Communism Essay

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Andrew Wodarcyk Freshman English Mr. J. Pharion 11 February 2008 Communism During the Russian Revolution Communism was founded on the ideas of Karl Marx and failed because of flaws in the system, mainly in the leadership. To understand why communism failed, one must have researched the principles of Marxism; because of the way that Communism was based upon Marxism. To compare and contrast Communism and Marxism, it would be necessary to research the principles of Communism also. Since there were three leaders during the time of Soviet Communism, understanding the principles of each would be necessary. The first was Vladimir Lenin, whose style of government was referred to as Leninism. The second was Joseph Stalin, whose style of government was referred to as Totalitarianism. The third and last major leader during the Russian Revolution was Leon Trotsky. His style of leadership was called Trotskyism, which was essentially Marxism, with a few differences. Overall, Marxism, Leninism, Totalitarianism, and Trotskyism were the basic principles of Communism during the Russian Revolution, and their personal principles created the downfall of Russian Socialism. The concept of Marxism was based on the ideas of Karl Marx, who formed his government based on two main social classes, the Bourgeois and the Proletariat. The Bourgeois was the social class the owned the means of producing wealth. The Proletariat was the means of production, in other words, the working class. Marx believed that in a Capitalist society, the Bourgeois was dominant, which he believed to not make sense. He believed that the Proletariat did so much of the work for society, and made up the majority of the population is Russia that they should run the government. Therefore the main principle of Marxism was to make the Proletariat politically equal, and in
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