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The following estimates represent citizens killed or starved to death by their own Communist governments since 1918. These numbers do not include war dead. The governments are sorted by body count (highest to lowest).

All numbers are mid-estimates.

While this list is as complete as I have been able to determine, it is evolving. Some numbers are incomplete and there are still five Communist countries that have the potential to kill more of their citizens. Over the next year, each government will be profiled in detail on this website.

A detailed bibliography is listed at the end of this page. Feedback is more than welcome.

If you find this interesting, check out Nazi Body Count.

R.J. Rummel originally estimated China's body count between between the years of 1949-1987 to be 35,236,000 (Rummel 1994). This excluded 38,000,000 million that died of famine during the Great Leap Forward. After the release of Mao: The Unknown Story, Rummel became convinced that the Chinese government was directly responsible for the famine, thus increasing his original estimate by 38,000,000 (Rummel 2005). 1,000 was added for Tienanmen Square in 1989 (Courtois 1999).

The body count only covers the years 1923-1987 (Rummel 1996).

This body count does not include the 6,210,000 killed in the civil war (Rummel 1996).

1,663,000 is attributed between 1948-1987 excluding the Korean War (Rummel 1994). 2,500,000 is the mid-estimate for those who starved to death between 1995-1998 (U.S. Committee for Human Rights in North Korea 2006).

The body count estimate is complete (Rummel 1994). The offical country name was Democratic Kampuchea during Pol Pot's reign and then known as People's Republic of Kampuchea afterwards.

The body count estimate is complete (Courtois 1999).

The body count covers the years 1945-1987 for Vietnam/North Vietnam and excludes 1,062,000 from the Vietnam War (Rummel 1994).

The body count includes 10,000 political assasinations during 1977-1978, 1,000 children killed in 1977, 110 massacred in an Orthodox church in 1975, 80,000 during the civil war between 1978-1980, 250,000 that died in 1982 through Transit Camps, and 2,500 killed in a bombing raid (Courtois 1999). Another 1,000,000 is added for the famine during 1984-1985 (BBC News 2000).

The body count only covers the years 1945-1992 excluding 100,000 from the Tito Partisans between 1941-1944 (Rummel 1994).

The body count only includes the Jiangxi and Fujian provinces (Chang 2005). Although Mozambique has 700,000 to its name, the Chinese Soviet Republic produced more bodies in a shorter time period and the estimate is low.

100,000 civilians murdered between 1986 and mid-1988 (Young 1991) and 600,000 starved to death between 1975-1985 (Courtois 1999).

The body count only covers the years 1947-1987 (Rummel 1997).

The body count only covers the years 1948-1987 (Rummel 1997).

The body count only covers the years 1975-1987 (Rummel 1997).

The body count only covers the years 1924-1987 (Rummel 1997).

The body count only covers the years 1944-1987 (Rummel 1997).

The body count only covers the years 1959-1987 (Rummel 1997).

The body count only covers the years 1948-1987 (Rummel 1997).

The body count only covers the years 1948-1968 (Rummel 1997).

The body count only covers the years 1975-1987 excluding 47,000 war dead (Rummel 1997).

The body count only covers the years 1948-1987 (Rummel 1997).

The body count only covers the years 1948-1987 (Rummel 1997). Excludes 1,585,000 from ethnic cleansing between 1945-1950 (Rummel 1994).

The body count only covers the years 1969-1987 (Rummel 1997).

BBC News (2000, April 6). Flashback 1984: portrait of a famine. Retrieved May 7, 2006, from http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/703958.stm

Chang, Jung, & Halliday, Jon (2005). Mao: the unknown story (1st American ed.). New York: Alfred A Knopf.

Courtois, S., Werth, N., Panne, J., Paczkowski, A., Bartosek, K., & Margolin, J. (1999). The black book of Communism: crimes, terror, repression. United States: Harvard University Press.

Rummel, R. J. (1994). Death by government. New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Publishers.

Rummel, R. J. (1996). Lethal politics: Soviet genocide and mass murder since 1917 (1st paperback ed.). New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Publishers.

Rummel, R. J. (2005, November 20). Reevaluating Chinas democide to be 73,000,000. Retrieved April 5, 2006, from http://freedomspeace.blogspot.com/2005/11/reevaluating-chinas-democide-to-be.html

Rummel, R. J. (1997). Statistics of democide: genocide and mass murder since 1900. Charlottesville, Virginia: Transaction Publishers.

