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[[Image:Latorre01.jpg|thumb|250px|'''Vice Admiral Juan José Latorre''']]
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'''Juan José Latorre Benavente''' ([[Santiago de Chile|Santiago]]; [[March 24]], [[1846]] - [[July 9]], [[1912]]) Chilean Vice Admiral, one of the principal actors of the [[War of the Pacific]], and hero of the [[Battle of Angamos]].
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:''Note that communism is a branch of [[socialism]]. This article only discusses criticisms that are specific to communism and not other forms of socialism. See [[criticisms of socialism]] for a discussion of objections to socialism in general. Note also that communism and related words are written with the [[uppercase]] "C" when they refer to a political party of that name, a member of that party, or a government led by such a party.''
Criticisms of [[communism]] can be divided in two broad categories: One is those concerning themselves with the real-world results of the 20th century [[Communist state]]s. Such critics include both pro and anti communists. Another is those concerning themselves with [[Marxism]], the claimed [[Ideologies of parties|political ideology]] of the Communist states. A central question is the implications of the real-world results of the Communist states for Marxist theory.
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== Criticisms of 20th century Communist states ==
===Human rights violations===
Extensive historical research, especially after the fall of Communism opened the achieves of many of the former Communist states, has documented the large scale human rights violations that occurred in these states. Several of the most prominent researchers are former communists who become disillusioned with the Communist system they had powerful positions in, like [[Alexander Nikolaevich Yakovlev]] and [[Dmitri Volkogonov]], or after they started their research, like several of the authors of ''[[The Black Book of Communism]]''. [[Robert Conquest]], another former communist, was one of the first to document the [[Great Purge]] in his book ''[[The Great Terror]]'' and was vehemently criticized for this by many Western intellectuals. He was vindicated when the achieves was opened. [[Jung Chang]], one of the authors of ''[[Mao: The Unknown Story]]'', was a [[Red Guard]] in her youth. See the end of the article for an extensive reference list.
==Early life==
{| {{prettytable}} ALIGN="left"
Son of Elías Latorre and of Nicomedia Benavente, the oldest of eight brothers. After the early death of his father, three of his younger brothers were taken by the paternal family in [[Peru]], where they were raised. Later on, one of the brothers participated also in the [[War of the Pacific]], but on the Peruvian side.
|+ '''Numbers killed by Communist states'''
|-
| [[Soviet Union]] || 20 million
|-
| [[China]] || 65 million
|-
| [[Vietnam]] || 1 million
|-
| [[North Korea]] || 2 million
|-
| [[Campuchea]] || 2 million
|-
| [[Eastern Europe]] || 1 million
|-
| [[Latin America]] || 150,000
|-
| [[Africa]] || 1.7 million
|-
| [[Afghanistan]] || 1.5 million
|-
| colspan="100" |Source: [http://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog/COUBLA.html].
|}
At the age of nine, in [[1855]], he won a scholarship to the Naval Academy. Appointed midshipman on [[July 15]], [[1861]]. He served on the ''Esmeralda'' during the [[Chincha Islands War]] and participated in the [[Battle of Papudo]], where the Spanish shooner ''Covadonga'' was captured, and in the [[Battle of Abtao]].
The human rights violations were particularly intensive during the regimes of [[Stalin]] and [[Mao Zedong|Mao]], but started immediately after the [[Russian revolution]] during the regime of [[Lenin]]. Most prominent are deaths due to executions, forced labor camps, [[genocide]]s of certain ethnic minorities, and mass starvations caused by either government mismanagement or deliberately. The exact number of deaths caused by these regimes is somewhat disputed, but the historical research shows at least tens of millions and several overviews give a number close to one hundred million deaths [http://users.erols.com/mwhite28/warstat8.htm]. Yakovlev, the researcher with the best access to the Soviet achieves, have recently stated that the Communists killed at least 30-35 millions in the Soviet Union alone. Some particularly brutal episodes were the [[Holodomor]], the [[Great Purge]], the [[Great Leap Forward]], and [[The Killing Fields]].
On [[February 12]], [[1873]] was promoted to first lieutenant, and given command of the ''Toltén'' first, and the ''Magallanes'' later. It was in this later ship that he was going to make his name as one of the ablest naval commanders of the coming war. During his patrols of the extreme southern region of Chile, he was involved in a diplomatic incident with [[Argentina]] and Britain, when he captured several foreign ships that were operating in the Chilean area with an Argentinian licence, chief among them the ''Jeanne Amelie'' and the ''Devonshire''. He was also faced with the mutiny of the city of [[Punta Arenas]], where he was able to rescue his old friend, governor [[Diego Dublé Almeida]].
