Age of Reason - Europe

In Western Philosophy, this period is usually taken to start in the seventeenth century with the work of René
Descartes, who set much of the agenda as well as much of the methodology for those who came after him.
The period is typified in Europe by the great system-builders — philosophers who present unified systems of
epistemology (study of knowledge), metaphysics, logic, and ethics, and often politics and the physical
sciences too. Immanuel Kant classified his predecessors into two schools: the Rationalists and the
Empiricists, and Early Modern Philosophy is often characterised in terms of a supposed conflict between
these schools. This division is a considerable oversimplification, and the philosophers involved did not think
of themselves as belonging to these schools, but as being involved in a single philosophical enterprise.

Although misleading in many ways, this simplification has continued to be used to this day, especially when
writing about the 17th and 18th centuries. The three main Rationalists are normally taken to have been
Descartes, Baruch Spinoza, and Gottfried Leibniz. Building upon their English predecessors Francis Bacon
and Thomas Hobbes, the three main Empiricists were John Locke, George Berkeley, and David Hume. The
former were distinguished by the belief that, in principle (though not in practice), all knowledge can be
gained by the power of our reason alone; the latter rejected this, believing that all knowledge has to come
through the senses, from experience. Thus the Rationalists took mathematics as their model for knowledge,
and the Empiricists took the physical sciences.

This emphasis on epistemology is at the root of Kant's distinction; looking at the various philosophers in
terms of their metaphysical, moral, or linguistic theories, they divide up very differently. Even sticking to
epistemology, though, the distinction is shaky: for example, most of the Rationalists accepted that in
practice we had to rely on the sciences for knowledge of the external world, and many of them were
involved in scientific research; the Empiricists, on the other hand, generally accepted that a priori
knowledge (knowledge independent of experience) was possible in the fields of mathematics and logic.

This period also saw the birth of some of the classics of political thought, especially Thomas Hobbes'
Leviathan, and John Locke's Two Treatises of Government.

The seventeenth century in Europe saw the culmination of the slow process of detachment of philosophy
from theology. Thus, while philosophers still talked about – and even offered arguments for the existence of
– a deity, this was done in the service of philosophical argument and thought. In the Enlightenment, the Age
of Reason, 18th-century philosophy was to go still further, leaving theology and religion behind altogether.

Age of Enlightenment

The Age of Enlightenment was an eighteenth-century movement in Western philosophy. It was an age of
optimism, tempered by the realistic recognition of the sad state of the human condition and the need for
major reforms. The Enlightenment was less a set of ideas than it was a set of attitudes. At its core was a
critical questioning of traditional institutions, customs, and morals.

The intellectual movement of ‘The Enlightenment’ advocated reason as the primary basis of authority.
Developing in Germany, France and Britain, the Enlightenment influenced most of Europe, including Russia
and Scandinavia. The era is marked by such political changes as governmental consolidation, nation-
creation, greater rights for common people, and a decline in the influence of authoritarian institutions such
as the nobility and church.

There is no consensus on when to date the start of the age of Enlightenment, and a number of scholars
simply use the beginning of the eighteenth century or the middle of the seventeenth century as a default
date. Many scholars use the beginning of the Napoleonic Wars (1804–15) as a convenient point in time with
which to date the end of the Enlightenment. Still others capstone the Enlightenment with its beginning in
Britain's Glorious Revolution of 1688 and its ending in the French Revolution of 1789.

Origins
After the revolution of knowledge commenced by René Descartes and Isaac Newton, and in a climate of
increasing disaffection with repressive rule, Enlightenment thinkers believed that systematic thinking might
be applied to all areas of human activity, and carried into the governmental sphere, in their explorations of
the individual, society and the state. Its leaders believed they could lead their states to progress after a long
period of tradition, irrationality, superstition, and tyranny which they imputed to the Middle Ages. The
movement helped create the intellectual framework for the American, French, and Haitian Revolutions,
Poland's Constitution of 1791, Russia's 1825 Decembrist Revolt, the Latin American independence
movement, and the Greek national independence movement. In addition, Enlightenment ideals were
influential in the Balkan independence movements against the Ottoman Empire, and many historians and
philosophers credit the Enlightenment with the later rise of classical liberalism, socialism, democracy, and
modern capitalism.