U.S. Committee for Human Rights in North Korea (2006). Failure to protect: a call for the UN Security Council to act in North Korea. United States: DLA Piper.

Young, Lance S. (1991). Mozambiques sixteen-year bloody civil war. Retrieved November 1, 2006, from http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/library/report/1991/YLS.htm

Original post:
Communist Body Count - Historian on the Warpath

Atheism, as defined by the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, the Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy, and other philosophy reference works, is the denial of the existence of God.[1] Beginning in the latter portion of the 20th century and continuing beyond, many agnostics/atheists have argued that the definition of atheism should be defined as a mere lack of belief in God or gods. [2][3][4]

Atheism has been examined by many disciplines in terms of its effects on individuals and society and these effects will be covered shortly.

As far as individuals adopting an atheistic worldview, atheism has a number of causal factors and these will be elaborated on below.

See also: Schools of atheist thought and Atheist factions

Atheists claim there are two main reasons for their denial of the existence of God and/or disbelief in God: the conviction that there is positive evidence or argument that God does not exist (Strong atheism which is also sometimes called positive atheism), and their claim that theists bear the burden of proof to show that God exists, that they have failed to do so, and that belief is therefore unwarranted (Weak atheism).

As as alluded to above, theists and others have posited a number of causes of atheism and this matter will be further addressed in this article.

Charles Bradlaugh, in 1876, proposed that atheism does not assert "there is no God," and by doing so he endeavored to dilute the traditional definition of atheism.[5][2] As noted above, in the latter portion of the 20th century, the proposition that the definition of atheism be defined as a mere lack of belief in God or gods began to be commonly advanced by agnostics/atheists.[2][6] It is now common for atheists/agnostics and theists to debate the meaning of the word atheism.[2][7]

Critics of a broader definition of atheism to be a mere lack of belief indicate that such a definition is contrary to the traditional/historical meaning of the word and that such a definition makes atheism indistinguishable from agnosticism.[2][4][8]

For more information, please see:

Below are three common ways that atheism manifests itself:

1. Militant atheism which continues to suppress and oppress religious believers today

Topics related to militant atheism

2. Philosophical atheism - Atheist philosophers assert that God does not exist. (See also: Naturalism)

3. Practical atheism: atheism of the life - that is, living as though God does not exist.[9]

See also: Atheist factions and Schools of atheist thought and Atheist cults and Atheism and intolerance

In 2015, Dr. J. Gordon Melton said about the atheist movement (organized atheism) that atheism is not a movement which tends to create community, but in the last few years there has been some growth of organized atheism.[10]

Jacques Rousseau wrote in the Daily Maverick: "Elevatorgate..has resulted in three weeks of infighting in the secular community. Some might observe that we indulge in these squabbles fairly frequently."[11] An ex-atheist wrote: "As an Atheist for 40 years, I noticed that there is not just a wide variety of Atheist positions, but there exists an actual battle between certain Atheist factions."[12]

See also: Atheist movement and Atheism and anger

Blair Scott served on the American Atheists board of directors.[13] Mr. Scott formerly served as a State Director for the American Atheists organization in the state of Alabama. On December 1, 2012 he quit his post as a director of outreach for the American Atheists due to infighting within the American atheist movement.[14]

Mr. Blair wrote:

See also: Antitheism and antisocial behavior

See also: Atheism has a lower retention rate compared to other worldviews and Desecularization and Atheism and apathy

In 2012, a Georgetown University study was published indicating that only about 30 percent of those who grow up in an atheist household remain atheists as adults.[15] Similarly, according to recent research by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life, in the United States, a majority of those surveyed who were raised in atheist or agnostic households, or where there was no specific religious attachment, later chose to join a religious faith.[16] See also: Atheism and poor relationships with parents

A 2012 study by the General Social Survey of the social science research organization NORC at the University of Chicago found that belief in God rises with age, even in atheistic nations[17] See also: Atheism and immaturity.

In addition, in atheistic Communist China, Christianity is experiencing rapid growth (see: Growth of Christianity in China).

See also:

See also: Atheism and loneliness and Atheism and apathy and Internet atheism and American atheists and church attendance

In comparison to many religious groups, which have many meetings in numerous places in a given day or week which are convenient to attend, atheist meetings are sparse. The prime cause for this situation is the apathy of many atheists (see: Atheism and apathy).

