There are also communist movements in Latin America and South Africa. The other countries include Cuba, Vietnam, Laos, and North Korea. However, around a fifth of the world's people still live in states controlled by a communist party. Communism now has much less influence around the world. Since 1989, when the Berlin Wall was torn down, most countries that used to be communist have returned to capitalism. President Ronald Reagan called communist countries like the Soviet Union the " Evil Empire" because he did not agree with communist ideas. During the 1980s, the United States and the Soviet Union were competing to have the biggest army and having the most dangerous weapons. However, this could have turned into a large war. This was called the " Cold War" because it was not fought with weapons or armies, but competing ideas. The other two-thirds of the world still lived in capitalism, and this led to a worldwide divide between capitalist countries and communist countries. Most of these countries followed the model of the Soviet Union. This also led to disagreements and splits between countries.īy the 1960s, one-third of the world had overthrown capitalism and were trying to build communism. Because of this, the governments became separated from the people, making communism difficult. However, communist party governments didn't use democracy, which is a very important component of socialism and communism. At one time, there were many such countries, and it seemed as though communism would overtake Capitalism. In 1959, the island of Cuba had a revolution and created a new government with Fidel Castro as its leader. In the late 1940s, China also had a revolution and created a new government with Mao Zedong as its leader. In reality, the country never became communist in the way that Marx and Engels described.ĭuring the 20th century, many people tried to establish workers' states. The Soviet Union was the first country claiming to have established a workers' state. They established the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, also called the Soviet Union or USSR. They got rid of the temporary government of Russia, which was formed after the February Revolution against the Tsar ( Emperor). In 1917, Vladimir Lenin and Leon Trotsky led a Russian group called the Bolsheviks in the October Revolution. They said that the workers in different countries had more in common with each other than the workers had in common with the bosses within their own countries. By the beginning of the twentieth century, there was a worldwide socialist movement called Social Democracy. Many groups and individuals liked Marx's ideas. He thought that this practical experience was more important than the theoretical views of the various radical groups. Marx was very interested in the experience of the Paris Commune of 1870, when the workers of Paris ran the city following the defeat of the French Army by the Prussian Army. During this period, the workers would govern society. Karl Marx said that for society to change into a communist way of living, there would have to be a period of change. Many non-communists read it too, even if they do not agree with everything in it. Most socialists and communists today still use this book to help them understand politics and economics. It was a short book with the basic ideas of communism. Marx and Friedrich Engels wrote The Communist Manifesto. Some of the most well-known people that have been important in the development of communism include Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels, Joseph Stalin, Mao Zedong, Vladimir Lenin, and Leon Trotsky. Most communist countries (like the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan) fell apart because of foreign intervention primarily from the United States. The fifth, North Korea, now officially follows Juche (which is a variant of Marxism). Four of these follow different forms of Marxism-Leninism (a theory of communism and Marxism) - Vietnam, China, Cuba and Laos. There are now only 5 communist countries. Communist thinkers believe this can happen if the working class take away the power of the bourgeoisie (the capitalist class, sometimes called the ruling class) and establish worker control of the means of production. In capitalism, there is a working class (people who don't own the means of production) and the capitalist class (people who own the means of production). This is the opposite to capitalism where there is money, a state and class. Its goal is to set up a society where there are no states or money and the tools used to make items for people (usually called the means of production) like land, factories and farms are shared by the people. Communism is a socio- economic political movement.