Communist state

A communist state is a state whose constitution claims to follow the principles of communism, despite following the ideology of Marxism–Leninism. Its form of government has only a single political party, the communist party. The governance of the state is guided by the principles of Leninism, Marxism, Maoism, or any other form of socialist ideology.

Technically, "communist state" is a contradictory term. In principle, a communist society is a stateless society."N.I. Bukharin and E. Preobrazhensky in The ABC of Communism write "In a communist society there will be no classes. But if there will be no classes, this implies that in communist society there will likewise be no State." See also State and Revolution by Lenin, chapter 5.4 "The Higher Phase of Communist Society" In practice, communist states do not actually refer to themselves as "communist states". They do not consider themselves to be communist societies at present. Instead, their constitutions call them socialist states or workers' states.

During the 20th century, a "communist state" came to be understood as any country ruled by a single party and guided by a Marxist–Leninist or Maoist ideology. These countries would also have a planned economy. The ruling class is the working class (the proletariat).

As of July  2024, there are five countries that are called communist states. They are China, Cuba, Laos, Vietnam and North Korea. North Korea does not follow Marxism–Leninism but rather the ideology of Juche. Nonetheless, it is otherwise still considered to be in the same category.

Historically
300px|thumb|Map of countries that declared themselves to be socialist states between 1979 and 1983.
There were, at one time, many countries that followed some type of Marxism. One of the most famous is the Post-Soviet states. However, many of these are now no longer regarded as socialist.

List of Eastern Bloc and Warsaw Pact:
 Soviet Union
 East Germany
 Yugoslavia
 Romania
 Hungary
 Czechoslovakia
 Poland
 Bulgaria
 Democratic Kampuchea
 Somalia
 Albania
 Angola
 Afghanistan
 Mongolia
List of five main communist states:
 Cuba
 Vietnam
 North Korea
 China
 Laos

References

Category:Country classifications
Category:Communism