communism
n. uncountablen. a political and economic system where the community or government owns all property and businesses. In this system, wealth is meant to be shared equally among everyone so that there are no rich or poor classes.
n. a political and economic ideology advocating for a classless society in which all property and means of production are communally owned. Frequently contrasted with capitalism, it historically refers to the systems implemented by Marxist-Leninist states.
Many countries in Eastern Europe lived under communism during the twentieth century.
During the Cold War, the world was largely divided between nations that supported capitalism and those that followed communism.
While theoretical communism envisions a stateless society where workers control the means of production, historical attempts to implement it have often resulted in highly centralized, authoritarian regimes.
Etymology tree Old Latin comoinis Latin commūnis Old French comun French commun Proto-Indo-European *-id- Proto-Indo-European *-yéti Proto-Indo-European *-idyéti Proto-Hellenic *-íďďō Ancient Greek -ῐ́ζω (-ĭ́zō) Proto-Indo-European *-mos Proto-Indo-European *-mós Ancient Greek -μός (-mós) Ancient Greek -ισμός (-ismós)der. Latin -ismusbor. French -isme French communismebor. English communism A borrowing from French communisme, which was formed from commun (“common”) (from Latin commūnis) and the suffix -isme (“-ism”). By surface analysis, commune + -ism.
Capitalised when referring to a specific political party or official movement, but lowercased for the general ideology.