The Dark Origins Of Communism

Everyone desires a good life, but this desire has been exploited by movements promising a utopian idea of “heaven on earth.” But what’s really behind these movements? We start this series by exploring the basic ideas that formed the ideology of communism.

The communist system first gained ground during the French Revolution and was carried on through various systems by François-Noël “Gracchus” Babeuf, who is considered the first revolutionary communist. We look into Babeuf’s “Conspiracy of Equals,” and the environment from which his beliefs emerged.

The Paris Commune of 1871 is regarded as the first time communism seized power. This violent revolution led to the destruction of a large portion of the arts and architecture of Paris, saw the killing and persecution of priests, and laid the foundations for future revolutions.

Nazism and fascism are often framed as far-right ideologies. Yet, both systems are rooted in communism, and their policies are strikingly close to modern-day socialist movements. How did these systems emerge? And what are their policies? We unravel the misunderstandings around the political dichotomies of a “right” and a “left.”

The defining trait of all communist movements has been a belief in social struggle and movements against traditional religious belief. We unpack the Marxist idea of dialectical materialism, and explore how the deeper beliefs behind the communist movement have waged a war against religion, culture, and social harmony.