Karl Marx and other early communist theorists believed thathunter-gatherer societies as were found in thePaleolithic through tohorticultural societies as found in theChalcolithic were essentially egalitarian.[5][6] He, therefore, termed their ideology to beprimitive communism.[7] Since Marx, sociologists and archaeologists have developed the idea of and research on primitive communism.[8][9] According toHarry W. Laidler, one of the first writers to espouse a belief in the primitive communism of the past was theRomanStoic philosopherSeneca who stated, "How happy was the primitive age when the bounties of nature lay in common ... They held all nature in common which gave them secure possession of the public wealth."[10] Because of this he believed that such primitive societies were the richest as there was no poverty.[10] According to Erik van Ree, otherGreco-Roman writers that expressed a belief in a prehistoric humanity that had a communist-like societal structure includeDiodorus Siculus,Virgil, andOvid.[11]
The 1st century BC Roman philosopherSeneca believed that humans had fallen from aGolden Age of primitive communism[16]
There are scholars who have traced communist ideas back to ancient times, particularly in the work ofPythagoras andPlato.[17][18] Followers of Pythagoras, for instance, lived in one building and held their property in common because the philosopher taught the absolute equality of property with all worldly possessions being brought into a common store.[19]
It is argued that Plato'sRepublic described in great detail a communist-dominated society wherein power is delegated in the hands of intelligent philosopher or military guardian class and rejected the concept of family and private property.[20][21][22] In a social order divided into warrior-kings and craftsmen and peasants, Plato conceived an ideal Greek city-state without any form of capitalism and commercialism with business enterprise, political plurality, and working-class unrest considered as evils that must be abolished.[23] While Plato's vision cannot be considered a precursor of communist thinking, his utopian speculations are shared by other utopian thinkers later on.[24] An important feature that distinguishes Plato's ideal society in the Republic is that the ban on private property applies only to the superior classes (rulers and warriors), not to the general public.[25]
The earlyChurch Fathers, like their non-Abrahamic predecessors, maintained that human society had declined to its current state from a now lost egalitarian social order.[28] There are those who consider that the early Christian Church, as described in theActs of the Apostles,[29][28][30] was an early form of communism.[31][32][33] The view is that communism was justChristianity in practice andJesus Christ was himself a communist.[34] This link was highlighted in one of Marx's early writings which stated: "As Christ is the intermediary unto whom man unburdens all his divinity, all his religious bonds, so the state is the mediator unto which he transfers all his Godlessness, all his human liberty".[34] Furthermore, the Marxist ethos that aims for unity reflects theChristian universalist teaching that humankind is one and that there is only one god who does not discriminate among people.[35] Later historians have supported the reading of early church communities as communistic in structure.[36][37][38]
Pre-Marxist communism was also present in the attempts to establish communistic societies such as those made by the ancient Jewish sects theEssenes[39][40][41] and by the Judean desert sect.[clarification needed][42]
Peter Kropotkin argued that the elements of mutual aid and mutual defense expressed in themedieval commune of theMiddle Ages and its guild system were the same sentiments of collective self-defense apparent in modern anarchism, communism and socialism.[43] From theHigh Middle Ages in Europe, various groups supportingChristian communist andcommunalist ideas were occasionally adopted by reformist Christian sects. An early 12th centuryproto-Protestant group originating inLyon known as theWaldensians held their property in common in accordance with the Book of Acts, but were persecuted by the Catholic Church and retreated toPiedmont.[44] Around 1300 theApostolic Brethren in northern Italy were taken over byFra Dolcino who formed a sect known as theDulcinians which advocated ending feudalism, dissolving hierarchies in the church, and holding all property in common.[44] ThePeasants' Revolt in England has been an inspiration for "the medieval ideal of primitive communism", with the priestJohn Ball of the revolt being an inspirational figure to later revolutionaries[45] and having allegedly declared, "things cannot go well in England, nor ever will, until all goods are held in common."[46]
TheChachapoya culture indicated an egalitarian non-hierarchical society through a lack of archaeological evidence and a lack of power expressing architecture that would be expected for societal leaders such as royalty or aristocracy.[47]
Mazdak, aSasanian prophet who founded the eponymousZoroastrian offshoot ofMazdakism, is argued by various historical sources, includingMuhammad Iqbal, to have been a proto-communist. This view originates from Mazdak's belief in the abolition of private property,[48] advocacy of social revolution, and criticism of the clergy.
