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THE COMMUNIST REVOLUTION(S)

HISTORICAL OVERVIEW & TEACHING RESOURCES FOR 7-12 EDUCATORS

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Learning Standards

Overview: Marxism & Communism

Communism Fast Facts

The Communist Revolutions

(with Learning Resources by Country)

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01

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04

Slides 4-7

Slides 9-14

Slides 16-18

Slides 20-30

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Learning Standards

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Teaching Standards

C3 Standards: The College, Career, and Civic Life Framework for Social Studies State Standards, Grades 7-12

Civics

D2.Civ.5.9-12: Evaluate citizens’ and institutions’ effectiveness in addressing social and political problems at the local, state, tribal, national, and/or international level
D2.Civ.8.9-12: Evaluate social and political systems in different contexts, times, and places
D2.Civ.14.9-12: Analyze historical, contemporary, and emerging means of changing societies

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Economics

D2.Eco.3.9-12: Analyze the ways in which incentives influence what is produced and distributed in a market system
D2.Eco.6.9-12: Generate possible explanations for a government role in markets when market inefficiencies exist
D2.Eco.8.9-12: Describe the possible consequences, both intended and unintended, of government policies to improve market outcomes
D2.Eco.15.9-12: Explain how current globalization trends and policies affect economic growth, labor markets, rights of citizens, the environment, and resource and income distribution in different nations

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Geography

D2.Geo.1.9-12: Use geospatial and related technologies to create maps to display and explain the spatial patterns of cultural and environmental characteristics
D2.Geo.2.9-12: Use maps, satellite images, photographs, and other representations to explain relationships between the location of places and regions and their political, cultural, and economic dynamics
D2.Geo.5.9-12: Evaluate how political and economic decisions throughout time have influenced cultural and environmental characteristics of various places and regions

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History

D2.His.14.9-12: Analyze multiple and complex causes and effects of events in the past
D2.His.15.9-12: Distinguish between long-term causes and triggering events in developing a historical argument

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Overview:

Marxism & Communism

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Marxism

A political and economic theory where a society has no social classes. Every person within the society works for a common good, and class struggle is theoretically gone.

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Stage 1:

Primitive Communism

Stage 2: Imperialism

Stage 3:

Feudalism

Stage 4: Capitalism

The 6 Stages of Marxism

Men perform the same economic function: hunter-gatherer. They work together in order to survive. There was no private property and no economic classes. Eventually, the most successful hunter gatherers gained power and control over the others.

The strong man ruled. He began by owning all of the land but when threatened by outsiders, he would grant land to others in return for military services. A new land-owning aristocracy was therefore created.

Land was owned by the aristocracy who exploited the peasantry who worked it. There was surplus of food which the aristocracy sold to others- creating a class of merchants and capitalists who wanted to share political power.

The wealthy merchants and factory owners (bourgeoisie) obtained political power and exploited the workers (proletariat). As the proletariat became politically aware they would rise up and overthrow the bourgeois government.

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Stage 5:

Socialism

Stage 6: Communism

The 6 Stages of Marxism

There would be a dictatorship of the proletariat as workers organizations redistributed food, goods, and services fairly according to need, and profits were shared by all. The middle classes would come to understand that equality was superior to private ownership.

Everyone would join together for the common good. Money and government would no longer be needed and society would be classless. As all countries reached this stage, the world would become stateless, and competition and wars would cease.

#Goals

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—Karl Marx, Reflections of a Young Man (1835)

“History calls those men the greatest who have ennobled themselves by working for the common good; experience acclaims as happiest the man who has made the greatest number of people happy.”

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“Communism”

“Revolution”

DEFINITIONS OF CONCEPTS

→ A political theory derived from Karl Marx, advocating class war and leading to a society in which all property is publicly owned and each person works and is paid according to their abilities and needs

→ A philosophical, social, political, and economic ideology and movement whose ultimate goal is the establishment of a communist society, namely a socioeconomic order structured upon the ideas of common ownership of the means of production, and the absence of social classes, money, and the state

→ A revolution is a fundamental and relatively sudden change in political power and political organization which occurs when the population revolts against the government, typically due to perceived oppression or political incompetence

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Why Communism: The Need For Revolution?

Why Communism?

The Industrial Revolution(s) in the West brought the “history of class struggles” to the forefront of modern societies
The working and living conditions of the working class, “the proletariat”, were horrid and the time was ripe for Revolution

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Communism

Fast Facts

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The Communist Revolutions of the 20th Century

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With Deep-Dive Learning Resources, Listed by Country

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OVERVIEW

The Communist Revolutions

What: A proletariat revolution usually inspired by Marxist Theory with aims of overthrowing Capitalist Systems and replacing them with Communism
When: The 20th Century
Who: Vladimir Lenin, Joseph Stalin, Mao Zedong, Kim il-Sung, Ho Chi Minh, Fidel Castro
Where: Russia, China, North Korea, Vietnam, Cuba
Why: Workers affected by the Industrial Revolution and the resulting alleged exploitation and economic inequality must “rise up” and overthrow the capitalist oppression that exploits them and create a society run by the working class

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The Countries Involved

Russia

Revolutionary Period: 1917-1923

First Communist Leader: Vladimir Lenin

Backgrounder on Russia

China

Revolutionary Period: 1927-1949

First Communist Leader: Mao Zedong

Backgrounder on China

North Korea

Revolutionary Period: 1925-1945

First Communist Leader: Kim il-Sung

Backgrounder on North Korea

Cuba

Revolutionary Period: 1953-1965

First Communist Leader: Fidel Castro

Backgrounder on Cuba

Vietnam

Revolutionary Period: 1930-1954

First Communist Leader: Ho Chi Minh

Backgrounder on Vietnam

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TIMELINE

First country to become Communist after winning the Russian Revolution; Sparks Communist Revolutions throughout the World

1923:

Soviet Union

1920

1925

1930

1940

1945

1950

1960

1970

Mao Zedong wins the Chinese Civil War; China becomes Communist

1949:

China

Kim il-Sung attempts to unify Korean Peninsula under Communism

1950-1953:

The Korean War

The Country unifies under Communism after the American pull-out in 1973

1975:

Vietnam

Fidel Castro is victorious in the Cuban Revolution; US-Cuba tensions rise

Cuba

1953-1965:

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Significance: Were the Revolutions Successful?

Even though Communist Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, 5 major countries in the world are still communist in 2021! Two of these countries in East Asia have significant economic and geopolitical importance with the United States continuing into the 21st Century:

China and North Korea