The Age of Enlightenment receives modern attention as a central model for many movements in the
modern period. Another important movement in 18th century philosophy, closely related to it, focused on
belief and piety. Some of its proponents, such as George Berkeley, attempted to demonstrate rationally the
existence of a supreme being. Piety and belief in this period were integral to the exploration of natural
philosophy and ethics, in addition to political theories of the age. However, prominent Enlightenment
philosophers such as Thomas Paine, Voltaire, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, and David Hume questioned and
attacked the existing institutions of both Church and State. The 19th century also saw a continued rise of
empiricist ideas and their application to political economy, government and sciences such as physics,
chemistry and biology.

The continent of Europe had been ravaged by religious wars in the late sixteenth and early seventeenth
centuries. When political stability had been restored, notably after the Peace of Westphalia and the English
Civil War, an intellectual upheaval overturned the accepted belief that mysticism and revelation are the
primary sources of knowledge and wisdom. Instead (according to scholars who split the two periods), the
Age of Reason sought to establish axiomatic philosophy and absolutism as foundations for knowledge and
stability. Epistemology, in the writings of Michel de Montaigne and René Descartes, was based on extreme
skepticism and inquiry into the nature of "knowledge." The goal of a philosophy based on self-evident
axioms reached its height with Baruch Spinoza's Ethics, which expounded a pantheistic view of the universe
where God and Nature were one. This idea then became central to the Enlightenment from Newton through
to Jefferson. The ideas of Pascal, Leibniz, Galileo and other natural philosophers of the previous period also
contributed to and greatly influenced the Enlightenment.

Many of the Founding Fathers of the United States were also influenced by Enlightenment-era ideas,
particularly in the religious sphere (deism) and, in parallel with liberalism (which had a major influence on
its Bill of Rights, in parallel with the Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen), socialism and
anarchism in the political sphere.

Influence

The Enlightenment occupies a central role in the justification for the movement known as modernism. The
neo-classicizing trend in modernism came to see itself as a period of rationality which overturned
established traditions. A variety of 20th century movements, including liberalism and neo-classicism, traced
their intellectual heritage back to the Enlightenment, and away from the purported emotionalism of the
19th century. Geometric order, rigor and reductionism were seen as Enlightenment virtues. The modern
movement points to reductionism and rationality as crucial aspects of Enlightenment thinking, of which it is
the heir, as opposed to irrationality and emotionalism. In this view, the Enlightenment represents the basis
for modern ideas of liberalism against superstition and intolerance.

This view asserts that the Enlightenment was the point when Europe broke through what historian Peter Gay
calls "the sacred circle," whose dogma had circumscribed thinking. The Enlightenment is held to be the
source of critical ideas, such as the centrality of freedom, democracy and reason as primary values of
society. This view argues that the establishment of a contractual basis of rights would lead to the market
mechanism and capitalism, the scientific method, religious tolerance, and the organization of states into
self-governing republics through democratic means. In this view, the tendency of the philosophies in
particular to apply rationality to every problem is considered the essential change. From this point on,
thinkers and writers were held to be free to pursue the truth in whatever form, without the threat of
sanction for violating established ideas.

With the end of the Second World War and the rise of post-modernity, these same features came to be
regarded as liabilities - excessive specialization, failure to heed traditional wisdom or provide for unintended
consequences, and the romanticization of Enlightenment figures - such as the Founding Fathers of the
United States, prompted a backlash against both Science and Enlightenment based dogma in general.
Philosophers such as Michel Foucault are often understood as arguing that the Age of Reason had to
construct a vision of unreason as being demonic and subhuman, and therefore evil and befouling, whence
by analogy to argue that rationalism in the modern period is, likewise, a construction.

Yet other leading intellectuals, such as Noam Chomsky, see a natural evolution, using the term loosely, from
early Enlightenment thinking to other forms of social analysis, specifically from The Enlightenment to
liberalism, anarchism and socialism.
Important Figures

Baruch Spinoza (1632–1672): Dutch, philosopher who is considered to have laid the groundwork for the
18th century Enlightenment.

