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Webster 1913 Edition

Communism

Com′mu-nism

,
Noun.
[F.
communisme
, fr.
commun
common.]
A scheme of equalizing the social conditions of life; specifically, a scheme which contemplates the abolition of inequalities in the possession of property, as by distributing all wealth equally to all, or by holding all wealth in common for the equal use and advantage of all.
☞ At different times, and in different countries, various schemes pertaining to socialism in government and the conditions of domestic life, as well as in the distribution of wealth, have been called communism.

Definition 2024

Communism

Communism

See also: communism

English

Noun

Communism ‎(uncountable)

  1. The ideology of political parties that use the term Communist in their names, usually Marxist and Leninist.
  2. The socio-economic system based on such parties' ideologies.
  3. (US, informal) A state of affairs perceived as oppressive, overly arbitrary, or totalitarian.
    • 1953 (pub. 1997), Eugen Rosenstock-Huessy ed., Hinge of Generations-1953 Transcripts
      ...he shouldn't...just...[say]..."I -- I am responsible for prosperity,"...that's Communism, Sir, you see.
    • 1992, Sylvia Whitman, V Is for Victory: The American Home Front During World War II
      Although her elder daughter, Jane, complains, “that's Communism,” Mrs. Hilton rents her own bedroom to a retired colonel.
    • 1998, Joseph Martin Hernon, Profiles in Character: Hubris and Heroism in the U.S. Senate, 1789-1990
      ...[he] condemned Thurmond's proposal for its “totalitarianism”: “That's Communism....That's China. That's not America.

communism

communism

See also: Communism

English

Noun

communism ‎(countable and uncountable, plural communisms)

  1. Any political philosophy or ideology advocating holding the production of resources collectively.
    • D. H. Lawrence
      I want to gather together about twenty souls and sail away from this world of war and squalor and found a little colony where there shall be no money but a sort of communism as far as necessaries of life go, and some real decency.
  2. Any political social system that implements a communist political philosophy.
  3. The international socialist society where classes and the state no longer exist.

Usage notes

Related terms

Translations

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Etymology

A calque of the German word Kommunismus (from Marx and Engels's Manifesto of the German Communist Party), in turn a calque of the French word communisme, which was formed from commun ‎(“common”), from Latin communis, and the suffix -isme ‎(“-ism”).

The red flag, particularly when marked with a yellow hammer intersecting a yellow sickle, is an iconic symbol of communism.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈkɒm.juˌnɪzm̩/

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