Russia Vs China Communism Essay

In 1848, German philosophers Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels published what would become one of the world’s greatest influential political pieces, The Communist Manifesto. This piece of literature detailed the theories behind communism, an idea where all members of a society are equal. Decades after publication, the ideals affected two countries: Russia (in the late nineteenth century) and China (in the early twentieth century), where communism grew as a result of certain events. The circumstances that led to the growth of communism in Russia and in China were similar in some way, but different in another. While both Russia and China experienced poverty, which led to increased support for communism, Russia experienced World War I, which led to the rise of Vladimir

In Russia, poverty was rampant throughout the country. The serfs had been freed in 1861, which increased the lower class. The freed serfs were no longer slaves, but they still had to find some way to sustain themselves and their families. During this time, most Russians were extremely poor and the ideas of communism were appealing to them. In an economy under communism, wealth would be distributed equally to everyone and they would no longer have to live under such impoverished conditions. Similarly, there was widescale poverty throughout China. In the 1860’s, China went isolationist instead of westernizing. Because of that, the country did not industrialize much, so most people who lived during that time were farmers. These farmers did not have much wealth, and with the large population, food was difficult to obtain. The majority of citizens in China found that the ideals of communism were appealing to them. Under communism, instead of only a select wealthy elite, all people would live equally. Poverty led more people to turn to communism, because they saw how it could bring positive change to their destitute