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{{Short description|State that is administered and governed by a single communist party}}
{{About|sovereign states governed by communist parties|the hypothetical social stage proposed by Marxist theory|Communist society|a list of states designated as communist|List of communist states}}
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[[File:Flag of the Communist Party of Vietnam at the Dien Bien Phu street in 2015 01.jpg|thumb|Flags of the [[Communist Party of Vietnam]], flown beside [[Flag of Vietnam|Vietnamese national flags]] in [[Hanoi]], Vietnam]]
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A '''communist state''', also known as a '''Marxist–Leninist state''', is a [[form of government]] that combines the state leadership of a [[communist party]], [[Marxism–Leninism|Marxist–Leninist]] political philosophy, and an official commitment to the [[Communist mode of production|construction of a communist society]]. Modern [[communism]] broadly grew out of the [[socialist movement]] in 19th-century Europe as a program to replace [[capitalism]] with a [[stateless, classless, and moneyless society]], but its application as Marxism–Leninism began later in the [[Soviet Union]] under [[Joseph Stalin]].<ref name="Lansford 2007, p. 17">{{cite book |last=Lansford |first=Thomas |title=Communism |date=2007 |publisher=Cavendish Square Publishing |isbn=978-0-7614-2628-8 |location=New York |pages=17}}</ref><ref name="Норма">{{cite book |last1=Zotov |first1=V. D. |title=Istoriya politicheskikh ucheniy. Uchebnik |last2=Zotova |first2=L. D. |publisher=Норма |year=2010 |isbn=978-5-91768-071-2 |language=ru |script-title=ru:История политических учений. Учебник |trans-title=History of political doctrines. Textbook}}</ref><ref name="Kosing 2016">{{cite book |last=Kosing |first=Alfred |author-link=:de:Alfred Kosing |title="Stalinismus". Untersuchung von Ursprung, Wesen und Wirkungen |publisher=Verlag am Park |year=2016 |isbn=978-3-945187-64-7 |location=Berlin |language=de |trans-title="Stalinism". Investigation of origin, essence and effects}}</ref>

In the 20th century, several communist states were established, first in Russia with the [[Russian Revolution]] of 1917 and then in portions of Eastern Europe, Asia, and a few other regions after [[World War II]]. The institutions of these states were heavily influenced by the writings of [[Karl Marx]], [[Friedrich Engels]], [[Vladimir Lenin]], [[Joseph Stalin]] and others. However, the political reforms of Soviet leader [[Mikhail Gorbachev]] known as ''[[Perestroika]]'' and socio-economic difficulties produced the [[revolutions of 1989]], which brought down all the communist states of the [[Eastern Bloc]] bar the [[Soviet Union]]. The repercussions of the collapse of these states contributed to political transformations in the Soviet Union, [[Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia|Yugoslavia]], and several other non-European communist states. Presently, there are five states which are officially communist in the world: [[China]], [[Cuba]], [[Laos]], [[North Korea]] and [[Vietnam]].

In accordance with [[Marx's theory of the state]], communists believe all state formations are under the control of a [[ruling class]]. Communist states are no different, and the ruling communist party is defined as the [[vanguard party]] of the most [[Class consciousness|class conscious]] section of the [[working class|working classes]], particularly the [[proletariat]] but sometimes including the [[Peasant|peasantry]], such as under its [[Maoism|Maoist]] formulation. Communist states usually affirm that the working class is the state's ruling class and that the most class-conscious workers lead the state through the communist party, establishing the [[dictatorship of the proletariat]] as its class system and, by extension, the [[socialist state (communism)|socialist state]], which will eventually [[Withering away of the state|wither away]] into a [[communist society]] free of oppressions. However, not all communist states chose to form this class system, and some, such as Laos, have opted to establish a [[people's democratic state]] instead, in which the working class shares political power with other classes. According to this belief system, communist states need to establish an [[Base and superstructure|economic base to support the ruling class system]] (called "superstructure" by Marxists) by creating a [[socialist economy]], or at the very least, some socialist [[Relations of production|property relations]] that are strong enough to support the communist class system. By ensuring these two features, the communist party seeks to make Marxism–Leninism the guiding ideology of the state. Normally, the [[communist state constitution]] defines the class system, political, economic system and guiding ideology of the state.

The political systems of these states are based on the principles of [[democratic centralism]] and [[unified power]]. Democratic centralism seeks to centralise powers in the highest leadership and, in theory, reach political decisions through democratic processes. Unified power is the opposite of the [[separation of powers]] and seeks to turn the national representative organ elected through non-competitive, controlled elections into the state's single branch of government. This institution is commonly called the [[supreme state organ of power]], and a ruling communist party normally holds at least two-thirds of the seats in this body. The supreme state organ of power has unlimited powers except for the limits it has set itself by adopting constitutional and legal documents. What would be considered the executive or judicial branches in a [[liberal democracy|liberal democratic system]] are in communist states considered part of the supreme state organ of power. The supreme state organ of power usually adopts a constitution that explicitly gives the ruling communist party [[Leading role of the party|leadership of the state]].

The communist party controls the supreme state organ of power through the [[political discipline]] it exerts on its members and, through them, dominates the state. Ruling communist parties of these states are organised on [[Leninism|Leninist lines]], in which the [[party congress]] functions as its supreme decision-making body. In between two congresses, the [[central committee]] acts as the supreme organ. When neither the party congress nor the central committee is in session, the decision-making authorities of these organs are normally delegated to its [[politburo]], which makes political decisions, and a [[Secretariat (administrative office)|secretariat]], which executes the decisions made by the party congress, central committee and the politburo. These organs are composed of leading figures from state and party organs. The leaders of these parties are often given the title of [[General Secretary of the Communist Party|general secretary]], but the power of this office varies from state to state. Some states are characterised by one-man dominance and the [[cult of personality]], while others are run by a [[collective leadership]], a system in which powers are more evenly distributed between leading officials and decision-making organs are more institutionalised.

These states seek to mobilise the public to participate in state affairs by implementing the [[transmission belt]] principle, meaning that the communist party seeks to maintain close contact with the masses through mass organisations and other institutions that try to encompass everyone and not only committed communists. Other methods are through coercion and political campaigns. Some have criticised these methods as dictatorial since the communist party remains the centre of power. Others emphasise that these are examples of communist states with functioning [[Public participation (decision making)|political participation]] processes (i.e. [[Soviet democracy]]) involving several other non-party organisations such as [[direct democratic]] participation, [[factory committees]], and [[trade unions]].

==Etymology==
No state that is conventionally described as a "communist state" has ever officially referred to itself in those terms. In practice, such states have employed a variety of alternative designations—[[National democratic state|national-democratic]], [[People's democratic state|people's democratic]], [[state of socialist orientation|socialist-oriented]], or [[Workers' and peasants' state|workers' and peasants']] states—to emphasize their self-understanding as communist party-run polities since none of them have claimed to establish a [[communist mode of production]].{{sfnm|1a1=Nation|1y=1992|1pp=85–86}} As [[David Ramsay Steele]] observes, the label communist state originated with external commentators: "Among Western journalists, the term ‘Communist’ came to refer exclusively to regimes and movements associated with the [[Communist International]] and its offspring: regimes which insisted that they were not communist but socialist, and movements which were barely communist in any sense at all."{{sfnm|1a1=Steele|1y=1999|1p=45}}

These states generally identify themselves as [[socialist state]]s, on the grounds that they do not claim to have achieved [[communism]]. Within [[Marxism|Marxist theory]], communism presupposes a [[stateless society]], so the very notion of a "communist state" would be oxymoronic. The economist [[Jozef Wilczynski (academic)|Jozef Wilczynski]] explains: "Contrary to Western usage, these countries describe themselves as 'Socialist' (not 'Communist'). The second stage (Marx’s 'higher phase'), or 'Communism,' is to be marked by an age of plenty, distribution according to needs (not work), the absence of money and the market mechanism, the disappearance of the last vestiges of capitalism and the ultimate withering away of the State."{{sfnm|1a1=Wilczynski|1y=2008|1p=21}}

Other scholars emphasise the same point. [[J. Barkley Rosser Jr.|John Barkley Rosser Jr.]] and [[Marina V. Rosser|Marina Rosser]] note that [[Karl Marx]] himself envisaged communism as entailing the eventual [[withering away of the state]], with the [[dictatorship of the proletariat]] conceived as a strictly transitional arrangement. "Well aware of this", they write, "the Soviet Communists never claimed to have achieved communism, always labelling their own system socialist rather than communist and viewing their system as in transition to communism."{{sfnm|1a1=Rosser|1a2=Rosser|1y=2003|1p=14}} Similarly, [[Raymond Williams]] traces the modern terminological divide to 1918, when the [[Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (Bolsheviks)]] reconstituted itself as the [[Russian Communist Party (Bolsheviks)|All-Russian Communist Party (Bolsheviks)]]. From that point onward, "a distinction of socialist from communist, often with supporting definitions such as [[social democracy|social democrat]] or [[democratic socialism|democratic socialist]], became widely current, although it is significant that all communist parties, in line with earlier usage, continued to describe themselves as socialist and dedicated to socialism."{{sfnm|1a1=Williams|1y=1983|1p=289}}

From the standpoint of Western [[political science]], however, the term communist state remains analytically useful, insofar as such states display a common institutional pattern. According to scholars [[Stephen White (political scientist)|Stephen White]], [[John Gardner (political scientist)|John Gardner]], and [[George Schöpflin]], four features define them: (1) the adoption of [[Marxism–Leninism]] as the official state ideology (though not necessarily adhered to in practice by every leader); (2) the predominance of [[state ownership]] and centralized [[economic planning]]; (3) a [[one-party state]] dominated by a highly centralized and disciplined communist party, sometimes alongside subordinate parties; and (4) the party’s constitutionally enshrined [[Leading role of the party|leading role]] in both state and society.{{sfnm|1a1=Gardner|1a2=Schöpflin|1a3=White|1y=1987|1pp=85–86}}

==Overview==
[[File:Communist countries.svg|thumb|upright=1.35|An anachronous map of countries that have been ruled by a one-party Marxist–Leninist state at some point in their history.]]

=== Development ===
{{history of Communist Nations}}
During the 20th century, the world's first constitutionally communist state was [[RSFSR|Soviet Russia]] at the end of 1917. In 1922, it [[Treaty on the Creation of the USSR|joined]] other former territories of the empire to become the [[Soviet Union]]. After [[World War II]], the [[Soviet Army]] occupied much of Eastern Europe and helped bring the existing communist parties to power in those countries. Originally, the communist states in Eastern Europe were [[Warsaw Pact|allied]] with the Soviet Union. [[Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia|Yugoslavia]] would declare itself [[Non-Aligned Movement|non-aligned]], and [[People's Socialist Republic of Albania|Albania]] later took a different path. After a [[Second Sino-Japanese War|war against Japanese occupation]] and a [[Chinese Civil War|civil war]] resulting in a [[Chinese Communist Party|Communist]] victory, the [[People's Republic of China]] was established in 1949. Communist states were also established in [[Cambodia]], [[Cuba]], [[Laos]], [[North Korea]], and [[Vietnam]]. In 1989, the communist states in Eastern Europe collapsed after the [[Iron Curtain]] broke under public pressure during a wave of mostly non-violent movements as part of the [[Revolutions of 1989]] which led to the [[dissolution of the Soviet Union]] in 1991. China's socio-economic structure has been referred to as "nationalistic state capitalism" and the Eastern Bloc ([[Eastern Europe]] and the [[Third World]]) as "bureaucratic-authoritarian systems."<ref>{{cite book |last=Morgan |first=W. John |date=2001 |chapter=Marxism–Leninism: The Ideology of Twentieth-Century Communism |editor-last=Wright |editor-first=James D. |title=International Encyclopedia of the Social & Behavioral Sciences |edition=2nd |location=Oxford |publisher=[[Elsevier]] |pages=657–662}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Andrai |first=Charles F. |date=1994 |title=Comparative Political Systems: Policy Performance and Social Change |location=Armonk, New York |publisher=[[M. E. Sharpe]] |pages=24–25}}</ref>

=== Institutions ===
Communist states share similar institutions, which are organised on the premise that the [[communist party]] is a [[Vanguardism|vanguard of the proletariat]] and represents the long-term interests of the people. The doctrine of [[democratic centralism]], developed by [[Vladimir Lenin]] as a set of principles to be used in the internal affairs of the communist party, is extended to society at large.{{sfn|Furtak|1987|pp=8–9}} According to democratic centralism, the people must elect all leaders, and all proposals must be debated openly, but once a decision has been reached, all people have a duty to account to that decision. When used within a political party, democratic centralism is meant to prevent factionalism and splits. When applied to an entire state, democratic centralism creates a [[One-party state|one-party system]].{{sfn|Furtak|1987|pp=8–9}} The constitutions of most communist states describe their political system as a form of democracy.{{sfn|Furtak|1987|p=12}} They recognise the sovereignty of the people as embodied in a series of [[Representative democracy|representative]] parliamentary institutions. Such states do not have a [[separation of powers]] and instead have one national legislative body (such as the [[Supreme Soviet]] in the Soviet Union), which is bestowed with unitary power and is often defined as the supreme state organ of power. Unitary power means that the legislature has the power of the judiciary, legislature and executive but chooses to delegate these powers to other institutions.{{sfn|Furtak|1987|p=13}}

In communist states, the unitary legislatures often have a similar structure to the parliaments in [[Liberal democracy|liberal republics]], with two significant differences. First, the deputies elected to these unitary legislatures are not expected to represent the interests of any particular constituency but rather the long-term interests of the people as a whole; and second, against [[Karl Marx]]'s advice, the unitary legislatures of communist states are not in permanent session. Instead, they convene once or several times yearly in sessions that usually last only a few days.{{sfn|Furtak|1987|p=14}} When the unitary legislature is not in session, its powers are transferred to a smaller council (often called a [[presidium]]) which acts as a collective [[head of state]]. In some systems, the presidium is composed of crucial communist party members who vote the resolutions of the communist party into law.{{sfn|Furtak|1987|p=14}}

A feature of communist states is the existence of numerous state-sponsored social organisations (associations of journalists, teachers, writers and other professionals, [[consumer cooperatives]], [[sports club]]s, [[trade union]]s, [[youth organisation]]s, and [[women's organisations]]) which are integrated into the political system. In communist states, the social organisations are expected to promote social unity and cohesion, to serve as a link between the government and society and to provide a forum for the recruitment of new communist party members.{{sfn|Furtak|1987|pp=16–17}}

Historically, the political organisation of many socialist states has been dominated by a one-party monopoly. Some communist governments such as those in [[List of political parties in the People's Republic of China|China]], [[National Front (Czechoslovakia)#1948–1990|Czechoslovakia]], or [[National Front (East Germany)|East Germany]] have or had more than one political party, but all minor parties are or were required to follow the leadership of the communist party. In communist states, the government may not tolerate criticism of policies that have already been implemented in the past or are being implemented in the present.{{sfn|Furtak|1987|pp=18–19}}

