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Communist revolution

Type of revolution From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Communist revolution

A communist revolution is a proletarian revolution inspired by the ideas of Marxism that aims to replace capitalism with communism.[1] Depending on the type of government, the term socialism can be used to indicate an intermediate stage between capitalism and communism and may be the goal of the revolution, especially in Marxist–Leninist views.[2] The idea that a proletarian revolution is needed is a cornerstone of Marxism;[3][4] Marxists believe that the workers of the world must unite and free themselves from capitalist oppression to create a world run by and for the working class.[5] Thus, in the Marxist view, proletarian revolutions need to happen in countries all over the world.

Clockwise from top left:

Theory

Karl Marx saw revolution as a necessity for communism, where the revolution would be based on class struggle led by the organised proletariat to overthrow capitalism and the bourgeoisie, followed by the establishment of a dictatorship of the proletariat.[1]

Leninism argues[6][7] that a communist revolution must be led by a vanguard of "professional revolutionaries", men and women who are fully dedicated to the communist cause and who can then form the nucleus of the revolutionary movement.[8] Thus meaning that under Lenin's framework a communist revolution is not necessarily a proletarian revolution.[9] Some Marxists, such as Rosa Luxemburg,[10][8] disagree with the idea of a vanguard as put forth by Lenin, especially left communists.[11][12][13] Another line of criticisms insist that the entire working class—or at least a large part of it—must be deeply involved and equally committed to the socialist or communist cause in order for a proletarian revolution to be successful. To this end, they seek to build massive communist parties with very large memberships.

Communist revolutions and coups throughout history

Summarize
Perspective

The following is a list of successful and unsuccessful communist revolutions and coups throughout history. Among the lesser-known revolutions, a number of borderline revolutions have been included which may or may not have been communist revolutions. The nature of unsuccessful revolutions is particularly contentious since one can only speculate as to the kinds of policies that would have been implemented by the revolutionaries had they achieved victory.

Successful

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To arms, everyone!, a Yugoslav Partisan propaganda poster

Unsuccessful

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A barricade thrown up by Communard National Guard on 18 March 1871 during the Paris Commune.
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Communists driving through the streets of Budapest after the proclamation of the Hungarian Soviet Republic.
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Memorial erected to the September Uprising.
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A Bell UH-1 Iroquois helicopter of the Brazilian Air Force conducting anti-communist operations in Araguaia.

Ongoing

Table of revolutions

More information Start date, End date ...
Start date End date Duration Event(s) State Rebel group Revolutionary base area Deaths Result Notes
18 March 1871 28 May 1871 (72 days)[14] Paris Commune[14][15]  France Paris 7,544 killed overall[16][17] Revolt suppressed[18]
  • Disbanding the Second National Guard
    by the French government
1 October 1915[19] 5 June 1920[20] (4 years, 249 days) Jangal Movement Qajar Iran Jangal revolutionaries[21][22] Gilan province Establishment of the Persian Socialist Soviet Republic[19] [a]
24 April 1916 29 April 1916 (6 days) Easter Rising  United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland Irish Republic Irish rebel forces Dublin 485 killed[25][26][27] Unconditional surrender of rebel forces,[28] execution of most leaders.[29] [b]
7 November 1917 7 November 1917 (1 day)[30] October Revolution  Russia Bolsheviks
Petrograd Soviet
Left SRs
Red Guards
Anarchists[31]		 Petrograd Few wounded Red Guard soldiers[32] Bolshevik victory
Start of the Russian Civil War[33]
27 January 1918 15 May 1918 (109 days) Finnish Civil War[34]  Finland Finland 38,300 killed[37] Finnish Whites victory
2 August 1918 11 June 1925 (6 years, 314 days) Canadian Labour Revolt  Canada Canada Failure of the revolt
28 October 1918 31 October 1918 (4 days) Aster Revolution  Austria-Hungary Hungarian National Council Hungary Revolutionary victory
29 October 1918 11 August 1919 (287 days) German Revolution of 1918–19[41][42]  German Empire (1918)
 German Republic (1918–1919)		 Communist revolutionaries:

