Communism - A Failed Russian System

COMMUNISM – A Failed Russian system

“From each, according to his ability, to each according to his need.” This is one of the phrases that crystallize the meaning of communism. In other words, communism is a social, political and economic theory that transformed the world and shaped much of the 1990’s history. It is a system of government in which the state plans and controls the economy and a single party holds power, claiming to make progress toward a higher order in which all goals are equally shared by the people.

Communism has been a major historical theme since the Bolshevik Revolution of Russia in 1917. Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels popularized the communist ideology in their 1848 work, Communist Manifesto. In it, they applied the term communism to a final stage of socialism in which all classes differences would disappear and humankind would live in harmony. For his theory, Karl Marks said: “Communism differs from all previous movements in that it overturns the basis of all earlier relations of production and intercourse, and for the first time consciously treats all natural premises as the creatures of hitherto existing men, strips them of their natural character and subjugates them to the power of the united individuals. Its organization is, therefore, essentially economic, the material production of the conditions of this unity; it turns existing conditions into conditions of unity. The reality, which communism is creating, is precisely the true basis for rendering it impossible that anything should exist independently of individuals, insofar as reality is only a product of the preceding intercourse of individuals themselves." Communism was the theory that workers take over the country with a government that truly represented the people. All people in the country would be equal and there would be no classes. Everyone would work for the good of the country and wealth would be equally shared among all citizens.

Due to the fact that Russia in the early 20th Century was a empire with Tsar as an autocrat ruler who had every right to rule Russia as he liked and the fact that 80% of the population were peasants working with primitive methods (using horses and plugs), Vladimir Ilyich Lenin, the founder of the Bolshevik Party was inspired by the Communist Manifesto and eventually became the first Communist ruler of Russia. The Soviet Union was formed after the two uprisings in Imperial Russia, in March and October 1917, together known as the Russian revolution. After this revolution, the super power known as the Soviet Union was to be created. It would play a major role in world politics for just over 70 years before collapsing into itself. The first Communist ruler of Soviet Union was Vladimir Ilyich Lenin in 1917. The moment Lenin stepped into power, he knew what he wanted. All along, ever since the start, Lenin had wanted a Proletariat Revolution, which had been achieved, and then a Dictatorship of the Proletariat, in which he would be on their behalf. His government would have not any opportunity to decide if they wished to be controlled by other parties. Marx had said in his writings that this was necessary to put down all opposition and put Communist reforms into place. Under his control the Soviet Union underwent many radical changes that led to the development of New Economic Policy (NEP) in 1921. This policy called for some private ownership, but still the government controlled the majority of production. Lenin’s New Economic Policy was, on a most basic level, a relaxation of strict socialism into a loose market society. Free trade was encouraged. Lenin hoped that this injection of capitalism into the economy would drag Soviet Russia into a pure socialism after an adequate waiting period. Trade, manufacturing, and even agriculture began to boom. Restaurants, and shops were set up quickly and offered goods that had previously been absent from the market shelves. Peasants who worked the land began to innovate with new technologies and procedures to offer market crops. However, heavy industry, transportation, foreign trade and banking remained under government control.

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Unfortunately, Lenin died in 1924, and by 1927 the government had nearly abandoned the NEP under Joseph Stalin. He become head of the Soviet Communist Party in 1924 and soon become the most powerful man in Russia. He run the Soviet Union with brut power, removing all that opposed him and the Communist beliefs. This time period was known as the “Great Purge”. Stalin systematically executed anyone who stood in his path. Stalin had millions of people arrested and killed. The government once again changed in its economic status. All private ownership was ended. Industrialization started, and the strength of the Soviet’s Military significantly increased. Under his Five-Year Plan (1928-32) the Soviet government began to nationwide collectivization of agriculture to ensure production and distribution of food supplied to the growing industrial sector and the free labor. By 1933, when the first 5YP ended, 23% of peasants were affected by collectivization (18% of the land). The strongest reason for a policy of mass collectivization was probably the crisis in food supply. Mass collectivization was seen by the government, as the only way to feed the country, to sustain industrialization and to survive. By the end of the five-year period, however, agricultural output had declined by 23%. This eventually led to food shortages. Every day, women would go from shop to shop to get items. It is estimated that a Soviet woman spent two hours in line every day seven days a week waiting for what they need. During this period the Second World War broke out and drained most of what was left of the already improved state. However, after the war, national unity was improved and the Soviet Union once again became a super power of the world.

