Rise of Communism

In 1917, a Communist Revolution occured in Russia causing them to drop out of World War I.  Vladimir Lenin took over and established a Communist state.  

Communism was founded by the German Philosopher Karl Marx who said there were two classes in society; the Proletariat and the Bourgeois.  The Bourgeois were the rich, land owning class who controlled most of the property in society.  However, they were in the minority making up only about 10% of the total population.  The Proletariat were everyone else including workers, peasants, and farmers.  The workers had little to no rights and no governing ability.  Marx argued that the majority should rule over the minority.  Thus, political powers should be in the hands of the workers as opposed to the monarchy.  In this new government, there is no private ownership of property.  The government owns everything and citizens work for the "better good," they work for the betterment of the state (country) over the betterment of themselves.  The rule in communism is "you get what you need, not what you want."    

Marx argued that the only way to shift political power from the rich to the workers is through violent revolution which is exactly what occurred in 1917.  Lenin took power by 1921 and renamed Russia the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR).  By 1923, the USSR was the first communist nation in history.