Benjamin Franklin (1706–1790): American statesman, scientist, political philosopher, pragmatic deist,
author. As a philosopher known for his writings on nationality, economic matters, aphorisms and polemics in
favour of American Independence. Involved with writing the United States Declaration of Independence and
the Constitution of 1787.

David Hume (1711-1776): Scottish historian, philosopher and economist. Best known for his empiricism and
scientific skepticism, advanced doctrines of naturalism and material causes. Influenced Kant and Adam
Smith.

Immanuel Kant (1724–1804): German philosopher and physicist. Established critical philosophy on a
systematic basis, proposed a material theory for the origin of the solar system, wrote on ethics and morals.
Prescribed a politics of Enlightenment in What is Enlightenment? (1784). Influenced by Hume and Isaac
Newton.

Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826): American statesman, political philosopher, educator, deist. As a philosopher
best known for the United States Declaration of Independence (1776) and his interpretation of the United
States Constitution (1787) which he pursued as president. Argued for natural rights as the basis of all
states, argued that violation of these rights negates the contract which bind a people to their rulers and
that therefore there is an inherent "Right to Revolution."

John Locke (1632–1704): English philosopher and important empiricist who expanded and extended the
work of Francis Bacon and Thomas Hobbes. Seminal thinker in the realm of the relationship between the
state and the individual, the contractual basis of the state and the rule of law. Argued for personal liberty
with respect to property.

Montesquieu (1689–1755): French political thinker, famous for his articulation of the theory of separation of
powers, taken for granted in modern discussions of government and implemented in many constitutions all
over the world.

Thomas Paine (1737–1809): English/American, pamphleteer, deist, and polemicist, most famous for
Common Sense attacking England's domination of the colonies in America. The pamphlet was key in
fomenting the American Revolution. Also wrote The Age of Reason which remains one of the most
persuasive critiques of the Bible ever written, his writings made Americans study their religion, their
behaviors, and the ruling hierarchy. His work The Rights of Man was written in defence of the French
Revolution and is the classic example up of the enlightenment arguments in favor of classical liberalism.

Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778): Swiss political philosopher. Argued that the basis of morality was
conscience, rather than reason, as most other philosophers argued. He wrote Du Contrat Social (The Social
Contact), in which he claims that citizens of a state must take part in creating a 'social contract' laying out
the state's ground rules in order to found an ideal society in which they are free from arbitrary power. His
rejection of reason in favor of the "Noble Savage" and his idealizing of ages past make him truly fit more
into the romantic philosophical school, which was a reaction against the enlightenment. He largely rejected
the individualism inherent in classical liberalism, arguing that the general will overrides the will of the
individual.

Adam Smith (1723–1790): Scottish economist and philosopher. He wrote The Wealth of Nations, in which he
argued that wealth was not money in itself, but wealth was derived from the added value in manufactured
items produced by both invested capital and labor. He is sometimes considered to be the founding father of
the Laissez-faire economic theory, but in fact argues for some degree of government control in order to
maintain equity.
Thomas Hobbes (1588 – 1679): English philosopher, who wrote Leviathan, a key text in political philosophy.
Communism

Communism is a socio-economic structure that promotes the establishment of a classless, stateless society
based on common ownership of the means of production. It is usually considered a branch of the broader
socialist movement that draws on the various political and intellectual movements that trace their origins
back to the work of theorists of the Industrial Revolution and the French Revolution. Communism attempts
to offer an alternative to the problems believed to be inherent with capitalist economies and the legacy of
imperialism and nationalism. Communism states that the only way to solve these problems would be for the
working class, or proletariat, to replace the wealthy bourgeoisie, which is currently the ruling class, in order
to establish a peaceful, free society, without classes, or government. The dominant forms of communism,
such as Leninism, Stalinism, Maoism, Trotskyism and Luxemburgism, are based on Marxism, but non-Marxist
versions of communism (such as Christian communism and anarchist communism) also exist and are
growing in importance since the fall of the Soviet Union.

Terminology

Communism is the idea of a free society with no division or alienation, where humanity is free from
oppression and scarcity. A communist society would have no governments or countries and no class
divisions. In Marxism-Leninism, Socialism is the intermediate system between capitalism and communism,
when the government is in the process of changing the means of ownership from privatism, to collective
ownership.