== State ==
According to [[Marxist–Leninist]] thought, the state is a repressive institution led by a [[ruling class]].{{sfn|Guins|1950|p=187}} This class dominates the state and expresses its will through it.{{sfn|Guins|1950|p=187}} By formulating law, the ruling class uses the state to oppress other classes and form a class dictatorship.{{sfn|Guins|1950|p=187}} However, the goal of the communist state is to abolish that state.{{sfn|Guins|1950|p=187}} The [[Soviet Russia Constitution of 1918]] stated: "The principal object of the Constitution of the R.S.F.S.R., which is adapted to the present transition period, consists in the establishment of a dictatorship of the urban and rural proletariat and the poorest peasantry, in the form of a powerful All-Russian Soviet power; the object of which is to secure complete suppression of the bourgeoisie, the abolition of exploitation of man by man, and the establishment of Socialism, under which there shall be neither [[class division]] nor state authority".{{sfn|Guins|1950|p=187}} The communist state is the [[dictatorship of the proletariat]], where the advanced elements of the [[proletariat]] are the ruling class.{{sfn|Guins|1950|pp=187–188}} In Marxist–Leninist thinking, the socialist state is the last repressive state since the next stage of development is that of [[pure communism]], a classless and stateless society.{{sfn|Guins|1950|pp=187–188}} [[Friedrich Engels]] commented on the state, writing: "State interference in social relations, becomes, in one domain after another, superfluous, and then dies out of itself; the government of persons is replaced by the administration of things, and by the conduct of processes of production. The state is not 'abolished'. It dies out."{{sfn|Imam|1986|p=383}}

In "The Tax in Kind", [[Vladimir Lenin]] argued: "No one, I think, in studying the question of the economic system of Russia, has denied its transitional character. Nor, I think, has any Communist denied that the term Soviet Socialist Republic implies the determination of the Soviet power to achieve the transition to socialism, and not that the existing economic system is recognised as a socialist order."<ref>{{cite book |last=Lenin |first=Vladimir |author-link=Vladimir Lenin |date=21 April 1921 |url=https://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1921/apr/21.htm |title=The Tax in Kind |via=[[Marxists Internet Archive]] |access-date=15 June 2020 }}</ref> The introduction of the [[First five-year plan (Soviet Union)|first five-year plan]] in the Soviet Union got many communists to believe that the withering away of the state was imminent.{{sfn|Guins|1950|p=188}} However, [[Joseph Stalin]] warned that the [[withering away of the state]] would not occur until after the [[socialism (Marxism)|socialist mode of production]] had achieved dominance over capitalism.{{sfn|Guins|1950|p=188}} Soviet jurist [[Andrey Vyshinsky]] echoed this assumption and said that the socialist state was necessary "in order to defend, to secure, and to develop relationships and arrangements advantageous to the workers, and to annihilate completely capitalism and its remnants."{{sfn|Guins|1950|pp=188–189}}

Ideology permeates these states.{{sfn|Tang|1980|p=43}} According to scholar Peter Tang, "[t]he supreme test of whether a Communist Party-state remains revolutionarily dedicated or degenerates into a revisionist or counterrevolutionary system lies in its attitude toward the Communist ideology."{{sfn|Tang|1980|p=41}} Therefore, the sole ideological purpose of communist states is to spread socialism and to reach that goal these states have to be guided by Marxism–Leninism.{{sfn|Tang|1980|p=41}} The communist states have opted for two ways to achieve this goal, namely govern indirectly by Marxism–Leninism through the party (Soviet model), or commit the state officially through the constitution to Marxism–Leninism (Maoist China–Albania model).{{sfn|Tang|1980|pp=42–43}} The Soviet model is the most common and is currently in use in China.{{sfn|Tang|1980|p=42}}

Marxism–Leninism was mentioned in the [[Soviet constitution]].{{sfn|Tang|1980|p=43}} Article 6 of the [[1977 Soviet constitution]] stated: "The Communist Party, armed with Marxism–Leninism, determines the general perspective of the development of society and the course of the domestic and foreign policy of the USSR."{{sfn|Tang|1980|p=43}} This contrasts with the 1976 Albanian constitution which stated in Article 3: "In the People's Socialist Republic of Albania the dominant ideology is Marxism–Leninism. The entire social order is developing on the basis of its principles."{{sfn|Tang|1980|p=42}} The [[1975 Constitution of the People's Republic of China|1975 Chinese constitution]] had a similar tone, stating in Article 2 that "Marxism–Leninism–Mao Zedong Thought is the theoretical basis guiding the thinking of our nation."{{sfn|Tang|1980|p=42}} The 1977 Soviet constitution did also use phrases such as "building socialism and communism", "on the road to communism", "to build the material and technical basis of communism" and "to perfect socialist social relations and transform them into communist relations" in the preamble.{{sfn|Tang|1980|p=43}}

=== People's democratic state ===
The [[People's democracy (Marxism–Leninism)|people's democratic state]] was implemented in Eastern Europe after World War II.{{sfn|Skilling|1961|p=16}} It can be defined as a state and society in which feudal vestiges have been liquidated and where the system of private ownership exists, but the state-owned enterprises in the field of industry, transport, and credit eclipse it.{{sfn|Skilling|1961|p=21}}

In the words of [[Eugene Varga]], "the state itself and its apparatus of violence serve the interests, not of the monopolistic bourgeoisie, but of the toilers of town and country."{{sfn|Skilling|1961|p=21}} Soviet philosopher N. P. Farberov stated: "People's democracy in the people's republics is a democracy of the toiling classes, headed by the working class, a broad and full democracy for the overwhelming majority of the people, that is, a socialist democracy in its character and its trend. In this sense, we call it popular."{{sfn|Skilling|1961|p=21}}

=== National-democratic state ===
The concept of the national-democratic state tried to theorise how a state could develop socialism by bypassing the [[capitalist mode of production (Marxist theory)|capitalist mode of production]].{{sfn|Poelzer|1989|p=13}} While Vladimir Lenin first articulated the theory of non-capitalist development, the novelty of this concept was applying it to the progressive elements of the [[national liberation movements]] in the [[Third World]].{{sfn|Poelzer|1989|p=13}} The term ''national-democratic state'' was introduced shortly after the [[Death and state funeral of Joseph Stalin|death of Stalin]], who believed colonies to be mere lackeys of Western imperialism and that the socialist movement had few prospects there.{{sfn|Poelzer|1989|p=13}}

The countries where the national liberation movements took power and instituted an [[anti-imperialist]] foreign policy and sought to construct a form of socialism were considered national-democratic states by Marxist–Leninists.{{sfn|Poelzer|1989|p=13}} An example of a national-democratic state is Egypt under [[Gamal Abdel Nasser]] which was committed to constructing [[Arab socialism]].{{sfn|Poelzer|1989|p=14}} Except Cuba, none of these states developed socialism.{{sfn|Poelzer|1989|p=14}} According to scholar Sylvia Woodby Edington, this might explain why the concept of the national-democratic state "never received full theoretical elaboration as a political system."{{sfn|Poelzer|1989|p=14}} However, one feature was clearly defined, namely, that these states did not need to be led by a Marxist–Leninist party.{{sfn|Poelzer|1989|p=16}}

=== Socialist-oriented state ===
A [[socialist-oriented state]] seeks to reach socialism by non-capitalist development.{{sfn|Poelzer|1989|p=15}} As a term, it substantially differs from the concept of the national-democratic state.{{sfn|Poelzer|1989|p=15}} The singular difference is that the socialist-oriented state was divided into two stages: a national-democratic socialist-oriented state and a people's democratic socialist-oriented state.{{sfn|Poelzer|1989|p=16}} Countries belonging to the national-democratic socialist-oriented state category were also categorised as national-democratic states.{{sfn|Poelzer|1989|p=16}} Examples of national-democratic socialist-oriented states are [[Algeria]], ruled by the [[National Liberation Front (Algeria)|National Liberation Front]], [[Ba'athist Iraq]], and [[Socialist Burma]].{{sfn|Poelzer|1989|p=16}} In contrast, people's democratic socialist-oriented states had to be guided by Marxism–Leninism and accept the universal truths of Marxism–Leninism and reject other notions of socialism such as [[African socialism]].{{sfn|Poelzer|1989|p=16}}

The socialist-oriented states had seven defining features, namely, they were revolutionary democracies, had a revolutionary-democratic party, class dictatorship, defense of the socialist-oriented states, had organs of socialisation, initiated socialist construction, and the type of socialist-oriented state (either national-democratic or people's democratic).{{sfn|Poelzer|1989|p=22}} The political goal of [[revolutionary democracy]] is to create the conditions for socialism in countries where the social, political, and economic conditions for socialism do not exist.{{sfn|Poelzer|1989|p=23}} The second feature to be met is the establishment of a revolutionary-democratic party which has to establish itself as the leading force and guide the state by using Marxist–Leninist ideology.{{sfn|Poelzer|1989|p=24}} While introduced in these states, [[democratic centralism]] is rarely upheld.{{sfn|Poelzer|1989|p=25}}

Unlike capitalism which is ruled by the bourgeoisie class, and socialism, where the proletariat leads, the socialist-oriented state represents a broad and heterogeneous group of classes that seek to consolidate national independence.{{sfn|Poelzer|1989|p=25}} Since peasants were usually the largest class in socialist-oriented states, their role was emphasised—similar to the working class in other socialist states.{{sfn|Poelzer|1989|p=26}} However, Marxist–Leninists admitted that these states often fell under the control of certain cliques such as the [[Derg|military in Ethiopia]].{{sfn|Poelzer|1989|p=26}} The establishment of a legal system and coercive institutions are also noted to safeguard the socialist-oriented nature of the state.{{sfn|Poelzer|1989|p=44}} The fifth feature is that the socialist-oriented state must take over the media and educational system while establishing mass organisations to mobilise the populace.{{sfn|Poelzer|1989|pp=50–52}} Unlike the Soviet economic model, the economy of the socialist-oriented states are [[mixed economies]] that seek to attract [[foreign capital]] and which seeks to maintain and develop the [[private sector]].{{sfn|Poelzer|1989|pp=54–55}} In the words of Soviet leader [[Leonid Brezhnev]], these states were in the process of taking over the [[commanding heights of the economy]] and instituting a state-planned economy.{{sfn|Poelzer|1989|p=14}} According to Soviet sources, Laos was the one socialist-oriented state that has managed to develop into a socialist state.{{sfn|Poelzer|1989|p=61}}

=== Socialist state ===
A [[socialist state (communism)|socialist state]] is more than a form of government and can only exist in countries with a [[socialist economy]]. There are examples of several states that have instituted a socialist [[form of government]] before achieving socialism. The former socialist states of Eastern Europe were established as people's democracies (a developmental stage between [[capitalism]] and [[socialism]]). Regarding the Marxist–Leninist-ruled countries of Africa and the Middle East, the Soviet Union deemed none of them socialist states—referring to them as socialist-oriented states. While many countries with constitutional references to socialism and countries ruled by long-standing socialist movements exist, within Marxist–Leninist theory a socialist state is led by a [[communist party]] that has instituted a socialist economy in a given country.{{sfn|Harding|1981|p=27}} It deals with states that define themselves either as a socialist state or as a state led by a governing Marxist–Leninist party in their constitutions. For this reason alone, these states are often called communist states.{{r|Wilczynski2008_021}}<ref>{{harvnb|Steele|1999|p=45}} "Among Western journalists the term 'Communist' came to refer exclusively to regimes and movements associated with the Communist International and its offspring: regimes which insisted that they were not communist but socialist, and movements which were barely communist in any sense at all."</ref>{{sfn|Rosser|Rosser|2003|loc=p. 14|ps=: "Ironically, the ideological father of communism, Karl Marx, claimed that communism entailed the withering away of the state. The dictatorship of the proletariat was to be a strictly temporary phenomenon. Well aware of this, the Soviet Communists never claimed to have achieved communism, always labelling their own system socialist rather than communist and viewing their system as in transition to communism"}}

== The state system of unitary power ==
{{main|Unified power}}

=== Supreme state organ of power ===
[[File:Great Hall Of The People At Night.JPG|thumb|The meeting place of the Chinese [[National People's Congress]]]]
{{see|Supreme state organ of power}}
All communist political systems practice [[unitary state power]]. This means that the legislature, usually defined as the supreme state organ of power, has executive, legislative and judicial power and can interfere in these organs as long as the law does not illegalise it. This is because both Marx and Lenin abhorred the parliamentary systems of [[bourgeois democracy]], but neither sought to abolish the legislature as an institution.{{sfn|Nelson|1982|p=7}} Lenin wrote that it would be impossible to develop [[proletarian democracy]] "without representative institutions."{{sfn|Nelson|1982|p=7}} Both of them considered the governing model of the [[Paris Commune of 1871]], in which executive and legislative were combined in one body, to be ideal.{{sfn|Nelson|1982|p=7}} More importantly, Marx applauded the election process by "universal suffrage in the various wards and towns."{{sfn|Nelson|1982|p=7}} While the institution of such a legislature might not be important in itself, they "have a place in the literature and rhetoric of the ruling parties which cannot be ignored—in the language of the party's intimacy with working masses, of its alleged knowledge about interests of working people, of social justice and socialist democracy, of the [[mass line]] and learning from the people."{{sfn|Nelson|1982|p=6}} This reasoning gives communist legislatures the right to interfere in every state institution unless the legislature itself has made a law that bars it from it. This also means there are no limits to politicisation, unlike in liberal democracies, where politicians are legally barred from interfering in judicial work. This is a firm rejection of the [[separation of power]]s found in liberal democracies since no institution can legally enforce checks and balances on the communist legislature. The legislature passes the constitution, which can only be amended by the legislature. Soviet legal theorists denounced judicial review and extra-parliamentary review as bourgeoisie institutions. They also perceived it as a limitation of the people's supreme power. The legislature, together with its {{Not a typo|suborgans}}, oversaw the constitutional order.{{sfn|Hand|2016|p=2}} Since the legislature is the supreme judge of constitutionality, the legislature's acts cannot be unconstitutional.{{sfn|Hazard|1985|p=163}} Moreover, this means that [[judicial independence]] in communist states does not mean the same as in liberal democracies. In communist states, judicial independence means stopping all interference not granted by law, but interference in itself is not barred.