Soviet Republics:

 Various regions of Germany 150–196[51]
9 November 1918 14 November 1918 (6 days) Red Week  Netherlands Faction of the Social Democratic Workers' Party[52] No revolution
10 November 1918[53] 14 January 1919 (66 days) Luxembourg communist revolution  Luxembourg Assorted communists, socialists, and liberals French Army victory[53]
28 November 1918 2 February 1920[54] (1 year, 67 days) Estonian War of Independence  Estonia Estonian Worker's Commune[55]
 RSFSR
Red Latvian Riflemen		 3,988+ killed[56][57][58] Treaty of Tartu:[54]
  • Independence of Estonia[54]
  • Vidzeme gained by the Republic of Latvia
29 January 1919[59] 24 May 1923 (4 years, 116 days) Irish soviets[60][61][62]  United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland (1919–1921)
Irish Free State (1921–1923)		 Irish soviets Ireland
  • Soviets shutdown
  • Majority of individuals involved arrested
 [c]
23 March 1919 1 August 1919 (132 days) Hungarian Soviet Republic[d][42]  Hungarian Republic Hungarian Soviet Republic[63] Hungary 6,670 killed[64]
[e]
27 May 1919 27 May 1919 (1 day) Bender Uprising  Romania Red Guards
 Ukrainian SSR		 Tighina 150[66] Romanian–French victory
2 May 1920 3 May 1920 (2 days) 1920 Georgian coup attempt Georgia (country) Democratic Republic of Georgia Russia Georgian Bolsheviks Georgia Several killed Government Victory[67][68][69]
1 March 1921 11 July 1921 (133 days) Mongolian Revolution of 1921 Bogd Khanate of Mongolia
Outer Mongolia		 Mongolian People's Party[71] Outer Mongolia Mongolian communist victory:[72][73]
2 February 1921 5 April 1921 (63 days) Proština rebellion  Italy Civilians led by Ante Ciliga[74] Istria Unknown Government victory:
  • Civilians arrested
  • Village of Šegotići burned to the ground
 [f]
3 March 1921[76] 8 April 1921[77] (37 days) Labin mining strike and rebellion  Italy Labin Republic Istria 5[78] Government victory:
  • Strike suppressed
  • Miners acquitted of crimes[79]
 [g]
14 September 1923 29 September 1923 (16 days) September Uprising  Bulgaria BCP
BZNS
Anarchists		 841 killed[80] Bulgarian government victory:
23 October 1923[81] 24 October 1923 (2 days) Hamburg Uprising Weimar Republic Communist Party of Germany Hamburg 99 killed[81] Government victory
15 September 1924[82] 18 September 1924[83] (4 days) Tatarbunary Uprising  Romania Tatarbunary Revolutionary Committee[84] Tatarbunary 3,000 killed[83] Revolt quelled by the Romanian government
1 December 1924 1 December 1924 (1 day)[85] 1924 Estonian coup attempt  Estonia Communist Party of Estonia[86][87] 151 killed Estonian government victory
1 August 1927[88][89] 1 October 1949[90][91] (22 years, 62 days)  China Chinese Communist Party Communist-controlled China cca. 8 million Communist victory:
[h]
22 January 1932[94] February 1932 (11 days) 1932 Salvadoran peasant uprising Republic of El Salvador Communist Party of El Salvador
Pipil rebels		 Western El Salvador: 10,000 – 40,000[95] Revolt suppressed, ethnocide of Pipil people[96] [i]
23 November 1935 27 November 1935 (5 days) Brazilian communist uprising of 1935 Brazil Brazil National Liberation Alliance Natal, Recife, and Rio de Janeiro 150+ killed Government victory
19 July 1936 25 May 1937 (311 days)[98] Spanish Revolution of 1936  Spain CNT-FAI[99][100]

UGT[101]