In an essay entitled How the Atheist Movement Failed Me, an atheist woman noted that participation in the atheist community is often expensive due to the cost of attending atheist conferences and even local atheist meetings in restaurants and bars challenged her modest budget.[18] As a result of the challenges that atheists commonly have in terms of socializing in person, many atheists turn to the internet in terms of communicating with other atheists.[19] Often internet communication between atheists turns turns contentious (see: Atheist factions).

For more information, please see: Atheism and loneliness and Atheism and apathy

See also: Atheists doubting the validity of atheism

Hannah More wrote: "[T]he mind, which knows not where to fly, flies to God. In agony, nature is no Atheist. The soul is drawn to God by a sort of natural impulse; not always, perhaps by an emotion of piety; but from a feeling conviction, that every other refuge is 'a refuge of lies'."[20]

See also: Atheism and death and Atheist funerals and Atheism and Hell

Science Daily reported that Death anxiety increases atheists' unconscious belief in God.[22] In a Psychology Today article, Dr. Nathan A. Heflick reported similar results in other studies.[23] Under stress, the brain's processing works in a way that prefers unconscious thinking.[24]

A United States study and a Taiwanese study indicated that the irreligious fear death more than the very religious.[25]

For additional information, please see the article: Atheism and death

See also: Atheism and Hell

The journalist and ex-atheist Peter Hitchens, who is the brother of the late atheist Christopher Hitchens, said upon seeing an art exhibit of Michelangelo's painting The Last Judgment he came to the realization that he might be judged which startled him.[26] This started a train of thought within Peter Hitchens that eventually led him to become a Christian.[26]

For more information, please see: Atheism and Hell

See: Atheism and cryonics and Atheist cults

Cryonics is a pseudoscience that tries to extend life or achieve immortality in a non-theistic way after a person is legally dead (Cryonic procedures are performed shortly after a person's death).[27] Atheists Robert Ettinger and Isaac Asimov played a notable role in the founding of the cryonics movement.[28] According to The Cryonics Society, Asimov said of cryonics, "Though no one can quantify the probability of cryonics working, I estimate it is at least 90%..."[29] For more information, please see: Atheism and cryonics

See: Atheism and transhumanism

See also: There are no atheists in foxholes and Atheists doubting the validity of atheism

Reverend William T. Cummings is famous for declaring "There are no atheists in foxholes."[31] Chaplain F. W. Lawson of the 302d Machine Gun Battalion, who was wounded twice in wartime, stated "I doubt if there is such a thing as an atheist. At least there isn't in a front line trench."[32]On the other hand, the news organization NBC featured a story in which atheist veterans claimed that there are atheists in foxholes.[33]

Research indicates that heavy combat has a positive correlation to the strength of the religious faith in soldiers during the battles and subsequent to the war if they indicated their experience was a negative experience (for more information please see: There are no atheists in foxholes).

Also, due to research showing that death anxiety increases atheists' unconscious belief in God, Dr. Nathan Heflick declared in a Psychology Today article, "But, at a less conscious (or pre-conscious) level, this research suggests that there might be less atheism in foxholes than atheists in foxholes report."[23] Please see: Atheism and death

See also: Denials that atheists exist and Atheists doubting the validity of atheism and Atheism and apathy

It has been asserted by various theists that atheists do not exist and that atheists are actively suppressing their belief and knowledge of God and enigmatically engage in self-deception and in the deception of others (see: Denials that atheists exist and Atheism and deception). In atheistic Japan, researchers found that Japanese children see the world as designed.[34]

see also: Atheism and communism and Militant atheism and Atheism and economics and Atheism and mass murder and Atheist cults and Atheism and Karl Marx

Karl Marx said "[Religion] is the opium of the people". Marx also stated: "Communism begins from the outset (Owen) with atheism; but atheism is at first far from being communism; indeed, that atheism is still mostly an abstraction.[35]

Vladimir Lenin similarly wrote regarding atheism and communism: "A Marxist must be a materialist, i.e., an enemy of religion, but a dialectical materialist, i.e., one who treats the struggle against religion not in an abstract way, not on the basis of remote, purely theoretical, never varying preaching, but in a concrete way, on the basis of the class struggle which is going on in practice and is educating the masses more and better than anything else could."[36]

