What do communists do

Skip to content. Image Soldiers Marching in Beijing China is one of just five proclaimed communist nations left. Twitter Facebook Pinterest Google Classroom. Encyclopedic Entry Vocabulary. Industrial Revolution. Media Credits The audio, illustrations, photos, and videos are credited beneath the media asset, except for promotional images, which generally link to another page that contains the media credit. Media If a media asset is downloadable, a download button appears in the corner of the media viewer.

Text Text on this page is printable and can be used according to our Terms of Service. Interactives Any interactives on this page can only be played while you are visiting our website. Related Resources. Forms of Government. View Collection. Industrialization, Labor, and Life. View leveled Article. View Article. The Global Network. These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'communism. Send us feedback. French communisme , from commun common.

See more words from the same year. Accessed 12 Nov. More Definitions for communism. Nglish: Translation of communism for Spanish Speakers. Britannica English: Translation of communism for Arabic Speakers. Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free! Log in Sign Up. Save Word. Essential Meaning of communism. Full Definition of communism. The Cold War ended with the collapse of the Soviet Union in Communism failed due to several reasons, including a lack of profit incentive among citizens, the failure of central planning, and the impact of power being seized by such a small number of people, who then exploited it and gamed the system.

While there has been extensive study of the reasons for communism's failure, researchers have pinpointed a couple of common factors that contributed to its demise. The first is an absence of incentives among citizens to produce for profit. The profit incentive leads to competition and innovation in society.

But an ideal citizen in a communist society was selflessly devoted to societal causes and rarely stopped to think about his or her welfare. The second reason for communism's failure was the system's inherent inefficiencies, such as centralized planning.

This form of planning requires aggregation and synthesis of enormous amounts of data at a granular level. Because all projects were planned centrally, this form of planning was also complex. In several instances, growth data was fudged or error-prone in order to make facts fit into planned statistics and create an illusion of progress.

The concentration of power into the hands of select few also bred inefficiency and, paradoxically enough, provided them with incentives to game the system for their benefit and retain their hold on power. Corruption and laziness became endemic features of this system and surveillance, such as the one that characterized East German and Soviet societies, was common.

It also disincentivized industrious and hard-working people. The end result was that the economy suffered. Your Privacy Rights. To change or withdraw your consent choices for Investopedia. At any time, you can update your settings through the "EU Privacy" link at the bottom of any page.

These choices will be signaled globally to our partners and will not affect browsing data. We and our partners process data to: Actively scan device characteristics for identification. I Accept Show Purposes.

Your Money. Personal Finance. Your Practice. Popular Courses. Table of Contents Expand. What Is Communism? In the state of Kerala in India, where the communist party is strong and influential often winning elections , it has helped to build a relatively strong economy, educational system and social safety net. In terms of economic performance, China, where the Communist Party rules with no other legal parties, has been outstanding in recent decades; while in Cuba, also with a one-party community party-ruled government, economic performance has been weak but social indicators life expectancy, educational level have been remarkably good.

These three cases are examples of very different systems ruled by communists. View more questions.