Communist Party (English spelling)

Japanese: 共産党 - きょうさんとう（英語表記）communist party 英語

A political party whose ultimate goal is to abolish exploitation and classes through the socialization of the means of production, and to realize a communist society through a socialist revolution. It has the working class (proletariat) as its social base, and acts as the "vanguard" representing its interests. Its theoretical guiding principle is "Marxism-Leninism" or "scientific socialism," and it emphasizes a unified world view and "democratic centralism" as its organizational unity principle. These parties (communist parties), which share the characteristics of revolutionary parties, workers' parties, and Marxist parties, spread all over the world despite suffering severe persecution and oppression at the time of their founding, and at their peak had as many as 80 million party members in about 100 countries (although nearly 50 million of these were the communist parties of China and the Soviet Union). As they were called the international communist movement, international unity was also an important characteristic of communist parties. However, with the Eastern European Revolution in 1989 and the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, the communist movement and communist party, which had been one of the main players in 20th century politics, collapsed dramatically.

[Tetsuro Kato]

Early History

The name Communist Party itself is evidence of its lineage from the Communist League (1847-52) led by Marx and Engels, whose platform was the Communist Manifesto. More directly, it comes from the requirement that each national branch of the Third International (Communist International, abbreviated as Comintern, 1919-1943), an international organization founded against the backdrop of the collapse of the social democratic Second International at the outbreak of World War I and the victory of the Russian Revolution led by Lenin, require its national branches to name themselves "Communist Party of Country XX (Comintern Branch XX)."

The Communist League's platform, the Communist Manifesto, became the common theoretical foundation for the communist movement thereafter. The League had abandoned the secret society-like character of its predecessor, the League of the Just, and adopted a centralized organizational structure of Congress-Central Committee-Region-District-Section in its statutes, but it was a small party of about 500 people throughout Europe. The First International (International Working People's Association), founded in 1864, contributed to the solidarity of labor movements in various countries and the spread of socialist ideology under the guidance of Marx and others in the General Council, but it was more of an information exchange organization for individual members and labor unions and socialist organizations affiliated with the association, and various ideologies from Marxism to anarchism clashed internally, leading to the organization's dissolution in 1876 after the Paris Commune. In 1889, under the guidance of Engels in his later years, the Second International was founded. It played a major role in popularizing the labor movement and spreading Marxism, but it gave rise to Bernstein's revisionism and Kautsky's reformism, and it remained a European-scale liaison organization without a unified leadership. When World War I broke out in 1914, the leadership of major parties such as the German Social Democratic Party supported their country's entry into the imperialist war, and it collapsed.

[Tetsuro Kato]

Established

In response to the collapse of the Second International and its reconstruction (the Socialist Workers' International, the origin of today's Social Democratic and Socialist Parties), the Russian Communist Party Bolsheviks (the Social Democratic Workers' Party, founded in 1898, was renamed in 1918 during the revolution), who had led the first victorious socialist revolution in the world, proposed the creation of a new international organization, the Third International, composed only of Communists (March 1919), which became the prototype of today's Communist parties. Article 17 of the famous "21 Articles of Conditions of Membership" stipulated that each national branch must call itself a Communist party in order to clearly distinguish it from the "old officially recognized 'Social Democratic' or 'Socialist' parties, which had betrayed the flag of the working class." It also mandated the adoption of a "monolithic" "democratic centralism" in the relationship between the Comintern Executive Committee and each national branch/Communist party, as well as in the relationship within each national Communist party, stating that "in times of violent civil war such as the present, the party must be organized in the most centralized way and have iron discipline within the party that is close to military discipline." The platform adopted at the Comintern's Sixth World Congress (1928) defined the Communist Party as follows: "The Party is the vanguard of the working class, consisting of the best and most conscious, active and courageous members of this class.... The Party is based on Marxist revolutionary theory and represents the general long-term interests of the working class as a whole.... The Party is a revolutionary organization bound together by iron discipline and the strictest revolutionary order of democratic centralism."