Marxism

Like other socialists, Marx and Engels sought an end to capitalism and the systems which they perceived to
be responsible for the exploitation of workers. But whereas earlier socialists often favored longer-term social
reform, Marx and Engels believed that popular revolution was all but inevitable, and the only path to
socialism.

According to the Marxist argument for communism, the main characteristic of human life in class society is
alienation; and communism is desirable because it entails the full realization of human freedom. Marx here
follows Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel in conceiving freedom not merely as an absence of restraints but as
action with content. According to Marx, Communism's outlook on freedom was based on an agent, obstacle,
and goal. The agent is the common/working people; the obstacles are class divisions, economic inequalities,
unequal life-chances, and false consciousness; and the goal is the fulfillment of human needs including
satisfying work, and fair share of the product. They believed that communism allowed people to do what
they want, but also put humans in such conditions and such relations with one another that they would not
wish to exploit, or have any need to. Whereas for Hegel the unfolding of this ethical life in history is mainly
driven by the realm of ideas, for Marx, communism emerged from material forces, particularly the
development of the means of production.

Marxism holds that a process of class conflict and revolutionary struggle will result in victory for the
proletariat and the establishment of a communist society in which private ownership is abolished over time
and the means of production and subsistence belong to the community. Marx himself wrote little about life
under communism, giving only the most general indication as to what constituted a communist society. It is
clear that it entails abundance in which there is little limit to the projects that humans may undertake. In
the popular slogan that was adopted by the communist movement, communism was a world in which each
gave according to their abilities, and received according to their needs.' The German Ideology (1845) was
one of Marx's few writings to elaborate on the communist future:

"In communist society, where nobody has one exclusive sphere of activity but each can become accomplished in any
branch he wishes, society regulates the general production and thus makes it possible for me to do one thing today and
another tomorrow, to hunt in the morning, fish in the afternoon, rear cattle in the evening, criticise after dinner, just as I
have a mind, without ever becoming hunter, fisherman, herdsman or critic."
Marx's lasting vision was to add this vision to a theory of how society was moving in a law-governed way
toward communism, and, with some tension, a political theory that explained why revolutionary activity was
required to bring it about.

In the late 19th century the terms "socialism" and "communism" were often used interchangeably. However,
Marx and Engels argued that communism would not emerge from capitalism in a fully developed state, but
would pass through a "first phase" in which most productive property was owned in common, but with some
class differences remaining. The "first phase" would eventually evolve into a "higher phase" in which class
differences were eliminated, and a state was no longer needed. Lenin frequently used the term "socialism"
to refer to Marx and Engels' supposed "first phase" of communism and used the term "communism"
interchangeably with Marx and Engels' "higher phase" of communism.

These later aspects, particularly as developed by Lenin, provided the underpinning for the mobilizing
features of 20th century Communist parties. Later writers such as Louis Althusser and Nicos Poulantzas
modified Marx's vision by allotting a central place to the state in the development of such societies, by
arguing for a prolonged transition period of socialism prior to the attainment of full communism.

Trotskyism

Trotskyism is the theory of Marxism as advocated by Leon Trotsky. Trotsky considered himself an orthodox
Marxist and Bolshevik-Leninist, arguing for the establishment of a vanguard party. His politics differed
sharply from those of Stalinism, most importantly in declaring the need for an international proletarian
revolution (rather than socialism in one country) and unwavering support for a true dictatorship of the
proletariat based on democratic principles.

Trotsky was, together with Lenin, the most important and well-known leader of the Russian Revolution and
the international Communist movement in 1917 and the following years. Trotsky and his supporters
organized into the Left Opposition, and their platform became known as Trotskyism. Stalin eventually
succeeded in gaining control of the Soviet regime, and their attempts to remove Stalin from power resulted
in Trotsky's exile from the Soviet Union in 1929. During Trotsky's exile, world communism fractured into two
distinct branches: Marxism-Leninism and Trotskyism. Trotsky later founded the Fourth International, a
Trotskyist rival to the Comintern (Communist International or Third International), in 1938.

