Fast facts
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Communism
Communism is a political and economic doctrine that aims for a classless society structured upon communal ownership of the means of production (e.g., mines, mills, and factories ) and the end of wage labour and private property. For much of the 20th century, in fact, about one-third of the world’s population lived under communist regimes. These regimes were characterized by the rule of a single party that tolerated no opposition and little dissent.
Leading contributers:
The hammer and sickle are two symbols of the industrial proletariat and the peasantry; placing them together symbolises the unity between industrial and agricultural workers. This emblem was conceived during the Bolshevik Revolution.
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George Orwell’s Animal Farm is based on the preStalin communist period before WWII. “All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.”
The Communist Manifesto
The major players
An introduction
The men behind the Communist Manifesto, Marx and Engels were both Prussian born philosophers, social theorists and sociologists who relocated to England. Although both were both well-educated, they were both no strangers to poverty. Karl Marx had seven children but due to poverty only three survived to adulthood. Engels collaborated with Marx on a range of publications including Das Kapital.
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In relation to housing, at the age of 64 Engels published The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State in which he suggests that monogamous marriage, came from the necessity within class society for men to control women and to ensure their own children would inherit their property. He argued a future communist society would allow people to make decisions about their relationships free from economic constraints.
In 1848 two men, Karl Marx and Fredrich Engels, were commissioned by the Communist league in Germany to formulate a draft document to represent the goals of the workers movement. The resulting Communist Manifesto was first published in the German language, in London on February 21st 1848 and continues to be one of the world’s most significant publications. It is the document which has influenced and proliferated the communist movement globally.The document itself has about 18,000 words which analytically address the past and theoretical future of the working class under communism. It discusses the class struggle within society and outlines many of the problems in Capitalist system.
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Communist Poland:
The Communist Manifesto
The reality
10 Point Program
In practice the housing policy of Polish communist regimes was more pragmatic than the Soviet model. State housing policy disregarded supply and demand in favor of administrative space allocation norms, standardized design and construction practices, and central rent control. The rents were maintained at a very low level to ensure that housing was available to even the poorest citizens. However, all the control by the State made the construction and approval a very slow process.
01 Abolition of property in land and application of all rents of land to public purposes.
01 Karl marx 02 Fredrich Engels 03 Moscow Olympic Village/ Soviet Architecture Example 04 Queues in Poland waiting for bread 05 Expansion of Communism (dark to light)
02 A heavy progressive or graduated income tax. 03 Abolition of all right of inheritance. Confiscation of the property of all emigrants and rebels.
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04 Centralisation of credit in the hands of the State, by means of a national bank with State capital and an exclusive monopoly. 05 Centralisation of the means of communication and transport in the hands of the State.
By 1988 Poland ranked last in Europe in housing with only 284 dwellings per 1,000 persons; 30 percent of Polish families did not have their own housing accommodations. 1 1 Housing, U.S. Library of Congress http://countrystudies.us/poland/37.htm
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The Logo.
06 Extension of factories and instruments of production owned by the State; the bringing into cultivation of waste-lands, and the improvement of the soil generally in accordance with a common plan. 07 Equal liability of all to labour... 04
08 Establishment of industrial armies, especially for agriculture. 09 Combination of agriculture with manufacturing industries; gradual abolition of the distinction between town and country, by a more equitable distribution of the population over the country. 10 Free education for all children in public schools. Abolition of children’s factory labour in its present form. Combination of education with industrial production
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The theory of the Communism may be summed up in the single sentence: Abolition of private property
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Karl Marx
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Constructivism was a strong art movement often associated with Soviet art and design during the early 19th century. A prime example of this it Tatlins’ Monument to the third International.