[Tetsuro Kato]

Expand

Comintern, as the "world communist party," laid the foundation for the communist movement after World War II, by forming a new revolutionary course, such as adopting early united front tactics and clarifying ethnic and colonial issues, spreading communist ideals, building communist parties and training cadres not only in Europe but also in Asia, Africa, and North and South America. At the same time, with the death of leader Lenin (1924) and the beginning of the relative stability of capitalism, Stalin's interpretation of Lenin ("Marxism-Leninism") became the guiding theory under the name of "Bolshevikization," and the acceptance of the Soviet line of building socialism in one country and the modeling of the Soviet-style socialism (dictatorship of the proletariat and one-party rule by the Communist Party) progressed, and the centralized organizational form centered on professional revolutionaries ("democratic centralism" that did not allow dissent or factions within the party), which was prototyped under the persecution and oppression of the Russian Tsar and became more militarized during the civil war after the revolution, spread to communist parties in various countries. In the late 1920s and early 1930s, when fascism rose to power during the Great Depression, Communist parties around the world unconditionally adopted the slogan "Protect the Soviet Union" and the theory of "social fascism," and following the example of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, expelled their own party's dissenters as Trotskyists and Bukharinists, while forming leadership loyal to Stalin.On the one hand, the nascent Communist parties around the world were under oppression from their own governments, needed assistance from the Soviet Union, the "homeland of socialism," and were forced to adopt "military discipline."On the other hand, this was evidence that Comintern was essentially placed in an external role to the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.

[Tetsuro Kato]

Diversification

The 7th Congress of Comintern in 1935, by adopting the anti-fascist united front and popular front, paved the way for the formation of a revolutionary line different from the Soviet model and marked the beginning of independent relationships between Moscow and the Communist parties of other countries, but even after Comintern was dissolved in 1943 and many Communist parties were legalized and popularized after World War II, the tradition of worshiping the Communist Party of the Soviet Union as the leading party and Soviet-style socialism as a model remained deeply rooted in the Communist movement. The expulsion of the Yugoslav Communist Party by Cominform (Information Bureau of the Communist and Workers' Parties of Europe, 1947-56), its interference in Communist parties in Italy, France, Japan, and other countries, and the purge of Communist party leaders in Eastern European countries were all manifestations of the revival of Comintern-like traditions. After the death of Stalin (1953) and the "Criticism of Stalin" (20th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, 1956), communist parties around the world were finally freed from the guidance and interference by the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and the spell of the Soviet model, and began to explore ideas such as diverse national paths to socialism, a peaceful transition to socialism through a parliament, a multi-party system and the possibility of a change of government under socialist power, recognition of the autonomous role of labor unions, a more democratic form of party organization that includes diverse differences of opinion as distinguished from the extremely centralized "democratic centralism" and monolithic "iron discipline," equal and autonomous exchanges between communist parties around the world, and an independent foreign policy that is not fixated on "defending the Soviet Union" or "supporting the socialist system," such as non-aligned neutrality. Events such as the open Sino-Soviet conflict in 1961, the Prague Spring in Czechoslovakia in 1968, the Sino-Vietnamese armed conflict and the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979, and the Polish Solidarity movement and its suppression (1981) all contributed to the decisive diversification of the communist movement.

[Tetsuro Kato]