Yakovlev is especially critical of the treatment of millions of children of claimed political opponents. Children of former Imperial officers and peasants were held as hostages and sometimes shot during the [[Russian Civil War]]. The children of soldiers who surrendered during WWII could be punished. Some children followed their parents to the [[Gulag]]s, where their mortality rate was especially high. In [[1954]] there were 884,057 "specially resettled" children under the age of sixteen. Others were placed in special orphanages run by the secret police in order to be reeducated, often losing even their names, and were considered socially dangerous also as adults. {{ref|Yakovlev-children}}
== War of the Pacific years ==
Other criticisms concern the documented lack of [[freedom of speech]], religious and ethnic [[persecution]]s, and systematic use of [[torture]]. The Communist states had strict restrictions on [[emigration]], the most prominent example being the [[Berlin Wall]]. Many used an extensive network of civilian [[informants]] to spy on their own population. This created a society where no one could trust other citizens, who might report real or fabricated criticism of the Communist system to the [[secret police]]. In some Communist states it was common practice to classify internal critics of the system as having a mental disease, like [[sluggishly progressing schizophrenia]] - which was only recognized in Communist states - and incarcerate them in [[mental hospitals]].
===Naval Battle de Chipana===
Several internal uprisings were suppressed by military force, like the [[Kronstadt rebellion]] and the [[Tiananmen Square protests of 1989]]. The [[Soviet invasion of Afghanistan]], the [[Prague Spring]], and the [[1956 Hungarian Revolution]] can be seen as [[imperialistic]] wars where military force crushed popular uprisings against the Communist system. Some Communist states directly supported claimed [[terrorist group]]s with money, training and safe bases. Examples include the [[PFLP]], the [[Red Army Fraction]], and the [[Japanese Red Army]] [http://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog/COUBLA.html].
While in command of the ''Magallanes'', he was the first to come face to face with the Peruvian navy at the [[Battle of Chipana|Naval Battle de Chipana]]. On [[April 12]], [[1879]], he crossed paths with the Peruvian ships ''Unión'' and ''Pilcomayo'', who tried to capture it. Outgunned, Latorre decided to escape. During the ensuing persecution, he noticed that the speed of the two Peruvian ships was greatly different, and that the ''Pilcomayo'' was falling considerably behind.
Once the Peruvian ''Union'' was alone, he turned his ship around, and opened fire. The battle thus ensued. The Peruvian aim was disastrous, due to their lack of training, but the Chilean aim was only marginally better. At one point, the ''Unión'' started spewing white smoke from one of its sides. This led the Peruvian captain to think his ship had been seriously hit, and gave up the persecution, allowing the weaker ''Magallanes'' to escape unharmed. In fact the whole incident was caused by the overheating of one of the boilers.
The leaders of the Communist states themselves frequently announced their support for democracy, held regular elections and sometimes even gave their countries names such as the "[[German Democratic Republic]]" or the "[[North Korea|Democratic People's Republic of Korea]]". Some supporters of the Communist states have argued that those states were democratic. However, critics point out that, in practice, one political party held an absolute monopoly on power, dissent was banned, and the elections usually featured a single candidate and were ripe with fraud (often producing implausible results of 99% in favor of the candidate). Many of the leaders of Communist states cultivated an extensive [[personality cult]]. In some cases the leadership of the state became inherited.
===Second Naval Battle of Iquique===
=== Comparison with human rights violations in other political systems ===
After the disastrous reduction of the Peruvian navy at the First [[Battle of Iquique|Naval Battle of Iquique]], presidente [[Mariano Ignacio Prado|Prado]] of Peru ordered Admiral [[Miguel Grau|Grau]] to harass the Chilean shipping lines and to try to disrupt their commerce. The Admiral, on the ''Huascar'', decided to go on a night raid to the port of [[Iquique]], to try and destroy the ''Abtao''. He arrived on the night of [[July 9]], and not finding his prey decided to go after the transport ship ''Matías Cousiño.''
Latorre, who was commanding the ''Magallanes'' decided to fend off the attack, in spite of the difference in strength of both ships (260 tons versus 1130). Admiral Grau tried to sink the smaller ship thrice, using his ram, but in spite of his ability the ''Magallanes'' was able to keep him at bay long enough for the ironclad ''Cochrane'' to show up, after which the ''Huascar'' decided to retreat back to [[Arica]].
Some supporters of communism find this approach simplistic, noting that humans rights violations such as executions, forced labor camps, the repression of ethnic minorities, and mass starvation were patterns in both non-democratic Russian and Chinese history before their respective Communist takeovers, and that later the opposing capitalist states also committed some human rights violations, like [[state terrorism]]. However, evils in other regimes can hardly be used to justify new ones. Advocates reply that they only seek to put the events into perspective, not justify them. Also this defense can be criticized. Any attempt similarly to similarly relativise Nazi and fascist crimes would be widely seen as obnoxious. Moreover, [[Alexander Solzhenitsyn]] argues in his book ''[[Gulag Archipelago]]'' that the living conditions and death rates of the inmates in the Soviet era [[Gulags]] were much worse than those of the Czarist era [[Katorga]]s. The worst crop failure of late Czarist Russia, in 1892, caused 375,000 to 400,000 deaths, while famines under both Lenin and Stalin caused many millions of deaths [http://www.overpopulation.com/faq/health/hunger/famine/soviet_famine.html]. [[Richard Pipes]] states that the Czarist regime executed 3,932 persons for political crimes between [[1825]] and [[1910]]. 681,692 persons were executed between [[1937]] and [[1938]] during the Great Purge.