The [[Supreme Soviet]] was the first socialist legislature, and the Soviet legislative system was introduced in all communist states.{{sfn|Gardner|Schöpflin|White|1987|p=86}} The Supreme Soviet convened twice a year, usually for two or three days each, making it one of the world's first frequently-convened legislatures during its existence.{{sfn|Gardner|Schöpflin|White|1987|p=91}} The same meeting frequency was the norm in the Eastern Bloc countries and modern-day China.{{sfn|Gardner|Schöpflin|White|1987|pp=114–115}} China's legislature, the [[National People's Congress]] (NPC), is modelled on the Soviet one.{{sfn|Gardner|Schöpflin|White|1987|p=114}} As with the Soviet one, the NPC is the supreme organ of the state and elects a [[Standing Committee of the National People's Congress|Standing Committee]] (the Soviets had a [[Presidium of the Supreme Soviet|Presidium]]), the government (named the [[State Council of the People's Republic of China|State Council]] in China and the [[Council of Ministers (Soviet Union)|Council of Ministers]] in the Soviet Union), the Supreme Court (such as the [[Supreme Court of East Germany|Supreme Court]] of East Germany), the Supreme Procuratorate (such as the [[Supreme People's Procuracy of Vietnam]]), the Chairman of the National Defence Council (for example, the Chairman of the [[Council for National Defense and Security (Vietnam)|Council for National Defense and Security]] of Vietnam), National Supervisory institutions (such as the Director of China's [[National Supervisory Commission]]) and other institutions if they exist.{{sfn|Gardner|Schöpflin|White|1987|p=115}} Moreover, in all communist states, the ruling party has either had a clear majority, such as China or held every seat as they did in the Soviet Union, in their Supreme Soviet. A majority in the legislature ensures the centralised and unitary leadership of the central committee of the ruling Marxist–Leninist party over the state.{{sfn|Gardner|Schöpflin|White|1987|p=82}}

By having legislatures, the Marxist–Leninist parties try to keep ideological consistency between supporting representative institutions and safeguarding the party's leading role.{{sfn|Nelson|1982|p=7}} They seek to use the legislatures as a linkage between the rulers and the ruled.{{sfn|Nelson|1982|p=7}} These institutions are representative and usually mirror the population in areas such as [[ethnicity]] and [[language]], "yet with occupations distributed in a manner skewed towards government officials."{{sfn|Nelson|1982|p=7}} Unlike in liberal democracies, legislatures of communist states are not to act as a forum for conveying demands or interest articulation—they meet too infrequently for this to be the case.{{sfn|Nelson|1982|p=8}} This might explain why communist states have not developed terms such as delegates and trustees to give legislature representatives the power to vote according to their best judgement or in the interest of their constituency.{{sfn|Nelson|1982|p=8}} Scholar Daniel Nelson has noted: "As with the British parliament before the seventeenth-century turmoil secured its supremacy, legislative organs in communist states physically portray the 'realm' ruled by (to stretch an analogy) 'kings'. Members of the assemblies 'represent' the population to whom the rulers speak and over whom they govern, convening a broader 'segment of society' [...] than the court itself."{{sfn|Nelson|1982|p=8}} Despite this, it does not mean that the communist states use legislatures to strengthen their communication with the populace—the party, rather than the legislature, could take that function.{{sfn|Nelson|1982|p=8}}

Ideologically, it has another function, namely, to prove that communist states do not only represent the interests of the working class but all social strata.{{sfn|Nelson|1982|p=9}} Communist states are committed to establishing a classless society and use legislatures to show that all social strata, whether bureaucrat, worker, or intellectual, are committed and have interests in building such a society.{{sfn|Nelson|1982|p=9}} As is the case in China, national institutions such as the legislature "must exist which brings together representatives of all nationalities and geographic areas."{{sfn|Nelson|1982|p=9}} It does not matter if the legislatures only [[Rubber stamp (politics)|rubber stamp]] decisions because by having them, it shows that communist states are committed to incorporating minorities and areas of the country by including them in the composition of the legislature.{{sfn|Nelson|1982|p=9}} In communist states, there is usually a high proportion of members who are government officials.{{sfn|Nelson|1982|p=10}} In this instance, it might mean that it is less important what legislatures do and more important who its representatives are.{{sfn|Nelson|1982|p=10}} The members of such legislatures at central and local levels are usually either government or party officials, leading figures in their community, or national figures outside the communist party.{{sfn|Nelson|1982|p=10}} This shows that legislatures are tools to garner popular support for the government in which leading figures campaign and spread information about the party's policies and ideological development.{{sfn|Nelson|1982|p=10}}

Furthermore, Western researchers have devoted little attention to legislatures in communist states. The reason is that there are no significant organs of political socialisation compared to legislatures in liberal democracies. While political leaders in communist states are often elected as members of legislatures, these posts are not relevant to political advancement. The role of legislatures is different from country to country. In the Soviet Union, the [[Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union|Supreme Soviet]] did "little more than listen to statements from Soviet political leaders and to legitimate decisions already made elsewhere" while in the legislatures of Poland, Vietnam, and Yugoslavia it has been more active and had an impact on rule-making.{{sfn|Nelson|1982|p=1}}

==== Constitution ====
===== Role of constitutions =====
{{see|Communist state constitution}}
[[Marxist–Leninists]] view the [[constitution]] as a [[Organic law|fundamental law]] and as an instrument of force.{{sfn|Chang|1956|p=520}} The constitution is the source of law and legality.{{sfn|Chang|1956|p=521}} Unlike in [[Liberal democracy|liberal democracies]], the Marxist–Leninist constitution is not a framework to limit the power of the state.{{sfn|Chang|1956|p=521}} To the contrary, a Marxist–Leninist constitution seeks to empower the state—believing the state to be an organ of class domination and law to be the expression of the interests of the dominant class.{{sfn|Chang|1956|p=521}} Marxist–Leninists believe that all national constitutions do this to ensure that countries can strengthen and enforce their own class system.{{sfn|Chang|1956|p=521}} In this instance, it means that Marxist–Leninists conceive of constitutions as a tool to defend the socialist nature of the state and attack its enemies.{{sfn|Chang|1956|p=521}} This contrasts with the liberal conception of [[constitutionalism]] that "law, rather than men, is supreme."{{sfn|Chang|1956|p=xi}}

Unlike the relatively constant (and, in some instances, [[Eternity clause|permanently fixed]]) nature of democratic constitutions, a Marxist–Leninist constitution is ever-changing.{{sfn|Chang|1956|p=522}} [[Andrey Vyshinsky]], a [[Procurator General of the Soviet Union]] during the 1930s, notes that the "Soviet constitutions represent the total of the historical path along which the Soviet state has travelled. At the same time, they are the legislative basis of subsequent development of state life."{{sfn|Chang|1956|p=522}} That is, the constitution sums up what has already been achieved.{{sfn|Chang|1956|p=xii}} This belief is also shared by the [[Chinese Communist Party]], which argued that "the Chinese Constitution blazes a path for China, recording what has been won in China and what is yet to be conquered."{{sfn|Chang|1956|p=522}} A constitution in a communist state has an end.{{sfn|Chang|1956|p=524}} The preamble of the [[1954 Constitution of the People's Republic of China|1954 Chinese constitution]] outlines the historical tasks of the Chinese communists, "step by step, to bring about the socialist industrialisation of the country and, step by step, to accomplish the socialist transformation of agriculture, handicraft and capitalist industry and commerce."{{sfn|Chang|1956|p=524}}

In communist states, the constitution was a tool to analyse the development of society.{{sfn|Triska|1968|p=xii}} The Marxist–Leninist party in question would have to study the correlation of forces, literally society's class structure, before enacting changes.{{sfn|Triska|1968|p=xii}} Several terms were coined for different developmental states by Marxist–Leninist legal theorists, including ''[[New Democracy|new democracy]]'', ''[[People's democracy (Marxism–Leninism)|people's democracy]],'' and the ''[[primary stage of socialism]]''.{{sfn|Chang|1956|p=xii}} This is also why amendments to constitutions are not enough and major societal changes need a novel constitution which corresponds with the reality of the new class structure.{{sfn|Chang|1956|p=xii}}

With [[Nikita Khrushchev]]'s repudiation of Stalin's practices in the "[[Secret Speech]]" and the Chinese Communist Party's repudiation of certain [[Maoist]] policies, Marxist–Leninist legal theories began to emphasise "the formal, formerly neglected constitutional order."{{sfn|Chang|1956|p=xiii}} [[Deng Xiaoping]], not long after [[Chairman of the Chinese Communist Party|Chairman]] [[Mao Zedong]]'s death, noted that "[d]emocracy has to be institutionalised and written into law, to make sure that institutions and laws do not change whenever the leadership changes or whenever the leaders change their views. [...] The trouble now is that our legal system is incomplete. [...] Very often what leaders say is taken as law and anyone who disagrees is called a lawbreaker."{{sfn|Keith|1991|p=112}} In 1986, Li Buyan wrote that "the policies of the Party usually are regulations and calls which to a certain extent are only principles. The law is different; it is rigorously standardised. It explicitly and concretely stipulates what the people should, can, or cannot do."{{sfn|Keith|1991|p=114}} These legal developments were echoed in later years in Cuba, Laos, and Vietnam. This has led to the development of the communist concept of socialist rule of law, which runs parallel to, and is distinct from, the [[Rule of law|liberal term]] of the same name.{{sfn|Keith|1991|p=118}} In the last years, this emphasis on the constitution as both a legal document and a paper which documents society's development has been noted by the Chinese Communist Party [[General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party|general secretary]] [[Xi Jinping]], who stated in 2013 that "[n]o organisation or individual has the privilege to overstep the Constitution and law."<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2013/06/03/chinas-constitution-debate-hits-a-sensitive-nerve/ |title=China's constitution debate hits a sensitive nerve |last1=Wan |first1=William |last2=Qi |first2=Li |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] |date=3 June 2013 |access-date=27 December 2019}}</ref>

===== Constitutional supervision =====
After [[Communist Party of the Soviet Union|Soviet Union]] [[General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union|general secretary]] [[Joseph Stalin]]'s death, several communist states have experimented with some sort of constitutional supervision.{{sfn|Hand|2016|p=3}} These organs were designed to safeguard the supreme power of the legislature from circumvention by political leaders.{{sfn|Hand|2016|p=3}} [[Socialist Republic of Romania|Romania]] was the first to experiment with constitutional supervision when it established a Constitutional Committee in 1965.{{sfn|Hand|2016|p=3}} It was elected by the legislature, and leading jurists sat on the committee, but it was only empowered to advise the legislature.{{sfn|Hand|2016|p=3}} Keith Hand has commented that "[i]t was not an effective institution in practice", being unable to prevent [[Nicolae Ceausescu]]'s emasculation of Romania's [[Great National Assembly (Socialist Republic of Romania)|Great National Assembly]] after the inauguration of the [[July Theses]].{{sfn|Hand|2016|p=3}}

[[Hungarian People's Republic|Hungary]] and [[Polish People's Republic|Poland]] experimented with constitutional supervision in the early 1980s.{{sfn|Hand|2016|p=3}} Hungary established the Council of Constitutional Law, which was elected by the legislature and consisted of several leading jurists.{{sfn|Hand|2016|p=3}} It was empowered to review the constitutionality and legality of statutes, administrative regulations, and other normative documents; however, if the agency in question failed to heed its advice, it needed to petition the legislature.{{sfn|Hand|2016|p=3}} In 1989, the Soviets established the Constitutional Supervision Committee, which "was subordinate only to the USSR constitution."{{sfn|Hand|2016|p=4}} It was empowered "to review the constitutionality and legality of a range of state acts of the USSR and its republics. Its jurisdiction included laws [passed by the legislature], decrees of the Supreme Soviet's Presidium, union republic constitutions and laws, some central administrative decrees, Supreme Court explanations, and other central normative documents."{{sfn|Hand|2016|p=4}} If the committee deemed the legislature to have breached legality, the legislature was obliged to discuss the issue, but it could reject it if more than two-thirds voted against the findings of the Constitutional Supervision Committee.{{sfn|Hand|2016|p=4}} While it was constitutionally powerful, it lacked enforcement powers, it was often ignored, and it failed to defend the constitution during the [[1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt|coup]] against [[Mikhail Gorbachev]].{{sfn|Hand|2016|p=5}}

The [[Generations of Chinese leadership|Chinese leadership]] has argued against establishing any corresponding constitutional supervisory committee due to their association with the failed communist states of Europe.{{sfn|Hand|2016|p=15}} None of the surviving communist states (China, Cuba, Laos, and Vietnam) have experimented with constitutional supervision committees or constitutional supervision of any kind outside the existing framework until 2018, when the [[Constitution and Law Committee of the National People's Congress]] was bestowed the right of constitutional review.{{sfn|Hand|2016|p=16}}

=== Government as the highest administrative agency of state power ===
The government of communist states is usually defined as the "executive organ of the highest state organ of power" or as the "highest administrative agency of state power".{{sfn|Feldbrugge|1985|p=202}} It functions as the executive organ of the legislature.{{sfn|Feldbrugge|1985|p=202}} This model has been introduced with variations in all communist states.{{sfn|Gardner|Schöpflin|White|1987|p=86}} For most of its existence, the Soviet government was known as the [[Council of Ministers (Soviet Union)|Council of Ministers]]{{sfn|Feldbrugge|1985|p=202}} and identical names were used for the governments of [[People's Socialist Republic of Albania|Albania]], [[East Germany]], [[Hungarian People's Republic|Hungary]], [[Polish People's Republic|Poland]], and [[Socialist Republic of Romania|Romania]].{{sfn|Staar|1988|p=36 (Bulgaria), 65 (Czechoslovakia), 133 (Hungary), 161 (Romania), 195 (Poland)}} It was independent of the other central agencies such as the legislature and its standing committee, but the Supreme Soviet was empowered to decide on all questions it wished.{{sfn|Feldbrugge|1985|pp=202–203}} The Soviet government was responsible to the legislature, and in between sessions of the legislature, it reported to the legislature's standing committee.{{sfn|Feldbrugge|1985|p=203}} The standing committee could reorganise and hold the Soviet government accountable, but it could not instruct the government.{{sfn|Feldbrugge|1985|p=203}}

In communist states, the government was responsible for the overall economic system, public order, foreign relations, and defense.{{sfn|Feldbrugge|1985|p=203}} The Soviet model was more or less identically implemented in [[People's Republic of Bulgaria|Bulgaria]], [[Czechoslovak Socialist Republic|Czechoslovakia]], East Germany, Hungary, Poland, and Romania, with few exceptions.{{sfn|Staar|1988|p=36 (Bulgaria), 65 (Czechoslovakia), 133 (Hungary), 161 (Romania), 195 (Poland)}} One exception was Czechoslovakia, where it had a [[President of Czechoslovakia|president]] and not a collective head of state.{{sfn|Staar|1988|p=64}} Another exception was in Bulgaria, where the State Council was empowered to instruct the Council of Ministers.{{sfn|Dimitrov|2006|p=170}}