Stalinism

Stalinism is a version of socialism adopted by the Soviet Union under Stalin. It shaped the Soviet Union and
influenced Communist Parties worldwide. It was heralded as a possibility of building communism via a
massive program of industrialization and collectivization. The rapid development of industry, and above all
the victory of the Soviet Union in the Second World War, maintained that vision throughout the world, even
around a decade following Stalin's death, when the party adopted a program in which it promised the
establishment of communism within thirty years.

However, under Stalin's leadership, some claimed that evidence emerged that dented faith in the possibility
of achieving communism within the framework of the Soviet model. Later, growth declined, and rent-
seeking and corruption by state officials increased. Under Stalin, the Communist Party of the Soviet Union
adopted the theory of "socialism in one country" and claimed that, due to the "aggravation of class struggle
under socialism", it was possible, even necessary, to build socialism alone in one country, the USSR.

Maoism

Maoism is the Marxist Leninist trend associated with Mao Zedong. Khrushchev's reforms heightened
ideological differences between the People's Republic of China and the Soviet Union, which became
increasingly apparent in the 1960s. As the Sino-Soviet Split in the international Communist movement
turned toward open hostility, China portrayed itself as a leader of the underdeveloped world against the two
superpowers, the United States and the Soviet Union.
Parties and groups that supported the Communist Party of China (CPC) in their criticism against the new
Soviet leadership proclaimed themselves as 'anti-revisionist' and denounced the CPSU and the parties
aligned with it as revisionist "capitalist-roaders." The Sino-Soviet Split resulted in divisions amongst
communist parties around the world. Notably, the Party of Labour of Albania sided with the People's
Republic of China. Effectively, the CPC under Mao's leadership became the rallying forces of a parallel
international Communist tendency. The ideology of CPC, Marxism-Leninism-Mao Zedong Thought (generally
referred to as 'Maoism'), was adopted by many of these groups.

After the death of Mao and the takeover of Deng Xiaoping, the international Maoist movement diverged.
One sector accepted the new leadership in China, a second renounced the new leadership and reaffirmed
their commitment to Mao's legacy, and a third renounced Maoism altogether and aligned with the Albanian
Party of Labour.

Non-Marxist Schools

Anarcho-communism

Some of Marx's contemporaries espoused similar ideas, but differed in their views of how to reach to a
classless society. Following the split between those associated with Marx and Mikhail Bakunin at the First
International, the anarchists formed the International Workers Association. Anarchists argued that capitalism
and the state were inseparable and that one could not be abolished without the other. Anarchist-
communists such as Peter Kropotkin theorized an immediate transition to one society with no classes.
Anarcho-syndicalism became one of the dominant forms of anarchist organization, arguing that labor
unions, as opposed to Communist parties, are the organizations that can change society. Consequently,
many anarchists have been in opposition to Marxist communism to this day.

Christian Communism

Christian Communism is a form of religious communism centered around Christianity. It is a theological and
political theory based upon the view that the teachings of Jesus Christ compel Christians to support
communism as the ideal social system. Christian communists trace the origins of their practice to teachings
in the New Testament, such as this one from Acts of the Apostles at chapter 2 and verses 42, 44, and 45:

42 And they continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and in fellowship [...] 44 And all that believed were together,
and had all things in common; 45 And sold their possessions and goods, and parted them to all men, as every man had
need. (King James Version)

History – Early Communism

Karl Hanson Marx saw primitive communism as the original, hunter-gatherer state of humankind from which
it arose. For Marx, only after humanity was capable of producing surplus, did private property develop.

Communist thought has been traced back to the work of 16th century English writer Thomas More. In his
treatise Utopia (1516), More portrayed a society based on common ownership of property, whose rulers
administered it through the application of reason. In the 17th century, communist thought arguably
surfaced again in England. In 17th century England, a Puritan religious group known as the Diggers
advocated the abolition of private ownership of land. Eduard Bernstein, in his 1895 Cromwell and
Communism argued that several groupings in the English Civil War, especially the Diggers espoused clear
communistic, agrarian ideals, and that Oliver Cromwell's attitude to these groups was at best ambivalent
and often hostile.

Criticism of the idea of private property continued into the Age of Enlightenment of the 18th century,
through such thinkers as Jean Jacques Rousseau in France. Later, following the upheaval of the French
Revolution, communism emerged as a political doctrine. François Noël Babeuf, in particular, espoused the
goals of common ownership of land and total economic and political equality among citizens.

