Communism | The 20th century | World history | Khan Academy
Communism | The 20th century | World history | Khan Academy
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Overview of Communism and Marxist-Leninist states. Created by Sal Khan.
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Content
0.57 -> Thought I would do
a video on communism
2.45 -> just because I've been talking
about it a bunch in the history
5.43 -> videos, and I haven't given
you a good definition of what
9.006 -> it means, or a good
understanding of what it means.
11.13 -> And to understand
communism-- let
12.37 -> me just draw a spectrum here.
13.58 -> So I'm going to start
with capitalism.
15.82 -> And this is really just
going to be an overview.
17.82 -> People can do a whole PhD
thesis on this type of thing.
21.63 -> Capitalism, and then I'll
get a little bit more--
24.8 -> and then we could
progress to socialism.
28.71 -> And then we can go to communism.
30.48 -> And the modern
versions of communism
33.23 -> are really kind
of the brainchild
35.63 -> of Karl Marx and Vladimir Lenin.
37.68 -> Karl Marx was a
German philosopher
39.62 -> in the 1800s, who, in his
Communist Manifesto and other
43.11 -> writings, kind of created the
philosophical underpinnings
46.68 -> for communism.
47.9 -> And Vladimir Lenin, who led
the Bolshevik Revolution
51.58 -> in the-- and created,
essentially, the Soviet Union--
54.71 -> he's the first person to make
some of Karl Marx's ideas
58.71 -> more concrete.
59.77 -> And really every
nation or every country
63.03 -> which we view as
communist has really
64.67 -> followed the pattern
of Vladimir Lenin.
67.077 -> And we'll talk about
that in a second.
68.66 -> But first, let's talk about
the philosophical differences
71.2 -> between these things,
and how you would move.
73.23 -> And Karl Marx himself
viewed communism
76.42 -> as kind of a progression
from capitalism
80.04 -> through socialism to communism.
82.48 -> So what he saw in capitalism--
and at least this part
85.93 -> of what he saw was
right-- is that you
88.55 -> have private property,
private ownership of land.
92.59 -> That's the main
aspect of capitalism.
94.78 -> And this is the world that
most of us live in today.
98.3 -> The problem that he
saw with capitalism
100.82 -> is he thought,
well, look, when you
102.75 -> have private property, the
people who start accumulating
106.22 -> some capital-- and when
we talk about capital,
108.59 -> we could be talking
about land, we
111.01 -> could be talking
about factories,
113.18 -> we could be talking about any
type of natural resources--
115.75 -> so the people who start
getting a little bit of them--
118.5 -> so let me draw a
little diagram here.
120.13 -> So let's say someone has
a little bit of capital.
123.99 -> And that capital could be a
factory, or it could be land.
127.09 -> So let me write it.
128.74 -> Capital.
130.03 -> And let's just say it's land.
131.41 -> So let's say someone starts
to own a little bit of land.
134.17 -> And he owns more
than everyone else.
136.29 -> So then you just have
a bunch of other people
138.63 -> who don't own land.
140.762 -> But they need, essentially--
and since this guy
142.72 -> owns all the land, they've got
to work on this guy's land.
145.365 -> They have to work
on this guy's land.
148.13 -> And from Karl Marx's point
of view, he said, look,
151.69 -> you have all of these laborers
who don't have as much capital.
155.14 -> This guy has this capital.
157.12 -> And so he can make
these laborers work
159.52 -> for a very small wage.
162.74 -> And so any excess
profits that come out
165.4 -> from this arrangement,
the owner of the capital
168.532 -> will be able to get it.
169.49 -> Because these laborers
won't be able to get
172.56 -> their wages to go up.
173.56 -> Because there's so much
competition for them
176.72 -> to work on this guy's farm or
to work on this guy's land.
179.597 -> He really didn't think
too much about, well,
181.43 -> maybe the competition
could go the other way.
184.662 -> Maybe you could have a
reality eventually where
186.62 -> you have a bunch of people with
reasonable amounts of capital,
190.09 -> and you have a
bunch of laborers.
192.58 -> And the bunch of people would
compete for the laborers,
195.9 -> and maybe the laborers could
make their wages go up,
199.76 -> and they could eventually
accumulate their own capital.
202.649 -> They could eventually start
their own small businesses.
204.94 -> So he really didn't
think about this reality
206.773 -> too much over here.
207.77 -> He just saw this reality.