In 1955, Chinese communist leader Zhou Enlai declared, "We Communists are atheists".[37] In 2015, the Communist Party of China reaffirmed that members of their party must be atheists.[38]

According to the University of Cambridge, historically, the "most notable spread of atheism was achieved through the success of the 1917 Russian Revolution, which brought the Marxist-Leninists to power."[39] Vitalij Lazarevi Ginzburg, a Soviet physicist, wrote that the "Bolshevik communists were not merely atheists but, according to Lenin's terminology, militant atheists."[40] However, prior to this, the Reign of Terror of the French Revolution established a state which was anti-Roman Catholicism/Christian in nature [41] (anti-clerical deism and anti-religious atheism and played a significant role in the French Revolution[42]), with the official ideology being the Cult of Reason; during this time thousands of believers were suppressed and executed by the guillotine.[43]

See also: Atheism vs. Christianity

The atheism in communist regimes has been and continues to be militant atheism and various acts of repression including the razing of thousands of religious buildings and the killing, imprisoning, and oppression of religious leaders and believers.[44]

The persecution of Christians in the Soviet Union was the result of the violently atheist Soviet government. In the first five years after the October Revolution, 28 bishops and 1,200 priests were murdered, many on the orders of Leon Trotsky. When Joseph Stalin came to power in 1927, he ordered his secret police, under Genrikh Yagoda to intensify persecution of Christians. In the next few years, 50,000 clergy were murdered, many were tortured, including crucifixion. "Russia turned red with the blood of martyrs", said Father Gleb Yakunin of the Russian Orthodox Church.[45] According to Orthodox Church sources, as many as fifty million Orthodox believers may have died in the twentieth century, mainly from persecution by Communists.[46]

In addition, in the atheistic and communist Soviet Union, 44 anti-religious museums were opened and the largest was the 'The Museum of the History of Religion and Atheism' in Leningrads Kazan cathedral.[47] Despite intense effort by the atheistic leaders of the Soviet Union, their efforts were not effective in converting the masses to atheism.[48]

China is a communist country. In 1999, the publication Christian Century reported that "China has persecuted religious believers by means of harassment, prolonged detention, and incarceration in prison or 'reform-through-labor' camps and police closure of places of worship." In 2003, owners of Bibles in China were sent to prison camps and 125 Chinese churches were closed.[50] China continues to practice religious oppression today.[51]

The efforts of China's atheist leaders in promoting atheism, however, is increasingly losing its effectiveness and the number of Christians in China is rapidly growing (see: Growth of Christianity in China). China's state sponsored atheism and atheistic indoctrination has been a failure and a 2007 religious survey in China indicated that only 15% of Chinese identified themselves as atheists.[52]

North Korea is a repressive communist state and is officially atheistic.[53] The North Korean government practices brutal repression and atrocities against North Korean Christians.[54]

See also: Atheism and mass murder

It has been estimated that in less than the past 100 years, governments under the banner of communism have caused the death of somewhere between 40,472,000 to 259,432,000 human lives.[55] Dr. R. J. Rummel, professor emeritus of political science at the University of Hawaii, is the scholar who first coined the term democide (death by government). Dr. R. J. Rummel's mid estimate regarding the loss of life due to communism is that communism caused the death of approximately 110,286,000 people between 1917 and 1987.[56]Richard Dawkins has attempted to engage in historical revisionism concerning atheist atrocities and Dawkins was shown to be in gross error.

See also: Atheistic communism and torture

The website Victimsofcommunism.org declares concerning atheistic communism and the use of torture:

For more information, please see: Atheistic communism and torture

In atheistic communist regimes forced labor has often played a significant role in their economies and this practice continues to this day (see: Atheism and forced labor).[60]

See also: Communist China and involuntary organ harvesting

Several researchers for example, Canadian human rights lawyer David Matas, former Canadian parliamentarian David Kilgour, and the investigative journalist Ethan Gutmann estimate that tens of thousands of Falun Gong prisoners in communist China have been killed to supply a financially lucrative trade in human organs and cadavers, and that these human rights abuses may be ongoing concern.[61] For more information, please see: Communist China and involuntary organ harvesting

Christian apologist Gregory Koukl wrote relative to atheism and mass murder that "the assertion is that religion has caused most of the killing and bloodshed in the world. There are people who make accusations and assertions that are empirically false. This is one of them."[62] Koukl details the number of people killed in various events involving theism and compares them to the much higher tens of millions of people killed under regimes which advocated atheism.[62] As noted earlier, Richard Dawkins has attempted to engage in historical revisionism concerning atheist atrocities and Dawkins was shown to be in gross error.