 Various regions of Spain – primarily Madrid, Catalonia, Aragon, Andalusia, and parts of Levante, Spain. Suppressed after ten-month period.
22 June 1941[102] 29 November 1945 (4 years, 161 days) Yugoslav People's Liberation War  Yugoslavia Yugoslav Partisans 850,000–1,200,000[103] Yugoslav Partisan–Allied victory:
29 March 1942[106] 2 September 1945 (3 years, 158 days) Hukbalahap Rebellion
(First phase)		  Japan Hukbalahap[107] Central Luzon Huk victory:
16 September 1942[109] August 1945 (2 years, 320 days) National Liberation Movement[109] Albanian Kingdom National Anti-Fascist Liberation Movement[110] Albania Establishment of the People's Socialist Republic of Albania
9 September 1944 9 September 1944 (1 day) 1944 Bulgarian coup d'état  Bulgaria Fatherland Front Fatherland Front victory:
16 August 1945 30 August 1945 (15 days) August Revolution[111] Empire of Vietnam Việt Minh Northern, Central and Southern Vietnam Việt Minh victory:
6 September 1945[114] 25 June 1950 (4 years, 293 days) Korean Revolution[j] Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea
[k]
May 1946 17 May 1954[123] (8 years, 17 days) Hukbalahap Rebellion
(Second phase)		 Republic of the Philippines Communist Party of the Philippines[124] Central Luzon Nearly 6,000 killed Philippine government victory:
  • End of the rebellion
  • Capture of Luis Taruc in 1954
  • Beginning of communist insurgency in the Philippines in the 1960s
4 July 1946[125] 25 October 1951[126] (5 years, 114 days) Telangana Rebellion Hyderabad State (1946–1948)

Union of India (1948–1951)[127][128]

 Telangana peasants
Andhra Mahasabha
Communist Party of India		 Withdrawal of rebellion:
19 December 1946 1 August 1954 (7 years, 226 days) First Indochina War  French Indochina DR Vietnam

Lao Issara (1945–1949)
Pathet Lao (1949–1954)[131] Khmer Issarak[131]

 400,000–842,707 total killed
[133][page needed]
[134][page needed]
[135]		 DR Vietnam-allied victory:[136]
[l]
21 February 1948[137] 25 February 1948[138] (5 days) 1948 Czechoslovak coup d'état Czechoslovak Republic Appointment of a communist-dominated government[138]
2 April 1948[139] 16 April 1989[140] (41 years, 15 days) Communist insurgency in Burma Shan State 3,000+ killed Burmese government victory[140]
3 April 1948[142][143] 13 May 1949[144] (1 year, 41 days) Jeju uprising[145]
Workers' Party of South Korea Jeju Island 30,000–100,000 killed[146][144][147] Uprising suppressed[144] [m]
16 June 1948 31 July 1960 (12 years, 46 days) Malayan Emergency Malayan Communist Party British Malaya 11,107[150][151] British-allied victory:
18 September 1948[152] 19 December 1948[153] (93 days) Madiun Affair  Indonesia People's Democratic Front:[154] Madiun 1,920+ killed[155][156] Rebellion suppressed
26 July 1953[157][158] 1 January 1959[159][158] (5 years, 160 days) Cuban Revolution[160]  Cuba 26th of July Movement[161]
Student Revolutionary Directorate
Second National Front of Escambray		 Sierra Maestra 3,000[162] 26 July Movement victory:
[n]
1 November 1955 30 April 1975[167] (19 years, 181 days) Vietnam War  South Vietnam Viet Cong Memot District (1966–72)
Lộc Ninh (1972–75)		 1,326,494–3,447,494[168] Communist victory
23 May 1959 2 December 1975 (16 years, 194 days) Laotian Civil War  Laos Lao People's Party

 North Vietnam

 Xam Neua 20,000–62,000 killed[169] Pathet Lao and North Vietnamese victory: [o]
13 November 1960 29 December 1996[170] (36 years, 47 days) Guatemalan Civil War  Guatemala URNG[171] (from 1982) Guatemala Between 140,000 and 200,000 dead and missing (estimated)
[174][175][176]		 Peace accord signed in 1996
4 February 1961 25 April 1974 (13 years, 81 days) Angolan War of Independence  Portuguese Angola MPLA Province of Angola 12,990+ killed[177][178] Angolan victory:[179][180]
19 July 1961 17 July 1979 (17 years, 364 days) Nicaraguan Revolution  Nicaragua FSLN

