History of Communism

	Revision 26 . . December 15, 2001 5:54 am by Ed Poor [mentioned three various meanings of "communism" - political, theoretical, and stage]
	Revision 25 . . (edit) December 13, 2001 1:33 am by Egern
	Revision 24 . . (edit) December 13, 2001 1:27 am by Egern
	Revision 23 . . December 13, 2001 1:17 am by Egern [Attempted to reorganize a bit to make more coherent, and added a few details.]
	Revision 22 . . December 12, 2001 1:41 pm by Egern [Prefer "Collective public ownership" to state ownership, because in Marxist theory there is no state under what it terms "communism"]
	Revision 21 . . December 12, 2001 10:59 am by Dmerrill [state ownership is supposed to be on behalf of the people (in theory)]
	Revision 20 . . December 12, 2001 10:43 am by Ed Poor [slanted article a bit towards anti-communism]
	Revision 19 . . December 12, 2001 10:40 am by Ed Poor [state ownership, not 'common' ownership]
	Revision 18 . . (edit) December 4, 2001 3:06 am by Taw [/Talk]
	Revision 17 . . November 22, 2001 8:05 pm by Goochelaar [trying to get nearer to "neutral point of view"]
	Revision 16 . . (edit) October 16, 2001 10:01 pm by (logged).255.83.xxx

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Changed: 1c1

Communism is a political doctrine advocating collective public ownership of property, especially of means of production, and the abolition of the division of the society in classes. It is a development of classical forms of communalism? and socialism.

The term communism describes a system of goverment based on a political and economic philosophy advocating collective public ownership of property, especially of means of production, derived from the teachings of Marx and Lenin. The term communism may also refer to the philosophy itself or to the final stage in social development held by Marxism to come after socialism. It is a development of classical forms of communalism? and socialism.

Added: 2a3,4

Communism advocates the abolition of the division of society into classes, although critics have often claimed that as practiced in nations such as Russia it created a new division (see nomenklatura.