A political theory and system that believes that greater equality and justice will exist in a society where no private ownership of productive property (land, factories, stores) is allowed. Communist society places ownership of "the means of production" (property) in the state or community. The assumption is that private ownership of property somehow corrupts humans, making them greedy, selfish, arrogant, and uncooperative. This view, that it is the social environment that causes immoral behavior, contrasts with the Classical, Christian and British Liberal perspective that evil exists within human nature. Communism believes that human nature is determined by external social and economic relations, so if the community is more fair and equal, persons will automatically be more kind, virtuous, and unselfish. This contrasts with Christ's words "Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these [economic] things shall be added" (Luke 12:31), which puts morality first and economic justice following. Whether human nature determines society or social conditions affect nature has been a constant debate in political thought. Most thinkers, after Aristotle, acknowledge the interaction of "nature and nurture," but the debate continues.

Western political thought has advanced communist ideas in various forms for more than 2000 years. In Plato's Republic, the "Guardians," or military, practice communism (owning no big property but only necessities for soldiers--clothes, weapons--and those provided by the state), as appropriate to their role in society. Wealth and luxury would corrupt military personnel because their job of fighting and defending the country in war requires toughness and hardship. If the soldiers become used to an easy, luxurious lifestyle, they will be ineffective as warriors, so communism is the best economic system for them. Plato does not advocate public ownership of property for the business class, however.

In the early Christian church, believers "held all things in common," sharing property according to need. Those Christians who had more wealth gave some to those who had nothing, usually through the leaders of the church (Acts 4:32). This was not communism because private ownership was still practiced, but it was rather a form of Christian charity. St.

Thomas Aquinas articulated the Catholic perspective on private property, drawing on both the Bible and Aristotle's philosophy. Worldly goods are given by God for the sustenance of human life. Private ownership aids that end or the purpose of earthly property by making people more careful of their goods, providing incentives for work, and causing a more orderly society. However, St. Thomas insists that private ownership is limited by the needs of the poor and the necessity of Christian charity. If a rich person knows of a person in need, he should convey some property to the poor, acknowledging that his wealth is a gift from God.

Other Christian thinkers, notably Sir Thomas More's Utopia (1516) and the English Levellers, advanced more radical common ownership of property. Throughout European and American history, small religious communities have established communes where property is shared in common. American writer Nathaniel Hawthorne described such a 19^th century socialist commune in New England in his novel The Blithedale Romance. Puritan John Locke, however, in his Second Treatise of Government, said that private ownership of property is a God-given natural right along with life and liberty. God may have given the earth to humanity in common to sustain human life, but individuals must appropriate and possess private property for it to serve its divine purpose. For this Calvinist "work ethic," private-property accumulation teaches diligence and discipline and that the communist tendency to "share" property is just a clever excuse for stealing the property of others.

Modern socialist communism emerges in Europe just prior to the French Revolution of 1789. Rousseau blames all vanity, greed, and inequality on private property and advocates government control of wealth for the common good. Proudhon declares that "property is theft" and attacks capitalism as the source of all poverty and misery. Babeuf's Manifesto of the Equals (1796) argues for community ownership of land and the same education and diet for everybody.

Twentieth-century communism (as practiced in the Soviet Union, China, and other countries) came from the ideas of Karl Marx. In Marxism, or "scientific socialism," communism is the final stage of history, which ends economic classes, exploitation, and oppression. Like other socialist theories in the 1800s, Marx saw socialism and communism as solving the problems of poverty and misery brought on by the Industrial Revolution. Capitalism would inevitably lead to socialism (public ownership of large property and economic planning by the state), and technological advances would finally lead to communism (a heavenly society of freedom and prosperity with no economic classes, no need to work, and no exploitation, poverty, misery, or war). These bright promises of Marxist communism, along with his view that history was moving inevitably toward socialism, caused many people to work for its realization. Many a Communist political Party formed in Europe, and Marxist revolutions occurred in Russia and China. The promised abundance and freedom of communism was disappointed. A society and economy completely controlled by the state for the sake of equality became oppressive and inefficient. After a 70-year experiment with communism, the Soviet Union abandoned the system for a more market-oriented economy. Other socialist countries modified the state-planned system with greater private property ownership and individual economic freedom. Socialism and communism did not deliver on their promise to end human egoism and competition by community means. Instead, they caused worse poverty and misery than the system they overthrew.

However, the ideas in communism to provide universal education and a basic level of economic abundance were adopted by capitalist countries through social welfare programs and a "mixed economy" of private business and government assistance to the poor and disabled.

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