COMMUNISM (Fr. corn mu nism e, from coin m un, joint, common, from Lat. corn m un is, com mon). A system of society in which private property is abolished and all goods are held in common. the needs of each individual being supplied from public sources. It is unfortunate that no clear distinction is made between com munism and socialism. The socialists are carry ing on a political agitation which may or may not lead to communism. Communists Usually in theory, always in practice. have withdrawn from the general life into separate commimities and then followed their plans. It is probably correct to say that communism is the radical wing of socialism. Communism should not be confused with the so-called French Communists of IS; 1, who were seeking political changes in the com munes.
A great deal of unwarranted reproach has been put upon communism either through ignorance or because of vagaries attached to many plan, for its realization. It is really a reaction against the evils which have, hitherto. at least, always accompanied private property. In reality, too. it is older than the present system. All histor ical nations, so far as known, at one time held their land in common, the individual having only the use of a portion of it for a certain period. A survival still exists in the Russian 1 curs Cultivated land seems first to have be come private property, the meadows and forests remaining conunon.
In ancient Greece the evils of private property called forth many suggestions of another system. These were ridiculed in the popular comedies of the day. The most famous of the proposed sys tems is that made by Plato, in the Republic. Private property and private families are the Aid influences tending to exalt the welfare of the individual over that of the State. Dispense with these. put men and women on equal folding, and let fitness be the test for positions. Let the children be educated by the State. Plato never conceived of a democracy. He could not conceive of a State without slaves: these formed the sub stratum of his Republic. Plato, appre ciated that his plan was ideal and would not be realized. His scheme went contrary to the spirit of the times and aroused only discussion. The proposal for the abolition of the private family seems to coincide with the ideas of other writers. Turning, from speculative Greece to Horne, we find no such ideal proposals. Individ ualism was too strongly intrenched.
In the East. however. there was a different spirit. In Palestine, the Essenes and Thera held property in common, and dosephus (Antiq. xi.. S. 3) says that one joining the Essenes had to surrender his private property. is said about the communism of the early Christians. A certain degree of it existed, but it seems to have been purely voluntary, many Christians retaining their private property. In any case, the institution did not long, endure. The ascetic tendencies which often manifested themselves in communistic forms among, hereti cal and orthodox sects were introduced into the West from the East. The Maniclucans believed that matter was evil. Before an inquisition at Turin in 1030 a heretic declared: "We hold all our goods in common with all men." Other heretical sects, the Catharists (eleventh century) and the Apostles (thirteenth century), held simi lar views. The Brothers and Sisters of the Free ‘;pirit held that, before the Fall, men were like God, that Paradise must be reintroduced with community if goods and of lauy evil stories are told of their prlieedings, and they were opposed by the Inquisition, but spread in secret the fourteenth and fifteenth cen turies. With these may be c(impa•ed the Adam ites id the fifteenth century. The great monastic orders hear close resemblance in their common property.
During the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries the 'laborites (Hussites). the Morovians, and the Anabaptists; arose and flourished in succes sion in central Europe. (For detailed descrip tions, the reader is referred to separate articles under these heads.) The teachings of the Ana baptists (q.v.) were embodied, in 'Thuringia, in a popular movement to realize a State without government, law, or property. each to receive ac cording to need. 'omnia simul eoniununin.' 'Phis and the attempt at Minister to establish the new' Zion were forcibly put down. As it was impossi ble to establish communities in secret, efforts were directed toward marriage reform. These naturally led to opposition and suppression. All of these plans grew out of. or were impelled by, distorted religious conceptions. As moral and religions movements they must lie judged rather than as economic undertakings. They were over thrown by religious opposition. They had no chance to demonstrate the practicability or pos sibility of their proposed life.