Access to the full text of the entire article is only available to members of institutions that have purchased access. If you belong to such an institution, please log in or find out more about how to order.

Article

Communism, Socialism, Marxism, Bolshevism By Perlea, Georgiana

DOI: 10.4324/9781135000356-REM1340-1
Published: 01/10/2017
Retrieved: 01 October 2023, from
https://www.rem.routledge.com/articles/communism-socialism-marxism-bolshevism

Article

Communism is first and foremost the reality of long-dismantled or nearly defunct regimes in China, the (former) Soviet Union, Eastern Europe, Cuba and North Korea: all notionally egalitarian societies. In the first half of the twentieth century, communist parties established dictatorial regimes that enforced, in the name of socialist goals, the ostensible equality but de facto impoverishment of whole societies over decades of political rule to the sole benefit of party elites.

content locked

Published

01/10/2017

Article DOI

10.4324/9781135000356-REM1340-1

Print

Related Items

Intellectual Currents
Intellectual Currents
Discover key events and debates that shaped the Modernist movement
Modernism in Asia
Modernism in Asia
Explore the fascinating groups, intellectuals and artists that were present in Asia during the modernist period
Modernism in Europe
Modernism in Europe
From Cubism to Bauhaus, Alfred Hitchcock to T.S Eliot discover more about Modernism in Europe
Modernism in Latin America
Modernism in Latin America
Find out about Flamenco, Salsa and the work of Juan Blanco alongside others in Latin America
Bernstein, Eduard (1850–1932)
Bernstein, Eduard (1850–1932)
Eduard Bernstein was a prominent politician in the German Social Democratic Party (SPD), which in the late nineteenth century was the largest workers’ party in…
Chiang Kai-shek (1887–1975)
Chiang Kai-shek (1887–1975)
Chiang Kai-shek (also known as Jiǎng Jièshí 蔣介石 or Jiǎng Zhōngzhèng 蔣中正) was a Chinese soldier and statesman, head of the Nationalist government from 1928 to 1949, and head of…
Chinese Revolution of 1911
Chinese Revolution of 1911
The Chinese Revolution of 1911, also known as the Xinhai Revolution (辛亥革命, Xinhai Geming), ended China’s centuries-old traditions of Imperialism and Feudalism, and led to…
Gramsci, Antonio (1891–1937)
Gramsci, Antonio (1891–1937)
Antonio Gramsci is among the most influential political and cultural theorists of the twentieth century and one of the most important Marxists. Born in Sardinia,…
Hore, Somnath (1921–2006)
Hore, Somnath (1921–2006)
Born at the beginning of the 1920s, and acquiring academic training during the mid 1940s, Somnath Hore represents a generation of artists in Bengal, India,…
Hughes, Langston (1902–1967)
Hughes, Langston (1902–1967)
Langston Hughes was one of the most accomplished, influential writers of the 20th century. Influenced by the inclusive ‘I’ of Walt Whitman and the musical…
Internationalism
Internationalism
The term ‘Internationalism’ (internationalisme; Internationalismus) was coined in the mid-nineteenth century to denote those movements that called for involvement in events beyond national and imperial…
Lenin, Vladimir (1870–1924)
Lenin, Vladimir (1870–1924)
Vladimir Lenin (born Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov) was the most prominent figure in the translation of Marxist political economy and theories of proletarian revolution into successful…
Makavejev, Dušan (1932–)
Makavejev, Dušan (1932–)
Dušan Makavejev is an avant-garde Marxist Serbian filmmaker whose film techniques, exuberant black humour, and sexual and political transgressive themes made him one of the…
Mariategui, José Carlos (1894–1930)
Mariategui, José Carlos (1894–1930)
José Carlos Mariátegui was the most influential Latin American Marxist of the twentieth century. From 1914 to 1920 he worked as a journalist in Lima,…
Orwell, George (1903–1950)
Orwell, George (1903–1950)
George Orwell is the pseudonym of Eric Arthur Blair. A writer, poet, journalist, broadcaster and critic, he is best known for his satirical novel Animal…
Politics and Cinema
Politics and Cinema
The relationship between politics and the cinema is probably one of the most vexatious questions to have occupied the academic discipline of film studies, and…
Reed, John (1887–1920)
Reed, John (1887–1920)
Born in Portland, Oregon in 1887, John Reed was a radical American journalist known for his depictions of early twentieth-century labour politics and political revolutions.…
Shi’r
Shi’r
The journal, Shi’r (Poetry 1957–70) was established in Beirut by Yūsuf al-Khāl and the poet theorist Adunis to save poetry from politics. It emerged as…
Sri Sri (1910–1983)
Sri Sri (1910–1983)
Srirangam Srinivasa Rao (1910–83), popularly known as Sri Sri, was a widely acclaimed Telugu poet and public personality who championed the cause of oppressed people…
Stalin, Joseph (1878–1953)
Stalin, Joseph (1878–1953)
Joseph Stalin (Iusif Vassarionovich Dzhugashvili) was born in Gori, Russian Empire, which is part of present-day Georgia. He adopted the name ‘Stalin’ from the Russian…
Syndicalism
Syndicalism
Syndicalism is a social and political program advocating an economic system based on equal ownership of production and democratic rule by federated trade unions. Peculiar…
Webb, Beatrice (1858–1943) and Sidney (1859–1947)
Webb, Beatrice (1858–1943) and Sidney (1859–1947)
Beatrice and Sidney Webb were leading intellectual advocates of socialist reform in England. Beatrice Webb (née Potter) was born into a wealthy family, but her…
Weimar Republic
Weimar Republic
The Weimar Republic (1918/1919–1933) is a term used to describe the German Reich (Deutsches Reich) after the end of World War I and after the…
Ziadeh, May (1886–1941)
Ziadeh, May (1886–1941)
May Ziadeh was a prominent literary figure and salonnière in the Arab world in the late nineteenth century and early twentieth century. A journalist, essayist,…
Zweig, Arnold (1887–1968)
Zweig, Arnold (1887–1968)
Arnold Zweig was born on November 10, 1887 to a Jewish family in Glogau, Silesia (now Glogów, Poland). As an anti-war and anti-fascist activist as…
Citing this article:

Perlea, Georgiana. "Communism, Socialism, Marxism, Bolshevism." The Routledge Encyclopedia of Modernism. : Taylor and Francis, 2016. Date Accessed 1 Oct. 2023 https://www.rem.routledge.com/articles/communism-socialism-marxism-bolshevism. doi:10.4324/9781135000356-REM1340-1

Copyright © 2016-2023 Routledge.