Communism Simply stated, Communism is an ideology, which calls for the elimination of capitalist institutions, and establishment of a society

in which class conflict and coercive power of the state shall not exist; and a collective society shall be evolved in which all the land and capital would be socially owned. Most scientific exposition of the concept of communism was offered by Karl Marx in the 19th century. Karl Marx referred to Communism- the word originated in the secret revolutionary societies of Paris in the mid 1830s- in two different but related senses: as an actual political movement of working class in capitalist society, and as a form of society which the working class, through its struggle, would bring into existence. During the second half of the 19th century, the word communism came to be synonymously used with socialism, designating to the working class movement. Marx and Engels themselves used the term communism in this sense to some extent. Communism, in the second sense of the term as stated above, was discussed by Karl Marx on various occasions, both in early and late texts, though only in very general terms. In the Economic and Philosophical Manuscripts (1844), Marx wrote Communism is the positive abolition of private property, of human self alienation, and thus the real appropriation of human nature, through and for man. It is therefore the return of man himself as a social, that is, really human, being; a complete and conscious return which assimilates all the wealth of previous development. Later on Marx and Engels gave this conception more precise sociological meaning by specifying the abolition of classes and of the division of labour as pre-conditions for a communist society. Thus in German Ideology Marx argued that in order to achieve such a society it would be necessary for individuals to re-establish their control over these material powers and abolish the division of labour. This is not possible without a community In his the Critique of the Gotha Programme Karl Marx distinguished between two stages of communist society: an early phase, when it has just emerged from capitalist society, in which the individual is paid for his labour and buys consumer goods; and a higher phase in which each person contributes to society according to his ability and draws from the common stock according to his needs. Karl Marx and Engels do not accept Socialism as the final stage of society. Both Marx and Engels see communism as the highest stage of social development and socialism as a transition phase towards communism. Thus, in German Ideology, Communism is defined as, Communism is not a state of affairs which is to be established, an ideal to which reality have to adjust itself. We call communism the real movement which abolishes the present state of things. Thus, in Marxs understanding, communism is a movement in the sense that what principles will be adopted for a future society has to be decided. For Marx, emancipation of the individual from all sorts of slavery is the primary as well as sole objective of communism. Hence, in the 1844 Manuscripts, Marx holds that communism is the positive in the form of the negation of the negation and thus a phase of human emancipation and rehabilitation.