Communism

"Communist state" is a Western term[1] for a state with a form of government characterized by single-party rule or dominant-party system by a party which claims to follow communism, usually with a professed allegiance to Marxism-Leninism as the guiding ideology of the state. None of these states achieved communism, and the term is used no matter to what degree that state or the movement associated with it actually follows communism, if at all.[1] The label is the source of controversy, especially among the left; according to many communist and Marxist tendencies, the system in use in the Soviet Union and the states modeled after it (i.e., "communist states") - which claimed to have reached socialism, not communism - was not socialism but rather state capitalism.[2] The term "Communist state" is an oxymoron (a contradiction on itself) as a communist society is stateless.[3] Usually, the term Marxist-Leninist state is more appropriate.

The communist society (or communist system) is the type of society and economic system postulated to emerge from technological advances in the productive forces in the theory of Marxism, and is the ultimate goal of the political ideology of Communism. A communist society is based upon common ownership of the means of production with free access[1] to the articles of consumption and is classless and stateless,[2] implying the end of economic exploitation.