# communist movements of the 20th century

This is mostly a category note for keeping track of communist movements in the 20th century.


## History

Although there were [[social democratic]] parties in Germany and Russia at the start of the 20th century, the first proper “communist” movement could have been the [[Soviet Union]] born out of the [[1917 October Revolution]], led by the [[Vladimir Lenin]] and the [[Bolsheviks]].

With the failure of the [[German Revolution]], the Soviet Union was the only major communist power in the world until the end of the [[Second World War]], where the Soviets established a “buffer zone” between it and western Europe, creating the [[Eastern Bloc]] of powers, establishing about a dozen “[[people’s republics]]”. [[Yugoslavia]] was the only one of these countries that had an independent socialist movement separate from the Soviet Union.

In 1947, [[China]] saw its own independent revolution communist revolution, creating the [[People’s Republic of China]] under [[Mao Zedong]].

In 1959, the [[Cuban Revolution]] led to the establishment of the Republic of [[Cuba]] under [[Fidel Castro]]. Although the movement did not start as a communist one, it came to embrace communism and the leadership of the Soviet Union.

The Cuban Revolution was the last major communist revolution in the 20th century. [[Korea]] and [[Vietnam]] also had communist movements and their attempts at revolution lead to protracted engagements with the [[United States]], which spent much of the 20th century undermining communist movements.


## Ideology

Many of these states can be broadly described as [[Marxist-Leninist]], following the same ideological line as the [[Soviet Union]]. Exceptions include China, which could be described for some parts of it as “[[Maoist]]”.


## Characteristics of people’s republics