=== [[Battle of Angamos|Naval Battle of Angamos]] ===
Another comparison may be to the deaths caused by capitalism during several centuries, a number claimed by some (for example, the French book ''Le Livre Noir du capitalisme'' - "The Black Book of capitalism") to be far greater. However, this was achieved by counting the crimes of colonialism or imperialism, where defenders of capitalism would argue that the deaths were caused by anti-capitalism, i.e., by reducing the [[Index of economic freedom|economic freedom]] of people. But this defense of capitalism may be similar to the defense of communism that the Communist states were not "real" communist societies. A better comparison may be to [[liberal democracy|liberal democracies]]. According to the research supporting the [[democratic peace theory]], they have very low levels of systematic violence.
[[Image:Angamos.jpg|thumb|300px|[[Battle of Angamos|Naval Battle of Angamos]]]]
On [[September 6]], [[1879]] he is promoted to commander of the ironclad ''Cochrane'', the strongest unit of the Chilean fleet. His fame was such that he moved in with all his crew. His first mission was to eliminate the threat of the ''Huascar'', who was impeding alone any invasion of the Peruvian coastline.
On the night of [[October 7]] he was informed that the ''Huascar'' had been seen near the port of Huasco and was moving north. A trap was then set. The Chilean fleet was divided into 2 groups. The first division was in charge of Commander [[Galvarino Riveros]] and made up of the ''Blanco Encalada'', ''Covadonga'' and the ''Matías Cousiño'' (the last one loaded with coal), who would try to follow Admiral Grau pushing him towards the second division that would be waiting further north. In the early hours of [[October 8]], the plan went into effect. When the ''Huascar'' and the ''Union'' saw the Chilean ships blocking their way south they decided to turn back north. A few hours later, they met the ''Cochrane'' who was waiting according to plan. Admiral Grau was forced to present battle, while the ''Union'' got away.
Also according to Pipes, the Communist states share some responsibility for [[WWII]]. Both [[Hitler]] and [[Mussolini]] used the Soviet Union as a model for their own [[totalitarian]] states and Hitler privately expressed that Stalin was a "genius". In turn, Stalin expressed desire for another great war that would leave his enemies weakened. He allowed the testing and production of German weapons that were forbidden by the [[Versailles Treaty]] to occur on Soviet territory. During the critical [[1932]] German elections, he forbid the German Communists from collaborating with the Social Democrats. These parties together gained more votes than Hitler and could have prevented him from becoming Chancellor.
The ''Cochrane'' continued advancing over the ''Huascar'' without answering its fire until it was very close to the enemy, in order not to lose speed. When it finally attacked, the onslaught was ferocious. The second shot destroyed the command tower of the ''Huascar'', killing Admiral [[Miguel Grau Seminario|Grau]] and leaving the monitor without a rudder. The fight continued for another hour, but the arrival of the ''Blanco Encalada'' with the rest of the Chilean fleet made any resistance totally useless. The ''Huascar'' was captured and became a part of the Chilean fleet.
===Economic and social development===
Central economic planning has in certain instances produced dramatic advances, including rapid development of heavy industry during the 1930s in the Soviet Union. Another example is the development of the pharmaceutical industry in [[Cuba]]. However, these examples are anecdotal and there are counter-examples: the failure of the Soviet Union to achieve the same kind of development in agriculture (forcing the Soviet Union to become a net importer of [[cereals]] after the Second World War), as well as the continued poverty of other Communist states such as [[Laos]], [[Vietnam]] or Maoist [[China]]. China only achieved high rates of growth after introducing Capitalist economic reforms. Another example is [[Czechoslovakia]], which was among world's most developed industrial countries prior to [[World War II]], but fell far behind the Western nations under the Communist rule. The Communist states do not compare favorable when looking at divided nations with similar culture before the Communist takeovers: [[North Korea]] vs. [[South Korea]]; [[China]] vs. [[Hong Kong]] and [[Taiwan]]; and [[East Germany]] vs. [[West Germany]]. East vs. West German [[Productivity (economics)|productivity]] was around 90% in 1936 [http://www.ggdc.net/pub/gd46.pdf] and around 60-65% in 1954 [http://www.eco.rug.nl/ggdc/pub/gd57.pdf]. When compared to the EU, the East German productivity declined from 67% in 1950 to 50% before the unification in 1989 [http://www.ggdc.net/pub/gd41.pdf].
[[Image:World energy intensity by region 1970-2025.png|thumb|200px|right|The Communist states used their energy inefficiently, getting much less economic growth from the same amount of energy than the Western nations and the Third World. However, it can be argued that there was little need for energy efficiency since the Soviet Union was a net exporter of oil and gas and China has large coal reserves.]]