208.84 -> And to his defense--
and I don't want
211.224 -> to get in the habit of
defending Karl Marx too
213.14 -> much-- to his
defense, this is what
216.99 -> was happening in the
late 1800s, especially--
219.29 -> we have the
Industrial Revolution.
221.01 -> Even in the United
States, you did
222.75 -> have kind of-- Mark Twain
called it the Gilded Age.
225.31 -> You have these
industrialists who
227.6 -> did accumulate huge
amounts of capital.
230.07 -> They really did have
a lot of the leverage
231.83 -> relative to the laborers.
233.86 -> And so what Karl Marx
says, well, look,
235.87 -> if the guy with all the
capital has all the leverage,
238.45 -> and this whole arrangement
makes some profits,
240.471 -> he's going to be able
to keep the profits.
242.22 -> Because he can keep all
of these dudes' wages low.
245.02 -> And so what's going to happen
is that the guy with the capital
247.71 -> is just going to end
up with more capital.
251.65 -> And he's going to have
even more leverage.
253.82 -> And he'll be able to keep these
people on kind of a basic wage,
257.5 -> so that they can never acquire
capital for themselves.
260.779 -> So in Karl Marx's point of
view, the natural progression
263.61 -> would be for these people
to start organizing.
266.87 -> So these people maybe start
organizing into unions.
270.07 -> So they could collectively
tell the person who
273.62 -> owns the land or the factory,
no, we're not going to work,
276.46 -> or we're going to go on strike
unless you increase our wages,
279.65 -> or unless you give us
better working conditions.
282.91 -> So when you start talking
about this unionization stuff,
285.39 -> you're starting to move in
the direction of socialism.
288.35 -> The other element of moving
in the direction of socialism
292.01 -> is that Karl Marx
didn't like this kind
294.97 -> of high concentration-- or
this is socialists in general,
297.9 -> I should say-- didn't like this
high concentration of wealth.
300.81 -> That you have this
reality of not only
303.63 -> do you have these people
who could accumulate all
306.11 -> of this wealth-- and
maybe, to some degree,
308 -> they were able to accumulate it
because they were innovative,
310.541 -> or they were good
managers of land,
312.5 -> or whatever, although
the Marxists don't
314.63 -> give a lot of credit to
the owners of capital.
316.727 -> They don't really
give a lot of credit
318.31 -> to saying maybe they did
have some skill in managing
320.476 -> some type of an operation.
322.06 -> But the other problem is is
that it gets handed over.
324.53 -> It gets handed over
to their offspring.
327.11 -> So private property, you have
this situation where it just
330.2 -> goes from maybe father to son,
or from parent to a child.
334.63 -> And so it's not even based
on any type of meritocracy.
337.02 -> It's really just based
on this inherited wealth.
339.63 -> And this is a problem that
definitely happened in Europe.
343.72 -> When you go back to
the French Revolution,
345.73 -> you have generation after
generation of nobility,
348.56 -> regardless of how incompetent
each generation would
352.72 -> be, they just had so much wealth
that they were essentially
355.824 -> in control of everything.
356.865 -> And you had a bunch of
people with no wealth
359.73 -> having to work for them.
360.83 -> And when you have that
type of wealth disparity,
362.829 -> it does lead to revolutions.
365.09 -> So another principle of moving
in the socialist direction
367.92 -> is kind of a
redistribution of wealth.
370.32 -> So let me write it over here.
371.57 -> So redistribution.
376.4 -> So in socialism, you can
still have private property.
380.03 -> But the government
takes a bigger role.
383.467 -> So you have-- let me write this.
384.8 -> Larger government.
387.787 -> And one of the roles
of the government
389.37 -> is to redistribute wealth.
390.76 -> And the government
also starts having
393.38 -> control of the major
factors of production.
397.01 -> So maybe the
utilities, maybe some
399.32 -> of the large factories that do
major things, all of a sudden
402.81 -> starts to become in the
hands of the government,
405.39 -> or in the words of communists,
in the hands of the people.
409.49 -> And the redistribution
is going on,
411.17 -> so in theory, you don't
have huge amounts of wealth
414.54 -> in the hands of a few people.
417.92 -> And then you keep-- if
you take these ideas
420.92 -> to their natural
conclusion, you get
423.02 -> to the theoretical
communist state.
425.98 -> And the theoretical
communist state
427.95 -> is a classless, and
maybe even a little bit--
432.9 -> a classless society, and in Karl
Marx's point of view-- and this
436.23 -> is a little harder to
imagine-- a stateless society.
