called the fall of communism, and a broad consensus since then is that any advent of international
communism is not likely. Nevertheless, some international communists remain among some factions of Maoists, left
communists,somepresentdayRussiancommunists,andothers.TheRevolutionaryInternationalistMovement is one
typeofpresentdayworldcommunism.

References
1.Leopold,David(2015).Freeden,MichaelStears,MarcSargent,LymanTower,eds.TheOxfordHandbookofPolitical
Ideologies.Oxford:OxfordUniversityPress.pp.2038.ISBN9780198744337.
2.[1](http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1877/antiduhring/ch24.htm),takenfromtheEmileBurnstranslationof
the1894Germanthirdedition,PartIIIsection2.Thepassagewasnotinthefirsteditionof1878.
3.TheStateandRevolutionChapter5(http://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1917/staterev/ch05.htm)

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