Koukl summarized by stating:

Nobel Prize winner Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn was asked to account for the great tragedies that occurred under the brutal communist regime he and fellow citizens suffered under.

Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn wrote:

Since then I have spend well-nigh 50 years working on the history of our revolution; in the process I have read hundreds of books, collected hundreds of personal testimonies, and have already contributed eight volumes of my own toward the effort of clearing away the rubble left by that upheaval. But if I were asked today to formulate as concisely as possible the main cause of the ruinous revolution that swallowed up some 60 million of our people, I could not put it more accurately than to repeat: "Men have forgotten God; that's why all this has happened."[63]

Theodore Beale notes concerning atheism and mass murder:

The total body count for the ninety years between 1917 and 2007 is approximately 148 million dead at the bloody hands of fifty-two atheists, three times more than all the human beings killed by war, civil war, and individual crime in the entire twentieth century combined.

The historical record of collective atheism is thus 182,716 times worse on an annual basis than Christianitys worst and most infamous misdeed, the Spanish Inquisition. It is not only Stalin and Mao who were so murderously inclined, they were merely the worst of the whole Hell-bound lot. For every Pol Pot whose infamous name is still spoken with horror today, there was a Mengistu, a Bierut, and a Choibalsan, godless men whose names are now forgotten everywhere but in the lands they once ruled with a red hand.

Is a 58 percent chance that an atheist leader will murder a noticeable percentage of the population over which he rules sufficient evidence that atheism does, in fact, provide a systematic influence to do bad things? If that is not deemed to be conclusive, how about the fact that the average atheist crime against humanity is 18.3 million percent worse than the very worst depredation committed by Christians, even though atheists have had less than one-twentieth the number of opportunities with which to commit them. If one considers the statistically significant size of the historical atheist set and contrasts it with the fact that not one in a thousand religious leaders have committed similarly large-scale atrocities, it is impossible to conclude otherwise, even if we do not yet understand exactly why this should be the case. Once might be an accident, even twice could be coincidence, but fifty-two incidents in ninety years reeks of causation![64]

See also:

See also: Irreligion/religion and war/peace

Louise Ridley (assistant news editor at the Huffington Post UK), Vox Day and others point out that academic studies and other research consistently challenge the link between religion and war.[65]

There is historical evidence indicating that Darwinism was a causal factor for WWI and WWII (see: Irreligion/religion and war/peace and World War I and Darwinism).

See also: Religion and education and Atheistic indoctrination and education and Atheism and intelligence and Atheism and academia and Atheism and academic performance

In the United States, religious belief is positively correlated to education; a study published in an academic journal titled the Review of Religious Research demonstrated that increased education is correlated with belief in God and that "education positively affects religious participation, devotional activities, and emphasizing the importance of religion in daily life."[66]

One of the reasons education is positively correlated with belief in God in the United States is that the demographics of people attending higher education has shifted due to more women and southerners attending higher education (these two groups are more likely to be theists. See: Atheism and women).[67]

Although atheistic indoctrination in school systems can have an effect on individuals (See: Atheist indoctrination), research indicates that social/economic insecurity often has a more significant impact.[68]

For more information, please see:

See also: Atheism and academia

In 2001, the atheist and philosopher Quentin Smith declared:

In 2004, Professor Alister McGrath, professor of historical theology at Wycliffe Hall, Oxford University declared, "The golden age of atheism is over."[70]

For more information please see:

See also: Atheism and intelligence and Atheism and Gardner's theory of multiple intelligences and Causes of atheism

Within various countries, standardized intelligence test (IQ) scores related to the issue of atheists/agnostics vs. theists intelligence scores yield conflicting results.[71][72] Part of the problem is that social scientists use variant definitions of atheism.[73] See also: Atheism, intelligence and the General Social Survey

However, within individuals, families and societies irreligion/religion can have an effect on intelligence - especially over time (See: Atheism and intelligence).