441.08 -> So in capitalism, you
definitely had classes.
443.82 -> You had the class
that owns the capital,
448.096 -> and then you had
the labor class,
449.47 -> and you have all
of these divisions,
450.71 -> and they're different
from each other.
452.293 -> He didn't really imagine a
world that maybe a laborer could
455.83 -> get out of this, they could
get their own capital,
458.06 -> then maybe they could
start their own business.
460.21 -> So he just saw this tension
would eventually to socialism,
463.79 -> and eventually a
classless society where
465.97 -> you have a central--
Well, he didn't even
468.22 -> go too much into the details
but you have kind of equal,
472.39 -> everyone in society has
ownership over everything,
475.34 -> and society somehow
figures out where
477.77 -> things should be allocated,
and all of the rest.
480.17 -> And it's all stateless.
481.79 -> And that's even harder to think
about in a concrete fashion.
485.51 -> So that's Karl Marx's
view of things.
487.71 -> But it never really
became concrete
489.81 -> until Vladimir Lenin shows up.
492.4 -> And so the current
version of communism
494.45 -> that we-- The current thing that
most of us view as communism
498.19 -> is sometimes viewed as a
Marxist-Leninist state.
505.35 -> These are sometimes
used interchangeably.
508.08 -> Marxism is kind of the pure,
utopian, we're eventually
511.38 -> going to get to a world
where everyone is equal,
515.5 -> everyone is doing
exactly what they want,
518.39 -> there's an abundance
of everything.
520.409 -> I guess to some
degree, it's kind
522.042 -> of describing what happens in
Star Trek, where everyone can
524.5 -> go to a replicator and
get what they want.
526.322 -> And if you want to
paint part of the day,
528.03 -> you can paint part of the day,
and you're not just a painter,
530.664 -> you can also do
whatever you want.
532.08 -> So it's this very utopian thing.
533.992 -> Let me write that down.
534.95 -> So pure Marxism is kind
of a utopian society.
540.01 -> And just in case you don't
know what utopian means,
542.4 -> it's kind of a perfect society,
where you don't have classes,
545.81 -> everyone is equal, everyone
is leading these kind
548.34 -> of rich, diverse,
fulfilling lives.
550.97 -> And it's also, utopian is also
kind of viewed as unrealistic.
553.99 -> It's kind of, if you view it
in the more negative light, is
556.65 -> like, hey, I don't
know how we'll ever
557.84 -> be able to get there.
558.54 -> Who knows?
559.14 -> I don't want to be
negative about it.
560.681 -> Maybe we will one day
get to a utopian society.
563.68 -> But Leninist is kind of the more
practical element of communism.
567.37 -> Because obviously, after the
Bolshevik Revolution, 1917,
570.79 -> in the Russian Empire, the
Soviet Union gets created,
573.3 -> they have to actually
run a government.
575.2 -> They have to actually
run a state based
576.86 -> on these ideas of communism.
579.81 -> And in a Leninist
philosophy-- and this
583.24 -> is where it starts to become
in tension with the ideas
586.66 -> of democracy-- in a
Leninist philosophy,
590.49 -> you need this kind
of a party system.
592.91 -> So you need this-- and he
calls this the Vanguard Party.
595.68 -> So the vanguard is kind of
the thing that's leading,
598.48 -> the one that's
leading the march.
600.21 -> So this Vanguard
Party that kind of
602.49 -> creates this constant
state of revolution,
605.01 -> and its whole job is to guide
society, is to kind of almost
610.66 -> be the parent of society,
and take it from capitalism
614.13 -> through socialism to this
ideal state of communism.
618.02 -> And it's one of
those things where
619.71 -> the ideal state of
communism was never--
622.01 -> it's kind of hard to
know when you get there.
624.14 -> And so what happens
in a Leninist state is
626.49 -> it's this Vanguard Party, which
is usually called the Communist
629.43 -> Party, is in a constant state
of revolution, kind of saying,
632.99 -> hey, we're shepherding the
people to some future state
635.81 -> without a real clear definition
of what that future state is.
639.75 -> And so when you talk
about Marxist-Leninist,
642.787 -> besides talking about
what's happening
644.37 -> in the economic
sphere, it's also
646.39 -> kind of talking about this party
system, this party system where
650.47 -> you really just have one
dominant party that it will
653.8 -> hopefully act in the
interest of the people.
