• Paul Robeson - American singer who converted to Communism after realizing its ability to free African-Americans
    • Sang to workers at who were working on the Sydney Opera House; took a break from working on the construction to listen to him
    • Shows power of world communism, people were allowed to openly listen and be entertained from communists
    • Sings worldwide because he fears that the United States will revoke his passport, thus preventing him from singing again
  • Communism
    • Three definitions given
      • A social order where there is no private property, no class structure, and production focuses on social needs rather than profit
      • A political ideology that wishes to overthrow capitalism and create the social order
      • A political system that claim to be realizing the communist social order, such as Vietnam, China, etc.
    • Governments that adopted communism address social equality, but did little to address political inequality, as governments (and their countries) were very top heavy
  • The Communist Manifesto
    • Published in 1848 by Marx and Engels during an era with many European revolutions; Hungarians, Czechs, French, etc.
    • Argues that capitalism is the cause of the current chaos, as it causes economic crises and a conflict between the ruling class/wealthy (bourgeoisie) and the working class (proletariat)
      • Market crashes are caused by a degenerate search for increased profits, and they cause the unemployment of thousands of workers
      • Keep in mind that this occurred during the Industrial Revolution where economics was revolutionized
    • Praises capitalism for its innovation and increased productivity, but discredits it for the inequality and exploitation it brought
      • Despite the increased productivity, many live in poverty, only able to live day-to-day with no owned property other than their labor
    • The Manifesto attempts to trask capitalism throughout history and predict where it will go
    • Theorized that the working-class revolution would occur in the most industrially developed countries (Western Europe, North America)
      • Historically inaccurate; most successful communist movements occurred in agrarian countries with feudal relations
  • History of Communism: image
    • Begins with Russia trying to “ignite the spark” and create communist movements throughout Europe; unsuccessful
    • The Communist International (Comintern) attempts to start communist movements in the East, successful in China
    • Timeline only focuses on states but doesn’t highlight smaller movements
  • Communist Movements in Non-Communist States
    • Italy had the largest Communist Party in Western Europe, and Indonesia had the largest Communist Party outside of USSR and China
    • Appealed to women (equality), workers (better working cnoditions), colonized states (self-determination), minorities (racial equality), underdeveloped countries (model of economic development)
  • Communism as World-Building
    • Global scale of ambition
      • Capitalism was the first global political-economic system, and communism would need to be global as well in order to compete
    • International networks, institutions
      • Many communist groups were created, but some of them were cultural rather than political (such as music/art groups)
    • Life World
      • Communism acted as a religion; communist unions, student groups, schools, etc.
      • Creates a community
  • Communist World-Destroying
    • Various tragedies have occurred under communist regimes, resulting in the deaths of millions