The Flynn effect is the significant and long-sustained increase intelligence test scores measured in many parts of the world from roughly 1930 to the present.[74] In some secular, economically developed countries, the Flynn effect has ceased and their scores on standardized intelligence tests are falling.[75] However, the Flynn effect is continuing in developing countries which tend to be more religious (see: Intelligence trends in religious countries and secular countries).

See also: Atheism and the brain and Religiosity and larger frontal lobes

Brain researchers have conducted a number of studies focusing on the differences between atheists and the religious (see: Atheism and the brain and Religiosity and larger frontal lobes).

In many secular countries intelligence is falling, while in many religious countries intelligence is increasing. See: Intelligence trends in religious countries and secular countries

See: Atheism and the theory of multiple intelligences

Howard Gardner at Harvard University developed the theory of multiple intelligences which has identified various distinct intelligences: interpersonal, intrapersonal, visualspatial, verballinguistic, logicalmathematical, musicalrhythmic, bodilykinesthetic, and naturalistic.[76] Gardner later suggested that moral intelligence may merit being included in his multiple intelligence model.[77]

See also: Atheism and the brain

See the original post:
Atheism - Conservapedia

By Kallie Szczepanski

Question: What Is the Difference between Communism and Socialism?

Answer:

Although the terms are sometimes used interchangeably, and communism and socialism are related concepts, the two systems are different in crucial ways. However, both communism and socialism arose in response to the Industrial Revolution, during which capitalist factory owners grew extremely wealthy by exploiting their workers.

Early in the industrial period, workers toiled under horrendously difficult and unsafe conditions. They might work 12 or 14 hours per day, six days per week, without meal breaks. Workers included children as young as 6, who were valued because their small hands and nimble fingers could get inside the machinery to repair it or clear blockages. The factories often were poorly lit and had no ventilation systems, and dangerous or poorly-designed machinery all too frequently maimed or killed the workers.

In reaction to these horrible conditions within capitalism, German theorists Karl Marx (1818-1883) and Friedrich Engels (1820-1895) created the alternative economic and political system called communism.

In their books, The Condition of the Working Class in England, The Communist Manifesto, and Das Kapital, Marx and Engels decried the abuse of workers in the capitalist system, and laid out a utopian alternative.

Under communism, none of the "means of production" - factories, land, etc. - are owned by individuals. Instead, the government controls the means of production, and all of the people work together.

The wealth produced is shared out among the people based on their needs, rather than on their contribution to the work. The result, in theory, is a classless society where everything is public, rather than private, property.

In order to achieve this communist workers' paradise, the capitalist system must be destroyed through violent revolution. Marx and Engels believed that industrial workers (the "proletariat") would rise up around the world and overthrow the middle class (the "bourgeoisie"). Once the communist system was established, even government would cease to be necessary, as everyone toiled together for the common good.

The theory of socialism, while similar in many ways to communism, is less extreme and more flexible. For example, although government control of the means of production is one possible solution, socialism also allows for workers' cooperative groups to control a factory or farm together.

Rather than crushing capitalism and overthrowing the bourgeoisie, socialist theory allows for the more gradual reform of capitalism through legal and political processes, such as the election of socialists to national office. Also unlike communism, in which the proceeds are divided based on need, under socialism the proceeds are divided based on each individual's contribution to society.

Thus, while communism requires the violent overthrow of the established political order, socialism can work within the political structure. In addition, where communism demands central control over the means of production (at least in the initial stages), socialism allows for more free enterprise among workers' cooperatives.

Both communism and socialism were designed to improve the lives of ordinary people, and to more equitably distribute wealth. In theory, either system should have been able to provide for the working masses. In practice, however, the two had very different outcomes.

Because communism provides no incentive for people to work - after all, the central planners will simply take your products, then redistribute them equally regardless of how much effort you expend - it tended to lead to impoverishment and immiseration. Workers quickly realized that they would not benefit from working harder, so most gave up. Socialism, in contrast, does reward hard work. After all, each worker's share of the profit depends upon her or his contribution to society.

Countries that implemented one or another version of communism in the 20th century include Russia (as the Soviet Union), China, Vietnam, Cambodia, Cuba, and North Korea. In every case, communist dictators rose to power in order to enforce the reordering of the political and economic structure. Today, Russia and Cambodia are no longer communist, China and Vietnam are politically communist but economically capitalist, and Cuba and North Korea continue to practice communism.

