communism
Communism is a political doctrine and movement that seeks to abolish private property and social classes, so that goods are held in common and shared by all.
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Editorial team (in-house source, no external address)Definitions
- In political theory: a doctrine calling for the abolition of private property, above all of the means of production, and for a classless society in which goods are owned and used in common.
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Editorial team (in-house source, no external address) - In politics: the movement, parties and activists that adopt this programme as their goal and try to put it into practice, often by revolutionary means.
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Editorial team (in-house source, no external address) - In history: the system of states ruled by communist parties, with a state-run economy and power held by a single party; also the period of such rule in a given country.
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Examples
- The museum tells the story of everyday life under communism, from food queues to state television.
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Editorial team (in-house source, no external address) - After the fall of communism, many factories were sold to private owners within a few years.
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Editorial team (in-house source, no external address) - The seminar traced how ideas of communism changed between the first workers' societies and the mass parties that followed.
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Editorial team (in-house source, no external address) - He grew up in a family that had argued about communism at the dinner table for three generations.
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Editorial team (in-house source, no external address)
Usage
Communism has at least three senses, and a careful reader should check which one is meant. In the history of ideas it names a vision of society without private property or classes, where wealth is shared. In politics it labels the movement and the parties that adopted that vision. In everyday speech it most often refers to a concrete political system and era, as in under communism or the collapse of communism.
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Editorial team (in-house source, no external address)Webster (1913) describes communism as a scheme of equalizing the social conditions of life, especially by abolishing inequalities in the possession of property, either through distributing all wealth equally or by holding it in common for the equal use of all. A note warns that, at different times and in different countries, many schemes concerning socialism in government, domestic life and wealth have been called communism. For communist it gives two senses: an advocate of communism and a supporter of the Paris Commune.
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Editorial team; facts: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, 1913, open sourceThe adjective communistic had a second, unexpected use in the same dictionary. Webster (1913) lists a zoological sense, describing animals living or having their nests in common, as certain birds do. This shows that the root idea of the word is simply sharing, and that its political meaning grew out of that ordinary notion. In modern texts communist is the usual adjective, while communistic sounds older and is sometimes used with a critical tone.
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Editorial team; facts: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, 1913, open sourceThe noun often goes with primitive, scientific, state and war, and people may preach, build, fight or overthrow it. Common phrases include the fall of communism, life under communism and the struggle against communism. A supporter is a communist, and related words include anticommunism and postcommunism. Communism should not be treated as a synonym of socialism: socialism is the broader term and also covers moderate programmes of reform carried out through elections.
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Editorial team (in-house source, no external address)Word forms
Regular English noun, usually uncountable; the plural communisms is rare and refers to different kinds or national versions of the doctrine.
word forms
| przypadek | forma |
|---|---|
| singular | communism |
| plural | communisms |
Word forms: Editorial team
Collocations
- primitive communism
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Editorial team (in-house source, no external address) - war communism
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Editorial team (in-house source, no external address) - state communism
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Editorial team (in-house source, no external address) - fall of communism
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Editorial team (in-house source, no external address) - life under communism
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Editorial team (in-house source, no external address)
Synonyms · Antonyms
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Editorial team (in-house source, no external address)source
Editorial team (in-house source, no external address)Etymology
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W. W. Skeat, An Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, 4th ed., Oxford 1910, open sourcealso
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, 1913, open sourceRelated words
- communist , noun for a supporter and adjective
- communistic , adjective
- common , base adjective
- commune , noun and verb from the same Latin root
- communion , noun from the same Latin root
Related entries
Questions and answers
What does communism mean?
It is a doctrine and movement aiming at a society without private property or classes, where goods belong to the community; the word also names the system of states governed by communist parties.
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Editorial team (in-house source, no external address)How did older dictionaries define communism?
Webster (1913) treats it as a plan to make the social conditions of life equal, above all by removing inequalities in property, whether through dividing all wealth equally or through holding it in common.
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Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, 1913, open sourceWhere does the word communism come from?
English borrowed it from French communisme, which is built on commun, meaning common. Behind that stands the Latin adjective communis, general or shared, which Skeat explains as com-, with, joined to munis, obliging.
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W. W. Skeat, An Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, 4th ed., Oxford 1910, open sourceIs communism the same as socialism?
Not quite. Socialism is the wider label and covers many moderate reform programmes pursued through elections, while communism normally names the most radical aim among them: a society with no private ownership of productive property at all.