Anti-communism is opposition tocommunism. Organized anti-communism developed in reaction to the rise of communism, especially after the 1917October Revolution in Russia and reaching global dimensions during theCold War. Anti-communists argue that the repression in the early years ofBolshevik rule, while not as extreme as that duringJoseph Stalin's rule, was still severe by reasonable standards, citing examples such asFelix Dzerzhinsky's secret police, which eliminated numerous political opponents by extrajudicial executions, and the brutal crushing of theKronstadt rebellion andTambov rebellion. Some anti-communists refer to both Communism andfascism astotalitarianism, seeing similarity between the actions of communist and fascist governments. HistorianRobert Conquest has argued that Communism was responsible for tens of millions of deaths during the 20th century.
Opponents argue that Communist parties that have come to power have tended to be rigidly intolerant of political opposition. These opponents claim that most Communist countries have shown no signs of advancing from Marx's socialist stage of economy to an ideal communist stage. Rather, Communist governments have been accused of creating a newruling class (aNomenklatura), with powers and privileges greater than those previously enjoyed by the upper classes in the non-communist regimes.
Antonio Gramsci (22 January 1891 – 27 April 1937) was anItalian writer,politician,political philosopher, andlinguist. He was a founding member and onetime leader of theCommunist Party of Italy and was imprisoned byBenito Mussolini'sFascist regime. Gramsci was one of the most importantMarxist thinkers in the 20th century, and his writings are heavily concerned with the analysis of culture and political leadership; he is notable as a highly original thinker within modern European thought. He is renowned for his concept ofcultural hegemony as a means of maintaining the state in acapitalist society.
Gramsci wrote more than 30 notebooks and 3000 pages of history and analysis during his imprisonment. These writings, known as thePrison Notebooks, contain Gramsci's tracing of Italian history and nationalism, as well as some ideas in Marxist theory, critical theory and educational theory associated with his name.
...thatMoscow City Hall, built in the 1890s to the tastes of the Russianbourgeoisie, was converted byCommunists into the CentralLenin Museum after its rich interior decoration had been plastered over.
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Every political party worthy of the name strives to capture political power and thus place theState at the service of the class whose interests it expresses. TheSocial-Democrats, being the party of theproletariat, naturally strive for the political domination of the working class.
The proletariat grows and becomes stronger with the growth ofcapitalism. In this sense the development of capitalism is also the development of the proletariat towardsdictatorship. But the day and the hour when power will pass into the hands of the working class depends directly not upon the level attained by the productive forces but upon relations in theclass struggle, upon the international situation, and, finally, upon a number of subjective factors: the traditions, the initiative and the readiness to fight of the workers.
It is possible for the workers to come to power in an economically backward country sooner than in an advanced country. In 1871 the workers deliberately took power in their hands in petty-bourgeoisParis – true, for only two months, but in the big-capitalist centres ofBritain or theUnited States the workers have never held power for so much as an hour. To imagine that thedictatorship of the proletariat is in some way automatically dependent on the technical development and resources of a country is a prejudice of ‘economic’ materialism simplified to absurdity. This point of view has nothing in common withMarxism.
In our view, theRussian revolution will create conditions in which power can pass into the hands of the workers – and in the event of the victory of the revolution it must do so – before the politicians of bourgeois liberalism get the chance to display to the full their talent for governing.
