Communism in Russia and China

Communism was derived from the teaching of Karl Marx who believed that in order to get rid of inequality and division between classes within a society, land and private properties has to be equally redistributed among all members in the community and rulers elected must only have the sole purpose of serving the people and of no influence of religion and capitalism. This idea was an echo of the Frech Revolution that became very popular during the 1970's, right after World War II, and had the most significance in China and Russia.

Between Russia and China, the commencement, implementation and termination of communism differs greatly. In Russia, its initiation was like a kick start. The revolution was achieved in just one year, 1917. It started by overthrowing the ruling Romanov dynasty, followed by the upheavals of the middle-class, then the peasants seized and burned their landlord's estates, just like in the Haitian Revolution. In the end, a small socialist party called the Bolsheviks, were able to gain control of Russia and elected Vladimir Ulyanov as its leader. Even after battling several local and international forces, the Bolsheviks were able to maintain control of Russia and gained more supporters as it showed their ability to fight off exploiters.

In China, the development did not develop as quickly as it did in Russia. It was rather a long and slow, probably because they Karl Marx and his ideologies was not introduced in China until the early twentieth century. It was founded in 1921, in a small group with only sixty members, called the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) but its charismatic leader named Mao Zedong was able to expand and transform its strategy in ways that was different from its Russian counterpart. Unlike Russia, even though the foundation of communism depended on industrialization, it started in rural areas within the Chinese peasants. Along with the uprising of the peasants was the feminist revolution, where women were determined to establish their position in the society, make alterations to the constitution of marriage and pushed for better employment benefits and accommodation. Sadly, this huge uproar from women did not last long. In the end, the male dominated communist parties hushed the feminist revolution.

On the other hand, communism in both countries ended in a similar way: self-destruction. Both were scared to lose control and became almost paranoid of possible enemies within their own government. What initial purpose to seek out equality later turned into dictatorship that oppressed and violated human rights. The fruits of communism were the "Terror" or the "Great Purges" in Russia and the "Chinese Cultural Revolution" were their own government sought out and accused their own citizens as political enemies with no right for trial and were either sent to labor camps or sentenced with death. It wasn't long until their started accusing their own officials and ultimately ended the communist reign in both countries.