Komünizm
varlıkların, özkaynakların, üretim araçlarının ve üretimin ortak
mülkiyetine, ve mal ve hizmetlerin yaratıkların/bireyin/yurttaşın
tüketim ihtiyaçları dogrultusunda üleşildiği siyasal, ekonomik ve
toplumsal sistem modelidir.
Komünizm, sınıfsız (homojen) bir toplum yaratma amacındadır.
20. yüzyılın başından beri dünya siyasetindeki büyük güçlerden biri
olarak modern komünizm, genellikle Karl Marx'ın ve Friedrich
Engelsin kaleme aldığı Komünist Parti Manifestosu ile birlikte
anılır. Buna göre özel mülkiyete dayalı kapitalist toplumun yerine
meta üretiminin son bulduğu komünist toplum gerçektir. Komünizm'in
temelinde yatan sebep, sınıfsız, ortak mülkiyete dayalı bir toplumun
kurulması isteğidir. Sınıfsız toplumlarda en genel anlamıyla tüm
bireylerin eşit olması hedefenir.
Komünizmi savunan akımlar arasında en yaygını Marksizm-Leninizm'dir.
Marksizm-Leninizm'e göre komünizme giden süreç burjuvazinin ortadan
kalkmasını sağlayacak olan proletarya rejimi başlatılacak ve
ardından komünizmin hazırlayıcısı sosyalizm aşamasına geçilecektir.
Marksist kuramda son aşama olan komünizmin gerçekleşmesiyle devlet
ortadan kalkacaktır.
Leninizm dışında iki komünist akım daha bulunmaktadır. Bunlardan
ilki Marksizm'in temel görüşlerini benimseyen fakat Leninist modelle
komünizm hedefine ulaşılamayacağını iddia eden sol komünizm veya
konsey komünizmi olarak adlandırılan akımdır
Diğer bir komünist akım ise anarşist komünizm'dir. Anarşizmin
bireyci ve kolektivist akımlarından ayrılan anarşist komünizm fikri,
komünizme devlet aygıtını ele geçirerek geçilebileceğini reddeder ve
bunu savunan Marksizm'i eleştirir. Peter Kropotkin, Nestor Makhno,
Errico Malatesta, Carlo Cafiero anarşist komünizm düşüncesinin
temellerini atan düşünürlerden ve eylemcilerden bazılarıdır.
Anarşist komünizm, anarşizm'den "sınıf" gerçeğine göre hareket etme
ve örgütlenme temelinde ayrılır. Savunucuları komünizmin, bilimsel
sosyalizm olmadan gerçekleştirilebileceği üzerinde birleşir.
Anarşist komünizm, devlet'in kapitalizm için bir kılıf olduğunu ve
bu yüzdende sınıfsız bir topluma gidilecek süreçte kullanılmasının
sonucunda "diktatörlük", "devlet kapitalizm"i ya da "bir sözde
zümrenin, toplum üzerinde iktidarı'na yol açacağını düşünür.
Class 12
Reading Marx's Capital Vol 2 with David Harvey
Communism
Communism is a
sociopolitical movement that aims for a stateless and classless society
structured upon common ownership of the means of production, free access
to articles of consumption, the end of wage labour and private property
in the means of production and real estate.
In Marxist theory, communism is a specific stage of historical
development that inevitably emerges from the development of the
productive forces that leads to a superabundance of material wealth,
allowing for distribution based on need and social relations based on
freely-associated individuals.
The exact definition of communism varies, and it is often mistakenly
used interchangeably with socialism; however, Marxist theory contends
that socialism is just a transitional stage on the way to communism. In
modern usage, communism is often used to refer to the policies of states
run by Communist parties, regardless of the type of economic system they
preside over.
A variety of different forms of communism have developed, each based
upon the ideas of different political theorists, usually as additions or
interpretations of various forms of Marxism, the collective philosophies
of Karl Marx. Marxism-Leninism is the synthesis of Vladimir Lenin's
contributions to Marxism, such as how a revolutionary party should be
organised; Trotskyism is Leon Trotsky's conception of Marxism and Maoism
is Mao Tse Tung's interpretation of Marxism to suit the conditions of
China at that time.
Communist theory generally states that the only way to solve the
problems existing within capitalism is for the working class, referred
to as the proletariat, who is the main producer of wealth in society and
is exploited by the capitalist class, as explained in theories such as
surplus value, to replace the bourgeoisie as the ruling class to
establish a society without class divisions, called socialism, as a
prelude to attempting to achieve the final stage of communism.
Pure communism, or the stage in history after socialism, refers to a
classless, stateless society, one where decisions on what to produce and
what policies to pursue are made in the best interests of the collective
society with the interests of every member of society given equal weight
in the practical decision-making process in both the political and
economic spheres of life. Karl Marx, as well as some other communist
philosophers, purposely never provided a detailed description as to how
communism would function as a social system. In the Communist Manifesto,
Marx lays out a 10-point plan advising the redistribution of land and
production to begin the transition to communism.
