Quote (GLYC123 @ Jul 5 2020 03:25pm)
"Karl Marx, a German philosopher and economist, is considered the father of Communism. Marx collaborated with Friedrich Engels to propose a new ideology in
which the state owns major resources and everyone shares the benefits of labor.In The Communist Manifesto, Marx and Engel called for a working-class revolt against capitalism. Their motto, “Workers of the world, unite!” became a rallying cry among disgruntled working class across Europe"
https://www.history.com/news/socialism-communism-differencesMy original question though was with respect to Marx's actual words, not the interpretation of History.com, China, or Venezuela. I'd argue that people primarily opposed to Communism aren't opposed as a response to Communist/Marxist thought itself, but are instead opposed to the very many precarious and questionable interpretations or co-opting of "Communism". Merely because China utilizes the word "Communism" does not mean that it is therefore Communist. If indeed Communism is a theoretical model by which a society can exist, then all labels (whether they be self-attributed or attributed by others) becomes irrelevant. The only way to assess whether any given country or society is Communist is not by name, but by examining the society itself, and both its structure and functioning. It is similar to how North Korea refers to itself as the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, but despite using both the words "Democratic" and "Republic", you won't find any reasonable person trying to argue that North Korea is a democracy or a republic, and that therefore democracy and republicanism are inherently bad. Yet, Communist thought is, for a myriad of reasons, not afforded this same nuanced take.
In order to do such a nuanced take, we would have to look at Marx's own words and original ideas, as this provides the foundation upon which we can examine a society's adherence and application of communist thought v. being communist-in-name-only.
I've bolded a section in your post that is very interesting, and often a misconception of Marxism. Communism, as written by Marx, involves the abolition of the State/Centralized Government and Marx is heavily critical of the State in his work. Here are some direct quotes from Marx in his
The Communist Manifesto:
Quote (Karl Marx)
The executive of the modern State is but a committee for managing the common affairs of the whole bourgeoisie.
Quote (Karl Marx)
Not only are they slaves of the bourgeois class, and of the bourgeois State; they are daily and hourly enslaved by the machine, by the overlooker, and, above all, by the individual bourgeois manufacturer himself.
Friedrich Engels had the following to say about the State, and attributed the sentiment to Marx:
Quote (Engels)
The interference of the state power in social relations becomes superfluous in one sphere after another, and then ceases of itself. The government of persons is replaced by the administration of things and the direction of the processes of production. The state is not "abolished", it withers away.
This is, of course, late-stage Marxism, and the only real "State" that Marx argues for is a temporary one formed by the revolution of the Proletariat during a transitional period, but that ultimately the end-game is a stateless society. When we look to places like China or Venezuela, we find that a stateless society is not a prevailing goal or structure. In fact, preservation of a centralized government, by use of military force, is of grave concern to these governments. We find, as Marx pointed out, that the "State" in those society's is precisely a tool used by the Bourgeoisie.