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For historical background, link to Socialism, Communism, Robert Owen and Karl Marx

Cross-Links

• AP World History Period 6.3:  New Conceptualizations

• The 1949 Communist Revolution in China

• Major Developments in late 20th Century Chinese History

The Communist Economic System

"The beliefs of communism, most famously expressed by Karl Marx, center on the idea that inequality and suffering result from capitalism. Under capitalism, private business people and corporations own all the factories, equipment and other resources called "the means of production."

These owners, according to communist doctrine, can then exploit workers, who are forced sell their labor for wages.

The working class — or "proletariat" — must rise up against the capitalist owners, or "bourgeoisie," according to the ideals of communism, and institute a new society with no private property, no economic classes and no profits.

Historically, such communist revolutions have never yielded their intended utopias of equality. Communist theory predicts that, after the proletariat revolution, special leaders must temporarily take control of the state, leading it toward an eventual "true" communist society.

Thus, the governments of the Soviet Union, communist China, Cuba and others were intended to be provisional. In practice, these "temporary" governments have held on to power, often subjecting their citizens to authoritarian control". (source)

Link here for a crash course video on Capitalism and Socialism which discusses the industrial period in which communist thought originated and why. 

Link to a PDF version of The Communist Manifesto

Link here for a condensed PDF version of F.A. Hayek's Road to Serfdom, which is widely considered to be one of the best critiques of centrally planned communist economies.

Three Communist Countries

Venezuela’s Economy: From Riches to Rags

Under Chavez:

Relied heavily on oil for social reforms

Borrowed a lot of money

Nationalized everything

Imported everything

Oil prices drop, Chavez dies

Basic essentials began to disappear

Inflation projected for 2018 of 13,000%

Soviet Economy

Five year plans were used to organize the Soviet economy.  This was part of the pre-communist, state controlled phase.  They stressed heavy industry and collectivized farming. They cost the lives of millions who died of famine, especially in the Ukraine.  Although industrial output did increase, consumer goods were scarce.

See this Encyclopedia Britannica article for details on five year plans.

Women in the Soviet Union spent a lot of time waiting in line.  Businesses were often inefficient, since the state run economy did not motivate them to operate smoothly.  Read this New York Times article from 1970 about waiting in line in the Soviet Union, and purported cases of cashiers stealing.  It concludes with saying that a Soviet housewife’s principal desire must be to stop waiting in line so much. When you read the article, think about the fact that it was written for an American audience during the height of the Cold War.  With what suspicion must we view it?

Chinese Economy

The Great Leap Forward was intended to bypass the need for gathering capital and large scale machinery for industry.  The Soviets had advised the Chinese to sell agricultural surplus, acquire capital, and build massive factories. Having a dense population and little agricultural surplus, this didn’t work for China.  So Mao created a system of communes in which labor intensive, small scale industry would be used. The communes weren’t very efficient, with power given to those loyal to the party, not the competent ones.  Millions people died of starvation due to the resulting agricultural failure. The plan was eventually abandoned.

See this Encyclopedia Britannica article for details on the Great Leap Forward.

See this lesson plan about the Great Leap Forward.

LInk here for an op-ed on modern day Chinese Communism. 

Link here for an article on eight women who shaped the Russian Revolution, the first communist revolution in world history.