It was 1848, and political revolutions spread throughout Europe in Germany, France, Austria, Italy, Denmark, Ireland, Moldova, and Poland. And Karl Marx wrote the Communist Manifesto.
The root cause was the Industrial Revolution which spread wealth and new ideas everywhere. No longer was society just poor families worrying about their next meal. A lot of people had enough wealth so that they could sit around and start worrying about other people who lived far away, who might not be doing so well. And a lot of people were sick of corrupt monarchies.
Here is where Karl Marx comes in. The Communist Manifesto proposed ten planks for redistribution of wealth including a central bank, income tax, and centralization of public education which would supposedly help everyone. In this and other writings Marx theorized that the urban working class would rise up and over through the system. Marxists want you to believe that they care more about other people than you do. By 1871 Marx had become famous, but Marxism remained mostly theory.
Now let’s move forward to April of 1917. It’s the middle of WWI and a train in Germany is carrying a revolutionary man to Russia. This man is Vladimir Lenin, and he wants to overthrow the government in Russia. The unpopular Czar Nicholas II had been toppled in March 1917, and a new Menshevik government had been installed. Lenin decided that the ideas of Karl Marx weren’t being installed fast enough by the Mensheviks. He couldn’t wait for the working class to rise up. So, he modified Karl Marx’s theories and took matters into his own hands. On November 7, 1917, Lenin orchestrated the October Revolution and his coup d’etat was successful. Lenin seized key government buildings and train stations rather than wait for Karl Marx’s ideas to kick in. Note: The October Revolution actually occurred in November, because of calendar differences.
The Communist government instituted by Lenin stayed in power until it suffered economic collapse during the time of Mikhail Gorbachev.
But back in 1919, there was another man over in China who was inspired by Marx and Lenin. His name was Mao Zedong. He started to learn about the ideas of communism. He was soon involved in a civil war with nationalist Chiang Kai-shek. After WWII these two men engaged in a mortal life and death struggle for China. Chiang had modern weapons from the US and held all the big cities. But Chairman Mao had a new strategy not used by Marx or Lenin. Mao sold communism to the poor rural peasants. They gradually came on board and in 1949 Chiang fled to Taiwan. Chairman Mao had won.
Much the same strategy was used by Fidel Castro to take over Cuba and by North Vietnam to win the Vietnam War.
So where are we at now? Socialism and Communism might seem to be growing in the US. Zohran Mamdani was just elected Mayor of New York City. Just yelling and screaming about this isn’t going to stop it. Most Communist regimes took power because the existing non-communist regimes were corrupt or loaded with big government. The United States needs to move back into the direction of our Founding Fathers and the Constitution. We need more freedom and less government. We need to convince the average person that freedom is better than socialism. We have a good chance right now with President Trump, but time will tell. We need to cut the size and scope of the federal government. We need to reduce government corruption. We need churches and private charities to thrive, so we can eliminate government welfare. Otherwise, the appeal of the democrat party and socialist ideas will remain.
By Rolf Lindgren – Is a Freelance Historical Writer Residing in Dane County
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