=== Judicial organs and socialist law ===
{{main|Socialist law}}
In every communist state, the judiciary and procuracy are organs of the legislature. For instance, China's [[Supreme People's Court of China|Supreme People's Court]] is the "legislative organ of governance that manages the judicial system in the name of the" [[National People's Congress]], and through it, the [[Chinese Communist Party]].{{sfn|Stone Sweet|Bu|Zhuo|2023|p=18}} These organs are responsible to and report on their work to the legislature. For instance, the [[Prosecutor General of Vietnam|Prosecutor-General]] of Vietnam's [[Supreme People's Procuracy of Vietnam|Supreme People's Procuracy]] delivers an annual Work Report to the legislature, the [[National Assembly of Vietnam|National Assembly]], every year. Moreover, all communist states have been established in countries with a [[civil law system]].{{sfn|Quigley|1989|p=781}} The countries of Eastern Europe had formally been governed by the [[Austro-Hungarian Empire]], [[German Empire]], and [[Russian Empire]]—all of whom had a civil law legal system.{{sfn|Quigley|1989|p=781}} Cuba had a civil law system imposed on them by Spain, while China introduced civil law to overlay with Confucian elements, and Vietnam used French law.{{sfn|Quigley|1989|p=781}} Since the establishment of the Soviet Union, there has been a scholarly debate on whether [[socialist law]] is a separate legal system or is a part of the civil law tradition.{{sfn|Quigley|1989|p=781}} Legal scholar Renè David wrote that the socialist legal system "possesses, in relation to our French law, particular features that give it a complete originality, to the extent that it is no longer possible to connect it, like the former Russian law, to the system of [[Roman law]]."{{sfn|Quigley|1989|p=782}} Similarly, Christoper Osakwe concludes that socialist law is "an autonomous legal system to be essentially distinguished from the other contemporary families of law."{{sfn|Quigley|1989|p=783}} Proponents of socialist law as a separate legal system have identified the following features:{{sfn|Quigley|1989|p=783}}
# The socialist law is to disappear with the [[withering away of the state]].{{sfn|Quigley|1989|p=783}}
# The rule of the Marxist–Leninist party.{{sfn|Quigley|1989|p=783}}
# The socialist law is subordinate and reflects changes to the economic order (the absorption of [[private law]] by [[public law]]).{{sfn|Quigley|1989|p=783}}
# The socialist law has a religious character.{{sfn|Quigley|1989|p=784}}
# The socialist law is [[prerogative]] rather than [[normative]].{{sfn|Quigley|1989|p=784}}

Legal officials argue differently for their cases compared to Westerners.{{sfn|Quigley|1989|p=796}} For instance, "[t]he predominant view among Soviet jurists in the 1920s was that Soviet law of that period was Western-style law appropriate for a [[Economy of the Soviet Union|Soviet economy]] that [[New Economic Policy|remained capitalist to a significant degree]]."{{sfn|Quigley|1989|p=796}} This changed with the [[Great Break (USSR)|introduction]] of the [[command economy]], and the term socialist law was conceived to reflect this in the 1930s.{{sfn|Quigley|1989|p=796}} Hungarian legal theorist Imre Szabó acknowledged similarities between socialist law and civil law, but he noted that "four basic types of law may be distinguished: the laws of the slave, feudal, capitalist, and socialist societies."{{sfn|Quigley|1989|pp=798–99}} Using the Marxist theory of [[historical materialism]], Szabó argues that socialist law cannot belong to the same law family since the material structure is different from the capitalist countries as their superstructure (state) has to reflect these differences.{{sfn|Quigley|1989|p=799}} In other words, law is a tool by the [[ruling class]] to govern.{{sfn|Quigley|1989|p=799}} As Renè David notes, socialist jurists "isolate their law, to put into another category, a reprobate category, the Romanist laws and the common law, is the fact that they reason less as jurists and more as philosophers and Marxists; it is in taking a not strictly legal viewpoint that they affirm the originality of their socialist law."{{sfn|Quigley|1989|p=797}} However, some socialist legal theorists, such as Romanian jurist Victor Zlatescu differentiated between type of law and family of law. According to Zlatescu, "[t]he distinction between the law of the socialist countries and the law of the capitalist countries is not of the same nature as the difference between Roman-German law and the common law, for example. Socialist law is not a third family among the others, as in certain writings of Western comparatists."{{sfn|Quigley|1989|p=800}} In other words, socialist law is civil law, but it is a different type of law for a different society.{{sfn|Quigley|1989|p=800}}

Yugoslav jurist {{ill|Borislav Blagojević|sr}} noted that a "great number of legal institutions and legal relations remain the same in socialist law", further stating that it is "necessary and justified" to put them to use if they are "in [[conformity]] with the corresponding interests of the ruling class in the state in question."{{sfn|Quigley|1989|p=802}} Importantly, socialist law had retained civil law institutions, methodology, and organisation.{{sfn|Quigley|1989|p=803}} This can be discerned by the fact that [[East Germany]] retained the [[1896 German civil code]] until 1976 while [[Polish People's Republic|Poland]] used existing Austrian, French, German, and Russian civil codes until adoption of its own civil code in 1964.{{sfn|Quigley|1989|p=801}} Scholar John Quigley wrote that "[s]ocialist law retains the inquisitorial style of trial, law-creation predominantly by legislatures rather than courts, and a significant role for legal scholarship in construing codes."{{sfn|Quigley|1989|p=803}}

=== Military ===
==== Control ====
[[File:Z-8_with_the_flag_of_CPC_at_PRC70_(20191001104359).jpg|thumb|The [[People's Liberation Army]] raising the [[Emblem and flag of the Chinese Communist Party|flag of the Chinese Communist Party]] during a military parade marking the [[70th anniversary of the People's Republic of China]] on 1 October 2019.]]
Communist states have established two types of civil-military systems. The armed forces of most socialist states have historically been state institutions based on the Soviet model,{{sfn|Kramer|1985|p=47}} but in China, Laos, North Korea, and Vietnam, the armed forces are party-state institutions. However, several differences exist between the statist (Soviet) and the party-state models (China). In the Soviet model, the [[Soviet armed forces]] was led by the Council of Defense (an organ formed by the [[Presidium of the Supreme Soviet|Presidium]] of the [[Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union]]) while the Council of Ministers was responsible for formulating defence policies.{{sfn|Snyder|1987|p=28}} The party leader was ''[[ex officio]]'' the Chairman of the Council of Defense.{{sfn|Snyder|1987|p=28}} Below the Council of Defense, there was the Main Military Council which was responsible for the strategic direction and leadership of the Soviet armed forces.{{sfn|Snyder|1987|p=28}} The working organ of the Council of Defense was the General Staff tasked with analysing military and political situations as they developed.{{sfn|Snyder|1987|p=30}} The party controlled the armed forces through the Main Political Directorate (MPD) of the [[Ministry of Defense (Soviet Union)|Ministry of Defense]], a state organ that functioned "with the authority of a department of the [[CPSU Central Committee]]."{{sfn|Loeber|1984|p=13}} The MPD organised political indoctrination and created political control mechanisms at the centre to the company level in the field.{{sfn|Staff writer|1980|p=1}} Formally, the MPD was responsible for organising party and [[Komsomol]] organs as well as subordinate organs within the armed forces; ensuring that the party and state retain control over the armed forces; evaluates the political performance of officers; supervising the ideological content of the military press; and supervising the political-military training institutes and their ideological content.{{sfn|Staff writer|1980|p=1}} The head of the MPD was ranked fourth in military protocol, but it was not a member of the Council of Defense.{{sfn|Staff writer|1980|p=3}} The Administrative Organs Department of the CPSU Central Committee was responsible for implementing the party personnel policies and supervised the [[KGB]], the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Ministry of Defense.{{sfn|Kokoshin|2016|p=19}}

In the Chinese party-state model, the [[People's Liberation Army]] (PLA) is a party institution.{{sfn|Mulvenon|2018|p=3}} In the preamble of the [[Constitution of the Chinese Communist Party]], it is stated: "The [[Chinese Communist Party|Communist Party of China]] (CPC) shall uphold its absolute leadership over the People's Liberation Army and other people's armed forces."{{sfn|Mulvenon|2018|p=3}} The PLA carries out its work in accordance with the instructions of the [[Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party]].{{sfn|Tung|2012|p=251}} [[Mao Zedong]] described the PLA's institutional situation as follows: "Every communist must grasp the truth, '[[Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun]].' Our principle is that [[The Party commands the gun|the party commands the gun, and the gun must never be allowed to command the Party]]."{{sfn|Blasko|2006|p=6}} The [[Central Military Commission (China)|Central Military Commission]] (CMC) is both an organ of the state and the party—it is an organ of the CCP Central Committee and an organ of the national legislature, the National People's Congress.{{sfn|Blasko|2006|p=27}} The [[General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party|CCP General Secretary]] is ''ex officio'' [[Chairman of the Central Military Commission (China)|party CMC Chairman]] and the [[President of the People's Republic of China]] is by right state CMC Chairman.{{sfn|Blasko|2006|p=27}} The composition of the party CMC and the state CMC are identical.{{sfn|Blasko|2006|p=27}} The CMC is responsible for the command of the PLA and determines national defence policies.{{sfn|Blasko|2006|p=27}} fifteen departments report directly to the CMC and that are responsible for everything from political work to administration of the PLA.<ref name="rand">{{cite web |url=https://www.rand.org/blog/2016/09/pla-reforms-and-their-ramifications.html |title=People's Liberation Army Reforms and Their Ramifications |last=Garafola |first=Cristina L. |publisher=[[RAND Corporation]] |date=23 September 2016 |access-date=27 December 2019}}</ref> Of significance is that the CMC eclipses by far the prerogatives of the CPSU Administrative Organs Department while the Chinese counterpart to the Main Political Directorate supervises not only the military, but also intelligence, the security services, and counterespionage work.{{sfn|Kokoshin|2016|p=23}}

==== Representation ====
Unlike in liberal democracies, active military personnel are members and partake in civilian institutions of governance.{{sfn|Staff writer|1980|p=7}} This is the case in all communist states.{{sfn|Staff writer|1980|p=7}} The [[Communist Party of Vietnam]] (CPV) has elected at least one active military figure to its [[Politburo of the Communist Party of Vietnam|CPV Politburo]] since 1986.{{sfn|Thayer|2008|p=68}} In the 1986–2006 period, active military figures sitting in the [[Central Committee of the Communist Party of Vietnam|CPV Central Committee]] stood at an average of 9,2 per cent.{{sfn|Thayer|2008|p=68}} Military figures are also represented in the national legislature (the [[National Assembly of Vietnam|National Assembly]]) and other representative institutions.{{sfn|Thayer|2008|p=68}} In China, the two [[Vice Chairman of the Central Military Commission|CMC vice chairmen]] have had by right office seats in the [[Politburo of the Chinese Communist Party|CCP Politburo]] since 1987.{{sfn|Miller|2018|p=4}}

=== Ruling party ===
==== Leading role ====
A Marxist–Leninist party has led every communist state.{{sfn|Harding|1981|p=27}} This party seeks to represent and articulate the interests of the classes exploited by [[capitalism]].{{sfn|Harding|1981|p=27}} It seeks to lead the exploited classes to achieve communism.{{sfn|Harding|1981|p=27}} However, the party cannot be identified with the exploited class in general.{{sfn|Harding|1981|p=27}} Its membership comprises members with advanced consciousness above sectional interests.{{sfn|Harding|1981|p=27}} Therefore, the party represents the advanced section of the exploited classes and, through them, leads the exploited classes by interpreting the universal laws governing human history towards communism.{{sfn|Harding|1981|pp=27–28}}

In ''[[Foundations of Leninism]]'' (1924), [[Joseph Stalin]] wrote that "the proletariat [working class] needs the Party first of all as its General Staff, which it must have for the successful seizure of power. [...] But the proletariat needs the Party not only to achieve the [class] dictatorship; it needs it still more to maintain the [class] dictatorship."{{sfn|Steiner|1951|p=58}} The current [[Constitution of Vietnam]] states in Article 4 that "[t]he [[Communist Party of Vietnam]], the vanguard of the Vietnamese working class, simultaneously the vanguard of the toiling people and of the Vietnamese nation, the faithful representative of the interests of the working class, the toiling people, and the whole nation, acting upon the Marxist–Leninist doctrine and [[Ho Chi Minh]]'s thought, is the leading force of the state and society."{{sfn|Bui|2016|p=223}} In a similar form, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) describes itself as "the vanguard of the Chinese working class, the Chinese people, and the Chinese nation."{{sfn|Li|2017|p=219}} As noted by both communist parties, the ruling parties of communist states are [[vanguard parties]]. [[Vladimir Lenin]] theorised that vanguard parties were "capable of assuming power and leading the whole people to socialism, of directing and organising the new system, of being the teacher, the guide, the leader of all the working and exploited people in organising their social life without the bourgeoisie."{{sfn|Evans|1993|p=20}} This idea eventually evolved into the concept of the party's leading role in leading the state{{sfn|Evans|1993|p=20}} as seen in the CCP's self-description and Vietnam's constitution.{{sfn|Bui|2016|p=223}}{{sfn|Li|2017|p=219}}

==== Internal organisation ====
The Marxist–Leninist governing party organises itself around the principle of [[democratic centralism]] and through it, the state too.{{sfn|Gardner|Schöpflin|White|1987|p=131}} It means that all directing organs of the party, from top to bottom, shall be elected; that party organs shall give periodical accounts of their activities to their respective party organisations; that there shall be strict party discipline and the subordination of the minority to the majority; and that all decisions of higher organs shall be absolutely binding on lower organs and on all party members.{{sfn|Gardner|Schöpflin|White|1987|p=131}}

The supreme organ of a Marxist–Leninist governing party is the party congress.<ref name="CConly">{{cite encyclopedia |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Central-Committee-Soviet-political-body |title=Central Committee |encyclopedia=[[Encyclopædia Britannica]] |access-date=26 December 2019}}</ref> The congress elects the central committee and either an auditing commission and a control commission, or both, although not always.<ref name="CConly"/> The central committee is the party's highest decision-making organ in-between party congresses and elects a politburo and a secretariat amongst its members and the party's leader.<ref name="CConly"/> When the central committee is not in session, the politburo is the highest decision-making organ of the party and the secretariat is the highest administrative organ.<ref name="CConly"/> In certain parties, either the central committee or the politburo elects amongst its members a standing committee of the politburo which acts as the highest decision-making organ in between sessions of the politburo, central committee, and the Congress. This leadership structure is identical all the way down to the primary party organisation of the ruling party.<ref name="CConly"/>

== Economic system ==
From reading their works, many followers of [[Karl Marx]] and [[Friedrich Engels]] drew the idea that the socialist economy would be based on planning and not market mechanisms.{{sfn|Ellman|2014|pp=1–2}} These ideas later developed into believing that planning was superior to the market mechanism.{{sfn|Ellman|2014|p=2}} Upon seizing power, the [[Bolsheviks]] began advocating a national state planning system.{{sfn|Ellman|2014|p=2}} The [[8th Congress of the Russian Communist Party (Bolsheviks)]] resolved to institute "the maximum centralisation of production [...] simultaneously striving to establish a unified economic plan."{{sfn|Ellman|2014|p=2}} The [[Gosplan]], the State Planning Commission, the [[Supreme Soviet of the National Economy]], and other central planning organs were established during the 1920s in the era of the [[New Economic Policy]].{{sfn|Ellman|2014|p=9}} On introducing the planning system, it became a common belief in the international communist movement that the Soviet planning system was a more advanced form of economic organisation than capitalism.{{sfn|Ellman|2014|p=11}} This led to the system being introduced voluntarily in countries such as China, Cuba, and Vietnam and, in some cases, imposed by the Soviet Union.{{sfn|Ellman|2014|p=11}}

In communist states, the [[Soviet-type economic planning|state planning]] system had five main characteristics.{{sfn|Ellman|2014|p=22}} Firstly, except for field consumption and employment, practically all decisions were centralised at the top.{{sfn|Ellman|2014|p=22}} Secondly, the system was [[Hierarchy|hierarchical]]—the centre formulated a plan that was sent down to the level below, which would imitate the process and send the plan further down the pyramid.{{sfn|Ellman|2014|p=22}} Thirdly, the plans were binding in nature, i.e. everyone had to follow and meet the goals outlined in them.{{sfn|Ellman|2014|p=22}} Fourthly, the predominance of calculating in physical terms to ensure planned allocation of commodities were not incompatible with planned production.{{sfn|Ellman|2014|p=22}} Finally, money played a passive role within the state sector since the planners focused on physical allocation.{{sfn|Ellman|2014|p=22}}