MAP-ML (1978–1979)

 Panama (1978–1979)[182][183]

 North Caribbean Coast Autonomous Region 30,000+ killed FSLN military victory in 1979:
[p]
c. December 1962 3 November 1990[185][186] (27 years, 338 days) Communist insurgency in Sarawak  Malaysia North Kalimantan Communist Party[186]
  • North Kalimantan People's Army
 Sarawak 400–500 killed Government victory:
13 August 1963[189] 15 August 1963 (3 days) Trois Glorieuses  Congo Congolese trade unions:[190]Armed Forces of the Republic of the Congo[190] Uprising successful:
[q]
27 May 1964[196] Present (60 years, 305 days) Colombian conflict[197][198]  Colombia
Colombia with spillovers into Venezuela 220,000+ killed[221][222][223] Ongoing:
1965 1983 (18 years, 1 day) Communist insurgency in Thailand  Thailand Nakhon Phanom Province 6,762+ killed[227][228] Thai government victory:
18 May 1967 Present (57 years, 314 days)  India Communist Party of India (Maoist) Red corridor Since 1997: 13,060–14,552[230][231] Ongoing [r]
17 June 1968 2 December 1989 (21 years, 169 days)[232][233] Communist insurgency in Malaysia  Malaysia Malayan Communist Party Malay Peninsula and Sarawak[234] 367 Peace Agreement of Hat Yai signed:
17 January 1968 17 April 1975 (7 years, 91 days) Cambodian Civil War  Cambodia Communist Party of Kampuchea Ratanakiri Province 275,000–310,000 killed Communist victory [s]
29 March 1969 Present[238] (55 years, 364 days) New People's Army rebellion  Philippines Communist Party of the Philippines[239] Samar 43,000+ killed (up to 2008)[240] (63,973+ killed) Ongoing[241] [t]
22 June 1969[243] 22 June 1969 (1 day) Corrective Move  South Yemen Marxist faction of the NLF No deaths[244] Coup successful:[245]
21 October 1969 21 October 1969 (1 day) 1969 Somali coup d'état Somalia Somali Republic Somalia Supreme Revolutionary Council Mogadishu Supreme Revolutionary Council victory:[246]
19 July 1970[247] 1 November 1970 (106 days) Teoponte Guerrilla  Bolivia Guerrilla de Teoponte (Ejército de Liberación Nacional)[247] Teoponte Municipality Bolivian government victory
5 April 1971 June 1971 (62 days) 1971 JVP insurrection Dominion of Ceylon JVP
  • State of Augestan
 Southern Province and Sabaragamuwa Province Official: 1,200
Estimated: 4,000–5,000[248][249]		 Ceylonese government victory:[250][251]
  • Rebel leaders were captured and the remaining members surrendered
  • Ceylonese government re-established control of the entire island
  • Expulsion of North Korean diplomats
19 July 1971 22 July 1971 (4 days)[252] 1971 Sudanese coup d'état Democratic Republic of Sudan Revolutionary Council Khartoum Coup attempt fails:[253]
April 1972 October 1974 (2 years, 214 days)[254] Araguaia Guerrilla War Federative Republic of Brazil Communist Party of Brazil[254] Goiás and Tocantins[254] 90+ killed[255] Military dictatorship victory:
  • Successful counter-insurgency operation
  • Guerrillas failed to gain popular support
  • Guerrilla forces exterminated
24 April 1972 Present (52 years, 338 days) Maoist insurgency in Turkey  Turkey Communist Party of Turkey/Marxist–Leninist
  • Liberation Army of the Workers and Peasants of Turkey

