What is Communism? A Simple Lesson

Sickle for the Peasants – the farm labourers What is Communism? This is the symbol of Communism – The Hammer and the Sickle Hammer for the Workers Sickle for the Peasants – the farm labourers Who are these blokes?

This is his good friend, Frederick Engels. What is Communism? ‘Those Blokes’ wrote the ‘Communist Manifesto’ in 1847. It’s a short book – but billions of people have read it…. This is Karl Marx, the ‘Father of Communism’. People who believe in his ideas are called ‘Marxists’ This is his good friend, Frederick Engels.

What is Communism? Marx and Engels studied the history of the world’s economies. This means the way that power, industry and finance are controlled. They saw the way countries developed in stages. Communism Socialism Capitalism Feudalism Explain these please! Primitive Communism

What is Primitive Communism? This is how humans first lived together – in small tribes. Primitive means ‘not very advanced’ e.g. hunting and gathering. Communism means that everything was shared amongst the tribe – food, jobs, belongings. No-one owned land. Eventually a group comes to power – this leads to Feudalism… Primitive Communism

What is Feudalism? Under feudalism, a king or emperor or chief becomes the ruler over all the people. He gives land and privileges to ‘nobles’ who rule the people for him. The people are kept uneducated and told that god chose the king to rule. The church helps the king this way. Feudalism As trade develops, some people get richer. This leads to Capitalism….. Primitive Communism

What is Capitalism? The capitalists get more power to serve their own interests. The business owners or capitalists get richer while the workers do all the hard work. Capitalism Feudalism Capitalism creates a huge working-class of people who soon get angry at the way they are treated. They organise in unions and demand changes. This will lead to a revolution and Socialism…

What is Socialism? Because nothing is made for profit, all people benefit from education and health. The workers take control of the country to produce things for everyone. Socialism These ideas spread across the world to create Communism…. Capitalism In the Socialist revolution all the rulers – kings, churches, capitalists are got rid of.

What is Communism? The remaining capitalists put up a bitter fight, but the will of the people will always win. Communism Socialism All human activity goes towards benefiting each other – allowing all to live their lives to the full. As everyone now works together, war is a thing of the past – armies are not needed. Sharing means no police are needed. Everything is provided by the people – so money becomes a thing of the past.

Conclusions Modern day Communism is based on the writings of two German economists, Karl Marx and Fredrich Engels, who answered the question “What is Communism?” in their collaboration, “The Communist Manifesto” published in 1848. In it they declare that many problems in society are due to the unequal distribution of wealth. To bring about happiness and prosperity for all, the distinctions between the rich and poor of society must be eliminated. And since the rich will never give up their goods or status voluntarily, a rebellion of the poor -- the working class -- is necessary.

Conclusions If Capitalism is defined as a social system based on individual rights (and individual wealth), then communism is its direct opposite. Communism believes in equality through force. In its system, individual rights are lessoned and absolute government control can happen. Communism embraces atheism and dismisses religion as “the opiate of the masses,” a system designed by the rich and powerful to keep the poor in their place

So Essentially Communism is: a form of socialism that abolishes private ownership a political theory favoring collectivism in a classless society The socioeconomic system where relations are based upon the equal distribution of income and wealth and the state controls of the means of production.

Victims of Communism? Russian Gulag 20 million people - A gulag is a forced labor camp; the term is derived from the Russian Glavnoye Upravleniye Ispravitel'no-Trudovykh Lagerey i koloniy, or “Chief Administration of Corrective Labor Camps, - The conditions in gulags were extremely harsh, and the camps were used as political tools to repress political dissidents and punish other “enemies of the state.”

Victims of Communism Chinese Laogai 50 million people - Reform through labor - Great Leap Forward -Chinese 5 year plan to develop agriculture and industry, people could not work if they could not eat. - People moved to communes to live each contained about 5000 families - Schools, nurseries and health care were provided so people could work. They worked for the commune not themselves - Elderly were moved to “houses of happiness”

Where is Communism today? China, Cuba, Laos, North Korea, and Vietnam. The spectrum of Communism still haunts the world today even in one of America’s largest cities. A popular nightclub in New York City’s East Village is the KGB Bar. The place is jammed nearly every night and especially on Sundays when writers read from their latest works under the club’s symbol the Hammer and Sickle. Think about how long, would a New York nightclub last if its name were The Gestapo and there was a large swastika on the wall?

Map Work Germany Europe