Variants of communism have been developed throughout history, including anarchist communism, Marxist schools of thought, and religious communism, among others. Communism encompasses a variety of schools of thought, which broadly include Marxism, Leninism, and libertarian communism, as well as the political ideologies grouped around those. All of these different ideologies generally share the analysis that the current order of society stems from capitalism, its economic system, and mode of production, that in this system there are two major social classes, that the relationship between these two classes is exploitative, and that this situation can only ultimately be resolved through a social revolution. The two classes are the proletariat, who make up the majority of the population within society and must sell their labor power to survive, and the bourgeoisie, a small minority that derives profit from employing the working class through private ownership of the means of production. According to this analysis, a communist revolution would put the working class in power, and in turn establish common ownership of property, the primary element in the transformation of society towards a communist mode of production.
Communism in its modern form grew out of the socialist movement in 19th-century Europe that argued capitalism caused the misery of urban factory workers. In the 20th century, several ostensibly Communist governments espousing Marxism–Leninism and its variants came into power, first in the Soviet Union with the Russian Revolution of 1917, and then in portions of Eastern Europe, Asia, and a few other regions after World War II. As one of the many types of socialism, communism became the dominant political tendency, along with social democracy, within the international socialist movement by the early 1920s. (Full article...)
The history of the Portuguese Communist Party (Portuguese: Partido Comunista Português or PCP), spans a period of more than 85 years, since its foundation in 1921 as the Portuguese section of the Communist International (Comintern) to the present. The Party is still an active force within Portuguese society.
After its foundation, the party experienced little time as a legal party before it was forced underground after a military coup in 1926. After some years of internal reorganization, that adapted the PCP to its new clandestine condition and enlarged its base of support, the Party became a force in the opposition to the dictatorial regime led by António de Oliveira Salazar, despite being brutally suppressed several times during the 48 years of resistance and having spent several years with little connection with the Comintern and the World Communist Movement.
After the end of the dictatorship, with the Carnation Revolution in 1974, the party became a major political force within the new democratic regime, mainly among the working class. Despite being less influential since the fall of the Socialist bloc in eastern Europe, it still enjoys popularity in vast sectors of Portuguese society, particularly in the rural areas of the Alentejo and Ribatejo, and also in the heavily industrialized areas around Lisbon and Setúbal, where it holds the leadership of several municipalities.
Mao Zedong, also transliterated as Mao Tse-tung, (26 December 1893 – 9 September 1976) was the chairman of the Politburo of the Communist Party of China from 1943 and the chairman of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China from 1945 until his death. Under his leadership, the CCP became the ruling party of mainland China as the result of its victory in the Chinese Civil War. On 1 October 1949, Mao declared the formation of the People's Republic of China at Tiananmen Square.
Mao developed a brand of Sinified Marxism-Leninismcommunism known as Maoism, paralleling the political ideology known as Stalinism. While in power, he started a series of experiments aimed at speeding up China's economic development known as the Great Leap Forward. The Great Leap Forward sought to rely on labour instead of capital to help agriculture and industries succeed. Unfortunately, as a result of the Great Leap Forward, at least 20 million people starved to death. He forged, and later split, an alliance with the Soviet Union and launched the Cultural Revolution, with its stated goal of purging Chinese society of bourgeoisie elements and enforcing socialism.
Mao is widely credited for creating a mostly unified China free of foreign domination for the first time since the First and Second Opium Wars of the mid-nineteenth century. Mao has also been criticized for his inefficient response to the famine of 1958–1961 and the violence of the Cultural Revolution.
Mao Zedong is commonly referred to as Chairman Mao (毛主席). At the height of his personality cult, Mao was commonly known in China as the "Four Greats": "Great Teacher, Great Leader, Great Supreme Commander, Great Helmsman".
...that Moscow City Hall, built in the 1890s to the tastes of the Russian bourgeoisie, was converted by Communists into the Central Lenin Museum after its rich interior decoration had been plastered over.
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All U.S.firms have been here without suffering infringement. The laws we have passed have been aimed at those interests that exploited our country. The fact that American interests still are here proves that the aggression is not on our part. We have been the object of subversive plots and aggressions. These aggressions have been the policy of the U.S. Government. I want to clear this up for they still say they are acting against the government and not the people.
No people is cruel. Those who are cruel are the oligarchs who support powerful interests. Using military interests and political strength, they rule the peoples. The Japanese people could not be held responsible for the oligarchial attack on Pearl Harbor. The people can understand that the people are not responsible for actions of oligarchies during various periods of history. We cannot accuse Romans of the barbarities of Roman senators. The plebians were below the patricians. Below the plebians were the slaves who worked for patricians. One cannot accuse the North American worker, among whom there are intelligent, generous persons, of the deeds committed by his nation. One cannot accuse the southern Negroes, for they are victims of injustice. We want our people to understand these matters of history. We are not going to contribute to errors.
We have been the victims of a series of attacks. A Cuban plane is being held. The Cuban Sugar kings (baseball team) have lost their (franchise?). Our relations with the United States have previously been excellent in matters of support. Today, this spirit has been violated.
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