Talk:Communist party

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[edit] Albert

Regarding the recent change, was Albert Einstein really a communist? He opposed fascism, but that alone does not make one a Commie. 63.107.135.116 19:14, 16 Jun 2004 (UTC)

Einstein was certainly an outspoken socialist. Read, for example, his 1949 essay "Why Socialism?". However, I don't know whether he was a communist or not. In any case, he did mention his extreme dislike of the Soviet Union and Soviet-style societies on numerous occasions, so if he was a communist, then he must have been a very anti-stalinist one. -- Mihnea Tudoreanu 10:51, 2 Oct 2004 (UTC)
"Einstein was a member, sponsor, or affiliated with thirty-four communist fronts between 1937 and 1954." http://foia.fbi.gov/foiaindex/einstein.htm 144.32.128.112 09:11, 20 Jun 2005 (UTC)
Red-baiting Albert Einstein? Come on.

RESPONSE: Einstein was a non-Marxist socialist. Socialism in its most generic definition simply calls for an equitable distribution of a country's wealth. There were Middle Class socialist movements that weren't Marxist - The Fabian movement and British Labor just to name a couple. Marxism is a variation of socialism, but not all socialism is Marxist.

[edit] CPC and the World Communist Movement

I object to the statement that most communists parties would have broken relations with the Communist Party of China. In fact CPC has reentered the World Communist Movement, and established firmer relations with many of the main communist parties. Those denouncing the CPC as traitors, generally belong to the maoist movement.--Soman 15:36, 6 Oct 2004 (UTC)

--- This is wrong. Communists worldwide, both descended from and opposed to the worldwide Maoist movement, generally oppose China as it stands today. If many of the main ones in this "World Communist Movement" accept China into their ranks, it only shows that they, not the rest of us, are revisionist. 71.246.71.158 18:21, 22 October 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Moldova

"However, as of 2004, this nominally communist government has not distinguished itself in any significant way from the capitalist government which preceded it."

I think this is wrong. I remember reading in a copy of Challenge that the Communists slashed the military budget and poured the equivalent money into health and education. 144.32.128.112 09:11, 20 Jun 2005 (UTC)


That's not communist. What about those actions makes them anything but social-democratic? 71.246.71.158 18:25, 22 October 2005 (UTC)

[edit] "Famous Communists" section

I'm inclined to merge the list in this section into List of Communists, and remove it from this page. This article is about communist parties, so shouldn't have a random list of individuals, some of whom were never even part of any communist party (Karl Marx was long dead by the founding of the first one!). What might be useful, and I can't provide this, is a list of all places and times where communist parties have governed a state; the intro says 21 nations have at one time been governed by a communist party. Thoughts? CDC (talk) 17:26, 27 September 2005 (UTC)

I've now done this merge, and deleted the list from this article. The list here was mostly duplicated from List of Communists. CDC (talk) 19:24, 29 September 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Cuba

Is this article really trying to say that Castro aligned with the Soviet Uoin becease he was snubed by Eisenhower? Come of it.

After Fidel Castro's nationalistic revolt in Cuba, he was snubbed by President Eisenhower, who went out to play golf on the day he was scheduled to meet with Castro, and assigned Vice President Richard Nixon to meet with Castro instead. Castro was extremely annoyed at the slight, and entered into negotiations with the Soviet Union. Castro aligned with the Soviets and declared himself a communist shortly afterward.
from Communist party#Cuba

--JK the unwise 11:33, 3 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Streamlining with other 'Communism' articles

I propose that this article be limited to giving a definition of what a communist party is (democratic centralism, etc.), leaving all issues of the historical developments of communist parties and examples of communist governance in other relevant articles, like Communism, communist state, List of Communist Parties, etc. --Soman 15:42, 31 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] TIMELINE ISSUE

I think there is a timeline issue with the way the introductory section:

The first international Marxist organization was called the Communist League, advocates of the principles put forth in Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels' Communist Manifesto and inspired by the example of the Paris Commune. The group dissolved in 1852 after breaking into factional quarrels.

The Paris Commune was in 1871...The Communist Leage broke up in 1852. If anything it was influenced by the Revolutions of 1848.

[edit] In Soviet Russia... (obligatory)

PARTY FINDS YOU!

[edit] This article

There is a big problem is overlapping material at articles like Communism, History of Communism and this one. IMHO, virtually all material on the history of the communist movement should be brought over to History of Communism, and this article should deal uniquely with the concept of a communist party (leninist organization, organizational structure, explain concepts of PB and CC, working methods, mass organizations, international relations, role of press in communist parties etc.). --Soman 09:27, 13 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Of Course...

Of course, Lenin and his What is to be Done? (which is what is implied when referencing the Menshevik/Bolshevik split), has nothing to do with the Communist Party of the Soviet Union after 1924 (his death year) and especially with the CPs of the various client states and offshoots of the Stalinist USSR. A careful reading of the aforementioned book will reveal the fact that Lenin advocated a more professional and dedicated mass party in 1903, dedicated to raising awareness of socialism and what he outlines elsewhere as an awful way of the world under capitalism through journalism (Iskra) and preparing workers and students to intervene in events and worker's experiences at ground level, rather than the Mensheviks, who advocated sticking to trade-unionism politically, becoming mere secretaries for the "spontaneous" and petty-bourgeois Trade Union bureaucracies in practice, and allying with whatever Barak Obama types came up from among the Russian Bourgeoisie (especially Kadets, constitutional democrats) theoretically, essentially the program of Tony Blairs who aren't already in power. These ideas were put into practice in 1917, when the Bolshevik party involved a great segment of the Russian working class and the peasantry, and they were elected as a majority into all of the country's Soviets by direct vote by October. After 1917 The Bolsheviks had to lead the country through Civil War, Famine and the crippling growth of the state bureaucracy led by Joseph Stalin. By the time the country was stabilized in 1928, Lenin had been dead for over 4 years and Stalin had staged a full coup-de-tat. By 1940 almost every october Bolshevik was dead, even the rank and file, outside a select few who had won Stalin's favor, like Kalinin and Molotov. This all happened in the Great Terror of 1936-1940. Instead of Being a Mass party as Lenin had intended and as it was in practice in 1917 the "Communist Party" of Stalin was simply a tool of counter-revolution, a name put on the brutal caste of capitulating bureaucrats who took over the soviet union and led it to its final dissolution in return for being today's millionares and billionares in Russia and they rule today, though gutting any of the legacy of the Revolution which they and the western press have claimed for Stalinism even beyond its grave. They will do so forever, because Trotsky and Lenin and the Russian masses shut down the stock market, kicked out the parasitic rich and aristocrats, guaranteed rights and equality even in the face of the western violence (Civil War etc.) and the failure of the Western European revolutions from 1917-1921. The legacy still threatens even after the coup-de-tat and 80 years of repressions, betrayals and worldwide distortions and condemnations. Stalinism has nothing to with Socialism, and everything with Capitalism. It can be said once, it can be said a thousand times. Similarly, the idealized Stalinist "Communist Party" has nothing to do with the ambitions of the Bolsheviks or their leaders, Lenin and Trostky. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Samboring (talk • contribs) 03:20, 9 May 2008 (UTC)