The origins of communism are debatable, and there are various historical
groups, as well as theorists, whose beliefs have been subsequently
described as communist. Some theorists have considered hunter-gatherer
societies to adhere to a form of primitive communism, whilst historical
figures like Plato and Thomas More have been described as espousing
early forms of the ideology. The communist movement as it is known today
largely took shape in the nineteenth century, when it was developed. In
the twentieth century, revolutions led to openly communist governments
taking power in many countries, leading to the creation of states like
the Soviet Union, the People's Republic of China and the Republic of
Cuba.
In modern usage, communism is often used to refer to the policies of
these governments, which were one party systems operating under
centrally planned economies and a state ownership of the means of
production. Most of these governments based their ideology on
Marxism-Leninism. These governments did not call the system they had set
up "communism", instead claiming that they had set up a transitional
socialist system. This system is sometimes referred to as state
socialism. Many, including those on the left, argue that these states
never made an attempt to transition to a communist society, while others
even argue that they never achieved socialism.
In the 20th and 21st centuries democratic elections led to communist,
and communist inspired, governments being elected in other parts of the
world such as in Bolivia and Venezuela. Today, although communism is a
less influential political force compared to what it was in much of the
twentieth century, there are still powerful communist and aligned
socialist movements in many parts of the world, especially southern Asia
and South America, and since the economic crisis of 2008 there has been
a resurgence of interest in communist theory, especially the theories of
Karl Marx.
In the schema of historical materialism, communism is the idea of a free
society with no division or alienation, where mankind is free from
oppression and scarcity. A communist society would have no governments,
countries, or class divisions.
In Marxist theory, the dictatorship of the proletariat is the
intermediate system between capitalism and communism, when the
government is in the process of changing the means of ownership from
privatism, to collective ownership.
In political science, the term "communism" is sometimes used to refer to
communist states, a form of government in which the state operates under
a one-party system and declares allegiance to Marxism-Leninism or a
derivative thereof.
Marxism
Like other
socialists, Marx and Engels sought an end to capitalism and the
systems which they perceived to be responsible for the exploitation
of workers. Whereas earlier socialists often favored longer-term
social reform, Marx and Engels believed that popular revolution was
all but inevitable, and the only path to socialism and communism.
According to the Marxist argument for communism, the main
characteristic of human life in class society is alienation; and
communism is desirable because it entails the full realization of
human freedom. Marx here follows Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel in
conceiving freedom not merely as an absence of restraints but as
action with content. According to Marx, Communism's outlook on
freedom was based on an agent, obstacle, and goal. The agent is the
common/working people; the obstacles are class divisions, economic
inequalities, unequal life-chances, and false consciousness; and the
goal is the fulfilment of human needs including satisfying work, and
fair share of the product.
They believed that communism allowed people to do what they want,
but also put humans in such conditions and such relations with one
another that they would not wish to exploit, or have any need to.
Whereas for Hegel the unfolding of this ethical life in history is
mainly driven by the realm of ideas, for Marx, communism emerged
from material forces, particularly the development of the means of
production.
Marxism holds that a process of class conflict and revolutionary
struggle will result in victory for the proletariat and the
establishment of a communist society in which private ownership is
abolished over time and the means of production and subsistence
belong to the community. Marx himself wrote little about life under
communism, giving only the most general indication as to what
constituted a communist society. It is clear that it entails
abundance in which there is little limit to the projects that humans
may undertake. In the popular slogan that was adopted by the
communist movement, communism was a world in which each gave
according to their abilities, and received according to their needs.
The German Ideology (1845) was one of Marx's few writings to
elaborate on the communist future:
"In communist society, where nobody has one exclusive sphere of
activity but each can become accomplished in any branch he wishes,
society regulates the general production and thus makes it possible
for me to do one thing today and another tomorrow, to hunt in the
morning, fish in the afternoon, rear cattle in the evening,
criticise after dinner, just as I have a mind, without ever becoming
hunter, fisherman, herdsman or critic."
Marx's lasting vision was to add this vision to a theory of how
society was moving in a law-governed way toward communism, and, with
some tension, a political theory that explained why revolutionary
activity was required to bring it about.
In the late 19th century, the terms "socialism" and "communism" were
often used interchangeably. However, Marx and Engels argued that
communism would not emerge from capitalism in a fully developed
state, but would pass through a "first phase" in which most
productive property was owned in common, but with some class
differences remaining. The "first phase" would eventually evolve
into a "higher phase" in which class differences were eliminated,
and a state was no longer needed. Lenin frequently used the term
"socialism" to refer to Marx and Engels' supposed "first phase" of
communism and used the term "communism" interchangeably with Marx
and Engels' "higher phase" of communism (wp).