Various social reformers in the early 19th century founded communities based on common ownership. But
unlike many previous communist communities, they replaced the religious emphasis with a rational and
philanthropic basis. Notable among them were Robert Owen, who founded New Harmony in Indiana (1825),
and Charles Fourier, whose followers organized other settlements in the United States such as Brook Farm
(1841–47). Later in the 19th century, Karl Marx described these social reformers as "utopian socialists" to
contrast them with his program of "scientific socialism" (a term coined by Friedrich Engels). Other writers
described by Marx as "utopian socialists" included Saint-Simon.

In its modern form, communism grew out of the socialist movement of 19th century Europe. As the
Industrial Revolution advanced, socialist critics blamed capitalism for the misery of the proletariat — a new
class of urban factory workers who labored under often-hazardous conditions. Foremost among these critics
were the German philosopher Karl Marx and his associate Friedrich Engels. In 1848 Marx and Engels offered
a new definition of communism and popularized the term in their famous pamphlet The Communist
Manifesto. Engels, who lived in Manchester, observed the organization of the Chartist movement, while
Marx departed from his university comrades to meet the proletariat in France and Germany.

Growth of Modern Communism

In the late 19th century Russian Marxism developed a distinct character. The first major figure of Russian
Marxism was Georgi Plekhanov. Underlying the work of Plekhanov was the assumption that Russia, less
urbanized and industrialized than Western Europe, had many years to go before society would be ready for
proletarian revolution to occur, and a transitional period of a bourgeois democratic regime would be
required to replace Tsarism with a socialist and later communist society.

In Russia, the 1917 October Revolution was the first time any party with an avowedly Marxist orientation, in
this case the Bolshevik Party, seized state power. The assumption of state power by the Bolsheviks
generated a great deal of practical and theoretical debate within the Marxist movement. Marx predicted
that socialism and communism would be built upon foundations laid by the most advanced capitalist
development. Russia, however, was one of the poorest countries in Europe with an enormous, largely
illiterate peasantry and a minority of industrial workers. Marx had explicitly stated that Russia might be able
to skip the stage of bourgeoisie capitalism. Other socialists also believed that a Russian revolution could be
the precursor of workers' revolutions in the West.

The moderate Mensheviks opposed Lenin's Bolshevik plan for socialist revolution before capitalism was
more fully developed. The Bolsheviks' successful rise to power was based upon the slogans "peace, bread,
and land" and "All power to the Soviets", slogans which tapped the massive public desire for an end to
Russian involvement in the First World War, the peasants' demand for land reform, and popular support for
the Soviets.

The usage of the terms "communism" and "socialism" shifted after 1917, when the Bolsheviks changed their
name to the Communist Party and installed a single party regime devoted to the implementation of socialist
policies under Leninism.[citation needed] The Second International had dissolved in 1916 over national
divisions, as the separate national parties that composed it did not maintain a unified front against the war,
instead generally supporting their respective nation's role. Lenin thus created the Third International
(Comintern) in 1919 and sent the Twenty-one Conditions, which included democratic centralism, to all
European socialist parties willing to adhere. In France, for example, the majority of the SFIO socialist party
split in 1921 to form the SFIC (French Section of the Communist International). Henceforth, the term
"Communism" was applied to the objective of the parties founded under the umbrella of the Comintern.
Their program called for the uniting of workers of the world for revolution, which would be followed by the
establishment of a dictatorship of the proletariat as well as the development of a socialist economy.
Ultimately, if their program held, there would develop a harmonious classless society, with the withering
away of the state.

During the Russian Civil War (1918-1922), the Bolsheviks nationalized all productive property and imposed a
policy of war communism, which put factories and railroads under strict government control, collected and
rationed food, and introduced some bourgeois management of industry. After three years of war and the
1921 Kronstadt rebellion, Lenin declared the New Economic Policy (NEP) in 1921, which was to give a
"limited place for a limited time to capitalism." The NEP lasted until 1928, when Joseph Stalin achieved
party leadership, and the introduction of the first Five Year Plan spelled the end of it. Following the Russian
Civil War, the Bolsheviks formed in 1922 the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), or Soviet Union,
from the former Russian Empire.

