Communism

So you think you know what makes the world go round? Read about the ideas that revolutionized the 20th century.

The twentieth century was a period of seismic change on a global scale, witnessing two world wars, the rise and fall of communism, the establishment of a global economy, the beginnings of global warming and a complete reversal in the status of women in large parts of the world.

Many of these changes were brought about thanks to powerful ideologies - big ideas that irrevocably altered the way humans viewed their world. Short Histories of Big Ideas are brief, easy to understand introductions to the ideologies that shaped the twentieth century. Each volume explains the key aspects of an idea and provides a concise history of its growth and influence on our world perspective.

Has communism shaped the contemporary world?

The twentieth century cannot be properly understood unless we understand communism: its origins, growth, demise and legacy. This brief overview of the history of communism challenges us to think about its role in shaping the contemporary world.

Communism shows how the modern communist movement emerged out of radical millenarian movements of the Middle Ages and the English Civil War, becoming a mass movement of industrial society, seeking to overturn capitalism and replace it with a society of equality, justice, harmony and co-operation. It traces the growth of modern communism from its beginnings in the early nineteenth century to its position of global power at the end of the Second World War. Why did communism grow so quickly? Why did it spread to turn almost half of the world red by the mid-1970s? What impact did it have upon capitalism and capitalist society? Finally Communism investigates the ultimate failure of communism as a political ideology, and concludes by asking how far the historical record of communism has been used to conceal the historical record of capitalism.

About the author

Mark Sandle is a principal lecturer in Russian and Soviet History at De Montfort University. He recently won an award as a DMU Distinguished Teacher (for which he was nominated by his students). He is fascinated by ideas and their impact and loves looking at the broad sweep of history and finding patterns to help people make sense of the past. His previous publications include A Short History of Soviet Socialism (1999) and Brezhnev Reconsidered (2002).