MKP-HKO-PHG

 Tunceli Province[256] Ongoing
25 April 1974 25 April 1974 (1 day)[257] Carnation Revolution Estado Novo Armed Forces Movement 5 deaths[258] Coup successful:
12 September 1974 12 September 1974 (1 day) 1974 Ethiopian coup d'état  Ethiopia Coordinating Committee of the Armed Forces, Police and Territorial Army[261] Coup successful:[262]
[u]
7 November 1975[268] 7 November 1975 (1 day) 7 November 1975 Bangladeshi coup d'état  Bangladesh Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal[269]
Biplobi Shainik Sangstha[270]		 Successful coup: [v]
27 April 1978[273] 28 April 1978 (2 days) Saur Revolution  Afghanistan People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan Afghanistan 2,000[274] PDPA victory:
[w]
13 March 1979[278] 13 March 1979 (1 day)[279][280] New Jewel Movement  Grenada New Jewel Movement[278] Installation of the People's Revolutionary Government[279]
15 October 1979 16 January 1992 (12 years, 94 days) Salvadoran Civil War  El Salvador FMLN[281] 87,795+ killed[282] Chapultepec Peace Accords[283] [x]
17 May 1980[286][287] Present[288] (44 years, 315 days) Internal conflict in Peru  Peru Communist Party of Peru–Shining Path[289]

Militarized Communist Party of Peru[290]

Red Mantaro Base Committee

Túpac Amaru Revolutionary Movement[291] (1982–1997)

 Ayacucho Region 70,000+ killed[292][293][294] Ongoing [y]
25 January 1982 25 January 1982 (1 day) 1982 Amol uprising  Iran Union of Iranian Communists (Sarbedaran) Amol County 80–300 killed Iranian government victory
4 August 1983 4 August 1983 (1 day) Upper Voltan coup d'état[295][296]  Upper Volta Left-wing armed forces faction led by Thomas Sankara and Blaise Compaoré 13 killed[297]

[z]

15 April 1987 29 December 1987 (259 days) 1987–1989 JVP insurrection  Sri Lanka Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna 60,000–80,000 killed[302][303] Sri Lankan Government victory:
  • Execution of Rohana Wijeweera
  • Emergency conditions in South-western and Central provinces lifted
  • Insurgency declined following the fall of the Eastern bloc
13 February 1996 21 November 2006 (10 years, 282 days) Nepalese Civil War  Nepal Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist)[304] Rapti Zone 17,800 killed overall[305] Comprehensive Peace Accord[306] [aa]
20 June 2021 June 2023 (2 years, 1 day) 2021–2023 Eswatini protests  Eswatini 24+[311][312] Protests suppressed.[313]
August 2021[314][315] Present (3 years, 239 days) Myanmar civil war (2021–present)  Myanmar Myanmar 45,264+ killed[319] Ongoing
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See also

Wikiquote has quotations related to Communist revolution.