== Later years ==
Supporters of the Communist states note the social and cultural programs, sometimes administered by labor organizations. They included in theory guaranteed [[employment]], subsidized food and clothing, free [[health care]], free [[child care]], and free [[education]]. Early advances in the status of women were also notable, especially in [[Islamic]] areas of the Soviet Union [http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/069107562X/qid=1121915545/sr=8-1/ref=sr_8_xs_ap_i1_xgl14/104-7107031-9666361?v=glance&s=books&n=507846]. They point out to the high levels of literacy enjoyed by Eastern Europeans (in comparison, for instance, with Southern Europe), Cubans or Chinese. However, again the Communist parts of the divided nations do not compare favorably. The education was full of [[propaganda]] and censored opposing views. Workers were not allowed to join free [[labor union]]s. There were often great scarcity and [[rationing]] even of basic products like food, forcing ordinary workers to spend much of their time waiting in queues, hoping to get one of the rationed products. Some of these benefits can also be found in nations with market economies, like [[Sweden]]. [[Milovan Djilas]], once one of the most powerful leaders in Communist [[Yugoslavia]], in his book ''[[New lass]]'' argued that a new powerful class of party bureaucrats emerged which exploited the rest of the population. In the Soviet Union this group was known as the [[Nomenklatura]]. Research shows that a higher score on the [[Index of Economic Freedom]] is associated with lower poverty and higher life-expectancy.
After returning to Chile, in [[1882]] he married Julia Moreno Zuleta, whom he met on one of the many parties given in his honor after the war. They had three children. On [[June 5]], [[1884]] he is promoted to Rear-Admiral. In [[1886]] he was appointed Commander General of the Navy. Presidente [[José Manuel Balmaceda]] sent him on an official mission to Europe to supervise the construction of new ships for the Chilean navy. While in [[England]], the [[Chilean Civil War]] broke out. He chose to remain loyal to president Balmaceda and was dismissed after the Congressional triumph. He remained in exile in Europe until [[1894]].
After his return, he was twice elected senator for the Balmacedista party ([[1894]]-[[1900]], [[1900]]-[[1906]]), and was reinstated in the navy. He was appointed member of the Council of State by president [[Federico Errázuriz Echaurren]] in [[1897]] and minister of foreign affairs in [[1898]]. A few years before his death he was promoted to Vice Admiral and was made a Commander of the French [[Legion of Honor]].
In the Soviet Union in 1989 there was rationing of meat and sugar. The average intake of [[red meat]] for a Soviet citizen was half of what it had been for a subject of the Czar in [[1913]]. Blacks in [[apartheid]] [[South Africa]] owned more cars per capita. The only area of consumption in which the Soviets excelled was the ingestion of [[hard liquor]]. Two-thirds of the households had no hot water, and a third had no running water at all. According to the government paper, [[Izvestia]], a typical working class family of four was forced to live for 8 years in a single 8x8 foot room, before marginally better accommodation became available. The housing shortage was so acute that at all times 17% of Soviet families had to be physically separated for want of adequate space. A third of the hospitals had no running water and the bribery of doctors and nurses to get decent medical attention and even amenities like blankets in Soviet hospitals was not only common, but routine. The average welfare mother in the United States received more income in a month, than the average Soviet worker could earn in a year [http://www.discoverthenetwork.org/Articles/The%20Road%20to%20Nowhere.htm].
{{start box}}
After 1965, [[life expectancy]] began to plateau or even decreased, especially for males, in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe while it continued to increase in Western Europe. This divergence between two parts of Europe went on during three decades leading to a profound gap in the mid 90s. The life expectancy sharply declined after the change to market economy in several of the states of the former Soviet Union but may now have started to increase in the [[Baltic states]]. In several Eastern European nations life expectancy started to increase immediately after the fall of Communism. The previous decline for males continued for a time in some, like [[Romania]], before starting to increase [http://www.demogr.mpg.de/Papers/workshops/020619_paper27.pdf].
{{s-off}}
{{succession box
| title=[[Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Chile#Ministers of Foreign Affairs and Cult|Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cult]]
| before=[[Raimundo Silva]]
| after=[[Ventura Blanco]]
| years='''1898-1899'''}}
{{s-mil}}
{{succession box
| title=[[Chilean Navy|Navy General Commander]]
| before=[[Domingo Toro]]
| after=[[Luis Uribe]]
| years='''1886-1887'''}}
{{end box}}
[[Category:1846 births|Latorre, Juan José]]
Cuba is often cited as a successful example by communists. However, Cuba was one of most developed nations in [[Latin America]] before Castro. Other Latin American nations have seen greater increases in literacy than Cuba. Calories per person have declined in Cuba while it has increased in most other Latin American nations. Cubans eat less cereals and meat than before Castro [http://www.state.gov/p/wha/ci/14776.htm]. On the other hand, there is a [[United States embargo against Cuba]].
[[Category:1912 deaths|Latorre, Juan José]]
[[Category:Chilean military personnel|Latorre, Juan José]]
=== Arts, science, technology, and environment ===
[[Category:Chilean admirals|Latorre, Juan José]]
[[Category:People of the War of the Pacific|Latorre, Juan José]]
The Communist states censored the [[arts]], usually only allowing [[socialist realism]]. Some Communist states have been involved in the destruction of cultural heritage: [[Romania]] (planned destruction of historical centers of most towns — partially achieved in Bucharest), [[China]] (repression of [[Tibet]]an culture, destructions during the [[Cultural Revolution]]) and the Soviet Union (destruction, abandon or reconversion of religious buildings) are the most cited examples [http://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog/COUBLA.html].