Collapse

The birth of Gorbachev as General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union in 1985 marked the beginning of the collapse of the international communist movement and the disintegration of communist parties in various countries. Gorbachev's "perestroika" (restart) was originally started to reform the Soviet economy, which had stagnated under General Secretary Brezhnev, but the Chernobyl nuclear accident led to a move towards "glasnost" (openness), and finally, under the name of "new thinking," he declared that human issues such as nuclear weapons and the ecological crisis should take precedence over class issues, that Eastern European countries should no longer be considered satellite states, and that the autonomy of each people should be recognized. In response to this, in 1989, the Polish "Solidarity" movement, which had been driven underground, won against the Communist Party in free elections, and in Hungary, reformists within the Communist Party converted to social democracy and drove out the conservative Communist leadership, eventually spreading to East Germany, leading to the collapse of the "Berlin Wall" and the "Velvet Revolution" in Czechoslovakia. In Romania, there was bloodshed due to the resistance of President Ceausescu, but in Bulgaria and Yugoslavia, all the communist parties in Eastern Europe were driven out of power and either dissolved or transformed into social democratic parties, peacefully. This was the collapse of existing socialism. As a result, the communist parties of Western Europe, such as the Italian Communist Party, which had criticized Soviet-style socialism, also faced a serious crisis. The Italian Communist Party, which had the greatest influence, changed its name to the Left Democratic Party and transformed into a social democratic party, becoming the center of the "Olive Tree" coalition government. The French Communist Party, the "eldest daughter of Moscow," embarked on reforms such as abandoning "democratic centralism," but its strength and influence declined dramatically. The Spanish Communist Party also abandoned "democratic centralism," but split into three factions. In the UK, the Netherlands, Belgium, and Scandinavian countries, the communist parties dissolved voluntarily, and some of them joined the social democratic party, the Green Party, and the citizens' movement. Communist parties survived in Portugal and Ireland, but their influence was greatly reduced. In other words, in Europe, Communist parties were almost wiped out. The same was true in Africa, where many Communist parties that had relied on financial support from the Soviet Union vanished into thin air. In Asia, Communist parties in China, Vietnam, and North Korea survived as ruling parties, but China and Vietnam introduced market economies and transformed into parties that assumed the role of developmental dictatorship, while North Korea remained isolated and the supreme power was passed down from father to son. The Cuban Communist Party was also forced to reform. Thus, the Communist Party, which shook the world in the 20th century, completely collapsed by the end of the century. A few Communist parties remain in India, Japan, and Latin American countries, but it has become difficult for them to survive in their old form.

[Tetsuro Kato]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

Japanese:

生産手段の社会化による搾取と階級の廃絶、社会主義革命を経ての共産主義社会の実現を、究極の目標とする政党。労働者階級（プロレタリアート）を社会的基盤とし、その利益を代表する「前衛」として活動する。「マルクス・レーニン主義」ないし「科学的社会主義」を理論的指導原理とし、世界観上の統一と「民主集中制」を組織的結合原理として重視する。革命政党、労働者政党、マルクス主義政党という性格を共有するこうした政党（共産主義政党）は、創立当初に厳しい迫害・弾圧を被りながらも世界中に広がり、最高時約100か国に8000万人もの党員を擁した（ただし、うち5000万人近くは中ソ両国共産党が占めた）。国際共産主義運動とよばれたように、国際主義的結合も共産主義政党の重要な特質であった。しかし、1989年の東欧革命と91年ソ連解体によって、20世紀の政治の一方の主役であった共産主義運動・共産党は劇的に崩壊した。

［加藤哲郎］

前史

共産党という名称自体は、マルクス、エンゲルスの指導した共産主義者同盟（1847～52、その綱領が『共産党宣言』）の系譜にあることの証(あかし)であり、より直接的には、第一次世界大戦勃発(ぼっぱつ)時の社会民主主義的第二インターナショナルの崩壊と、レーニンの指導したロシア革命の勝利を背景に設立された国際組織、第三インターナショナル（共産主義インターナショナル、略称コミンテルン、1919～43）が、それぞれの国の支部に「○○国共産党（コミンテルン○○支部）」と名のるように義務づけたことに由来する。

　共産主義者同盟の綱領『共産党宣言』は、その後の共産主義運動の共通の理論的基礎とされた。同盟は、その前身であった正義者同盟などの秘密結社的性格を脱し、大会―中央委員会―管区―地区―班という集権的組織形態をも規約に採用していたが、全ヨーロッパで500人規模の小党であった。1864年創立の第一インターナショナル（国際労働者協会）は、マルクスらの総評議会の指導で各国労働運動の連帯と社会主義思想の普及に貢献したが、諸国の個人会員および協会加盟労働組合・社会主義諸組織の情報交換機関的性格が強く、マルクス主義からアナキズムに至る諸思想が内部で対立し、パリ・コミューン後の76年に解散した。1889年には、晩年のエンゲルスの指導を受け、第二インターナショナルが設立された。労働運動の大衆化とマルクス主義の普及に大きな役割を果たしたが、ベルンシュタインの修正主義やカウツキーらの改良主義が生まれ、統一的指導部をもたないヨーロッパ規模での連絡組織にとどまり、1914年の第一次大戦勃発時に、ドイツ社会民主党など主力諸党指導部が、それまでの大会決議にも反して自国の帝国主義戦争参戦支持に回ることにより、崩壊した。

