Communism (Civ4)/Civilopedia

Communism is a conceptualized system of government in which resources and production facilities are the property of the entire society rather than individuals. In a communist society, labor is shared equally as well, and the benefits of labor are distributed according to need. Under such a system, all people would be equal, without class stratification.
Although the basic idea of communism has existed since the time of Plato, modern communism is identified with the system of government described by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels in The Communist Manifesto. They believed that capitalistic systems, in which the rich upper class prospered through the exploitation of the powerless lower class, were bound to destroy themselves. At this point, the poor would rebel against their former oppressors and form a classless society. This prophecy has never come true, and countries that have attempted to base their governments on communism have ultimately failed to achieve the utopia described by Marx and Engels.