Countries with socialist policies, in combination with a capitalist economy and democratic political system, include Sweden, Norway, France, Canada, India and the United Kingdom. In each of these cases, socialism has achieved the moderation of capitalistic drives for profit at any human expense, without disincentivizing work or brutalizing the populace. Socialist policies provide for worker benefits such as vacation time, universal health care, subsidized child-care, etc. without demanding central control of industry.

In short, the practical difference between communism and socialism can be summed up this way: Would you prefer to live in Norway, or in North Korea?

Continue reading here:
Difference Between Communism and Socialism

Ideology

Communism is a socialist movement that aims to create a society without class or money. As an ideology, it imagines a free society without any division, free from oppression and scarcity. The proletariat (working class) overthrow the capitalist system in a social revolution, usually via an armed rebellion.

Democracy is a form of government that gives all eligible citizens an equal say in decisions that affect their lives. All people can participate equally, either directly or through elected representatives, in the creation of laws.

Communism is traced back to 16th century English writer Thomas More, who described a society based on common ownership of property in his book Utopia. It first emerged as a political doctrine after the French Revolution, when Francois Noel Babeuf talked of the desirability of common ownership of land and total equality among citizens. Modern communism emerged from the industrial revolution, when Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels published the Communist Manifesto.

Democracy originated in Athens in ancient Greece. The first democracy was established in 508-7 BC. Athenians were randomly selected to fill government administrative and judicial offices, and the legislative assembly was made up of all Athenian citizens, who had a right to speak and vote. However, this excluded women, slaves, foreigners and anyone under the age of 20.

In the 1917 October Revolution, the Bolshevik Party seized power in Russia. They changed their name to the Communist Party and created a single party regime devoted to implementing a specific type of communism known as Leninism. They nationalized all property and put all factories and railways under government control. After World War II, Communism spread throughout central and eastern Europe, and in 1949, the Communist Party of China established the Peoples Republic of China. Communism also emerged in Cuba, North Korea, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Angola, Mozambique and other countries. By the early 1980s, almost one-third of the worlds population lived in Communist states.

The first nation to become democratic in modern history was the Corsican Republic in 1755. However, it was short-lived, and the first modern nation to establish an official democratic system was France, which established universal male suffrage in 1848. The founding fathers of the United States did not describe their new nation as a democracy, but they also espoused principles of national freedom and equality. All men in the US were nominally given the right to vote in the late 1860s, and full enfranchisement of citizens was secured when Congress passed the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Democracy was a popular government system after World War I, but the Great Depression led to dictatorships throughout much of Europe and Asia. After World War II, the American, British and French sectors of Germany, Austria, Italy and Japan became democracies. By 1960, the majority of countries were nominally democracies, although many had sham elections or were, in reality, communist states. Spain, Portugal, Argentina, Boliva, Uruguay, Brazil and Chile all became democracies in the 1970s to 1990s.

In its ideological form, communism has no governments. However, it considers a dictatorship to be a necessary intermediate stage between capitalism and communism. In practice, communist governments take many different forms, but usually involve an absolute dictator.

Democratic governments take many forms, but in modern democracy, they usually involve elections, where citizens vote for individuals and parties to represent their concerns in government.

There are a wide range of interpretations of communism, usually named after the dictator who created them. They include Marxism, Leninism, Stalinism, Trotskyism, Maoism, Titoism and Eurocommunism.

There are many forms of democracy. They include representative, parliamentary, presidential, constitutional, and direct democracy, as well as constitutional monarchies.

Current communist states are the Peoples Republic of China, the Republic of Cuba, Lao Peoples Democratic Republic and the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. Some people also consider North Korea to be a communist state.

According to Freedom House, there are currently 123 electoral democracies in the world. The World Forum on Democracy claims 58.2% of the worlds population live in democracies.

Communism has been criticized as an ideology because it leads to slow technological advance, reduced incentives, and reduced prosperity. It has also been criticized as unfeasible. Communist states have been criticized for poor human rights records, with the belief that Communist governments have been responsible for famines, purges and war. Stephane Courtois argues that communism was responsible for the deaths of almost 100 million people in the 20th century.

Democracy has been criticized as inefficient and a creator of wealth disparity. It is criticized as a system that allows the uninformed to make decisions with equal weight as the informed, and one which allows for oppression of minorities by the majority.

