Communist Countries 2019

Communism is a political movement that also incorporates philosophy and socialogy into its ideologies. You can think of communism as being a political structure that focuses on sharing rather than exploiting and claiming. A very big part of Communism is the emphasis on omitting private property and opting for a world that does not incorporatea any singular ownership whatsoever.

As an opposing ideology to capitalism, Communism can be a very complex political system to understand. You may be wondering, “What exactly is a Communist country?” And, “What are the characteristics of a Communist country?” Let’s talk about how the Communist countries of the world compare to all other countries that do not identify as Communist.

The Foundation of Communism

A Communist country is a nation that is governed by a single party, and the foundation of the ruling leaders’ decisions is based on the philosophies of Marx and Lenin. To fully understand the basis of communism, it helps to learn more about Marx and Lenin, both of whom were philosphers of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

Karl Marx

Karl Marx was born on May 5, 1818. Born in Germany, Marx grew up to become a philosopher who based his beliefs on aspects of economics, history, journalism, political theory, revolutions, and sociology. He established a way of thinking known as Marxism.

Essentially at its core, Marxism advocates for the working class of an economy. It zeroes in on the differences between classes and how that impacts the functioning of a society. The theory views capitalism as the source of many problems, and Marxism is in direct conflict with capitalistic societies. Marxism views capitalism as the cause of lower wages, heightened selfish behaviors, and greed surrounding wealth, as well as the ever-present emphasis on productivity in capitalistic societies.

Through the lens of Marxism, the political agenda that Communism promotes is seen as a form of socialism. The two phases of Communism, as identified by Marx, explain how Communism unfolds and then becomes regularly practiced in a country.

The two phases identified by Marx are...

  1. Capitalism
  2. Socialism

Marx conveyed an idea that countries have to understand capitalism before they can move onto the elevated state that socialism provides. It has been said by Karl Marx that nations will not understand how to uphold a country politically affiliated with Communism if they do not first master the art of capitalism. This applies primarily to third-world countries that need to start from the ground up, not countries that already have a stable grip on their economy.

The end goal of the two-step process is a country that operates under Communist ideologies. In theory, it would be wonderful for nations to be able to make the jump from underdeveloped with no government, to successful and functional without a government, but that is not how it would unfold in the real world.

The reality of that situation would be a chaotic nation that experiences turmoil and corruption. For example, people would need to be paid based on the quality and quantity of their work. But if this understanding is not already deeply ingrained in a society, then everyone would act selfishly and seek success for themselves at the literal expense of everyone else.

The basics need to be instilled, first and foremost. From there, the country will be able to enter the second phase. At this point, the nation would be viewed as a country that implements fully-realized communism, where class divisions and government are no longer in existence.

Vladimir Lenin

Born on April 22, 1870, Vladimir Lenin followed in the footsteps of Marx in that Lenin was a philospher who analyzed politics and crafted theories around what he saw. Lenin did not have identical beliefs to Karl Marx, but his ideologies were deeply rooted in Communism, much like Marx.

Leninism goes so far as to proclaim that socialism can only be achieved once the working class reaches a level of political consciousness that government officials withhold. The working class, under Leninism beliefs, can only overthrow the government and successfully instill socialism once the people understand how the government works. The basic idea is to get inside the heads of government officials, figure out how they operate, and then find ways to unravel their power.

When Marxism and Leninism Combine

Under the combined political theory of Marxism and Leninism, the concept of private property and an economy centered on profits are replaced with public ownership. An overall communal control of both natural resources and the means of production are also characteristics of communism. This includes open access to mills, factories, and mines to name a few sources of production. During the twentieth century, about one-third of the world’s population lived under Communist rule. The region that contained the most heavily concentrated Communist countries was the Soviet Union.

The Soviet Union experienced an inefficient economy, and the poor performance of the Soviet Union led to the country’s economc collapse in the early 1990s.

The countries that were formerly part of the Soviet Union include...

As World War II started coming to an end, many European countries were divided based on the political parties they supported. Nations took sides, with some countries supporting the Axis Powers, while others were in full support of the Allies. A handful of countries that were in agreeance with the Allies became known as the Soviet-controlled Eastern Bloc.

The countries that made up the Eastern Bloc were in favor of communism, and they were officially controlled by the Soviet Union.

These countries included...

The group of countries known as the Balkans were also under total Communist rule. These Balkan countries were recognized as...

Various Asian, Middle Eastern, and African countries that once were communist include…

Communism Today

There are only five remaining Communist countries in the world as of 2019. The modern-day Communist countries are…

Rank Flag Name Population 2019
1China1,433,783,686
2Vietnam96,462,106
3North Korea25,666,161
4Cuba11,333,483
5Laos7,169,455

Communist Countries by Population 2019

  1. A List of Current Communist Countries in the World

Sources