From a strictly Marxist perspective, how does one define communism? Has such communism ever been truly realized, however briefly, at any point in world history?

Marx-Engels Statues in Marx-Engels
Forum, East Berlin
BY Adam Carr
IMAGE LICENSED UNDER Creative Commons ShareAlike 3.0 License

Marx and Engels never developed a specific, detailed conception of communism. They thought it would be a huge mistake to do so, since it is wrong to think that we can simply impose an abstract blueprint on society and expect historical development to accommodate itself to an abstract model. This was in fact one of their major disagreements with the so-called Utopian Socialists: Saint-Simon, Fourier, and Robert Owen.

What’s more, they did not think that they could anticipate the desires and choices of human beings who would — for the first time — be truly emancipated. (Marx and Engels claimed that all history prior to the advent of socialism, the early stage of communism, should be regarded as the “pre-history of human society,” given that human beings have thus far been unable to fully take control of their own destiny.)

Instead of a well-articulated plan for a communist society, what we find in Marx and Engels’ works are some very general ideas, along with several incidental comments. It’s safe to say that for them, and Marxists in general, communism refers to an egalitarian, classless society in which there is a common, or collective, ownership of the major means of production. It also involves a planned economy, in which the aim of production is to satisfy human needs rather than generating profits.

… it’s safe to say that for Marx and Engels, and Marxists generally, communism refers to an egalitarian, classless society in which there is common, or collective, ownership of the major means of production.

Marx and Engels assumed that this form of social organization would eliminate the various forms of exploitation, domination, and alienation produced by capitalism. In positive terms, they thought that communism would make freedom and self-realization a real possibility for all members of society.

Needless to say, this kind of communism (as opposed to pre-industrial forms of communism, or the quasi-communism of certain religious communities) has not yet been brought into being anywhere. Can it ever exist? It might turn out that “communism” is an ideal that we can merely try to approximate. Yet even if this were true, communism would be no different, in this respect, from “democracy” or “liberty.”