［加藤哲郎］

成立

この第二インターナショナルの崩壊とその再建（社会主義労働者インターナショナル。今日の社会民主党・社会党の源流）に対抗して、世界で最初の社会主義革命を勝利させたロシア共産党ボリシェビキ（1898年創立の社会民主労働党が1918年、革命さなかに改称）の提唱により、共産主義者のみによる新しい国際組織、第三インターナショナルが創設され（1919年3月）、今日の共産党の原型をつくった。有名な「加入条件21か条」の第17条は、「労働者階級の旗を裏切った古い公認の『社会民主』党または『社会』党との区別」を明示するために各国支部が共産党と名のらなければならない、と規定した。また、「現在のような激しい内乱の時期には、党がもっとも中央集権的に組織され、党内に軍事的規律に近い鉄の規律」が必要であるとして、コミンテルン執行委員会と各国支部＝共産党間の関係にも、各国共産党内部の関係にも、「一枚岩」の「民主集中制」採用を義務づけた。コミンテルン第6回世界大会（1928）で採択された綱領は、共産党を、「党は労働者階級のもっとも優れたもっとも自覚的積極的で勇敢な成員からなるこの階級の前衛である。（略）党はマルクス主義の革命的理論に立脚し、全体としての労働者階級の一般的長期的利益を代表する。（略）党は鉄の規律と民主集中制のもっとも厳格な革命的秩序によって結ばれた革命的組織である」と自己規定した。

［加藤哲郎］

展開

「世界共産党」としてのコミンテルンは、初期の統一戦線戦術の採用や民族・植民地問題の解明など新しい革命路線の形成と共産主義理念の普及、ヨーロッパばかりでなくアジア、アフリカ、南北アメリカに及ぶ共産党の建設と幹部養成など、第二次世界大戦後の共産主義運動の基礎を築いた。同時に、指導者レーニンの死（1924）と資本主義の相対的安定の開始にあたり、「ボリシェビキ化」の名のもとにスターリン的なレーニン解釈（「マルクス・レーニン主義」）が指導理論となり、ソ連の一国社会主義建設路線の受容とソ連型社会主義像（プロレタリアート独裁や共産党一党支配）のモデル化が進み、ロシア・ツァーリの迫害・弾圧下で原型がつくられ革命後の内戦下でより軍隊的にされた職業革命家中心の集権的組織形態（党内の異論や分派を許さぬ「民主集中制」）が各国共産党に波及した。世界恐慌下でファシズムが台頭した1920年代末～30年代初頭、各国共産党が「ソ連邦擁護」スローガンと「社会ファシズム」論を無条件に採用し、ソ連共産党に倣って自党の異論者をトロツキー派、ブハーリン派として追放しつつスターリンに忠実な指導部を形成していったのは、一方で生成期の各国共産党が自国政府の弾圧下で、「社会主義の祖国」ソ連の援助を必要とし、「軍事的規律」を余儀なくされていたためであり、他方でコミンテルンが実質的にソ連共産党の外局的地位に置かれていたことの証左であった。

