Communist state

A communist state, also known as a Marxist–Leninist state, is a socio-economic form of government that combines the state leadership of a communist party, Marxist–Leninist political philosophy, and an official commitment to the construction of a communist society. Modern communism grew out of the socialist movement in 19th-century Europe as a program to replace capitalism with a stateless, classless, and moneyless society, but its application as Marxism–Leninism began later in the Soviet Union under Joseph Stalin. China, Cuba, Laos, North Korea and Vietnam are the only communist states that exist as of 2026. With the exception of North Korea, these have moved away from collectivism in the economic sphere in favor of forms of market economy, but retain an authoritarian or totalitarian single-party system generating a mandatory state ideology.

In the 20th century, several communist states were established, first in Russia with the Russian Revolution of 1917 and then in portions of Eastern Europe, Asia, and other regions after World War II. The institutions of these states were heavily influenced by the writings of Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels, Vladimir Lenin, Joseph Stalin and others. However, the political reforms of Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev known as Perestroika and socio-economic difficulties produced the revolutions of 1989, which brought down all communist states of the Eastern Bloc. The repercussions of the collapse of these states contributed to political transformations in non-European communist states.

In accordance with Marx's theory of the state, communists believe all state formations are under the control of a ruling class. Communist states are no different, and the ruling communist party is defined as the vanguard party of the most class conscious section of the working classes, particularly the proletariat but sometimes including the peasantry, such as under its Maoist formulation. Communist states usually affirm that the working class is the state's ruling class and that the most class-conscious workers lead the state through the communist party, establishing the dictatorship of the proletariat as its class system and, by extension, the socialist state, which will eventually wither away into a communist society free of oppressions.