Communism: A History by, Richard Pipes - Essay Example

There are doubts if communism can really occur, or people should just fit themselves in the new trends of capitalist production and imperialistic stances. In this paper, the reasons for the most significant achievements and failures of communism are identified and explained. The decline of the Tsarist regime in Russia is one significant achievement of communism, which signified the end of private ownership and the onset of state ownership through a socialist system of production. It resulted in the collectivization of farmlands and of the system of production, a reverse of the capitalist production that centered in capital accumulation and profits.

The state ownership of the means of production paved way to the empowerment of the peasant class, which comprised 90 percent of the Russian population. Pipes describes them as only proletarianized but not proletarians (working class) in the real sense of the word, which is the leading force of a socialist revolution. This step towards state ownership was an initial step towards the visions of communism on the withering of the social classes and the abolition of the state, which were perceived as the culprits for economic accumulation of the ruling class.

The Tsarist regime led by Nicholas II was a signification of the maintenance of the old order,3 and the rise of socialism over it was an achievement of communism. . The state ownership of the means of production paved way to the empowerment of the peasant class, which comprised 90 percent of the Russian population. Pipes describes them as only proletarianized but not proletarians (working class) in the real sense of the word, which is the leading force of a socialist revolution. This step towards state ownership was an initial step towards the visions of communism on the withering of the social classes and the abolition of the state, which were perceived as the culprits for economic accumulation of the ruling class.

The Tsarist regime led by Nicholas II was a signification of the maintenance of the old order,3 and the rise of socialism over it was an achievement of communism. In addition, the 1917 Revolution was the very first instance of a successful revolution that aimed for communist ideology and was as well the first application of Marxist doctrine through socialism. The victory of this revolution contributes to the achievements of communism, in which socialist movements in the world look at the Russian socialism as an example.

The evolution of the theory of imperialism by Lenin in the development of Marxism is another achievement of Communism. In the then surging World War II, Lenin was able to theorize the birth of imperialism, the highest stage of capitalism whose severest manifestation is war.4 Marx had not included this concept of imperialism in his writings, as he existed in a social system whose mode of production was the capitalist production, and concentrated on how this exploitative system denied the working class of their humanized labor.

However, Lenin was able to link capitalism with imperialism in the pursuit of first world nations to accumulate economically and dominate the global sphere. It