Rise of Communism - Essay Example

Rise of Communism After the spring of the first forms of communism it was evident that communism was heavily dependent on an international scope hence the birth of global communism. Global communism is a form of communism that takes an international scope with long term objectives of creating a worldwide stateless society. This implies the unification of states either through voluntary sovereign states’ alliances or emergence of a single worldwide governing body. World communism arguably draws its origins from the spring of Marxism that sought to unite nations based on an argument that internationalization of capitalism demanded states’ unification.

However, Marxism seemingly differs from communism in that the latter does not advocate for direct abolition of states based on arguments that states eventually wither away. Although global communism was at first tolerable, it drew opposition from a theory emanating in 1917 and 1933 that global communism was to be attained through revolutions. As such, the twentieth century saw the rise of two massive communist revolutions, Chinese and Russian Revolutions.The Russian Revolution of 1917 saw series of revolutionary uprisings in Russia within the year.

In February the Emperor together with the old regime was replaced by a provisional government that was later replaced in October by a communist, Bolshevik, government (Gleason, Kenez, and Stites, 1985). The onset of the revolution took place in modern day Saint Petersburg where the imperial government formed the provisional government. However, the governance of the provisional government was not satisfactory for the Bolsheviks who protested and later in October took control after mobilizing masses’ support.

For example, the decision by the provisional government to commence with the German conflict drew contestation hence fueling the misunderstandings further. However, after the October revolution the following years saw the onset of the Russian civil wars. The Russian Revolution was sparked by decreasing confidence in the government due to the strained economic status and poor wages making it easy to mobilize masses. During this period the First World War was ongoing and some of Russia’s major economic activities had been derailed causing inflation and food shortages in the capital.

However, after the February victory another conflict emerged in October and is arguably regarded the onset of communism. This is based upon the fact that it was well organized and mobilized masses with promises of better governance. The Chinese Revolution took place in 1949 and had been preceded by several conflicts such as the Chinese civil war that had ensued since 1920s. However, the onset of communism had long begun in China and in fact can be attributed to the civil war conflicts that involved the communist party and national party.

However, the communist party won the war hence took control of China while the opposition fled to Taiwan. Under Mao Zedong’s leadership, the communists sought to unite the whole of China which came to pass in 1949 following the establishment of the People’s Republic of China (Benton, 2007). However, at this time China’s economic status was quite poor due to the several years of civil war. The years that followed saw great change mainly in relation to policies and the end result was improved economy and spring of new strong industries.

Although the revolutionary wars managed ‘to unite the people and generally improve the state of the nations’ there much lost during the wars. Many people lost their lives and property was destroyed hence worsening the economic status. However, after victories of the communist parties there were major reforms that saw unification of people in different regions. Additionally, from a general perspective, there were improvements in major sectors implying that the promises of development were met.

Both the Chinese and Russian Revolutions played a huge role in the spread of communism across the globe.Works CitedBenton, G. (2007). Mao Zedong and the Chinese Revolution / 2 Policies and strategies : 1949-76. London [u.a.]: Routledge.Gleason, A., Kenez, P., & Stites, R. (1985). Bolshevik culture : experiment and order in the Russian Revolution. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.