656.465 -> So one dominant
communist party that
662.8 -> acts in the interest
of the people.
664.36 -> And obviously, the negative
here is that how do
669.837 -> you know that they
actually are acting
671.42 -> in the interest of people?
672.44 -> How do you know that they
actually are competent?
674.481 -> What means are
there to do anything
676.12 -> if they are misallocating
things, if it is corrupt,
678.75 -> if you only have a
one-party system?
681.22 -> And just to make it clear,
the largest existing communist
685.63 -> state is the People's
Republic of China.
688.46 -> And although it is controlled
by the Communist Party,
691.7 -> in economic terms it's really
not that communist anymore.
695.306 -> And so it can be confusing.
696.43 -> And so what I want to do is
draw a little bit of a spectrum.
699.56 -> On the vertical axis, over
here, I want to put democratic.
706.13 -> And up here, I'll put
authoritarian or totalitarian.
711.07 -> Let me put-- well,
I'll put authoritarian.
713.92 -> I'll do another video
on the difference.
716.8 -> And they're similar.
718.82 -> And totalitarian is more an
extreme form of authoritarian,
722.94 -> where the government
controls everything.
725.6 -> And you have a few people
controlling everything
727.662 -> and it's very non-democratic.
728.87 -> But authoritarian is kind
of along those directions.
732.1 -> And then on this spectrum, we
have the capitalism, socialism,
735.72 -> and communism.
737.25 -> So the United States,
I would put-- I
739.87 -> would put the United
States someplace over here.
743.29 -> I would put the United
States over here.
745.15 -> It has some small
elements of socialism.
748.27 -> You do have labor unions.
749.771 -> They don't control everything.
751.02 -> You also have people working
outside of labor unions.
754.79 -> It does have some elements
of redistribution.
758.24 -> There are inheritance taxes.
761.79 -> There are-- I mean it's not an
extreme form of redistribution.
764.42 -> You can still inherit
private property.
766.95 -> You still have safety
nets for people,
769.36 -> you have Medicare,
Medicaid, you have welfare.
771.72 -> So there's some
elements of socialism.
773.82 -> But it also has a very
strong capitalist history,
777.11 -> private property,
deep market, so I'd
779.94 -> stick the United
States over there.
781.88 -> I would put the USSR--
not current Russia,
785.39 -> but the Soviet Union
when it existed-- I
788.95 -> would put the Soviet
Union right about there.
794.54 -> So this was the-- I would put
the USSR right over there.
801 -> I would put the current
state of Russia,
803.04 -> actually someplace over here.
808.856 -> Because they actually
have fewer safety nets,
810.73 -> and they kind of have
a more-- their economy
812.722 -> can kind of go crazier,
and they actually
814.43 -> have a bigger
disparity in wealth
817.1 -> than a place like
the United States.
818.84 -> So this is current Russia.
822.64 -> And probably the most
interesting one here
824.49 -> is the People's Republic of
China, the current People's
827.79 -> Republic of China,
which is at least
829.97 -> on the surface, a
communist state.
832.06 -> But in some ways, it's more
capitalist than the United
834.73 -> States, in that they don't have
strong wealth redistribution.
838.53 -> They don't have kind of
strong safety nets for people.
842.4 -> So you could put some
elements of China--
845.21 -> and over here,
closer to the left.
847.17 -> And they are more-- less
democratic than either the US
850.9 -> or even current Russia,
although some people would
853.097 -> call current Russia-- well,
I won't go too much into it.
855.43 -> But current China, you could
throw it here a little bit.
857.91 -> So it could be even a
little bit more capitalist
859.405 -> than the United States.
860.54 -> Definitely they don't even have
good labor laws, all the rest.
864.96 -> But in other ways, you do
have state ownership of a lot,
868.54 -> and you do have state
control of a lot.
870.85 -> So in some ways, they're kind
of spanning this whole range.
875.15 -> So this right over
here is China.
877.96 -> And even though it is called a
communist state, in some ways,
880.84 -> it's more capitalist
than countries
882.97 -> that are very proud
of their capitalism.
884.637 -> But in a lot of other ways,
especially with the government
887.053 -> ownership and the government
control of things,
889.07 -> and this one dominant
party, so it's
890.76 -> kind of Leninist with less
of the Marxist going on.
894.64 -> So in that way, it is more
in the communist direction.
897.57 -> So hopefully that clarifies
what can sometimes
900.31 -> be a confusing topic.
Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MmRgMAZyYN0