communism

noun com·mu·nism \ ˈkäm-yə-ˌni-zəm , -yü- \

Updated on: 15 Apr 2018

Definition of communism

1 a : a system in which goods are owned in common and are available to all as needed

b : a theory advocating elimination of private property

2 capitalized

a : a doctrine based on revolutionary Marxian socialism and Marxism-Leninism that was the official ideology of the U.S.S.R.

b : a totalitarian system of government in which a single authoritarian party controls state-owned means of production

c : a final stage of society in Marxist theory in which the state has withered away and economic goods are distributed equitably

d : communist systems collectively

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Examples of communism in a Sentence

On one side stood Hitler, fascism, the myth of German supremacy; on the other side stood Stalin, communism, and the international proletarian revolution. —Anne Applebaum, New York Review of Books, 25 Oct. 2007
… I grew up in an idyllic midwestern town in the 1950's, when America was obsessed with the threat of communism. In Lawrence, Kansas, people felt the cold war as something real and very close. In the first grade, my teacher pointed to a giant orange blob on the map. That was Russia, Mrs. Postma announced. They were bigger than we were, and they were out to destroy us. —Sara Paretsky, Booklist, 1 May 2003
Like me, he has lived his adult life in the context of the cold war. He was … in some sense always justified, at the back of his mind, by a concept of freedom, of America, that took sharpness from contrast with Communism. —John Updike, New York Times Book Review, 5 Aug. 1990
Communism is a religion of the state, committed to the extinction of the Church. —Flannery O'Connor, The Habit Of Being, 1979

Recent Examples of communism from the Web

That all ended in 1991, said Bechtol, when the Berlin Wall came down, communism in the Soviet Union and its member states collapsed, and Russia opened its economic doors to the West.

— jamie tarabay, CNN, "Readying for Trump, North Korea's Kim engages in steroid diplomacy," 10 Apr. 2018
Critics accuse him of presiding over a centralisation of political and economic power unparalleled since the collapse of communism.

— The Economist, "Viktor Orban is set to continue his illiberal reign," 7 Apr. 2018
The current Czech president, Milos Zeman, was a liberal-minded dissident in the dying years of communism but now courts the far right.

— patrick kingsley, New York Times, "How a Liberal Dissident Became a Far-Right Hero, in Hungary and Beyond," 6 Apr. 2018
With the specter of communism at its doorstep, the Thai conservative establishment curbed the postwar experiment of civilian democratic rule in its quest for stability.

— amar diwakar, The New Republic, "Saffron Curtain: How Buddhism Was Weaponized During the Cold War," 23 Mar. 2018
Capitalism triumphed by providing TVs and cars and political freedoms to an expanding middle class, while communism foundered on its inability to offer any such prizes.

— tom pendergast, WIRED, "The Next Cold War Is Here, and It's All About Data," 28 Mar. 2018
After the war, Hoover labeled Truman soft on communism and used allies in the press to pressure the White House into authorizing investigations of two million government employees.

— justin walker, WSJ, "The FBI Was Dangerous When It Was Independent," 25 Mar. 2018
Gheorghe made his career as a radio and television journalist after communism ended.

— Fox News, "Romanian police order toxicology tests on dead journalist," 20 Mar. 2018
The same road would be even deadlier to North Korea, because while communism can legitimize itself with promises of a more equal society, an ultranationalist state that makes peace with the race enemy has no reason to exist.

— isaac chotiner, Slate Magazine, "Sympathy for North Korea," 3 Jan. 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'communism.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

communism, socialism, capitalism, and democracy

Communism is one of our top all-time lookups, and user comments suggest that’s because it is often used in opaque ways. In some sources, communism is equated with socialism; in others, it is contrasted with democracy and capitalism. Part of this confusion stems from the fact that the word communism has been applied to varying political systems over time. When it was first used in English prose, communism referred to an economic and political theory that advocated the abolition of private property and the common sharing of all resources among a group of people, and it was often used interchangeably with the word socialism by 19th-century writers. The differences between communism and socialism are still debated, but generally English speakers used communism to refer to the political and economic ideologies that find their origin in Karl Marx’s theory of revolutionary socialism, which advocates a proletariat overthrow of capitalist structures within a society, societal and communal ownership and governance of the means of production, and the eventual establishment of a classless society. The most well-known expression of Marx’s theories is the 20th-century Bolshevism of the U.S.S.R., in which the state, through a single authoritarian party, controls a society’s economy and social activities with the goal of realizing Marx’s theories.

Communism is often contrasted with capitalism and democracy, though these can be false equivalencies depending on the usage. Capitalism refers to an economic theory in which a society’s means of production are held by private individuals or organizations, not the government, and where prices, distribution of goods, and products are determined by a free market. It can be contrasted with the economic theories of communism, though the word communism is used of both political and economic theories. Democracy refers to a system of government in which supreme power is vested in the people and exercised through a system of direct or indirect representation which is decided through periodic free elections. Democracy is contrasted with communism primarily because the 20th-century communism of the U.S.S.R. was characterized by an authoritarian government, whereas the democracy of the 20th-century U.S. was characterized by a representative government.

Origin and Etymology of communism

French communisme, from commun common

NEW! Time Traveler

First Known Use: 1840

in the meaning defined at sense 1b

See Words from the same year

Other Government and Politics Terms

agent provocateur, agitprop, autarky, cabal, egalitarianism, federalism, hegemony, plenipotentiary, popular sovereignty, socialism

COMMUNISM Defined for English Language Learners

communism

noun

Definition of communism for English Language Learners

: a way of organizing a society in which the government owns the things that are used to make and transport products (such as land, oil, factories, ships, etc.) and there is no privately owned property