There was [[suppressed research in the Soviet Union]] and the other Communists states. One example is [[censorship]] and [[revisionism]] of [[history]]. Research was suppressed in [[biology]] and [[genetics]] (see [[Lysenkoism]]), [[linguistics]] (see [[Japhetic theory (linguistics)|Japhetic theory]]), [[cybernetics]], [[psychology]] and [[psychiatry]], and even [[organic chemistry]]. Although the Communist states often emphasized the importance of the "[[hard sciences]]", comparatively few advances were made in them. For example, there were very few [[Nobel prize]] winners from Communist states [http://www.smith.umd.edu/faculty/wjank/NobelShares.pdf].
Soviet technology generally lagged Western technology by many years. Exceptions include areas like the [[Soviet space program]] and military technology where occasionally [http://www.econ.ox.ac.uk/Research/WP/PDF/paper008.pdf] the Communist technology was more advanced due to a massive concentration of research resources. According to the [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]], much of the technology in the Communist states consisted simply of copies of Western products that had been legally purchased or gained through a massive espionage program. Stricter Western control of the export of technology through [[COCOM]] contributed to the fall of Communism [http://www.cia.gov/csi/studies/96unclass/farewell.htm].
Also pointed out is the environmental disasters. One is the gradual disappearance of the [[Aral Sea]] and a similar diminishing of the [[Caspian Sea]] because of the diversion of the rivers that fed them. Another the pollution of the [[Black Sea]], the [[Baltic Sea]], and the unique freshwater environment of [[Lake Baikal]]. Many of the rivers were polluted; several, like the [[Vistula]] and [[Oder]] rivers in Poland, were virtually ecologically dead. In 1988 only 30% of the [[sewage]] in the Soviet Union was treated properly. Established health standards for [[air pollution]] was exceeded by ten times or more in 103 cities in the Soviet Union in 1988. The air pollution problem was even more severe in Eastern Europe. It caused [[lung cancer]], forest die-back, and damage to buildings and cultural heritages. According to official sources, 58 percent of total agricultural land of the former Soviet Union was affected by [[salinization]], [[erosion]], [[acidity]], or [[waterlogging]]. Nuclear waste was dumped in the [[Sea of Japan]], the [[Arctic Ocean]], and in locations in the Far East. It was revealed in 1992 that in the city of [[Moscow]] there were 636 radioactive toxic waste sites and 1,500 in [[St. Petersburg]]. [http://www.loc.gov/rr/scitech/tracer-bullets/sovietenvtb.html][http://www.lanic.utexas.edu/la/cb/cuba/asce/cuba8/22diaz.pdf]. The environmental situation has improved in every studied former Communist state. [http://www.unep.net/profile/index.cfm] [http://www.unece.org/env/epr/countriesreviewed.htm][http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/7/50/2452793.pdf][http://www.nber.org/~confer/2002/env02/kahn.pdf].
===Socialist criticisms of the Communist states===
There were early Marxist critics of the first Communist states, like [[Mensheviks]] and [[Trotskyites]]. However, most foreign communists and Communist parties at first supported the Communist states and accepted the leadership of the Soviet Union (see [[Comintern]]). Criticisms gradually increased, especially after Stalin was denounced in the 1956 speech [[On the Personality Cult and its Consequences]], after the [[1956 Hungarian Revolution]], and after the fall of Communism in 1989-91.
There were also early criticisms from non-Marxist socialists, like [[Bertrand Russell]] and [[Emma Goldman]]. Some, like [[H G Wells]], were initially supportive but gradually became more disillusioned as more details were revealed.
== Criticisms of Marxist theory ==
See [[criticisms of socialism]] for a discussion of objections to socialism in general. There are also some specific criticisms of Marxist theory.
===Relevance of the Communist states for Marxist theory===
Marxist critics of the Communist states argue that the problems in the Communist states cannot be used to criticize Marxist theory and the communist society. One argument is that a "Communist state" is an impossibility according to Marxist theory. The communist society itself is stateless in theory and thus cannot be 20th century states. However, Marx and Engel's theory includes a transitory state phase known as the [[dictatorship of the proletariat]] [http://www.marxists.org/glossary/terms/d/i.htm#dictatorship-proletariat]. Later, the state will "whither away" and the dictatorship of the proletariat will be replaced by the communist society. The Communist states, all claiming to be following Lenin's interpretation of Marxism, [[Marxism-Leninism]], claimed to be this dictatorship of the proletariat [http://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1917/staterev/][http://www.marxists.org/glossary/terms/m/a.htm#marxism-leninism]. If they did follow Marxist theory, then the theory failed to work in the real world.
[[Image:Victims of the 1932-33 famine in Ukraine.jpg|thumb|left|300px|Victims of the 1932-33 famine in [[Ukraine]], the [[Holodomor]].]]
Trotskyites and other [[Leninist]]s explain this by arguing that the Communist states after Lenin's death did not actually adhere to Marxism-Leninism but rather were perversions heavily influenced by [[Stalinism]]. Lenin's [[War communism]] and [[New Economic Policy]] were in many ways different from Stalinism. On the other hand, in many ways the institutions of the later Communist states differed from those under Stalin. Examples include the profit-sharing in [[Titoism]], the extreme self-reliance in [[Juche]], and the reforms in [[Perestroika]], and [[Glasnost]]. [[Maoism]] is a broad concept that includes episodes such as the self-sufficient [[communes]] during the [[Great Leap Forward]], the anti-intellectualism during the [[Cultural Revolution]], and the almost [[primitivism|primitivst]] [[Red Khmer]]s. A response is that all later Communist states may have differed in some ways but that all had common problematic institutions created by Stalin and that this explains problems such as systematic human rights violations.