According to [[Michael Ellman]], in a [[centrally planned economy|centrally-planned economy]], "the state owns the land and all other natural resources and all characteristics of the traditional model, the enterprises, and their productive assets. Collective ownership (e.g. the property of collective farms) also exists but plays a subsidiary role and is expected to be temporary."{{sfn|Ellman|2014|p=22}} The [[private ownership]] of the means of production still exists, although it plays a somewhat more minor role.{{sfn|Ellman|2014|p=23}} Since the class struggle in capitalism is caused by the division between owners of the means of production and the workers who sell their labour, [[state ownership]] (defined as the property of the people in these systems) is considered as a tool to end the class struggle and empower the working class.{{sfn|Ellman|2014|p=25}}

== Analysis ==
{{see also|Criticism of communist party rule|Postsocialism}}
Countries such as the [[Soviet Union]] and [[China]] were criticised by various authors and organisations based on the lack of the representative nature of [[multi-party]] [[liberal democracy]],<ref>{{cite book |last=Samuel P. |first=Huntington |title=Authoritarian Politics in Modern Society: The Dynamics of Established One-party Systems |date=1970 |publisher=[[Basic Books]] (AZ)}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last=Lowy |first=Michael |author-link=Michael Lowy |title=Mass Organization, Party and State: Democracy in its Transition to Socialism |journal=Transition and Development: Problems of Third World Socialism |date=1986 |issue=94 |pages=264}}</ref> in addition to several other areas where socialist society and [[Western world|Western societies]] differed. Socialist societies were commonly characterised by [[state ownership]] or [[social ownership]] of the [[means of production]] either through [[Management|administration]] through [[communist party]] organisations, democratically elected [[councils]] and [[Commune (administrative division)|communes]], and [[co-operative]] structures—in opposition to the [[liberal democratic]] [[capitalist]] [[free-market]] paradigm of management, ownership and control by corporations and private individuals.<ref name="University of Chicago Press">{{cite book |last=Amandae |first=Sonja |title=Rationalizing Capitalist Democracy: The Cold War Origins of Rational Choice Liberalism |date=2003 |publisher=[[University of Chicago Press]]}}</ref> Communist states have also been criticised for the [[Social influence|influence]] and outreach of their respective [[ruling parties]] on [[society]], in addition to lack of recognition for some Western [[legal rights]] and [[Civil liberty|liberties]] such as the [[right to own property]] and the restriction of the [[right to free speech]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://assembly.coe.int/nw/xml/XRef/Xref-XML2HTML-en.asp?fileid=17403&lang=en |title=Need for international condemnation of crimes of totalitarian communist regimes |publisher=Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe |date=25 January 2006 |access-date=31 January 2020}}</ref> The early economic development policies of communist states have been criticised for focusing primarily on the development of [[heavy industry]].{{citation needed|date=January 2020}}

Communist party rule has been criticised as [[authoritarian]] or totalitarian for suppressing and [[Mass killings under communist regimes|killing]] political dissidents and social classes (so-called "[[enemies of the people]]"), [[religious persecution]], [[ethnic cleansing]], forced [[collectivisation]], and use of [[forced labor]] in [[concentration camp]]s. Communist party rule has also been accused of [[genocidal]] acts in [[Cambodian genocide|Cambodia]], [[Maoist China|China]], [[Communist Poland|Poland]] and [[Holodomor genocide question|Ukraine]], although there is scholarly dispute regarding the Holodomor's classification as genocide.<ref>{{cite thesis |last=Sawicky |first=Nicholas D. |date=20 December 2013 |url=https://digitalcommons.brockport.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1318&context=ehd_theses |title=The Holodomor: Genocide and National Identity |type=Education and Human Development Master's Theses |publisher=The College at Brockport: [[State University of New York]] |access-date=6 October 2020 |via=Digital Commons |quote=Scholars also disagree over what role the Soviet Union played in the tragedy. Some scholars point to Stalin as the mastermind behind the famine, due to his hatred of Ukrainians (Hosking, 1987). Others assert that Stalin did not actively cause the famine, but he knew about it and did nothing to stop it (Moore, 2012). Still other scholars argue that the famine was just an effect of the Soviet Union's push for rapid industrialization and a by-product of that was the destruction of the peasant way of life (Fischer, 1935). The final school of thought argues that the Holodomor was caused by factors beyond the control of the Soviet Union and Stalin took measures to reduce the effects of the famine on the Ukrainian people (Davies & Wheatcroft, 2006).}}</ref> Especially in the West, criticism of communist rule has also been grounded in [[criticism of socialism]], by economists such as [[Friedrich Hayek]] and [[Milton Friedman]], who argued that the [[state ownership]] and [[planned economy]] characteristic of [[Ideology of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union|Soviet-style communist rule]] were responsible for [[economic stagnation]] and [[shortage economies]], providing few incentives for individuals to improve [[productivity]] and engage in [[entrepreneurship]].<ref>{{bulleted list|
| {{harvnb|Von Mises|1990}}
| Hayek, Friedrich (1935). "The Nature and History of the Problem"; "The Present State of the Debate". ''Collectivist Economic Planning''. pp. 1–40, 201–243.
| {{harvnb|Durlauf|Blume|1987}}
| {{harvnb|Biddle|Samuels|Davis|2006|p=319}}: "What became known as the socialist calculation debate started when von Mises (1935 [1920]) launched a critique of socialism."
| {{harvnb|Levy|Peart|2008}}{{pn|date=March 2025}}
}}</ref> [[Anti-Stalinist left]] and other [[left-wing]] critics see it as an example of state capitalism<ref>{{cite book |last=Cliff |first=Tony |author-link=Tony Cliff |year=1996 |url=https://www.marxists.org/ebooks/cliff/state-capitalism-in-russia-cliff.pdf |title=State Capitalism in Russia |access-date=6 October 2020 |via=[[Marxists Internet Archive]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Alami |first1=Ilias |last2=Dixon |first2=Adam D. |date=January 2020 |title=State Capitalism(s) Redux? Theories, Tensions, Controversies |journal=Competition & Change |volume=24 |issue=1 |pages=70–94 |doi=10.1177/1024529419881949 |s2cid=211422892 |issn=1024-5294 |doi-access=free}}</ref> and have referred to it as a [[red fascism]] contrary to left-wing politics.<ref>{{cite journal |author=Voline |year=1995 |url=https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/voline-red-fascism |title=Red Fascism |translator-last=Sharkey |translator-first=Paul |journal=Itinéraire |location=Paris |issue=13 |access-date=6 October 2020 |via=The Anarchist Library}} First published in the July 1934 edition of ''Ce qu'il faut dire'' (Brussels).</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last=Meyer |first=Gerald |date=Summer 2003 |title=Anarchism, Marxism and the Collapse of the Soviet Union |journal=[[Science & Society]] |volume=67 |issue=2 |pages=218–221 |doi=10.1521/siso.67.2.218.21187 |jstor=40404072 |issn=0036-8237}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last=Tamblyn |first=Nathan |date=April 2019 |title=The Common Ground of Law and Anarchism |journal=[[Liverpool Law Review]] |volume=40 |issue=1 |pages=65–78 |doi=10.1007/s10991-019-09223-1 |s2cid=155131683 |issn=1572-8625 |doi-access=free|hdl=10871/36939 |hdl-access=free }}</ref> Other leftists, including [[Marxist–Leninists]], criticise it for its repressive state actions while recognising certain advancements such as [[egalitarian]] achievements and [[modernisation]] under such states.<ref name="Parenti 1997">{{cite book |last=Parenti |first=Michael |author-link=Michael Parenti |year=1997 |title=Blackshirts and Reds: Rational Fascism and the Overthrow of Communism |location=San Francisco |publisher=[[City Lights Bookstore|City Lights Books]] |page=58 |isbn=978-0872863293}}</ref><ref name="Milne 2006">{{harvnb|Milne|2006}}: "The dominant account gives no sense of how communist regimes renewed themselves after 1956 or why western leaders feared they might overtake the capitalist world well into the 1960s. For all its brutalities and failures, communism in the Soviet Union, eastern Europe and elsewhere delivered rapid industrialisation, mass education, job security and huge advances in social and gender equality."</ref> Counter-criticism is diverse, including the view it presents a biased or exaggerated anti-communist narrative. Some academics propose a more nuanced analysis of communist party rule.{{sfn|Ghodsee|2014}}{{sfn|Ghodsee|Sehon|Dresser|2018}}

Soviet advocates and socialists responded to criticism by highlighting the ideological differences in the concept of freedom. McFarland and Ageyev noted that "Marxist–Leninist norms disparaged ''laissez-faire'' individualism (as when housing is determined by one's ability to pay), also [condemning] wide variations in personal wealth as the West has not. Instead, Soviet ideals emphasised equality—free education and medical care, little disparity in housing or salaries, and so forth."{{sfn|McFarland|Ageyev|Abalakina-Paap|1992}} When asked to comment on the claim that former citizens of communist states enjoy increased freedoms, [[Heinz Kessler]], former [[Ministry of National Defence (East Germany)|East German Minister of National Defence]], replied: "Millions of people in Eastern Europe are now free from employment, free from safe streets, free from health care, free from social security."<ref>{{cite book |last=Parenti |first=Michael |author-link=Michael Parenti |title=Blackshirts and Reds: Rational Fascism and the Overthrow of Communism |date=1997 |publisher=City Lights Books |location=San Francisco |isbn=978-0-87286-330-9 |page=118}}</ref>

In his analysis of states run under Marxist–Leninist ideology, economist [[Michael Ellman]] of the [[University of Amsterdam]] notes that such states compared favorably with Western states in some health indicators such as infant mortality and life expectancy.{{sfn|Ellman|2014|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=4L2ZBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA372 372]}} A 1986 study published in the ''[[American Journal of Public Health]]'' and a 1992 study published in ''[[International Journal of Health Services]]'' stated, respectively, that "between countries at similar levels of economic development, socialist countries showed more favorable PQL (physical quality of life) outcomes" and that socialism was "for the most part, more successful than capitalism in improving the health conditions of the world's populations."<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Cereseto |first1= S. |last2=Waitzkin |first2=H. |date=1986 |title=Economic development, political-economic system, and the physical quality of life. |url= |journal=[[American Journal of Public Health]] |volume=76 |issue=6 |pages=661–666 |doi=10.2105/ajph.76.6.661 |pmid=3706593 |pmc=1646771 |access-date=}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Navarro |first1=V. |date=1992 |title=Has socialism failed? An analysis of health indicators under socialism |url= |journal=[[International Journal of Health Services]] |volume=23 |issue=2 |pages=583–601 |doi=10.2190/B2TP-3R5M-Q7UP-DUA2 |pmid=1399170 |s2cid=44945095 |access-date=}}</ref> [[Philipp Ther]] posits that there was an increase in the standard of living throughout [[Eastern Bloc]] countries as the result of modernisation programs under communist governments.<ref>{{cite book |last=Ther |first=Philipp |date=2016 |title=Europe Since 1989: A History |url=https://press.princeton.edu/titles/10812.html |publisher=[[Princeton University Press]] |page=132 |isbn=9780691167374 |quote=Stalinist regimes aimed to catapult the predominantly agrarian societies into the modern age by swift industrialization. At the same time, they hoped to produce politically loyal working classes by mass employment in large state industries. Steelworks were built in Eisenhüttenstadt (GDR), Nowa Huta (Poland), Košice (Slovakia), and Miskolc (Hungary), as were various mechanical engineering and chemical combines and other industrial sites. As a result of communist modernization, living standards in Eastern Europe rose. Planned economies, moreover, meant that wages, salaries, and the prices of consumer goods were fixed. Although the communists were not able to cancel out all regional differences, they succeeded in creating largely egalitarian societies.}}</ref> Similarly, [[Amartya Sen|Amartya Sen's]] own analysis of international comparisons of life expectancy found that several Marxist–Leninist states made significant gains and commented "one thought that is bound to occur is that communism is good for poverty removal."<ref>{{cite book |author-link=Richard G. Wilkinson |last=Wilkinson |first=Richard G. |date=November 1996 |title=Unhealthy Societies: The Afflictions of Inequality |publisher=[[Routledge]] |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Zo-JAgAAQBAJ |page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=Zo-JAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA122 122] |isbn=0415092353}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://monthlyreview.org/2023/07/01/capitalism-global-poverty-and-the-case-for-democratic-socialism/ |title=Capitalism, Global Poverty, and the Case for Democratic Socialism |last1=Hickel |first1=Jason |author1-link=Jason Hickel |last2=Sullivan |first2=Dylan |date=July 1, 2023 |website=[[Monthly Review]] |publisher= |access-date=August 8, 2023 |quote=As the economist Amartya Sen remarked in his 1981 study of health and literacy achievements around the world: "One thought that is bound to occur is that communism is good for poverty removal."}}</ref>

Socialist scholar [[Michael Parenti]] argues that communist states experienced greater [[economic development]] than they would have otherwise, or that their leaders were forced to take harsh measures to defend their countries against the [[Western Bloc]] during the [[Cold War]]. In addition, Parenti states that communist party rule provided some [[human right]]s such as [[economic, social and cultural rights]] not found under [[capitalist states]] such as that everyone is treated equal regardless of education or financial stability; that any citizen can keep a job; or that there is a more efficient and equal distribution of resources.<ref name="Parenti 1997"/> Professors Paul Greedy and Olivia Ball report that communist parties pressed Western governments to include economic rights in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Ball |first1=Olivia |last2=Gready |first2=Paul |date=2007 |title=The No-Nonsense Guide to Human Rights |publisher=New Internationalist |page=35 |isbn=978-1-904456-45-2}}</ref>

Professor [[David L. Hoffmann]] argues that many actions of communist party rule were rooted in the response Western governments gave during World War I and that communist party rule institutionalised them.<ref>{{cite book |last=Hoffmann |first=David |year=2011 |title=Cultivating the Masses: Modern State Practices and Soviet Socialism, 1914–1939 |location=Ithaca, New York |publisher=[[Cornell University Press]] |pages=6–10 |isbn=9780801446290}}</ref> While noting "its brutalities and failures", Milne argues that "rapid industrialisation, mass education, job security and huge advances in social and gender equality" are not accounted and the dominant account of communist party rule "gives no sense of how communist regimes renewed themselves after 1956 or why western leaders feared they might overtake the capitalist world well into the 1960s."<ref name="Milne 2006"/>

