In 1848
Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels published the
Communist Manifesto, a writing that predicted class
war, the overthrow of
capitalism and a classless
society. It was to prove most influential in the development of revolutionary ideas. These happenings would result in the "abolition of
private property" to instate communism, which Marx believed was the key to solving
Russia's problems.
Communism, also known as Marxism, is a concept or system of society in which the
community rather than
individuals owns major resources and means of
production. Work is shared equally throughout the nation according to ability, and everyone has equal
rights, standard of living and class. Run by and for the people, the economy would produce what the people needed, instead of what was profitable. Marx prophesised
abundance and the disappearance of inequalities and coercive government.
Marx postulated that
capitalism -- an
economic model representing the Western economic systems as one in which money and power are progressively concentrated in the hands of a few -- was flawed and therefore bound to destroy itself. He argued that with the more goods a capitalist nation accumulated, the less use it would have for these goods; the more people it trained, the less it could utilise their talents.
With the collapse of capitalism, socialism would emerge as teh natural result, as a transition period before the ultimate very long-term
goal of communism. Marx did acknowledge, however, that socialism could be built only under conditions of abundance. A poor country becoming a planned, egalitarian society would only succeed in generalising
poverty and creating new conflicts over the distribution of society's resources. He figured that their system of government would spread over
Europe, and that Europe would then assist Russia with
money, resources and
expertise.
Revolutionary groups, like
Lenin's Bolsheviks, trusted Marx's judgement and tended to base most of their plans on his teachings.