However, recent historical research has revealed the harsh repressions during Lenin's regime. They include summary executions of hundreds of thousands of "class enemies", the creation of the system that later become the [[Gulags]], and a policy of food requisitioning during the [[Russian Civil War]] that was partially responsible for a famine causing 3-10 million deaths [http://www.gmu.edu/departments/economics/bcaplan/museum/his1g.htm][http://www.overpopulation.com/faq/health/hunger/famine/soviet_famine.html][http://users.erols.com/mwhite28/warstat1.htm#Russian](see also references below).
Some Marxist supporters instead argue that no Communist state was Marxist since no Communist state was democratic. However, Marx and Engels gave few hints regarding how the dictatorship of the proletariat or the later communist society should be implemented. They rejected the concept of [[liberal democracy]], arguing that it could not represent the interest of the proletariat. It is often argued that Marx and Engels supported the claimed [[direct democracy]] of the [[Paris Commune]] as a model [http://www.marxists.org/glossary/terms/d/e.htm#democracy]. However, this is disputed [http://question-everything.mahost.org/History/ParisCommune.html] and there were human rights violations even during the few months the Commune existed [http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/04168a.htm]. Engels stated that "A revolution is certainly the most authoritarian thing there is; it is the act whereby one part of the population imposes its will upon the other part by means of rifles, bayonets and cannon — authoritarian means, if such there be at all; and if the victorious party does not want to have fought in vain, it must maintain this rule by means of the terror which its arms inspire in the reactionists. Would the Paris Commune have lasted a single day if it had not made use of this authority of the armed people against the bourgeois? Should we not, on the contrary, reproach it for not having used it freely enough?" and "the proletariat needs the state, not in the interests of freedom but in order to hold down its adversaries". Lenin later used cited these and other statements by Marx and Engels as support for using the authoritarian principles of [[vanguard party]] and "[[democratic centralism]]" during the dictatorship of the proletariat in Communist states. This excluded democracy even in theory outside the ruling Communist party [http://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1917/staterev/]. When the Marxists only gained a minority vote in the democratic [[Russian Constituent Assembly election, 1917]], Lenin dispersed the Constituent Assembly at the end of its first day's session and overturned the election [http://www.encyclopediaofukraine.com/pages/A/L/All6RussianConstituentAssembly.htm]. All the later Communist states became and remained totalitarian as long as the Communists remained in power, justifying this by referring to Lenin's interpretation of Marxism.
On the other hand, some democratic states have been ruled by parties calling themselves Communist without becoming totalitarian. One example is [[Moldova]]. Whether these parties and similar parties without power are Marxist is disputed, because, while they aim for a socialist society, they reject Marxist cornerstones like a [[proletarian revolution]] and at least for now accept a market economy (see also [[Communist state#Definition of a Communist state|Definition of a Communist state]] and [[Eurocommunism]]).
Another argument is that true communism can only develop as a response to the contradictions of bourgeois capitalism; therefore, the failure of those experiments in communism to date can be attributed to the fact they did not emerge in this manner. In short, in order for a successful socialist revolution to occur, capitalism must first dominate the globe. The Soviet Union is a case in point - Tsarist Russia was quasi-feudal, not capitalist, and was overthrown by a small cadre rather than by a mass revolution. So it is argued by that the failure of Soviet socialism to sustain itself is actually an affirmation of Marxist theory.
===General criticisms===
[[Eric Hoffer]] has communism as one of the chief examples of the mass movement which offers [[The True Believer]] a glorious, if imaginary, future to compensate for the frustrations of his present. Such movements need people to be willing to sacrifice all for that future, including themselves and others. To do that, they need to devalue the past and present. This is not a criticism of Communist tenets specifically; Hoffer's other chief examples are [[Fascists]], [[Nationalists]], and the founding stages of religions.
[[Arthur Koestler]] describes Marxism as a closed system, like [[Catholicism]] or orthodox [[Freudianism]]. This has three peculiarities: It claims to represent a universal truth, which explains everything, and can cure every ill. It can automatically process and reinterpret all potentially damaging data by methods of [[casuistry]], emotionally appealling and beyond common logic. It invalidates criticism by deducing what the subjective motivation of the critic must be, and by arguing about that.
=== Historical materialism ===
[[Historical materialism]] is normally considered the intellectual basis of Marxism. It looks for the causes of developments and changes in human history in economic, technological, and more broadly, material factors, as well as the clashes of material interests among tribes, social classes and nations. However, it ignores other causes of historical and social change, like biology, genetics, philosophy, art, religion, or other causes that are not "materialist" according to Marxists.
In turn, the philosophy of [[Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel]] can be considered the basis of Historical materialism. [[Max Stirner]] has argued that this philosophy leads to [[nihilism]] and not to historical materialism.
