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COMMUNISM: Failure of Communism in India, Pros and Cons of Communism, Difference between Socialism and Communism

Communism is an economic system where the group owns the factors of production. Communism, a political and economic doctrine that aims to replace private property and a profit-based economy with public ownership and communal control of at least the major means of production and the natural resources of a society. Communism is thus a form of socialism—a higher and more advanced form, according to its advocates. German philosopher Karl Marx developed the theory of communism.



    For much of the 20th century, in fact, about one-third of the world’s population lived under communist regimes. These regimes were characterized by the rule of a single party that tolerated no opposition and little dissent. In place of a capitalist economy, in which individuals compete for profits, moreover, party leaders established a command economy in which the state-controlled property and its bureaucrats determined wages, prices, and production goals.

    The inefficiency of these economies played a large part in the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, and the remaining communist countries (excepting North Korea) are now allowing greater economic competition while holding fast to one-party rule.

  In his Critique of the Gotha Programme (1875), Karl Marx identified two phases of communism – meant to overthrow capitalism – the first would be a transitional system in which the working class would control the government and economy yet still find it necessary to pay people on predominantly quantitative analysis; the second would be fully realized communism—a society without class divisions or government, in which the production and distribution of goods would be based upon the principle “From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs.”


Marxist Communism:

Marxism => Marxism, first developed by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels in the mid-19th century, has been the foremost ideology of the communist movement. Marxism considers itself to be the embodiment of scientific socialism. Marxism does not see communism as a "state of affairs" to be established but rather as the expression of a real movement, with parameters that are derived from real life and not based on any intelligent design. An important concept in Marxism is socialization vs nationalization. Nationalization is state ownership of property whereas socialization is the control and management of property by society. Marxism considers socialization its goal and considers nationalization a tactical issue, with state ownership still being in the realm of the capitalist mode of production. 




Leninism => Leninism is the body of political theory, developed by and named after the Russian revolutionary and later Soviet premier Vladimir Lenin.  Leninism comprises socialist political and economic theories developed from orthodox Marxism as well as Lenin's interpretations of Marxist theory for practical application to the socio-political conditions of the agrarian early 20th-century Russian Empire.


Stalinism => Marxism–Leninism is a political ideology developed by Joseph Stalin, which according to its proponents is based on Marxism and Leninism. The term describes the specific political ideology which Stalin implemented in the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and on a global scale in the Comintern.  Marxism–Leninism is the socioeconomic system and political ideology implemented by Stalin in the Soviet Union and later copied by other states based on the Soviet model (central planning, one-party state, and so on), whereas Stalinism refers to Stalin's style of governance.

In the last letters before his death, Lenin in fact warned against the danger of Stalin's personality and urged the Soviet government to replace him.


Maoism => Maoism is the theory derived from the teachings of the Chinese political leader Mao Zedong. Developed from the 1950s until the Deng Xiaoping reforms in the 1970s, it was widely applied as the guiding political and military ideology of the Communist Party of China and as a theory guiding revolutionary movements around the world. 

    Marxism–Leninism–Maoism builds upon Marxism–Leninism, and Maoism. Its proponents refer to Marxism–Leninism–Maoism as Maoism and Maoism as Mao Zedong Thought also referred to as Marxism–Leninism–Mao Zedong Thought, the Chinese adaptation of Marxism–Leninism.


Communism in India:

Communism in India has existed as a political movement since at least as early as the 1920s. In its early years, the ideology was harshly suppressed through legal prohibitions and criminal prosecutions. 



Communism was brought in India by Stalin’s representatives, both foreign and domestic. Following the Russian Revolution, Bipin Chandra Pal and Bal Gangadhar Tilak were amongst the prominent Indians who expressed their admiration of Lenin and the new rulers in Russia. During the 1920s and the early 1930s, the Communist Party of India (CPI) existed but was badly organized, and in practice, there were several communist groups working with limited national coordination. The British colonial authorities had banned all communist activity, which made the task of building a united party very difficult.

As of 2019, the Communist Party of India (Marxist) is the largest communist party in India. The party emerged from a split from the Communist Party of India in 1964. CPI(M) is leading the state government in Kerala and has elected members in 8 state legislative assemblies including Kerala, West Bengal, Tripura, Himachal Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha, Jammu & Kashmir, and Rajasthan. It also leads the West Bengal Left Front.  