Researchers have commented on the communistic nature of the society built by theQarmatians[49] aroundAl-Ahsa from the 9th to 10th centuries.[50][51][52]
In the 16th century, English writer SirThomas More portrayed a society based on common ownership of property in his treatiseUtopia, whose leaders administered it through the application of reason.[57] Several groupings in theEnglish Civil War supported this idea, but especially theDiggers[58] who espoused communistic andagrarian ideals.[59]Oliver Cromwell and theGrandees' attitude to these groups was at best ambivalent and often hostile.[60] Engels considered theLevellers of the English Civil War as a group representing the proletariat fighting for autopian socialist society.[61] Though later commentators have viewed the Levellers as a bourgeois group that did not seek a socialist society.[62][63]
During theAge of Enlightenment in 18th century France, some liberal writers increasingly began to criticize the institution ofprivate property even to the extent they demanded its abolition.[64] Such writings came from thinkers such as the deeply religious philosopherJean-Jacques Rousseau.[65] In his hugely influentialThe Social Contract (1762) Rousseau outlined the basis for a political order based on popular sovereignty rather than the rule of monarchs, and in hisDiscourse on Inequality (1755) inveighed against the corrupting effects of private property claiming that the invention of private property had led to the, "crimes, wars, murders, and suffering" that plagued civilization.[66][67] Raised aCalvinist, Rousseau was influenced by theJansenist movement within theRoman Catholic Church. The Jansenist movement originated from the most orthodox Roman Catholic bishops who tried to reform the Roman Catholic Church in the 17th century to stopsecularization andProtestantism. One of the main Jansenist aims was democratizing to stop the aristocratic corruption at the top of the Church hierarchy.[68][page needed]
Victor d'Hupay's 1779 workProject for a Philosophical Community described a plan for a communal experiment in Marseille where all private property was banned.[69][70] d'Hupay referred to himself as acommuniste, the French form of the word "communist", in a 1782 letter, the first recorded instance of that term.[69]
Lewis Henry Morgan's descriptions of "communism in living" as practiced by theHaudenosaunee of North America, through research enabled by and coauthored withEly S. Parker, were viewed as a form of pre-Marxist communism.[71] Morgan's works were a primary inspiration for Marx and Engel's description of primitive communism,[72] and has led to some believing that early communist-like societies also existed outside of Europe, inNative American society and other pre-Colonized societies in the Western hemisphere. Though the belief of primitive communism as based on Morgan's work is flawed[73] due to Morgan's misunderstandings of Haudenosaunee society and his, since proven wrong,theory of social evolution.[74] This, and subsequent more accurate research, has led to the society of the Haudenosaunee to be of interest in communist and anarchist analysis.[75][76] Particularly aspects where land was not treated as a commodity,[77] communal ownership[78][79] and near non-existent rates of crime.[78][79][80]
Primitive communism meaning societies that practiced economic cooperation among the members of their community,[81] where almost every member of a community had their own contribution to society and land and natural resources would often be shared peacefully among the community. Some such communities in North America and South America still existed well into the 20th century. Historian Barry Pritzker lists theAcoma,Cochiti andIsletaPuebloans as living in socialist-like societies.[82] It is assumed modern egalitarianism seen in Pueblo communities stems from this historic socio-economic structure.[5]David Graeber has also commented that theInuit have practiced communism and fended offunjust hierarchy for "thousands of years".[83]
Louise Michel, a communard who supported the 1878Kanak insurrection whilst exiled from France.