=== Labor theory of value ===
Fundamental to Marxist theory is the [[labor theory of value]]. It claims that the value (or, to be more exact, [[use-value]]) of an item is determined by the [[socially necessary labour time]] required to produce it. In other words, the greater the amount of work necessary to produce an object, the greater the value of that object. This implies that value is [[objective]], and that it may not be reflected by the [[price]] of the object in question (since price is determined by [[supply and demand]], and is not linked to the amount of necessary work that must be expended to produce the object). The labor theory of value was first fully stated by [[David Ricardo]], from suggestions by [[Adam Smith]], and later adopted by [[Karl Marx]].
By contrast, most capitalist economists now use the [[subjective theory of value]], which implies that the only value of an object on which different observers can agree is its price on the market (which is based on the subjective utilities of the participants). Critics of communism hold that the qualifier "socially necessary" in the labor theory of value is not well-defined, and conceals a subjective judgment of necessity.
===Tabula Rasa===
[[Image: Conrad Schumann.jpg|thumb|300px|right|[[East German]] border guard [[Conrad Schumann]] leaps into [[West Berlin]]. 35 million people fled from the Communist states [http://www.hawaii.edu/powerkills/COM.ART.HTM].]]
Marxism views human nature as completely determined by the environment, a [[Tabula rasa]]. [[Richard Pipes]] describes how this led to a belief in a coming new [[altruistic]] man, in essence a new superior species (although one caused by the environment, not genetics). Trotsky thought that this new man would be able to control all unconscious processes, including those controlling bodily functions like [[digestion]], and have the intellect of [[Aristotle]]. In order to reach this stage it was necessary and right to completely destroy the existing institutions that had formed the current wretched humans. This also explains the little value the Communists placed on the lives and rights of the current humans. In reality [[self-interest]] could not be destroyed and the new ruling class, the nomenklatura, quickly replaced the old aristocracy. Periodic attempts to destroy it, such as the [[Cultural Revolution]] during Mao's regime, failed.
===Historical analysis ===
The Marxist stages of history and the Marxist class analysis have been criticized. Robert Conquest argues that detailed analyses of many historical periods fails to find support for these theories. Marx himself admitted that his theory could not explain the internal development of the "Asiatic" social system, where most of the world's population lived for thousands of years.
===Marx's predictions===
Marx made numerous predictions. He thought that the workers would become poorer and poorer as the capitalists exploited them more and more; that differences between the members within each class would become smaller and smaller and the classes would thus become more homogeneous; that the skilled workers would be replaced by unskilled workers doing assembly line work; that relations between the working class and the capitalists would get worse and worse; that the capitalists would become fewer and fewer due to an increasing number of [[monopolies]]; that the capitalist states would become increasingly [[authoritarian]]; and that the proletarian revolution would occur first in the most industrialized nations.
Some of these are debatable, while others have been clearly proven wrong. This is often cited by critics as evidence that historical materialism is a flawed theory. Communists reply with two arguments: The first is that there were a number of major events and trends over the past century and a half which Marx could not have predicted: [[imperialism]], [[World War I]], the rise of [[social democracy]] and [[Keynesianism|Keynesian economics]] in the West (that introduced the concept of [[redistribution of wealth]], thereby narrowing the gap between rich and poor), [[World War II]] and finally the [[Cold War]]. In response, critics maintain that if so many unpredictable events have happened in the past, then an equal number could happen in the future, and therefore Marxist theory is not a reliable method of making predictions.
Lenin noted that the predicted increasing class polarization and communist revolution had failed to occur in the developed world. He then attempted to explain this by stating that [[imperialism]] is the highest stage of capitalism, and that developed countries had created a [[labor aristocracy]] content with capitalism by exploiting the developing world.
After the Western nations voluntarily gave up their colonies, supporters of communism have attempted to explain this with still another stage, sometimes called [[neoimperialism]], arguing that the Third World is exploited even without formal empires. For criticism of this, see [[Anti-globalization#Criticisms]].
=== Pseudoscience ===
Marxism does not claim be to a [[science]]. However, historical materialism does. [[Karl Popper]] and others have argued that historical materialism is a [[pseudoscience]] because it is not [[falsifiable]]. Marxists respond that some [[social science]]s are not falsifiable, since it is often difficult or outright impossible to test them via [[experiment]]s (in the way [[hard science]] can be tested). This is especially true when many people and a long time is involved. Popper agreed on this, but instead used it as an argument against central [[planning]] and all ideologies that claim to know the future.
== See also ==
*[[Criticisms of socialism]]
*[[The Black Book of Communism]]
*[[The Great Terror]]
*[[Democide]]
== References and further reading ==
===References===
#{{note|Yakovlev-children}} Yakovlev, 2004. p. 29-47
===Bibliography===
*Applebaum, Anne (2003) ''Gulag: A History''. Broadway Books. ISBN 0767900561
*Chang, Jung & Halliday, Jon (2005) ''[[Mao: The Unknown Story]]''. Knopf. ISBN 0679422714
*Conquest, Robert (1991) ''[[The Great Terror]]: A Reassessment''. Oxford University Press ISBN 0195071328.
*Conquest, Robert (1987) ''The Harvest of Sorrow: Soviet Collectivization and the Terror-Famine''. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0195051807.