［加藤哲郎］

多様化

1935年のコミンテルン第7回大会は、反ファシズム統一戦線・人民戦線を採用することにより、ソ連型と異なる革命路線の形成に道を開き、モスクワと各国共産党間の自主的関係の端緒となったが、43年のコミンテルン解散と第二次大戦後の多くの共産党の合法化・大衆化のあとも、ソ連共産党を指導党としソ連型社会主義をモデルとして崇(あが)める伝統は、共産主義運動に根強く残された。コミンフォルム（ヨーロッパ共産党・労働者党情報局、1947～56）によるユーゴ共産党の除名、イタリア、フランス、日本などの共産党への干渉、東欧諸国共産党指導者への粛清などは、コミンテルン的伝統復活の現れであった。スターリンの死（1953）と「スターリン批判」（ソ連共産党第20回大会、1956）ののち、各国共産党は、ソ連共産党による指導・干渉、ソ連型モデルの呪縛(じゅばく)からようやく解き放たれ、社会主義への多様な民族的な道、議会を経ての社会主義への平和的移行、社会主義権力下での複数政党制や政権交代可能性、労働組合の自律的役割の承認、極度に集権的な「民主集中制」や一枚岩的「鉄の規律」とは区別される多様な意見の相違を含むより民主的な党組織のあり方、各国共産党間の対等平等で自主的・自律的な交流、非同盟中立など「ソ連邦擁護」「社会主義体制支持」にこだわらない自主的外交政策、などの理念を模索し始めた。1961年に公然化する中ソ対立、68年のチェコスロバキア「プラハの春」、79年の中国・ベトナム武力衝突とソ連のアフガニスタン侵略、ポーランド「連帯」運動とその抑圧（1981）などは、共産主義運動の多様化を決定的にした。

［加藤哲郎］

崩壊

1985年のソ連共産党ゴルバチョフ書記長の誕生が、国際共産主義運動崩壊、各国共産党解体の端緒となった。ゴルバチョフの「ペレストロイカ（新規まき直し）」は、もともとブレジネフ書記長時代に停滞したソ連経済を改革するために始められたものであったが、チェルノブイリ原発事故をきっかけに「グラスノスチ（情報公開）」に向かい、ついには「新思考」という名で、核兵器や環境生態系危機のような人類的課題が階級的課題より優先すること、東欧諸国を衛星国と考えるのをやめ、それぞれの国民の自主性を認めることを宣言した。これを受けて89年、地下に追いやられていたポーランド「連帯」運動が自由選挙で共産主義党に勝利し、ハンガリーでは共産主義党内改革派が社会民主主義に転換して保守的共産主義指導部を駆逐、ついには東ドイツに飛び火して「ベルリンの壁」の崩壊、チェコスロバキアでの「ビロードの革命」へと連なった。ルーマニアではチャウシェスク大統領の抵抗で流血騒ぎがあったが、ブルガリア、ユーゴスラビアも含めておおむね平和的に東欧諸国のすべての共産党・共産主義政党は政権から追いやられ、解党ないし社会民主主義政党に転換した。現存社会主義の崩壊である。これに伴って、ソ連型社会主義を批判してきたイタリア共産党など西欧諸国共産党も深刻な危機に立った。最大勢力を有したイタリア共産党は、左翼民主党と改名して社会民主主義政党に脱皮、「オリーブの木」の連合政権の中心になった。「モスクワの長女」であったフランス共産党は、「民主集中制」放棄など改革に乗り出したが、党勢は激減し影響力を弱めた。スペイン共産党も「民主集中制」を放棄したが、3派に分裂した。イギリス、オランダ、ベルギーや北欧諸国では、共産党が自主的に解散し、一部は社会民主党、緑の党や市民運動に合流していった。ポルトガルとアイルランドでは共産党が残ったが、影響力は激減した。つまりヨーロッパでは、共産党はほとんど壊滅した。アフリカも同様で、ソ連の資金援助に頼ってきた多くの共産党は、雲散霧消した。アジアでは中国・ベトナム・北朝鮮の共産党が政権党として生き残ったが、中国・ベトナムは市場経済を導入して開発独裁を担う党に変身、北朝鮮では孤立したまま最高権力の父子相続が行われた。キューバ共産党も改革を余儀なくされた。こうして20世紀世界を揺るがした共産党は、世紀末には全面的に崩壊した。インドや日本、ラテンアメリカ諸国などにいくつかの共産党が残されているが、旧来のかたちでは、生き残りが困難になった。

［加藤哲郎］

出典　小学館　日本大百科全書(ニッポニカ)日本大百科全書(ニッポニカ)について　情報 | 凡例

<<: Communist Manifesto (English)

>>: Communist Labor University (English: Communist Labor University)