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Communism vs Democracy - Difference and Comparison | Diffen

Defining Capitalism, Communism, Fascism, Socialism

Caveat: There are some inherent pitfalls trying to offer simple, bite sized definitions of capitalism, socialism, communism and fascism the first being that these are complex concepts concerning both economics and government, so short definitions will be incomplete; the second being that these concepts are not always mutually exclusive (most modern states combine elements of more than one); the third being that historical states defined the terms differently; and finally, some of the terms refer strictly to economic systems (capitalism) while others (fascism) also refer to government and economic systems (communism and fascism).

For a point of reference, the United States is a Constitutional Democratic Republic that has long embraced both capitalism (free markets) and socialism (public schools and universities, and public works parks, roads and highways, sewer and water, dams, harbors, as well as social welfare, such as workers comp, unemployment insurance, social security etc.).

Capitalism In common usage, the wordcapitalismmeans aneconomic systemin which all or most of themeans of productionareprivately ownedandoperated, and theinvestmentofcapitaland theproduction,distributionandprices ofcommodities(goodsandservices) are determined mainly in afree market, rather than by thestate. In capitalism, the means of production are generally operated forprofit.

Socialism Most generally, socialism refers to state ownership of common property, or state ownership of the means of production. A purely socialist state would be one in which the state owns and operates the means of production. However, nearly all modern capitalist countries combine socialism and capitalism.

The University of Idaho, and any other public school or university, is a socialist institutions, and those who attend it or work for it are partaking in socialism, because it is owned and operated by the state of Idaho. The same is true of federal and state highways, federal and state parks, harbors etc.

Communism Most generally, communism refers to community ownership of property, with the end goal being complete social equality via economic equality. Communism is generally seen by communist countries as an idealized utopian economic and social state that the country as a whole is working toward; that is to say that pure communism is the ideal that the Peoples Republic of China is (was?) working toward. Such an ideal often justifies means (such as authoritarianism or totalitariansim) that are not themselves communist ideals.

Fundamentally, communism argues that all labor belongs to the individual laborer; no man can own another man's body, and therefore each man owns his own labor. In this model all "profit" actually belongs in part to the laborer, not, or not just, those who control the means of production, such as the business or factory owner. Profit that is not shared with the laborer, therefore, is considered inherently exploitive.

FascismThe word descends from the Latin fasces, the bundle of sticks used by the Romans to symbolize their empire. This should clue you in that Fascism attempts to recapture both the glory and social organization of Rome.

Most generally, a governmental system led by a dictator having complete power, forcibly suppressing opposition and criticism, regimenting all industry, commerce, etc., and emphasizing an aggressive nationalism and often racism.

Unlike communism, fascism is opposed to state ownership of capital and economic equality is not a principle or goal. During the 1930s and WWII, communism and fascism represented the extreme left and right, respectively, in European politics. Hitler justified both Nazi anti-Semitism and dictatorship largely on the basis of his working to fight-off communism.

The church also played a major role in all of the European fascist countries (Germany, Italy, Spain, Portugal) as the authority on religious and moral issues, which was opposed to the threat of "godless communists".

Mussolini, the Italian father of Fascism, writes that: ..Fascism [is] the complete opposite ofMarxian Socialism, the materialist conception of history of human civilization can be explained simply through the conflict of interests among the various social groups and by the change and development in the means and instruments of production.... Fascism, now and always, believes in holiness and in heroism; that is to say, in actions influenced by no economic motive, direct or indirect. And if the economic conception of history be denied, according to which theory men are no more than puppets, carried to and fro by the waves of chance, while the real directing forces are quite out of their control, it follows that the existence of an unchangeable and unchanging class-war is also denied - the natural progeny of the economic conception of history. And above all Fascism denies that class-war can be the preponderant force in the transformation of society....

After Socialism, Fascism combats the whole complex system of democratic ideology, and repudiates it, whether in its theoretical premises or in its practical application. Fascism denies that the majority, by the simple fact that it is a majority, can direct human society; it denies that numbers alone can govern by means of a periodical consultation, and it affirms the immutable, beneficial, and fruitful inequality of mankind, which can never be permanently leveled through the mere operation of a mechanical process such as universal suffrage....

* A-moral simply means neither moral or immoral. A rock is a-moral. Driving a car is usually a-moral. Killing someone with a rock is usually immoral. Driving drunk is immoral.

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Defining Capitalism, Communism, Fascism, Socialism