===Left-wing criticism===

Left-wing critics argue that states under communist party rule took the form of [[state capitalism]] and that they followed [[imperialism]], [[populism]], [[nationalism]] and [[social democracy]]. Rather than representing a [[socialist]] [[planned economy]], the Soviet model has been described in practice as either a form of state capitalism<ref name="Chomsky 1986">Chomsky, Noam (1986). [https://chomsky.info/1986____/ "The Soviet Union Versus Socialism"]. ''Our Generation'' (Spring/Summer). Retrieved 29 January 2020.</ref>{{sfn|Howard|King|2001}}{{sfn|Wolff|2015}} or a [[Administrative-command system|non-planned]], [[command economy]].{{sfn|Wilhelm|1985}}<ref name="Zimbalist & Sherman 1988">{{cite book |last1=Zimbalist |first1=Andrew |last2=Sherman |first2=Howard J. |url=https://archive.org/details/comparingeconomi0000zimb_q8i6/page/4 |title=Comparing Economic Systems: A Political-Economic Approach |publisher=[[Harcourt College Publishing]] |date=October 1988 |isbn=978-0-15-512403-5 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/comparingeconomi0000zimb_q8i6/page/4 4] |quote=Almost all industry in the Soviet Union is government owned and all production is directed, in theory, by a central plan (though in practice much is left for local discretion and much happens that is unplanned or not under government control).}}</ref><ref name="Ellman 2007">{{harvnb|Ellman|2007|p=[https://archive.org/details/transitionbeyond00estr/page/n42 22]}}: "In the USSR in the late 1980s the system was normally referred to as the 'administrative-command' economy. What was fundamental to this system was not the plan but the role of administrative hierarchies at all levels of decision making; the absence of control over decision making by the population [...].</ref> The fidelity of those varied socialist revolutionaries, leaders and parties to the work of [[Karl Marx]] and that of other socialist thinkers is highly contested and has been rejected by many Marxists and other socialists alike.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Phillips |first=Ben |year=1981 |url=https://www.marxists.org/history/erol/ncm-7/cpml-ussr.htm |title=USSR: Capitalist or Socialist? |journal=The Call |volume=10 |issue=8 |access-date=15 July 2020 |via=[[Marxists Internet Archive]] }}</ref> Some academics, scholars and socialists have criticised the linking of all leftist and socialist ideals to the excesses of authoritarian socialism.<ref>{{harvp|Dean|2012|pp=[https://archive.org/details/communisthorizon00dean/page/n11 6–7]}}; {{harvp|Ehms|2014}}; {{harvp|Milne|2002}}; {{harvp|Milne|2006}}</ref>

Many [[Democratic socialism|democratic]] and [[libertarian]] socialists, including [[anarchists]], [[Mutualism (economic theory)|mutualists]] and [[syndicalists]], refer to communist states as examples of [[state socialism]], and they oppose this system for its support of a [[workers' state]] instead of abolishing the [[bourgeois]] state apparatus outright. They contrast state socialism with their own form of socialism which involves either [[collective ownership]] (in the form of [[worker cooperative]]s) or [[common ownership]] of the [[means of production]] without [[central planning]] by the state. Those [[libertarian socialists]] believe there is no need for a state in a socialist system because there would be no class to suppress and no need for an institution based on coercion, and they regard the state being a remnant of capitalism.<ref>{{cite book |last=Schumpeter |first=Joseph |year=2008 |orig-year=1942 |title=Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy |publisher=Harper Perennial |page=169 |isbn=978-0-06-156161-0 |quote=But there are still others (concepts and institutions) which by virtue of their nature cannot stand transplantation and always carry the flavor of a particular institutional framework. It is extremely dangerous, in fact it amounts to a distortion of historical description, to use them beyond the social world or culture whose denizens they are. Now ownership or property – also, so I believe, taxation – are such denizens of the world of commercial society, exactly as knights and fiefs are denizens of the feudal world. But so is the state (a denizen of commercial society).}}</ref><ref name="AFAQ H">{{cite book |editor-last=McKay |editor-first=Iain |year=2012 |section=Why do anarchists oppose state socialism? |title=An Anarchist FAQ |volume=II |location=Edinburgh |publisher=[[AK Press]] |isbn=978-1-902593-90-6 |oclc=182529204}}</ref><ref name="AFAQ I">{{cite book |editor-last=McKay |editor-first=Iain |year=2012 |section=What would an anarchist society look like? |title=An Anarchist FAQ |volume=II |location=Edinburgh |publisher=[[AK Press]] |isbn=978-1-902593-90-6 |oclc=182529204}}</ref> They hold that [[statism]] is antithetical to true socialism.<ref name="McKay 2008">{{cite book |editor-last=McKay |editor-first=Iain |year=2008 |section=Isn't libertarian socialism an oxymoron? |title=An Anarchist FAQ |volume=I |location=Stirling |publisher=[[AK Press]] |isbn=978-1-902593-90-6|oclc=182529204}}</ref> For instance, libertarian socialist [[William Morris]] wrote in a ''Commonweal'' article: "State Socialism? — I don't agree with it; in fact I think the two words contradict one another, and that it is the business of Socialism to destroy the State and put Free Society in its place".{{sfn|Morris|1890|p=153}}

American Marxist [[Raya Dunayevskaya]] dismissed communist states as a type of state capitalism<ref>{{cite journal |last=Dunayevskaya |first=Raya |author-link=Raya Dunayevskaya |date=1941 |url=https://www.marxists.org/archive/dunayevskaya/works/1941/ussr-capitalist.htm |title=The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics is a Capitalist Society |journal=Internal Discussion Bulletin of the Workers Party |access-date=23 April 2020 |via=[[Marxists Internet Archive]]}}</ref><ref>Dunayevskaya, Raya (1946). [https://www.marxists.org/archive/dunayevskaya/works/1946/statecap.htm "The Nature of the Russian Economy"]. ''The New International''. '''XII''' (10): 313–317. '''XIII''' (1/January 1947): 27–30. Retrieved 23 April 2020.</ref><ref>Boggs, Grace Lee; Dunayevskaya, Ray; James, C. L. R. (1986). [https://libcom.org/files/State%20capitalism%20and%20world%20revolution%20-%20CLR%20James.pdf ''State Capitalism and World Revolution'']. Chicago: Charles H. R. Publishing Company. {{ISBN|9780882860794}}. Retrieved 23 April 2020.</ref> because she believed that [[state ownership]] of the means of production represents state capitalism rather than socialism.{{sfn|Lichtenstein|2011|pp=160–161}} the [[dictatorship of the proletariat]] is a form of [[democracy]] and [[single-party rule]] is undemocratic;<ref>{{cite book |last=Ishay |first=Micheline |date=2007 |title=The Human Rights Reader: Major Political Essays, Speeches, and Documents from Ancient Times to the Present |publisher=[[Taylor & Francis]] |page=245 |isbn=9780415951609}}</ref> She also argued that [[Marxism–Leninism]] is neither [[Marxism]] nor [[Leninism]], but rather a composite ideology which socialist leaders such as [[Joseph Stalin]] used to expediently determine what is [[communism]] and what is not communism among the [[Eastern Bloc]] countries.<ref>{{cite book |last=Todd |first=Allan |author-link=Allan Todd |date=2012 |title=History for the IB Diploma: Communism in Crisis 1976–1989 |page=16 |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |isbn=978-1107649279}}</ref>

=== Memory ===
{{see also|Decommunization|Communist nostalgia}}
[[File:2014-03-08. Митинг в Донецке 006.jpg|thumb|Protest against [[Decommunization in Ukraine|Ukrainian decommunisation policies]] in [[Donetsk]], 2014. The red banner reads, "Our homeland USSR".]]
Monuments to the "victims of communist states" exist in almost all capitals of Eastern Europe. There are several museums documenting communist rule such as the [[Museum of Occupations and Freedom Fights]] in Lithuania, the [[Museum of the Occupation of Latvia]] in Riga, and the [[House of Terror]] in Budapest, all three of which also document Nazi rule.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Gille |first1=Zsuzsa |last2=Todorova |first2=Maria |date=2012 |title=Post-Communist Nostalgia |publisher=[[Berghahn Books]] |page=4 |isbn=978-0-857-45643-4}}</ref>{{sfn|Ghodsee|2014|p=124}} In Washington D.C., a bronze statue based upon the [[1989 Tiananmen Square protests|1989 Tiananmen Square]] ''[[Goddess of Democracy]]'' sculpture was dedicated as the [[Victims of Communism Memorial]] in 2007, having been authorised by the [[United States Congress]] in 1993.<ref>{{cite act |url=http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/BILLS-103hr3000enr/pdf/BILLS-103hr3000enr.pdf |date=1993 |title=Friendship Act (HR3000) |legislature=United States Congress |page=15 at §905a1 |access-date=14 November 2020 |via=U.S. Government Publishing Office}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |first=Omar |last=Fekeiki |date=13 June 2007 |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/12/AR2007061201125.html |title=The Toll of Communism |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] |access-date=19 November 2020}}</ref> The [[Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation]] plans to build an International Museum on Communism in Washington. As of 2008, Russia contained 627 memorials and memorial plaques dedicated to victims of the communist states, most of which were created by private citizens and did not have a national monument or a national museum.<ref>{{cite book |last=Satter |first=David |date=2011 |title=It Was a Long Time Ago, and It Never Happened Anyway: Russia and the Communist Past |publisher=[[Yale University Press]] |isbn=978-0-300-17842-5}}</ref>{{pn|date=March 2025}} The [[Wall of Grief]] in Moscow, inaugurated in October 2017, is Russia's first monument for victims of political persecution by Stalin during the country's Soviet era.<ref>[https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-41809659 "Wall of Grief: Putin opens first Soviet victims memorial"]. BBC News. 30 October 2017. Retrieved 19 November 2020.</ref> In 2017, Canada's [[National Capital Commission]] approved the design for a memorial to the victims of communism to be built at the [[Garden of the Provinces and Territories]] in Ottawa.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/victims-communism-monument-unveiling-date-unknown-1.4581995 |title=Victims of communism monument could be unveiled next spring |work=[[CBC News]] |date=19 March 2018 |access-date=19 November 2020 }}</ref> On 23 August 2018, Estonia's Victims of Communism 1940–1991 Memorial was inaugurated in [[Tallinn]] by President [[Kersti Kaljulaid]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.memoriaal.ee/en/memorial/ |title=Estonia's Victims of Communism 1940–1991 |website=Kommunismiohvrite memoriaal |date=23 August 2018 |access-date=19 November 2020}}</ref>{{bsn|date=March 2025}} The memorial construction was financed by the state and is managed by the [[Estonian Institute of Historical Memory]].<ref>[https://news.err.ee/828730/cornerstone-laid-for-new-memorial-for-victims-of-communist-crimes "Cornerstone laid for new memorial for victims of communist crimes"]. ERR News. 4 May 2018. Retrieved 19 November 2020.</ref> The opening ceremony was chosen to coincide with the official [[European Day of Remembrance for Victims of Stalinism and Nazism]].<ref>{{cite news |url=https://news.err.ee/855812/gallery-victims-of-communism-memorial-opened-in-tallinn |title=Victims of Communism Memorial opened in Tallinn |work=[[ERR News]] |date=24 August 2018 |access-date=19 November 2020 }}</ref>

According to Laure Neumayer, this is used as an [[anti-communist]] narrative "based on a series of categories and figures" to "denounce Communist state violence (qualified as 'Communist crimes', 'red genocide' or 'classicide') and to honour persecuted individuals (presented alternatively as 'victims of Communism' and 'heroes of anti totalitarian resistance')."<ref>{{cite book |last=Neumayer |first=Laure |date=2018 |title=The Criminalisation of Communism in the European Political Space after the Cold War |location=London |publisher=[[Routledge]] |isbn=9781351141741}}</ref>{{pn|date=March 2025}} According to anthropologist [[Kristen Ghodsee]], efforts to institutionalise the victims of communism narrative, or the moral equivalence between the [[Nazi Holocaust]] (race murder) and the victims of communism (class murder), and in particular the push at the beginning of the [[2008 financial crisis]] for commemoration of the latter in Europe, can be seen as the response by economic and political elites to fears of a [[leftist]] resurgence in the face of devastated economies and extreme [[Economic inequality|inequalities]] in both the East and West as the result of the excesses of [[neoliberalism|neoliberal capitalism]]. Ghodsee argues that any discussion of achievements under communist states, including literacy, education, women's rights, and social security is usually silenced, and any discourse on the subject of [[communism]] is focused almost exclusively on Stalin's crimes and the [[double genocide theory]].{{sfn|Ghodsee|2014|p=124}}

In the decades following the [[Revolutions of 1989]], nostalgia for the defunct Marxist governments and the communist ideal reemerged among segments of the population in the former Soviet Union and much of Eastern Europe.<ref name="Boym">{{cite news |title=Nostalgia |last=Boym |first=Svetlana |url=http://monumenttotransformation.org/atlas-of-transformation/html/n/nostalgia/nostalgia-svetlana-boym.html |work=Atlas of Transformation |location=Prague |year=2011 |access-date=2 September 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240529092533/http://monumenttotransformation.org/atlas-of-transformation/html/n/nostalgia/nostalgia-svetlana-boym.html |archive-date=29 May 2024}}</ref> Russian-American author and cultural theorist [[Svetlana Boym]] noted that outbreaks of nostalgia often follow periods of political change and revolution.<ref name="Boym"/> She observed that in former communist states, memory narratives surrounding life under socialism may be polarised.<ref name="Boym"/> Many residents who lived through this era recalled only economic stagnation, while others valued it for a sense of perceived stability and national strength.<ref name="Boym"/>

