by Anthony Ratkov

Created on: May 22, 2010

Communism began as a revolutionary political system that provided the first alternative to the unfair system that we call 'capitalism'. Capitalism is unfair because it gives the rich an unfair advantage over the poor. In the capitalist system, rich people always have an unfair advantage over poor people,and that element of unfairness is seen in educational opportunities, job opportunities, and many other aspects of social and political life. The communists believed that social classes like the rich, the poor, and the so-called middle class could be abolished, and a classless society could be established. Establishing a classless society required to communists to eliminate the millionaires and wealthy landlords who would have continued to control the Russian economy. The communists took over Russian in the year 1917, and they established the first communist government. In 1917 Russia  became the world's first communist country, the communists changed the name of the country, so it was called the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, commonly known as the Soviet Union.

Virtually all property in Russia became the property of the communist government. If you lived in a house, the house was now owned by the communist government, and since the communist government owned your house, you had to pay rent to the communist government. If you had lived in an apartment that was owned by a landlord, the landlord would disappear. Presumably, he would go to a concentration camp, or a labor camp. Then, you would pay rent to the communist government, instead of paying rent to a landlord, because the communists were the new owners of your apartment building. Communists established economic laws that said it was illegal for money to accumulate in the hands of a few landlords, or a few millionaires. All the money circulating in the Russian economy had to be controlled by the communists, so the communists could create a system where all the wealth was shared equally by all the people.

If you had worked in a factory, the millionaire who owned your factory would disappear. He would probably go to a concentration camp or a labor camp.The communists would be the new owners of the factory, so you would still work in the same factory, but now you would be getting your paycheck directly from the communist government. So, before the communist revolution, you lived in an apartment owned by a landlord, you paid rent to the landlord, and you worked in a factory owned by a millionaire,

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