Can communism exist in one country?

Today we received a question from one of our readers, which we try to answer in fairly simple terms rather then an in depth ideological conclusion, so that it is easier for our readers to comprehend. We are happy to elaborate on our answers, so feel free to write!

I'm wondering if communism can happen in one country or not.

Thanks for your time. I very much appreciate it.

Greetings Comrade,

The answer is fairly simple: no.

To explain why more thoroughly it is important to look at the definition of communism vs. socialism.

If you read Marx and Engels, they used the terms interchangeably, i.e. they refereed to communism and socialism as being the same thing.

However, they also speak of an transitional stage, in other words, after the proletarian have a revolution, and take control of the state and means of production, you don't have a complete communist system yet. You will still have certain aspects of capitalism left over, for example a market economy, money, borders, nations, some private ownership, etc.

What Lenin did was simply refer to this transitional stage as "socialism" and that the final stage of proletarian power would be "communism". Essentially, he did this to clarify the two stages.

But also, because socialism can exist in one country, while communism can not; socialism exists and has existed in various forms, such as Cuba, China, USSR, Albania, GDR, Vietnam, and to some extend Serbia, the DPRK, and other places.

Communism on the other hand is a difference story. Because to have communism, you must have almost every single capitalist country gone. There are no more borders separating people, money is no longer in existence as the exchange of goods is free; there is no more private ownership of the means of production, the economy is not driven via profit, and very importantly the state (as in government) is all but withered away (you would still have local meetings, organizations, etc but as a super structure it would no longer exist).

Socialism in one country, like communism, is a different mode of production from capitalism. Like I said before, socialism may still have some leftover vestiges of capitalism as somethings are difficult - if not impossible - to eliminate at once, while other aspects (such as borders and nations) are impossible to rid of in one country.

Socialism simply means the state is controlled by the proletarian and via the state ownership of the means of production and control of industries.

Red Salute!