Communism, as a social ideology and as a dominant national political force, did not flourish in India. The most lethal blow to the already drowning ship of communism was the liberalization of the Indian economy under PM Rao’s regime. It made socialism look like an old and failed system of economic governance, which, in turn, made communism look the same. The final nail in the coffin might come in the form of the 2014 and 2019 general elections, where Left Parties across the country were quashed(1), thrashed, and eventually trashed. The situation for communist parties is grieving with Kerala being the only state left with the left. Communism in India never managed to become a force as it was in the former Soviet Union, China, Vietnam, or any other communist state.


Socialism Vs Communism :

=> Communism is most similar to socialism. In both, the people own the factors of production. The most significant difference is that output is distributed according to need in communism, and according to ability under socialism. Communism is most different from capitalism, where private individuals are the owners, but it is similar to fascism in that both use central plans

=>   Under communism, there is no such thing as private property. All property is communally owned, and each person receives a portion based on what they need. A strong central government—the state—controls all aspects of economic production, and provides citizens with their basic necessities, including food, housing, medical care, and education.

By contrast, under socialism, individuals can still own property. But industrial production, or the chief means of generating wealth, is communally owned and managed by a democratically elected government.

=> Another key difference between socialism and communism is the means of achieving them. In communism, a violent revolution in which the workers rise up against the middle and upper classes is seen as an inevitable part of achieving a pure communist state. Socialism is a less rigid, more flexible ideology. Its adherents(2) seek change and reform but insist on making these changes through democratic processes within the existing social and political structure, not overthrowing that structure.


Pros of Communism:

=> Communism has a centrally planned economy; it can quickly mobilize economic resources on a large scale, execute massive projects, and create industrial power. 

=> Communist command economies can wholly transform societies to conform to the planner's vision. Examples include Stalinist Russia, Maoist China, and Castro's Cuba.


Cons of communism:

=> The most significant disadvantage of communism stems from its elimination of the free market. The laws of supply and demand don't set prices—the government does. 

=> Planners lose the valuable feedback these prices provide about what the people want. They can't get up-to-date information about consumers' needs, and as a result, there is often a surplus of one thing and shortages of others.

=> To compensate, citizens create a black market to trade the things the planners don't provide, which destroys the trust in Marx's pure communism. People no longer feel the government can give "to each according to his needs."


What failed communism in India?:



=> India is a fundamentally non-violent society, structurally different from other hotbeds of communist doctrine. Ranging from the Hindu, Jain, and Buddhist ethic of ahimsa, “nonviolence toward all living things”, to satyagraha, a form of nonviolent civil disobedience preached and practiced by Mahatma Gandhi, nonviolence clearly carries a significance in Indian society unfamiliar to most other cultures.

=> Western influences and adaptations, particularly democratic form of governance, played a vital role in repulsing communism from masses. 

=> Indian democracy deliberately functioned in an anti-communist social way, promoting a multi-party system and promoting identity neutralism and non-selectivity. 

=> Eventually the role of the government crackdown on far-left communist militants played a significant and hard-hitting blow knocking the communist dream to the ground. Despite Majumdar’s effort to incite a revolutionary tide in the manner of Mao in interwar China, several roadblocks prevented a successful communist takeover of India. 

=> Most explicitly, a more organized and stronger government crackdown helped contain the communist threat. The 1971 Bangladesh war provided India with an opportunity of increasing military or armed presence in West Bengal. The Indian government used the opportunity to call for a counter communist insurgency operation via both the army and police. 

=> Communism in India was always a failed experiment. Acting as genetically opposite of basic ‘Idea of India’ communism publishes totalitarianism(3) and state control along with encouraging anti-democratic behaviors. History tells us no ideology has ever been successful in flourishing(4) in India if it failed to resonate with the common masses. Violence and terror never got hold of Indian society.

Shailendra



1. quashed - अभिखंडित 2. adherents - अनुयायी
3. totalitarianism - सर्वसत्तावाद 4. flourishing - समृद्धिशाली

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