A way of organizing society and a political movement based on the idea that the means of production should be owned by everyone. Communism is a political movement that wants to get rid of classes in society. Modern communism has been a major force in world politics since the early 20th century.

Most people associate it with Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels’ book The Communist Manifesto, which says that the capitalist system of private ownership for profit should be replaced by a communist society in which the means of production are owned by everyone, such as through a gift economy.

People often say that this process, which started with the revolutionary overthrow of the bourgeoisie (see Marxism), goes through a transitional stage marked by the stage of socialism’s preparation (see Leninism). Communism has never been used in its purest form.

The Marxist theory says that communism is the end state or result of socialism at the state level. Most people now understand the word to mean the political, economic, and social ideas of Marxist thinkers or life under Communist party rule.