The preface to Richard Pipes’ book Communism: A History:
This book is an introduction to Communism and, at the same time, its obituary. For it is quite certain that even if the quest for perfect social equality that had driven utopian communists since antiquity ever resumes, it will not take the form of Marxism-Leninism. The latter's rout has been so complete that even post-Soviet Communists in Russia and elsewhere have abandoned it in favor of an eclectic social democratic platform laced with nationalism. We are, therefore, today able to draw up a balance sheet of a movement that dominated most of the twentieth century, to determine whether its failure was due to human error or to flaws inherent in its very nature.
The word communism, coined in Paris in the 1840s, refers to three related but distinct phenomena: an ideal, a program, and a regime set up to realize the ideal.1
The ideal is one of full social equality that in its most extreme form (as in some of Plato's writings) calls for the dissolution of the individual in the community. Inasmuch as social and economic inequalities derive primarily from inequalities of possession, its attainment requires that there be no "mine" and "thine"—in other words, no private property. This ideal has an ancient heritage, reappearing time and again in the history of Western thought from the seventh century B.C. to the present.
The program dates back to the middle of the nineteenth century and is most closely associated with the names of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. In their Communist Manifesto of 1848 Marx and Engels wrote that "the theory of the Communists may be summed up in a single sentence: Abolition of private property." Engels claimed that his friend had formulated a scientific theory that demonstrated the inevitable collapse of societies based on class distinctions.
Although throughout history there had been sporadic attempts to realize the communist ideal, the first determined effort to this effect by using the full power of the state occurred in Russia between 1917 and 1991. The founder of this regime, Vladimir Lenin, saw a propertyless and egalitarian society emerging from the "dictatorship of the proletariat" that would eliminate private property and pave the way for Communism.
We shall trace the history of Communism in this sequence both because it makes sense logically and because it is in this manner that it has evolved historically: first the idea, then the plan of realization, and finally the implementation. But we will concentrate on the implementation because the ideal and the program, taken by themselves, are relatively innocuous, whereas every attempt to put them into practice, especially if backed by the full power of the state, has had enormous con-sequences.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
RICHARD PIPES, Baird Professor of History, Emeritus, at Harvard University, is the author of numerous books and essays, including The Russian Revolution, Russia Under the Bolshevik Regime, and Property and Freedom. In 1981-82 he served as President Reagan's National Security Council adviser on Soviet and East European affairs, and in 1992 he was an expert witness in the Russian Constitutional Court's trial against the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. He lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and Chesham, New Hampshire.
Don’t miss his excellent footnote below.
This is important stuff, so let’s summarize. What is communism?
“The word communism…refers to three related but distinct phenomena: an ideal, a program, and a regime set up to realize the ideal.”
“Its attainment requires that there be no ‘mine’ and ‘thine’—in other words, no private property.”
“In their Communist Manifesto of 1848 Marx and Engels wrote that ‘the theory of the Communists may be summed up in a single sentence: Abolition of private property.’”
What is the difference between socialism an communism? “No clear distinction can be drawn between ‘socialism’ and ‘communism.’”
Finally, note that the word communism is sometimes capitalized and sometimes not. Why is this?
For more on Karl Marx, communism and socialism see my post “MLK Jr. Scrutinizes Karl Marx,” especially other books by Richard Pipes that I recommend: Property and Freedom and A Concise History of the Russian Revolution.
If you would like to read more excerpts from this book, please “Like” this post or let me know in the comments.
Pointer to Richard Pipes comes from Cafe Hayek: Where Orders Emerge.
No clear distinction can be drawn between "socialism" and "communism." Marx distinguished two phases of progress toward full communism: first, a transitional phase under which the old inequalities would survive even as their foundations were being destroyed, to be followed by a second, higher phase, in which the principle "From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs" would replace the principle "Equal work, equal pay." Lenin defined the first phase as socialism and the second as communism. However, shortly after seizing power in Russia, he changed the name of his party from "Social Democratic" to "Communist," and we shall use the term Communism to mean Leninist theory and practice. See Andrzej Walicki, Marxism and the Leap to the Kingdom of Freedom (Stanford, 1995), 93.