The [[dissolution of the Soviet Union]] was followed by a rapid increase in poverty,<ref>{{cite book |last=McAaley |first=Alastair |title=Russia and the Baltics: Poverty and Poverty Research in a Changing World |url=http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache%3A8M3JFdbXA7sJ%3Awww.crop.org%2Fviewfile.aspx%3Fid%3D381+&cd=10&ct=clnk&gl=nz |access-date=18 July 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170123224044/http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache%3A8M3JFdbXA7sJ%3Awww.crop.org%2Fviewfile.aspx%3Fid%3D381+&cd=10&ct=clnk&gl=nz |archive-date=23 January 2017 |url-status=dead |df=dmy-all}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/an-epidemic-of-street-kids-overwhelms-russian-cities/article4141933/ |title=An epidemic of street kids overwhelms Russian cities |newspaper=The [[Globe and Mail]] |date=16 April 2002 |access-date=17 July 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Targ |first=Harry |title=Challenging Late Capitalism, Neoliberal Globalization, & Militarism |date=2006}}</ref> crime,<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Gerber |first1=Theodore P. |last2=Hout |first2=Michael |date=July 1998 |title=More Shock than Therapy: Market Transition, Employment, and Income in Russia, 1991–1995 |journal=[[American Journal of Sociology]] |volume=104 |number=1 |pages=1–50|doi=10.1086/210001 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2007/04/russ-a26.html |title=The Bitter Legacy of Boris Yeltsin (1931-2007) |last=Volkov |first=Vladimir |publisher=World Socialist Website |date=26 April 2007 |access-date=31 January 2020}}</ref> corruption,<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.economist.com/europe/2010/03/18/cops-for-hire |title=Cops for Hire |newspaper=[[The Economist]] |date=18 March 2010 |access-date=4 December 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.transparency.org/cpi2014/results |title=Corruption Perceptions Index 2014 |publisher=Transparency International |date=3 December 2014 |access-date=18 July 2016 |archive-date=29 September 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140929023046/http://www.transparency.org/cpi2014/results |url-status=dead }}</ref> unemployment,<ref>{{cite book |last=Hardt |first=John |title=Russia's Uncertain Economic Future: With a Comprehensive Subject Index |date=2003 |publisher=[[M. E. Sharpe]] |pages=481}}</ref> homelessness,<ref>{{cite book |last1=Alexander |first1=Catharine |last2=Buchil |first2=Victor |last3=Humphrey |first3=Caroline |title=Urban Life in Post-Soviet Asia |date=12 September 2007 |publisher=[[CRC Press]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |editor-last=Smorodinskaya |editor-first=Tatiana |date=2007 |title=Encyclopaedia of Contemporary Russian |publisher=[[Routledge]]}}</ref> rates of disease,<ref>{{cite journal |last=Galazkaa |first=Artur |title=Implications of the Diphtheria Epidemic in the Former Soviet Union for Immunization Programs |journal=Journal of Infectious Diseases |volume=181 |pages=244–248 |doi=10.1086/315570 |pmid=10657222 |year=2000 |issue=s1 |doi-access=free}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.pitt.edu/~super4/33011-34001/33991.ppt |title=Non-communicable Diseases and Former Soviet Union countries |last=Shubnikov |first=Eugene |publisher=[[World Health Organization]] |access-date=18 July 2016 |archive-date=11 October 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161011091551/http://www.pitt.edu/~super4/33011-34001/33991.ppt |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Wharton |first1=Melinda |last2=Vitek |first2=Charles |title=Diphtheria in the Former Soviet Union: Reemergence of a Pandemic Disease |url=http://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/4/4/98-0404_article |journal=Emerging Infectious Diseases |volume=4 |issue=4 |pages=539–550 |access-date=18 July 2016 |doi=10.3201/eid0404.980404 |pmid=9866730 |year=1998 |pmc=2640235}}</ref> infant mortality, and income inequality,{{sfn|Hoepller|2011}}<ref>{{cite web |last=Poland |first=Marshall |title=Russian Economy in the Aftermath of the Collapse of the Soviet Union |url=http://www2.needham.k12.ma.us/nhs/cur/Baker_00/03-04/baker%20poland%20p1/ussr.htm |access-date=18 July 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160708010129/http://www2.needham.k12.ma.us/nhs/cur/Baker_00/03-04/baker%20poland%20p1/ussr.htm |archive-date=8 July 2016 |url-status=dead}}</ref> The region also experienced a spike in excess deaths.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Ghodsee |first1=Kristen |author1-link=Kristen Ghodsee |title=Taking Stock of Shock: Social Consequences of the 1989 Revolutions |last2=Orenstein |first2=Mitchell A. |date=2021 |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |isbn=978-0197549247 |location=New York |pages=195–196 |doi=10.1093/oso/9780197549230.001.0001 |quote=In the mortality belt of the European former Soviet Union, an aggressive health policy intervention might have prevented tens of thousands of excess deaths, or at least generated a different perception of Western intentions. Instead, Western self-congratulatory triumphalism, the political priority to irreversibly destroy the communist system, and the desire to integrate East European economies into the capitalist world at any cost took precedence.}}</ref>

According to [[Kristen Ghodsee]], a researcher on post-communist Eastern Europe:
{{blockquote|Only by examining how the quotidian aspects of daily life were affected by great social, political and economic changes can we make sense of the desire for this collectively imagined, more egalitarian past. Nobody wants to revive 20th century [[totalitarianism]]. But nostalgia for communism has become a common language through which ordinary men and women express disappointment with the shortcomings of parliamentary democracy and neoliberal capitalism today.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.wamc.org/academic-minute/2011-11-01/dr-kristen-ghodsee-bowdoin-college-nostalgia-for-communism |title=Dr. Kristen Ghodsee, Bowdoin College – Nostalgia for Communism |date=1 November 2011 |website=WAMC Northeast Public Radio |access-date=3 March 2022 |archive-date=4 May 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220504212449/https://www.wamc.org/academic-minute/2011-11-01/dr-kristen-ghodsee-bowdoin-college-nostalgia-for-communism |url-status=live}}</ref>}}

Ekaterina Kalinina, a sociologist at the [[University of Copenhagen]], found that positive narratives of life under socialism was often driven by the loss of social benefits and the collapse of the extensive [[welfare state]] enjoyed by many residents of former communist states.{{sfn|Christie|2019}} Kalinina pointed out that [[nostalgia for the Soviet Union]] had the greatest appeal to those "who find themselves in more vulnerable economic and social positions" in Russia after 1991.{{sfn|Christie|2019}} Per Kalinina, these individuals are nostalgic for "economic security and social welfare."{{sfn|Christie|2019}}

== See also ==
{{Portal|Communism|Socialism}}
{{Commons category|Communist countries}}
* [[List of non-communist socialist states|List of socialist states]]
* [[List of anarchist communities]]
* [[Capitalist state]]
* [[List of anti-capitalist and communist parties with national parliamentary representation]]
* [[List of communist parties]]
* [[Marxism–Leninism–Maoism]]
* [[Stalinism]]

== References ==
<references>
<ref name="Wilczynski2008_021">{{harvnb|Wilczynski|2008|p=21}}: "Contrary to Western usage, these countries describe themselves as 'Socialist' (not 'Communist'). The second stage (Marx's 'higher phase'), or 'Communism' is to be marked by an age of plenty, distribution according to needs (not work), the absence of money and the market mechanism, the disappearance of the last vestiges of capitalism and the ultimate 'whithering away' of the State."</ref>
</references>

== Bibliography ==
=== General ===
References for when the individuals were elected to the office of CCP leader, the name of the offices and when they established and were abolished are found below.
{{refbegin}}
* {{cite book |author=19th National Congress |year=2017 |title=Constitution of the Communist Party of China |publisher=[[Chinese Communist Party]] |author-link=19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China}}
* {{cite book |last=Gungwu |first=Wang |title=China: Development and Governance |publisher=[[World Scientific|World Scientific Publishing Company]] |year=2012 |pages=12–13 |isbn=978-9814425841}}
{{refend}}

=== Articles and journal entries ===
{{refbegin|colwidth=30em}}
* {{cite magazine |last=Barrett |first=William |date=1 April 1978 |title=Capitalism, Socialism, and Democracy: A Symposium |url=https://www.commentarymagazine.com/articles/capitalism-socialism-and-democracy/ |magazine=Commentary |access-date=14 June 2020}}
* {{cite journal |last=Bui |first=T. |title=Constitutionalizing Single Party Leadership in Vietnam: Dilemmas of Reform |volume=11 |journal=[[Asian Journal of Comparative Law]] |issue=2 |pages=219–234 |year=2016 |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/6403BF859E16F8CC7EAC25A16AC76345/S2194607816000223a.pdf/constitutionalizing_single_party_leadership_in_vietnam_dilemmas_of_reform.pdf |doi=10.1017/asjcl.2016.22 |doi-access=free}}
* {{cite journal |last=Chang |first=Yu-nan |title=The Chinese Communist State System Under the Constitution of 1954 |volume=18 |issue=3 |journal=[[The Journal of Politics]] |pages=520–546 |date=August 1956 |publisher=[[The University of Chicago Press]] on behalf of the [[Southern Political Science Association]] |jstor=2127261 |doi=10.2307/2127261 |s2cid=154446161}}
* {{cite journal |last=Farber |first=Samuel |year=1992 |title=Before Stalinism: The Rise and Fall of Soviet Democracy |journal=Studies in Soviet Thought |volume=44 |issue=3 |pages=229–230}}
* {{cite journal |last=Ghodsee |first=Kristen |author-link=Kristen Ghodsee |date=Fall 2014 |url=https://scholar.harvard.edu/files/kristenghodsee/files/history_of_the_present_galleys.pdf |title=A Tale of 'Two Totalitarianisms': The Crisis of Capitalism and the Historical Memory of Communism |journal=History of the Present: A Journal of Critical History |volume=4 |number=2 |pages=115–142 |doi=10.5406/historypresent.4.2.0115 |jstor=10.5406/historypresent.4.2.0115}}
* {{cite magazine |editor1-last=Ghodsee |editor1-first=Kristen |editor1-link=Kristen Ghodsee |editor2-last=Sehon |editor2-first=Scott |editor2-link=Scott Sehon |editor3-last=Dresser |editor3-first=Sam |date=22 March 2018 |title=The merits of taking an anti-anti-communism stance |url=https://aeon.co/essays/the-merits-of-taking-an-anti-anti-communism-stance |url-status=live |magazine=[[Aeon (digital magazine)|Aeon]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220401001435/https://aeon.co/essays/the-merits-of-taking-an-anti-anti-communism-stance |archive-date=1 April 2022 |access-date=12 August 2021}}
* {{cite journal |last=Guins |first=George |title=Law Does not Wither Away in the Soviet Union |url=https://archive.org/details/sim_russian-review_1950-07_9_3/page/186 |volume=9 |issue=3 |journal=[[The Russian Review]] |pages=187–204 |date=July 1950 |publisher=[[John Wiley & Sons|Wiley]] on behalf of The Editors and Board of Trustees of the Russian Review |jstor=125763 |doi=10.2307/125763}}
* {{cite journal |last=Hand |first=Keith |date=2016 |title=An Assessment of Socialist Constitutional Supervision Models and Prospects for a Constitutional Supervision Committee in China: The Constitution as Commander? |issue=150 |journal=[[Legal Studies Research Paper Series]] |publisher=[[University of California]] |ssrn=2624663 |url=https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2624663}}
* {{cite journal |last=Hazard |first=John |date=August 1975 |title=Soviet Model for Marxian Socialist Constitutions |volume=60 |issue=6 |journal=[[Cornell Law Review]] |publisher=[[Cornell University]] |pages=109–118 |url=https://scholarship.law.cornell.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?referer=https://www.google.no/&httpsredir=1&article=4046&context=clr}}
* {{cite journal |last=Hoepller |first=Cristopher |date=2011 |title=Russian Demographics: The Role of the Collapse of the Soviet Union |journal=Undergraduate Research Journal for the Human Sciences |volume=10 |issue=1 |url=http://www.kon.org/urc/v10/hoeppler.html}}
* {{cite journal |last1=Howard |first1=M. C. |last2=King |first2=J. E. |date=2001 |url=http://www.hetsa.org.au/pdf/34-A-08.pdf |title='State Capitalism' in the Soviet Union |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190728140836/https://www.hetsa.org.au/pdf/34-A-08.pdf |archive-date=28 July 2019 |journal=[[History of Economics Review]] |volume=34 |number=1 |pages=110–126 |doi=10.1080/10370196.2001.11733360}}
* {{cite journal |last=Imam |first=Zafar |date=July–September 1986 |title=The Theory of the Soviet State Today |volume=47 |issue=3 |journal=[[The Indian Journal of Political Science]] |pages=382–398 |publisher=[[Indian Political Science Association]] |jstor=41855253}}
* {{cite journal |last=Keith |first=Richard |date=March 1991 |title=Chinese Politics and the New Theory of 'Rule of Law' |issue=125 |journal=[[The China Quarterly]] |volume=125 |pages=109–118 |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] on behalf of the [[School of Oriental and African Studies]] |jstor=654479 |doi=10.1017/S0305741000030320 |s2cid=154980279}}
* {{cite journal |last=Kokoshin |first=Andrey |date=October 2016 |title=2015 Military Reform in the People's Republic of China |journal=[[Belfer Center Paper]] |publisher=[[Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs]] |url=https://www.belfercenter.org/sites/default/files/legacy/files/Military%20Reform%20China%20-%20web2.pdf}}
* {{cite journal |last=Kramer |first=Mark N. |date=January 1985 |title=Civil-Military Relations in the Warsaw Pact: The East European Component |volume=61 |issue=1 |journal=[[International Affairs (journal)|International Affairs]] |pages=45–66 |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] on behalf of the [[Royal Institute of International Affairs]] |jstor=2619779 |doi=10.2307/2619779}}
* {{cite journal |last1=McFarland |first1=Sam |last2=Ageyev |first2=Vladimir |last3=Abalakina-Paap |first3=Marina |date=1992 |title=Authoritarianism in the Former Soviet Union |journal=Journal of Personality and Social Psychology |volume=63 |issue=6 |pages=1004–1010 |doi=10.1037/0022-3514.63.6.1004 |citeseerx=10.1.1.397.4546}}
* {{cite journal |last=Miller |first=Alice |date=January 2018 |title=The 19th Central Committee Politburo |issue=55 |journal=[[China Leadership Monitor]] |publisher=[[Hoover Institute]] |url=https://www.hoover.org/sites/default/files/research/docs/clm55-am-final.pdf}}
* {{cite journal |last=Mulvenon |first=James |date=January 2018 |title=The Cult of Xi and the Rise of the CMC Chairman Responsibility System |issue=55 |journal=[[China Leadership Monitor]] |publisher=[[Hoover Institute]] |url=https://www.hoover.org/sites/default/files/research/docs/clm55-jm-final.pdf}}
* {{cite thesis |last=Poelzer |first=Greg |year=1989 |title=An Analysis of Grenada as a Socialist-Oriented State |publisher=[[Carleton University]] |url=https://curve.carleton.ca/c50ea832-3c4f-4d02-a6f6-c604a8d04051}}
* {{cite news |last=Skilling |first=H. Gordon |date=January 1961 |title=People's Democracy and the Socialist Revolution: A Case Study in Communist Scholarship. Part I |journal=[[Soviet Studies]] |volume=12 |issue=3 |pages=241–262 |publisher=[[Taylor & Francis]]}}
* {{cite thesis |last=Snyder |first=Stanley |year=1987 |title=Soviet Troop Control and the Power Distribution |publisher=[[Naval Postgraduate School]] |hdl=10945/22490}}
* {{cite report |author=National Foreign Assessment Center |title=Political Control of the Soviet Armed Forces |year=1980 |publisher=[[Central Intelligence Agency]] |url=https://www.cia.gov/library/readingroom/docs/DOC_0000499888.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170121103848/https://www.cia.gov/library/readingroom/docs/DOC_0000499888.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-date=21 January 2017 |ref=CITEREFStaff_writer1980}}
* {{cite journal |last1=Steiner |first1=H. Arthur |title=The Role of the Chinese Communist Party |journal=The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science |date=1951 |volume=277 |issue=1 |pages=56–66 |doi=10.1177/000271625127700107 |jstor=1030252 |s2cid=145485494 |issn=0002-7162}}
* {{cite journal |last1=Stone Sweet |first1=Alec |last2=Bu |first2=Chong |last3=Zhuo |first3=Ding |title=Breaching the Taboo? Constitutional Dimensions of the New Chinese Civil Code |journal=Asian Journal of Comparative Law |date=25 May 2023 |volume=18 |issue=3 |pages=319–344 |doi=10.1017/asjcl.2023.18 |s2cid=258915998 |doi-access=free}}
* {{cite journal |last=Tang |first=Peter S. H. |date=February 1980 |title=The Soviet, Chinese and Albanian Constitutions: Ideological Divergence and Institutionalized Confrontation? |volume=21 |issue=1 |journal=[[Studies in Soviet Thought]] |pages=39–58 |publisher=[[Springer Publishing]] |jstor=20098938.pdf |doi=10.1007/BF00832025 |s2cid=144486393}}
* {{cite journal |last=Quigley |first=John |title=Socialist Law and the Civil Law Tradition |volume=37 |issue=4 |journal=[[The American Journal of Comparative Law]] |date=Autumn 1989 |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |pages=781–808 |url=http://spg.snnu.edu.cn/kindeditor-4.1.10/attached/file/20170517/20170517102021182118.pdf |doi=10.2307/840224 |jstor=840224 |access-date=26 December 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180517152608/http://spg.snnu.edu.cn/kindeditor-4.1.10/attached/file/20170517/20170517102021182118.pdf |archive-date=17 May 2018 |url-status=dead}}
{{refend}}

