Communism in Eastern Europe

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Communism in Eastern Europe
Communism is a system of social organization in which all the economic and social aspects and activities are controlled by a single dominating party. In a communist state abolishment of private ownership is introduced. This is the explanation of communism in most of the dictionaries. However history has shown us that there is a lot more to communism that this definition tells us. When people mention communism, we think of Russia, Spain, Italy and Germany, all with their own different types of dictators. Unfortunately communism had a greater impact than that. It affected many more countries in Europe than. Communism took control in a number of smaller countries in the Eastern Europe. The last European communist dictator was in power until December 1989. An unimaginable amount of people suffered the hardships that a communist ruler brings. I believe that in order to understand communism we have to go back to the beginning and take a closer look at the man that introduced communism to the world and that is Karl Marx. An overview of his ideas might make it easier to understand how communism was supposed to function and why did he believe there was a need for communism at all. Then I want to take a very close look to Romania under Communism. I want to expand a little on the policies at home and abroad of the Romanian dictator, Ceausescu. My essay will also include a study of the situation of the minority groups in Romania during Ceausescu’s, with emphasis on the Hungarians. One of my aims is to try and determine why he was the last Stalinist dictator to be removed from power. I also want to examine, the Romanian secret police under Communism. I want to have a better understanding of what the secret police’s responsibilities were and how frightened people were of them. Because Communism in Romania is not translated in many English books, I will rely on the internet for a greater part of my research.

People refer to Karl Marx as the father of communism. He was born on the 5th of May 1818, in the city of Trier in Germany. According to Marx was not as much of a philosopher as he was a revolutionary. His writing and ideas have encouraged the establishment of many communist regimes. Apparently Marx predicted in his work the collapse of capitalism for economic reasons. He speculated that capitalism will be replaced by communism. More information about Marx’s early years and his activities but also an overview of his works is given by In 1845 he was banished from Paris on the grounds that he was a ‘dangerous revolutionary’. While living in Paris he referred to himself as a communist. He settles in Belgium but continues his revolutionary conduct and in 1848 he was banished from Belgium too. After this he moves to London where he remains until his death in 1883. ‘The Communist Manifesto’ is one of the most well-known works of Marx. In this pamphlet Marx argues that human history must be understood by studying the social classes and their struggles with each other. He comments on the social classes of the 19th century and argues that the most important bourgeoisie and the proletariat. Marx states that the bourgeoisie which was the ruling class at the time for example the owners of big factories should be afraid of a communistic revolution but that the working class, the proletariat, has nothing to lose except their chains. Basically, Marx believed that the difference between the social classes could be ameliorated by private ownership and that individual ownership should be abolished. This way he believed a form of equality between the rich and the poor could be achieved. These beliefs of Marx have been the inspiration of many communist regimes like I said before. Unfortunately, we have many examples of countries that were controlled by regimes such as these and that have produced nothing but terror and...
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