where did communism originate?
461809
Karl Marx's feeble little mind
154640
Communism is extreme socialism. Marx's idea was to conquer the world for the deserving people (the workers).  This was a truly terrifying prospect for anyone with any brains and gave rise to the fascist alternative socialist system, which was national rather than international.  This system worked miraculously well in Italy and Germany, while the pure Marxist system seems to have been a bust everywhere.\nIn China the Communist Party has realised this and specifically and unequivocally announced that it will pursue a policy of "Socialism with Chinese Characteristics".   In a big country like China, where not everyone is Han Chinese, this can only be expressed as National Socialism.   Does anyone have the cheek to argue with me?
85638
Of course it did, all new ideas start with just a few radicals supporting an idea that is far from the norm.  The Communist way of life was Written about by Karl Marx, however no Communist Society ever matched what Marx had thought it could.
982355
Communism is just a more extreme version of socialism.\n\nSocialist countries can have an element of democracy, the US, UK, France, Germany etc have socialist aspects.\n\nFor example, welfare, government subsidized healthcare, etc...\nbut still has capitalistic aspects where individuals own business and land.  The people vote on their leaders, ie democracy.\n\nCommunism on the other hand, usually involves total central planning, and is frequently controlled by dictators or a small group of people.  They decide what companies produce what.  They decide everything that will be done in the country.  They usually put down internal dissent with violence.  Communist countries are like North Korea, China prior to 2000 (still semi communist), the USSR before it collapsed.
1148615
Communists are cool because they make every shmuck as miserable as the next schmuck :).  And by the way, communism has never reached the strides Capitalism has in terms of wealth and common good.
347913
a communist system could be democratic...there are, for instance, socialist countries now in south america where their leaders were elected.\n\nbut communism differs from capitalism in that in a communist society the means of production (factories) are woned by the state.  in a capitalist country - like the US - private individuals own factories etc. and make profits from them.\n\nin a communist country money is supposed to be distributed equally....the state makes the money and distributes it equally.
342512
The Soviet Union was not true communism, it was a dictatorship with classes like rich and poor, I don't really see much difference then what we have here in America other then we get to vote our own poison.
1079474
You mean communism?  If so it was practiced in Soviet Union(Russia) and in its satalite countries(mostly Eastern Europe nations controlled by the Soviets), but spread into Vietnam and China where it still is today.
576825
pure d Communism, whats this world coming to? HAND have a nice day!
25573
Communism is a form of economy where, in theory, all property and businesses belong to the people as a whole.  It is commonly misaligned with "dictatorships" as seen in a previous answer.  \n\nIf communism could achieve what it was truly meant to be, it would mean that every citizen would have a say in how property and businesses were used and operated.  \n\nHowever, communism oftens makes it easier for a dictator to take advantage of the people and assume power.  It is important to note though that a dictator truly has nothing to do with the economic system of communism.\n\nSocialism is somewhere between capitalism and communism.  It allows for the private ownership of business.  However, the government and the people control services vital to the people such as medical services.
603977
The system was doomed. Even without the cold war, it would eventually have failed. True communism means "Anthill Society", kind of a wrong species model of government. Humans are not communal bugs.
787204
The hard question would be to name a communist country that did not invade another country and kill its citizenry.\n\nThat is one of the main tenets of communism.  To have a global revolution to establish a World Communist State.  Therefore, communist nations must invade other countries and insight rebellions abroad.\n\nTo give you a few examples, the USSR invaded all of eastern Europe.  China invaded Tibet and South Korea.  North Korea invaded South Korea; and Cuba invaded the Congo and Bolivia.  North Vietnam invaded South Vietnam.  I could go on all night.\n\nThough, I have to say Tofu Jesus is wrong on a couple of points.  China never invaded Taiwan.  At the end of World War II, there was a civil war in China between the Nationalist Chinese and the Communists.  The Communists won, forcing the Nationalist Chinese to flee to Formosa, modern day Taiwan.  And Russia never invaded Germany at least not when it was a communist country.  Russia, or more accurately, the Soviet Union, was invaded by the Nazis, its subsequent invasion of Germany was defensive.  What was the USSR going to do after beating back the Germans?  Stop at their border and do nothing?  Germany had no plans to make peace with the Soviet Union, they would have just re-invaded.\n\nAt the start of World War I, Russia did invade German territory; however, Russia was not communist at that point.  Moreover, Russia only did so to honor its treaty with Serbia.  When the Austro-Hungarian Empire invaded Serbia this brought Russia to war with Austria Hungary, which brought Germany into war with Russia, since Germany and the Austro-Hungarian Empire also had an alliance.  In fact, World War I is what made Russia communist.
296155
It changed to socialism, a popular form of economics in Europe.  It's a cross between communism and capitalism.  There also was a big black market in the Soviet Union anyways.  Only around 5% of the population of the Soviet Union belonged to the Communist party.
986508
Hi. Great question. Consider communism in two ways: in theory and in practice. As a theory, a philosophy, communism was the vision of an ideal state where all people would share equally, there would be no poverty or exploitation, no war or classicism. It was almost a religious ideal for many people. The philosopher who shaped that vision the most into a practice was Karl Marx. At the turn of the century, his attack on capitalism set in motion as political force that challenged the political status quo. It frightened the rich and powerful with the image of working people rising up to take over the government for themselves. In practice, Marxism has been tried to various degrees in different countries. In Russia and China, for example, it was the state system, but in truth, this kind of Marxism had little to do with the original image of communism for a free society. Both the Soviet Union and China were dictatorships. In Vietnam and Cuba, communism has been much more successful, although they were severely stunted by the economic pressure put on them by the United States through boycotts to starve them out. In the end, classic communism has yet to be tried. There are many communist parties still around, but there is no clear vision for this philosophy and the memory of the old Soviet regime still haunts the reputation of the communist hope. Study Antonio Gramsci of Italy (1920's-1930's). This is a good communist thinker,
488882
From what planet did you originate???
340992
It's got nothing to do with communism, but with international trade barriers. China has got lots of people who are willing to work for $2 a month, compare that to the US! And in Europe the FORMER communist states like Poland have very cheap labor service too. So it's not amazing that the USA who is CAPITALIST moves out their business to places that have CHEAP labor.
102951
Russia is no longer a communist country. It change with Gorbachav when the Berlin wall was demolished.