=== Books ===
{{refbegin|colwidth=30em}}
* {{cite book |last=Åslund |first=Anders |year=2009 |title=How Ukraine Became a Market Economy and Democracy |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=C8C3xuqd6aMC |publisher=Peterson Institute |isbn=9780881325461 |via=[[Google Books]]}}
* {{cite book |last1=Biddle |first1=Jeff |last2=Samuels |first2=Warren |last3=Davis |first3=John |date=2006 |title=A Companion to the History of Economic Thought |publisher=[[Wiley-Blackwell]]}}
* {{cite book |last=Blasko |first=Dennis |year=2006 |title=The Chinese Army Today: Tradition and Transformation for the 21st Century |publisher=[[Routledge]] |isbn=9781135988777}}
* {{cite book |last=Busky |first=Donald F. |date=20 July 2000 |title=Democratic Socialism: A Global Survey |publisher=[[Greenwood Publishing Group|Praeger]] |isbn=978-0275968861}}
* {{cite book |last=Dean |first=Jodi |year=2012 |title=The Communist Horizon |url=https://archive.org/details/communisthorizon00dean |url-access=limited |publisher=[[Verso Books]] |isbn=9781844679546}}
* {{cite book |last=Dimitrov |first=Vessellin |year=2006 |editor1-last=Dimitrov |editor1-first=Vessellin |editor2-last=Goetz |editor2-first=H. Klaus |editor3-last=Wollmann |editor3-first=Hellmut |title=Governing after Communism: Institutions and Policymaking |edition=2nd |publisher=[[Martinus Nijhoff Publishers]] |isbn=9780742540095 |chapter=Bulgaria: A Core Against the Odds |pages=159–203}}
* {{cite book |editor1-last=Durlauf |editor1-first=Steven N. |editor2-last=Blume |editor2-first=Lawrence E. |date=1987 |title=The New Palgrave Dictionary of Economics Online |publisher=[[Palgrave Macmillan]] |doi=10.1057/9780230226203.1570}}
* {{cite book |last=Ellman |first=Michael |year=2007 |chapter=The Rise and Fall of Socialist Planning |editor1-first=Saul |editor1-last=Estrin |editor2-first=Grzegorz W. |editor2-last=Kołodko |editor3-first=Milica |editor3-last=Uvalić |title=Transition and Beyond: Essays in Honour of Mario Nuti |url=https://archive.org/details/transitionbeyond00estr |url-access=limited |location=New York City |publisher=[[Palgrave Macmillan]] |isbn=9780230546974}}
* {{cite book |last=Ellman |first=Michael |year=2014 |title=Socialist Planning |edition=3rd |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |isbn=9781107427327}}
* {{cite book |last=Evans |first=Daniel |year=1993 |title=Soviet Marxism–Leninism: The Decline of an Ideology |publisher=[[ABC-CLIO]] |isbn=9780275947637}}
* {{cite book |last=Feldbrugge |first=F. J. M. |year=1985 |editor1-last=Feldbrugge |editor1-first=F. J. M. |editor2-last=Van den Berg |editor2-first=G. P. |editor3-last=Simons |editor3-first=William B. |title=Encyclopedia of Soviet Law |edition=2nd |publisher=[[Martinus Nijhoff Publishers]] |isbn=1349060860 |chapter=Council of Ministers |pages=202–204}}
* {{cite book |last1=Frankowski |first1=Stanisław |last2=Stephan |first2=Paul B. |year=1995 |title=Legal Reform in Post-Communist Europe: The View from Within |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LAiYFR0MPXgC |publisher=Martinus Nijhoff |isbn=9780792332183 |via=[[Google Books]]}}
* {{cite book |last=Furtak |first=Robert K. |year=1987 |title=The Political Systems of the Socialist States |location=New York City |publisher=St. Martin's Press |isbn=9780312625276}}
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* {{cite book |last=Getzler |first=Israel |year=2002 |title=Kronstadt 1917-1921: The Fate of a Soviet Democracy |orig-date=1982 |location=Cambridge |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |isbn=978-0521894425}}
* {{cite book |last=Gjevori |first=Elvin |year=2018 |title=Democratisation and Institutional Reform in Albania |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=l5FODwAAQBAJ |publisher=Springer |isbn=9783319730714 |via=[[Google Books]]}}
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* {{cite book |last=Harding |first=Neil |year=1981 |editor-last=Szajkowski |editor-first=Bogdan |title=Marxist Governments |volume=1 |publisher=[[Palgrave Macmillan]] |isbn=978-0-333-25704-3 |chapter=What Does It Mean to Call a Regime Marxist? |pages=22–33}}
* {{cite book |last=Hazard |first=John |year=1985 |editor1-last=Feldbrugge |editor1-first=F. J. M. |editor2-last=Van den Berg |editor2-first=G. P. |editor3-last=Simons |editor3-first=William B. |title=Encyclopedia of Soviet Law |edition=2nd |publisher=[[Martinus Nijhoff Publishers]] |isbn=1349060860 |chapter=Constitutional Law |pages=162–163}}
* {{cite book |last=Kendall |first=Diana |date=2011 |title=Sociology in Our Time: The Essentials |publisher=[[Cengage Learning]] |isbn=9781111305505}}
* {{cite book |last=Khabtagaeva |first=Bayarma |year=2009 |title=Mongolic Elements in Tuvan |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zddhapKVdHMC |publisher=Otto Harrassowitz Verlag |isbn=9783447060950 |series=Turcologica Series |volume=81 |via=[[Google Books]]}}
* {{cite book |last1=Levy |first1=David M. |last2=Peart |first2=Sandra J. |date=2008 |chapter=Socialist calculation debate |title=The New Palgrave Dictionary of Economics |edition=Second |publisher=[[Palgrave Macmillan]] |isbn=978-0333786765}}
* {{cite book |last=Li |first=He |date=2015 |title=Political Thought and China's Transformation: Ideas Shaping Reform in Post-Mao China |publisher=Springer |isbn=9781137427816}}
* {{cite book |last=Li |first=Lin |year=2017 |publisher=[[Elsevier]] |isbn=9780128119303 |title=Building the Rule of Law in China}}
* {{cite book |last=Lichtenstein |first=Nelson |date=2011 |title=American Capitalism: Social Thought and Political Economy in the Twentieth Century |publisher=[[University of Pennsylvania Press]] |isbn=9780812202632}}
* {{cite book |last=Loeber |first=Dietrich Andre |year=1984 |editor1-last=Simons |editor1-first=William |editor2-last=White |editor2-first=Stephen |chapter=On the Status of the CPSU within the Soviet Legal System |publisher=[[Martinus Nijhoff Publishers]] |isbn=9789024729753 |title=The Party Statutes of the Communist World |pages=1–22}}
* {{cite book |last1=Macdonald |first1=Fiona |last2=Stacey |first2=Gillian |last3=Steele |first3=Philip |year=2004 |title=Peoples of Eastern Asia |volume=8: Mongolia–Nepal |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QXWjAmmZ5kMC |publisher=Marshall Cavendish |isbn=9780761475477 |via=[[Google Books]]}}
* {{cite book |last=Minahan |first=James |year=2013 |title=Miniature Empires: A Historical Dictionary of the Newly Independent States |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jwNeAgAAQBAJ |publisher=[[Routledge]] |isbn=9781135940102 |via=[[Google Books]]}}
* {{cite book |last=Von Mises |first=Ludwig |author-link=Ludwig von Mises |year=1990 |title=Economic calculation in the Socialist Commonwealth |access-date=11 November 2019 |publisher=[[Mises Institute]] |url=https://mises.org/sites/default/files/Economic%20Calculation%20in%20the%20Socialist%20Commonwealth_Vol_2_3.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190913030435/https://mises.org/sites/default/files/Economic%20Calculation%20in%20the%20Socialist%20Commonwealth_Vol_2_3.pdf |archive-date=13 September 2019 |url-status=live}}
* {{cite book |last1=Müller-Rommel |first1=Ferdinand |last2=Mansfeldová |first2=Zdenka |year=2001 |title=Cabinets in Eastern Europe |doi=10.1057/9781403905215_6 |publisher=[[Palgrave Macmillan]] |editor1-first=Jean |editor1-last=Blondel |editor2-first=Ferdinand |editor2-last=Müller-Rommel |chapter=Chapter 5: Czech Republic |isbn=978-1-349-41148-1}}
* {{cite book |last1=Nation |first1=R. Craig |title=Black Earth, Red Star: A History of Soviet Security Policy, 1917-1991 |date=1992 |publisher=[[Cornell University Press]] |isbn=978-0801480072 |pages=85–6 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WK18-OoR0pIC&pg=PA85 |access-date=19 December 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190801050439/https://books.google.ie/books?id=WK18-OoR0pIC&pg=PA85 |archive-date=1 August 2019 |url-status=dead |via=[[Google Books]]}}
* {{cite book |last=Nelson |first=Daniel |year=1982 |editor1-last=Nelson |editor1-first=Daniel |editor2-last=White |editor2-first=Stephen |title=Communist Legislatures in Comparative Perspective |volume=1 |publisher=[[Palgrave Macmillan]] |isbn=1349060860 |chapter=Communist Legislatures and Communist Politics |pages=1–13}}
* {{cite book |last=Paquette |first=Laure |year=2001 |title=NATO and Eastern Europe After 2000: Strategic Interactions with Poland, the Czech Republic, Romania, and Bulgaria |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PE_D8ZewHKQC |publisher=Nova |isbn=9781560729693 |via=[[Google Books]]}}
* {{cite book |last1=Rosser |first1=Barkley |last2=Rosser |first2=Marianne |year=2003 |title=Comparative Economics in a Transforming World Economy |publisher=[[MIT Press]] |isbn=978-0262182348}}
* {{cite book |last=Sloan |first=Pat |year=1937 |title=Soviet Democracy |location=London |publisher=Left Book Club; Victor Gollancz Ltd}}
* {{cite book |last=Staar |first=Richard |year=1988 |title=Communist Regimes in Eastern Europe |edition=4th |publisher=[[Hoover Press]] |isbn=9780817976934 |author-link=Richard Felix Staar}}
* {{cite book |last=Stankova |first=Marietta |year=2014 |title=Bulgaria in British Foreign Policy, 1943–1949 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iCw2DgAAQBAJ |publisher=[[Anthem Press]] |series=Anthem Series on Russian, East European and Eurasian Studies |isbn=9781783082353 |via=[[Google Books]]}}
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* {{cite book |last=Thayer |first=Carlyle |editor-first=Marcus |editor-last=Mietzner |chapter=Military Politics in Contemporary Vietnam |year=2008 |publisher=[[Routledge]] |isbn=9780415460354 |title=The Political Resurgence of the Military in Southeast Asia: Conflict and Leadership |chapter-url=https://www.files.ethz.ch/isn/133459/Thayer%20Military%20Politics%20in%20Vietnam.pdf}}
* {{cite book |editor-last=Triska |editor-first=Jan |year=1968 |title=Constitution of the Communist-Party States |publisher=[[Hoover Institution |Hoover Institution Publications]] |isbn=978-0817917012}}
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* {{cite journal |last=Wilhelm |first=John Howard |year=1985 |title=The Soviet Union Has an Administered, Not a Planned, Economy |journal=[[Europe-Asia Studies|Soviet Studies]] |volume=37 |issue=1 |pages=118–130 |doi=10.1080/09668138508411571}}
* {{cite book |last=Williams |first=Raymond |year=1983 |title=Keywords: A vocabulary of culture and society, revised edition |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |isbn=978-0-19-520469-8 |chapter=Socialism |chapter-url-access=registration |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/keywordsvocabula00willrich/page/289}}
{{refend}}

=== News ===
{{refbegin}}
* {{cite news |last=Christie |first=Caroline |date=24 January 2019 |title=Exploring the rise of Soviet nostalgia in Russia |url=https://www.documentjournal.com/2019/01/exploring-the-rise-of-soviet-nostalgia-in-russia/ |work=[[Document Journal]] |location=New York |access-date=29 March 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240329234008/https://www.documentjournal.com/2019/01/exploring-the-rise-of-soviet-nostalgia-in-russia/ |archive-date=29 March 2024}}
* {{cite news |last=Milne |first=Seumas |author-link=Seumas Milne |date=12 September 2002 |url=https://www.theguardian.com/education/2002/sep/12/highereducation.historyandhistoryofart |title=The battle for history |newspaper=[[The Guardian]] |access-date=22 April 2020}}
* {{cite news |last=Milne |first=Seumas |author-link=Seumas Milne |date=16 February 2006 |url=https://www.theguardian.com/Columnists/Column/0,,1710891,00.html |title=Communism may be dead, but clearly not dead enough |newspaper=[[The Guardian]] |access-date=22 April 2020}}
* {{cite news |last=Morris |first=William |date=17 May 1890 |url=https://www.marxists.org/archive/morris/works/1890/commonweal/05-eight-hours.htm |title=The 'Eight Hours' and the Demonstration |work=[[Commonweal (newspaper)|Commonweal]] |volume=6 |number=227 |pages=153 |access-date=4 November 2019 |via=[[Marxists Internet Archive]]}}
{{refend}}

=== Other ===
{{refbegin}}
* {{cite magazine |last=Ehms |first=Jule |date=2014 |url=http://marxandphilosophy.org.uk/reviewofbooks/reviews/2014/980 |title=The Communist Horizon |magazine=Marx & Philosophy Review of Books |publisher=[[Marx & Philosophy Society]] |access-date=22 April 2020}}
* {{cite web |last=Wolff |first=Richard D. |author-link=Richard D. Wolff |date=27 June 2015 |url=http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/31567-socialism-means-abolishing-the-distinction-between-bosses-and-employees |title=Socialism Means Abolishing the Distinction Between Bosses and Employees |website=[[Truthout]] |access-date=29 January 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180311070639/http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/31567-socialism-means-abolishing-the-distinction-between-bosses-and-employees |archive-date=11 March 2018 |url-status=dead}}
{{refend}}

{{authoritarian types of rule}}
{{communist states}}
{{Marxism–Leninism}}

[[Category:Communist states| ]]
[[Category:Authoritarianism]]
[[Category:Communism|State]]
[[Category:Dictatorship]]
[[Category:Maoism]]
[[Category:Marxism–Leninism]]
[[Category:Socialism]]
[[Category:Totalitarianism]]