#+title: communist movements of the 20th century

This is mostly a category note for keeping track of communist movements in the
20th century.

* History
Although there were [[file:20200706092416-social_democracy.org][social democratic]] parties in Germany and Russia at the start
of the 20th century, the first proper "communist" movement could have been the
[[file:20200611204207-soviet_union.org][Soviet Union]] born out of the [[file:20200707205320-1917_october_revolution.org][1917 October Revolution]], led by the [[file:20200706092621-vladimir_lenin.org][Vladimir Lenin]]
and the [[file:20200707205243-bolsheviks.org][Bolsheviks]].

With the failure of the [[file:20210509211547-german_revolution.org][German Revolution]], the Soviet Union was the only major
communist power in the world until the end of the [[file:20201219145138-second_world_war.org][Second World War]], where the
Soviets established a "buffer zone" between it and western Europe, creating the
[[file:20210606102544-eastern_bloc.org][Eastern Bloc]] of powers, establishing about a dozen "[[file:20210606102824-people_s_republic.org][people's republics]]".
[[file:20210606102729-yugoslavia.org][Yugoslavia]] was the only one of these countries that had an independent socialist
movement separate from the Soviet Union.

In 1947, [[file:20200607220504-china.org][China]] saw its own independent revolution communist revolution, creating
the [[file:20210606102621-people_s_republic_of_china.org][People's Republic of China]] under [[file:20210428155930-mao_zedong.org][Mao Zedong]].

In 1959, the [[file:20210204100302-cuban_revolution.org][Cuban Revolution]] led to the establishment of the Republic of [[file:20200707205547-cuba.org][Cuba]]
under [[file:20210602134057-fidel_castro.org][Fidel Castro]]. Although the movement did not start as a communist one, it
came to embrace communism and the leadership of the Soviet Union.

The Cuban Revolution was the last major communist revolution in the 20th
century. [[file:20210606103216-korea.org][Korea]] and [[file:20210606103219-vietnam.org][Vietnam]] also had communist movements and their attempts at
revolution lead to protracted engagements with the [[file:20210330201641-united_states.org][United States]], which spent
much of the 20th century undermining communist movements.
* Ideology
Many of these states can be broadly described as [[file:20210526164307-marxism_leninism.org][Marxist-Leninist]], following the
same ideological line as the [[file:20200611204207-soviet_union.org][Soviet Union]]. Exceptions include China, which could
be described for some parts of it as "[[file:20210606104036-maoism.org][Maoist]]".
* Characteristics of people's republics