30 Important Communism Facts

By James Israelsen, Associate Writer

Published April 12, 2023

In the mid-20th century, over one-third of the world's population lived under a Communist government._[6]
Despite its stated economic policy, the Chinese government invests heavily in foreign capitalist enterprises._[6]
In 2008, Communist philosopher Karl Marx's book Capital (Das Kapital) became a surprise bestseller in the United States due to the economic recession._[6]
There have been Communist states on four continents: Asia, Europe, South America, and Africa._[6]
Karl Marx (1818-1883), a German philosopher and economist, is considered to be the father of Communism._[6]
Although both Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels developed their theory of Communism in a joint effort, the resultant economic philosophy is called just "Marxism" because Marx was the senior partner._[6]
For Marx, the most important class distinction was that between the "bourgeoisie," the capitalists who owned the factories, and the "proletariat," the workers who didn't have any property of their own._[6]
The most widely read book on Communism is The Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels._[6]
A Communist detention center in Cambodia known as S-21 was so harsh in its treatment of prisoners that only seven of the 20,000 people held there actually survived._[3]

Marx's ideas continue to have far-reaching effects on political and economic life globally

Karl Marx viewed history as a series of necessary events dictated by economic and class struggles. He saw Communism as not merely a desirable outcome but as an inevitable one._[6]
Although Karl Marx encouraged workers to unite in a socialist revolution, he never actually advocated for Communist rule after such a revolution; he believed that would only happen as the result of a gradual revolution._[6]
Starting in 1949, Communist China began to suppress Christianity, forcing all foreign missionaries to leave the country, banning Christian publications, and forcing prominent Chinese Christians to write a declaration of commitment against any "imperialistic organizations," including Christian churches outside China._[7]
The Cambodian Communist Party, or Khmer Rouge, killed roughly two million Cambodian citizens in a genocidal campaign lasting from 1975 to 1979._[3]
The leader of the Communist regime in Cambodia is generally known by his pseudonym Pol Pot, but his actual name was Saloth Sar._[3]
The government of the USSR regularly silenced political dissidents by sending them to psychiatric hospitals, where they were diagnosed as schizophrenics and kept drugged. To facilitate this, USSR psychiatrists ascribed to a fictional mental illness which they called "sluggish schizophrenia"--a form of schizophrenia that supposedly progressed so slowly, patients could be treated before ever manifesting a single symptom._[9][10]
Karl Marx's philosophy of Communism provided the basic worldview inherent in Communist governments, but Lenin, Stalin, and Mao Zedong each had a major influence on the ways Communism has actually been put into practice._[6]

The philosophers have only interpreted the world, in various ways; the point is to change it.

- Karl Marx

The phrase "killing fields" was originally a reference to the mass graves where the Communists in Cambodia buried millions of the victims of their brutal rule._[7]
Currently, the only Communist nations in the world are Laos, Cuba, China, North Korea, and Vietnam._[1][6]
The Berlin Wall was purportedly built to keep fascists from West Berlin out of Communist Germany, but many experts say its real purpose was to stop massive numbers of East Germans from defecting to the West._[4]
In 1961, an American official—on his way to the opera in East Berlin—got into an argument with an East German official at the Berlin Wall, which resulted in a 16-hour face-off between American and Soviet tanks at Checkpoint Charlie._[4]
The Communist regime in Soviet Russia was responsible for inaugurating the Space Age when it launched Sputnik, the first satellite to orbit Earth, in 1957._[5]

Known for his brutality, Mao famously claimed that "political power grows out of the barrel of a gun"

As Mao Zedong's Communist Party gained ascendency during the Chinese Civil War (1927–1949), they established Cultural Takeover Committees in important cities, whose job it was to regulate, censor, and distribute cultural materials in accordance with Communist ideals.
_[7]
Between 1.2 and 1.7 million people are believed to have died while incarcerated in the Gulag, the Soviet Union's labor camps._[11]
The 1932–1933 Ukrainian Famine was actually engineered by Stalin, in order to punish and gain control over the kulaks, a class of farmers whose independent economic success made them, in Stalin's view, enemies of the Soviet state._[8]
Over 50 years ago, the United States began passing economic sanctions against Cuba, hoping the resultant economic downturn would cause the people to remove Fidel Castro from power; three Communist leaders later, the sanctions have still not managed to change Communism in Cuba._[2]
Fidel Castro was the leader of Communist Cuba for nearly 49 years._[2]
Until it's collapse, the USSR provided millions of dollars in subsidies to Communist Cuba to help the regime stay afloat._[2]
The Communist nation of Cuba has the most repressed media and most tightly controlled internet in all of the Americas._[2]
The difference between Communism and socialism is a matter of debate. Communism is generally based on the thought of Karl Marx, but there are many forms of non-Marxian socialism, such as Ricardian socialism, or any form of socialist doctrine that denies the tenets of Marx's historical materialism._[1]
Socialist experiments were proposed in ancient times. From Plato's Kallipolis, or "beautiful city," in Republic, to the communal living experiments of early Christians, sharing goods among the whole community is an old and oft-attempted idea._[1]