Twentieth-century revolutions: is Marx's first stage of communism viable?

The influence of Marxian theory on the Russian and Chinese revolutions is substantial and highly controversial. According to their self understanding, these regimes originally sought to act on many Marxian ideas, but as we have seen, the theory itself exhibits tensions, and the regimes confronted novel, specific problems. Today both societies are status ridden and authoritarian and, as the Chinese (and the East European) case shows, provoke democratic protest. Far from moving to full communism, they “converge” with many objectionable features of capitalist regimes. From a radical viewpoint, they could be – at most – unprepossessing candidates for lesser evil by contrast to the continuing cruelties of the latter, and probably fail even in this comparison. Yet Marxian theory stresses the abolition of classes as an accompaniment to the flourishing of individuality; the relationship of socialism to communism is at its heart. Particularly given subsequent political history, the Marxian account of communism requires elaboration. A useful exploration of the theory's ethical tensions should contribute to that analysis.

As a result of the reversals of revolutionary socialism, liberal criticisms have become an especially forceful challenge to Marxism. In addition, on contemporary epistemological accounts, contests of theories are vital to scientific advance.