Notes

  1. The Persian Socialist Soviet Republic was invaded and reincorporated into Qajar Iran in November 1921.[23]
  2. While not explicitly Communist in Nature, the Easter Rising of 1916 was supported by Marxist groups such as the Irish Citizen Army.
  3. The Irish soviets, declared during the revolutionary period of the Irish war of independence and the Irish civil war, which were defeated by the Irish Free State forces.
  5. Led by Béla Kun,[65] defeated after five months.[48]
  6. About 400 participants of the Proština rebellion were arrested and taken to the Pula remand prison. Fascists and soldiers beat and mistreated arrested the anti-fascists on the way, and several people died as a result of the beatings. Gradually, the anti-fascists were released from prison and later, in the context of the process of wider political amnesty, all were released.[75]
  7. The anti-fascist, socialist Labin Republic uprising in modern-day Labin, Croatia, which pushed out Mussolini's fascist forces and established a socialist society in the city and surrounding towns.
  8. The Chinese Communist Revolution was the final stage of the Chinese Civil War, that resulted in the victory of the Chinese Communist Party in China in 1949.[90][93]
  9. The uprising, known as La matanza (the slaughter), was a Pipil and peasant rebellion led by Farabundo Martí.
  10. The period from the end of Chōsen, through the socialist People's Republic of Korea and the foundation of Democratic People's Republic of Korea, to the beginning of the Korean War.[115]
  11. As of 1992, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea no longer prescribes to Marxism–Leninism,[121] and as of 2009 is no longer a communist state.[122]
  12. The defeat of the French at the Battle of Dien Bien Phu, 1954, and brought the Communist Party of Vietnam under Ho Chi Minh to power in North Vietnam. A victory followed closely by the protracted guerrilla warfare-dominated Vietnam War (1957–1975), which in turn led to the fall of Saigon and the driving-out of occupying United States military forces there, and the unification of North and South Vietnam by communist guerrilla forces into the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. The conflict drastically changed neighboring Laos and Cambodia.
  13. The Jeju uprising was notable for its extreme violence; between 14,000 and 30,000 people (10 percent of Jeju's population) were killed (with some reports from Korean officials reporting numbers killed as high as 100,000) and 40,000 fled to Japan.[148][149]
  14. Nationalistic revolution led by Fidel Castro and Che Guevara which overthrew former president Fulgencio Batista and instated a Marxist–Leninist socialist regime later on in Cuba.[165] Even though Batista had been elected for his first term, he achieved power for his second term through a coup d'état.[166]
  15. The Laotian Civil War resulting in the victory of the communist Pathet Lao/Lao People's Revolutionary Party in Laos by 1975, eliminating a coalition government with anti-communists led to the establishment of the communist-administered Lao People's Democratic Republic.
  16. The Nicaraguan Revolution that overthrew the dictator Anastasio Somoza Debayle and brought the Sandinistas to power in Nicaragua from 1979 to 1990.
  17. Instability and the arresting of political opponents eventually led to left-wing protests[194] and Massamba-Débat relinquishing power to Marien Ngouabi, who declared the People's Republic of the Congo under the control of the Congolese Workers' Party.[195]
  19. The civil war in Cambodia ended with the Khmer Rouge revolution in 1975. The Communist Party of Cambodia and Pol Pot then ruled the country until 1979.
  20. Maoist-styled "Protracted People's War" in the Philippines.[242]
  21. The overthrow of Haile Selassie by Mengistu Haile Mariam who then set up one-party Marxist–Leninist rule in Ethiopia by the communist Workers' Party of Ethiopia, until they were defeated and expelled by the revolutionary democratic and Hoxhaist[265][266] Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front during a subsequent civil war.[267]
  22. After the new president, Ziaur Rahman, offered pay increases for the soldiers, most soldiers lost interest in the ideals of the revolution.[272]
  23. They were overthrown by the mujahideen in 1992.[277]
  24. The FMLN (mainly composed of Marxist–Leninist guerrilla groups)[284] fought against the U.S. backed military government which suppressed the rebel movement by framing and mass murdering alleged Marxist–Leninist revolutionaries (El Mozote massacre).[285] The FMLN was inspired by the ideologies of Farabundo Martí and Vladimir Lenin.
  25. The internal conflict in Peru comprised two rebellions by two different Marxist organizations. One, the Shining Path, fought a bloody war beginning in 1980 with successive Peruvian governments, both democratic and authoritarian in nature. Another organization, known as the Túpac Amaru Revolutionary Movement (MRTA), named after an Incan warrior Túpac Amaru began their own rebellion in 1982. The MRTA and Shining Path quickly became bitter enemies and fought one another as well as the government of Peru. Fighting goes on today with a small number of Shining Path cadres, however the movement has mostly been crushed and only operates in a very remote jungle region. The Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Movement was largely destroyed in 1997 after the Japanese embassy hostage crisis.
  26. After the formation of Burkina Faso, Thomas Sanka led many socialist policy implementations. One example is the suppression of most of the powers held by tribal chiefs in Burkina Faso. The chiefs were stripped of their rights to tribute payments and forced labour as well as having their land distributed amongst the peasantry.[299] Blaise Compaoré later led the 1987 Burkina Faso coup d'état, which killed Thomas Sankara and reversed his far-left policies.[300][301]
  27. The Maoist Unified Communist Party of Nepal fought a fairly successful revolutionary war against the autocratic King of Nepal. In 2006 peace was declared, and an agreement was reached that the Maoists would join an interim government.

References

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