TheShakers of the 18th century under Joseph Meacham developed and practiced their own form ofcommunalism, as a sort ofreligious communism, where property had been made a "consecrated whole" in each Shaker community.[84]
The currents of thought inFrench philosophy from the Enlightenment from Rousseau and d'Hupay proved influential during theFrench Revolution of 1789 in which various anti-monarchists, particularly theJacobins,[94] supported the idea of redistributing wealth equally among the people, includingJean-Paul Marat andFrancois Babeuf.[95] The latter was involved in theConspiracy of the Equals of 1796 intending to establish a revolutionary regime based on communal ownership, egalitarianism and the redistribution of property.[96] Babeuf was directly influenced by Morelly's anti-property utopian novelThe Code of Nature and quoted it extensively, although he was under the erroneous impression it was written byDiderot.[97] Also during the revolution the publisherNicholas Bonneville, the founder of the Parisian revolutionarySocial Club used his printing press to spread the communist treatises of Restif andSylvain Maréchal.[98] Maréchal, who later joined Babeuf's conspiracy, would state it hisManifesto of the Equals (1796), "we aim at something more sublime and more just, the COMMON GOOD or the COMMUNITY OF GOODS" and "The French Revolution is just a precursor of another revolution, far greater, far more solemn, which will be the last."[99] Restif also continued to write and publish books on the topic of communism throughout the Revolution.[100] Accordingly, through their egalitarian programs and agitation Restif, Maréchal, and Babeuf became the progenitors of modern communism.[101] Babeuf's plot was detected, however, and he and several others involved were arrested and executed. Because of his views and methods, Babeuf has been described as an anarchist, communist and a socialist by later scholars.[102][103][104] The wordcommunism was first used in English byGoodwyn Barmby in a conversation with those he described as the "disciples of Babeuf".[105] Despite the setback of the loss of Babeuf, the example of theFrench Revolutionary regime and Babeuf's doomed insurrection was an inspiration for French socialist thinkers such asHenri de Saint-Simon,Louis Blanc,Charles Fourier andPierre-Joseph Proudhon.[39] Proudhon, the founder of modern anarchism and libertarian socialism would later famously declare "property is theft!" a phrase first invented by the French revolutionaryBrissot de Warville.[106]
Maximilien Robespierre and hisReign of Terror, aimed at exterminating the monarchy, nobility, clergy, conservatives and nationalists was admired among some anarchists, communists and socialists.[107] In his turn, Robespierre was a great admirer of Voltaire and Rousseau.[108]
By the 1830s and 1840s in France, the egalitarian concepts of communism and the related ideas ofsocialism had become widely popular in revolutionary circles thanks to the writings of social critics and philosophers such as Pierre Leroux[109] andThéodore Dézamy, whose critiques of bourgeoisliberalism andindividualism led to a widespread intellectual rejection oflaissez-fairecapitalism on economic, philosophical and moral grounds.[110] According to Leroux writing in 1832, "To recognise no other aim than individualism is to deliver the lower classes to brutal exploitation. The proletariat is no more than a revival of antique slavery." He also asserted that private ownership of the means of production allowed for the exploitation of the lower classes and that private property was a concept divorced from human dignity.[110] It was only in the year 1840 that proponents of common ownership in France, including the socialists Théodore Dézamy, Étienne Cabet, andJean-Jacques Pillot began to widely adopt the word "communism" as a term for their belief system.[111] Those inspired by Étienne Cabet created theIcarian movement, setting up communities based on non-religious communal ownership in various states across the US, the last of which disbanded in 1898.[112]
The participants of theTaiping Rebellion are viewed by theChinese Communist Party as proto-communists.[113] Marx referred to the communist tendencies in the Taiping Rebellion as "Chinese socialism".[114]
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