Stalin’s death in 1953 marked the end of the supreme power for the head of the Soviet Party. Stalin’s successor, Nikita Khrushchev, marked the beginning of the fall of Communism in the Soviet Union. He believed Stalin’s actions were unnecessary and harmful to the process of moving the Socialist government to its goal of complete Communism. During his period of control the public was given some say in the government. A new policy of economy brought in known as “New Course”. It helped to balance the agriculture and increase food production, so there were less food shortages. On the whole, growth in the 1950s and 1960s was the result of improvements in labor productivity. There was a tendency for the capital-labor ratio to rise from 6.9% annually between 1950 - 1958 to 15.7% annually between 1958 - 1964. “The capital-output ratio was also tending to rise. Thus the increases in labor productivity were expensive, and the USSR was being "out-performed" by a number of capitalist countries. The Soviet figure for output per man-hour is higher than per employed person because of the reduction in average working hours in this period.” (http://econc10.bu.edu/economic_systems/Economics/Economic_History/FSU/khruschev.htm)

Although Nikita Khurshev started a process of reform he was dismissed due to massive shortages of dairy products. After the dismissal of Khurshev, Leonid Brezhnev became a head of Soviet Party in 1964. Under control central power was brought back into effect. Stalin’s disciplinary policies were restored. During this time there was an inefficient use of land which resulted in an economic stop once again. The 1980’s saw a dramatic drop in the standards of the Soviet citizens. The industrial shortfalls were felt most sharply in the sphere of consumer goods, where the public steadily demanded improved quality and increased quantity. Agricultural development continued to lag in the Brezhnev years. Despite steadily higher investments in agriculture, growth under Brezhnev fell below that attained under Khrushchev. This led to strikes against the government, which greatly threatened the stability of the Soviet Union.

March 1985 marked a turning point in the Communist Rule of Russia. Mikhail Gorbachev was elected to the position of General Secretary. He was fully aware of what he had to do to keep Communism alive in Russia. He began a program called “Perestroika” which was intended to help rebuild the government and military, but the main purpose of this program was to improve the Soviet standard of living. This economic policy helped to move the country towards a free market economy. There was the legalization of individual and family enterprises along with the ownership of joint stock companies. This gave enterprises more control over their budgets thusly less government interaction. Under Gorbachev, the national income average increased to 4.1% annually and labor productivity increased to 4.6% annually, rates that the Soviet Union had not achieved since the early 1970s.

However, in the end Perestroika, which was designed to restructure and improve Soviet socialism, failed. In 1991, the economy got worse before the eyes of Gorbachev, and he could do nothing to stop it. Soon following, the USSR voted itself out of existence in December 1991, and Gorbachev resigned as president of the former Soviet Union.

Eventually, Communism completely destroyed the Soviet Empire. The parasite of Communism finally drained the last bit of strength from the Russian nation in the late 1980’s and 1990’s, resulting in a sensational break-up of Soviet control.

The break up of the Communist regime in the Soviet Union was more than a political event. The powerful bond between the economy and politics of Russia created an unusual situation for the successor’s states of the Soviet Union. The people of Russia were so accustom to the way of life under Communism; they were left with little democratic tradition. Russia was faced with one of the toughest tasks, economic democratization.

In 1991 the Democratic Party and its leader, Boris Yeltsin, was left in control of Russia after replacing the Communist Party. The democrats had a major problem in order to completely get rid of Communism; they would have to do a great deal of damage to everything communism had left in the county. This included Russia’s economy and political structure. On October 28, 1991 Yeltsin finally announced several drastic changes that would begin the transition. Prices of common products, which had been controlled by the government up until now, would be set free by the end of the year, and privatization would begin. This plan was known as “stock therapy”. This economic plan also opened Russia to foreign investments. The Russian people were not ready for this sudden economic freedom, and number of problems occurred. Inflation caused prices to go up 300% in the first month, and 2,591% by the end of 1992. This resulted in a terrible state of economy. Yeltsin was able to privatize the enterprises responsible for 70% of Russian’s gross domestic product by the end of his presidency.

However, the greatest economic recovery Russia achieved under Vladimir Putin presidency. The progress made by Russian economy in the past eight years is truly impressive. GDP has gone up about 70%, industrial growth has been 75% and investments have increased by 125%, ranking Russia among the world’s top 10 economies. Now the Russians economy is facing more challenging task of making transition to an innovation-driven economy.

For Communism, Gorbachev once said: “I thought I could improve the system, but I came to realize that system such as this, which was built by the force of Lenin and Stalin, a system that survived only thanks to the strength of Red-Army and the fear from it, will not be able to survive as a democracy – because of that same fair.” Even though the Communism is a failed system in Russia, it transformed the world, created wars, and in effect divided the world into capitalist and communist during the 1900’s. Today, in this modern society peoples values a capitalist society. They say that competition leads to invention and the achievement of people’s fullest potential. However, although it was failed system in Russia and seems to be impractical, its influence is still present around the world and, even in Russia today. Nations like North Korea, Cuba, Vietnam and China continue to be Communist, although market reforms have been introduced.

Bibliography of Sources:

“Causes and Consequences of the Collapse of Communism in Eastern Europe”; Martyn Rady; Paintree Steck – Vaughn Publishers, Austrian, Texas; 1996
“A Short History of Communism”; Robert Harrey; Dunne Books, St. Martin’s Press, New York; 2004
A History of Soviet Russia; Dziewanowski, M.K.; Prentice Hall, New Jersey; 1989
The Rise and Fall of Communism in Russia; Robert Vincent Daniels; Yale University Press; 2007