Following Lenin's democratic centralism, the Communist parties were organized on a hierarchical basis, with
active cells of members as the broad base; they were made up only of elite cadres approved by higher
members of the party as being reliable and completely subject to party discipline.

After World War II, Communists consolidated power in Eastern Europe, and in 1949, the Communist Party of
China (CPC) led by Mao Zedong established the People's Republic of China, which would later follow its own
ideological path of Communist development.[citation needed] Cuba, North Korea, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia,
Angola, and Mozambique were among the other countries in the Third World that adopted or imposed a pro-
Communist government at some point. Although never formally unified as a single political entity, by the
early 1980s almost one-third of the world's population lived in Communist states, including the former
Soviet Union and People's Republic of China. By comparison, the British Empire had ruled up to one-quarter
of the world's population at its greatest extent.

Communist states such as Soviet Union and China succeeded in becoming industrial and technological
powers, challenging the capitalists' powers in the arms race and space race and military conflicts.

Socialism

Socialism refers to the goal of a socio-economic system in which property and the distribution of wealth are
subject to control by the community. This control may be either direct—exercised through popular
collectives such as workers' councils—or indirect—exercised on behalf of the people by the state. As an
economic system, socialism is often characterized by collective ownership of the means of production, goals
which have been attributed to, and claimed by, a number of political parties and governments throughout
history, due to this, socialism has been identified with communism mainly because the distribution of
wealth is controlled as a whole and not individually.

The modern socialist movement largely originated in the late-19th century working class movement. In this
period, the term "socialism" was first used in connection with European social critics who criticized
capitalism and private property. For Karl Marx, who helped establish and define the modern socialist
movement, socialism would be the socioeconomic system that arises after the proletarian revolution, in
which the means of production are owned collectively. This society would then progress into communism.

Since the 19th century, socialists have not agreed on a common doctrine or program. Various adherents of
socialist movements are split into differing and sometimes opposing branches, particularly between
reformists and revolutionaries. Some socialists have championed the complete nationalization of the means
of production, while social democrats have proposed selective nationalization of key industries within the
framework of mixed economies. Some Marxists, including those inspired by the Soviet model of economic
development, have advocated the creation of centrally planned economies directed by a state that owns all
the means of production. Others, including Communists in Yugoslavia and Hungary in the 1970s and 1980s,
Chinese Communists since the reform era, and some Western economists, have proposed various forms of
market socialism, attempting to reconcile the presumed advantages of cooperative or state ownership of
the means of production with letting market forces, rather than central planners, guide production and
exchange. Social Anarchists, Luxemburgists (such as those in the Socialist Party USA) and some elements of
the United States New Left favor decentralized collective ownership in the form of cooperatives or workers'
councils over government ownership of the means of production.

Origins

The appearance of the term "socialism" is variously attributed to Pierre Leroux in 1834, or to Marie Roch
Louis Reybaud in France, or else in Britain to Robert Owen, who is considered the father of the cooperative
movement.
The first modern socialists were early 19th century Western European social critics. In this period, socialism
emerged from a diverse array of doctrines and social experiments associated primarily with British and
French thinkers—especially Robert Owen, Charles Fourier, Pierre-Joseph Proudhon, Louis Blanc, and Saint-
Simon. These social critics criticised the excesses of poverty and inequality of the Industrial Revolution, and
advocated reforms such as the egalitarian distribution of wealth and the transformation of society into small
communities in which private property was to be abolished. Outlining principles for the reorganization of
society along collectivist lines, Saint-Simon and Owen sought to build socialism on the foundations of
planned, utopian communities.

According to some accounts, the use of the words "socialism" or "communism" was related to the perceived
attitude toward religion in a given culture. In Europe, "communism" was considered to be the more atheistic
of the two. In England, however, that sounded too close to communion with Catholic overtones; hence
atheists preferred to call themselves socialists.

By 1847, according to Frederick Engels, "Socialism" was "respectable" on the continent of Europe, while
"Communism" was the opposite; the Owenites in England and the Fourierists in France were considered
Socialists, while working class movements which "proclaimed the necessity of total social change" termed
themselves "Communists".