*Conquest, Robert (2000) ''Reflections on a Ravaged Century''. W. W. Norton & Company. ISBN 0393048187
*Courtois,Stephane; Werth, Nicolas; Panne, Jean-Louis; Paczkowski, Andrzej; Bartosek, Karel; Margolin, Jean-Louis & Kramer, Mark (1999). ''[[The Black Book of Communism]]: Crimes, Terror, Repression''. Harvard University Press. ISBN 0674076087.
*Hamilton-Merritt, Jane (1999) ''Tragic Mountains: The Hmong, the Americans, and the Secret Wars for Laos, 1942-1992'' Indiana University Press. ISBN 0253207568.
*Jackson, Karl D. (1992) ''Cambodia, 1975–1978'' Princeton University Press ISBN 069102541X.
*Kakar, M. Hassan (1997)'' Afghanistan: The Soviet Invasion and the Afghan Response, 1979-1982'' University of California Press. ISBN 0520208935.
*Khlevniuk, Oleg & Kozlov, Vladimir (2004) ''The History of the Gulag : From Collectivization to the Great Terror (Annals of Communism Series)'' Yale University Pres. ISBN 0300092849.
*Natsios, Andrew S. (2002) ''The Great North Korean Famine''. Institute of Peace Press. ISBN 1929223331.
*Nghia M. Vo (2004) ''The Bamboo Gulag: Political Imprisonment in Communist Vietnam'' McFarland & Company. ISBN 0786417145.
*Pipes, Richard (2001) ''Communism'' Weidenfled and Nicoloson. ISBN 0297646885
*Pipes, Richard (1995) ''Russia Under the Bolshevik Regime''. Vintage. ISBN 0679761845.
*Pipes, Richard (1991) ''The Russian Revolution''. Vintage. ISBN 0679736603.
*Rummel, R.J. (1996). ''Lethal Politics: Soviet Genocide and Mass Murder Since 1917.'' Transaction Publishers ISBN 1560008873.
*Todorov, Tzvetan & Zaretsky, Robert (1999). ''Voices from the Gulag: Life and Death in Communist Bulgaria''. Pennsylvania State University Press. ISBN 0271019611.
*Van Canh, Nyuyen (1985) ''Vietnam Under Communism, 1975-1982.'' Hoover Institution Press. ISBN 0817978526.
*Yakovlev, Alexander (2004). ''A Century of Violence in Soviet Russia.'' Yale University Press. ISBN 0300103220.
== External links ==
=== Criticisms of the Communist states and Marxism ===
====Directories====
*[http://markhumphrys.com/communism.html Communism]
*[http://www.angelfire.com/de/Cerskus/english/saitai.html Crimes of Soviet Communists]
*[http://www.victimsofcommunism.org/media/ The Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation Media Center]
====Articles====
*[http://www.gmu.edu/departments/economics/bcaplan/museum/musframe.htm Museum of Communism]
*[http://english.epochtimes.com/jiuping.asp Chinese and general communism analysis]
*[http://www.cato.org/research/articles/wilkinson-050201.html Capitalism and Human Nature]
====Online estimates of Communist democide====
*[http://users.erols.com/mwhite28/warstat8.htm Summary of different estimates for total 20th century democide] Note that only some of numbers are totals for the Communist states.
**[http://users.erols.com/mwhite28/atrox.htm 30 Worst Atrocities of the 20th Century]
**[http://users.erols.com/mwhite28/tyrants.htm Who was the Bloodiest Tyrant of the 20th Century?]
*[http://www.hawaii.edu/powerkills/COM.ART.HTM How many did the Communist regimes murder?]
**[http://www.hawaii.edu/powerkills/NOTE4.HTM Lethal Politics: Soviet Genocide and Mass Murder Since 1917]
**[http://www.hawaii.edu/powerkills/COM.TAB1.GIF Table: Communist democide by nation]
**[http://www.hawaii.edu/powerkills/COM.FIG1.GIF Graph: Communist democide compared to total for world]
**[http://www.hawaii.edu/powerkills/COM.FIG2.GIF Graph: Communist democide divied into Genocide, Deportations, Massacres, and Camp/Prisons]
=== Support for Marxism ===
====Support for the Communist states====
*[http://www.plp.org/books/Stalin/book.html Another view of Stalin]
*[http://www.marx2mao.com/ From Marx to Mao]
====Marxists opposed to the Communist states====
*[http://www.marxists.org/ Marxists Internet Archive]
**[http://www.marxists.org/history/index.htm History Archive]
**[http://www.marxists.org/archive/trotsky/works/index.htm Leon Trotsky Internet Archive]
**[http://www.marxists.org/archive/trotsky/works/1936-rev/index.htm The Revolution Betrayed] An analysis of [[Stalinism]], from a [[Trotskyism|Trotskyist communist]] point of view.
*[http://www.rebelion.org/petras/english/040304capitalism.htm Capitalism versus socialism: The great debate revisited]
[[Category:Communism]]
[[Category:Marxism]]
[[Category:Soviet Union]]
[[Category:Soviet repression structures and people]]
[[Category:Criticisms|Communism]]
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