Throughout the 20th century, a political and economic system had a choking grip on geopolitics and that system was communism. Communism is a political and economic system that aims for a classless society with no private property ownership and existance and resources and weath are shared among the population.
Published in 1848 and written by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, the communist manifesto outlines the classical theortial systems of communism and in it Marx and Engels outlined the ultimate goal of communism; a stateless, moneyless, and classless communist utopia.
Marx and Engels define communism through the elimination of class antagonisms and class distinctions. In the manifesto, Marx and Engels outline how this classless society would look like. "In place of the old bourgeois society, with its classes and class antagonisms, we shall have an association, in which the free development of each is the condition for the free development of all. In simple terms, after the workers have overthrew the bourgeois (the business owning class) a classless society will be formed with everyone being allowed free development of themselves, a very liberal idea which would never play out in the real world as communist nations where busy killing millions through state-created famines, wars, concentration camps. Marx and Friedrich would add, “When, in the course of development, class distinctions have disappeared, and all production has been concentrated in the hands of a vast association of the whole nation […] [the proletariat] will thereby have abolished its own supremacy as a class.” Adding to the fact that all forms of prvate property will be abolished, since Karl Marx and potentially Engels (and I say this because Marx overshadows Engels and I have done miminal amounts of research into Engels) believe private property was a driving factor in social, economic, and political inquality and to create a equal society, private property needed to be abolished.
In the end goal of communism, the state is defined as an instrument used by one class to oppress another. Once class distinctions are abolished, the state loses its function and dissolves as a political entity. “When, in the course of development, class distinctions have disappeared, and all production has been concentrated in the hands of a vast association of the whole nation, the public power will lose its political character.” and “Political power, properly so called, is merely the organized power of one class for oppressing another.” In simple terms, Marx and Engels find centralized political powers as a way for the elite class to oppreess lower classes and once classes don’t exist any more, the means of production are in control of the workers, the state will exist no more.
Marx and Engels explicitly call for ending the bourgeois system of buying, selling, and capital accumulation. “By freedom is meant, under the present bourgeois conditions of production, free trade, free selling and buying. But if selling and buying disappears, free selling and buying disappears also.” and “Capital is a collective product, and only by the united action of many members, nay, in the last resort, only by the united action of all members of society, can it be set in motion. Capital is therefore not only personal; it is a social power.” and “In bourgeois society, living labor is but a means to increase accumulated labor. In Communist society, accumulated labor is but a means to widen, to enrich, to promote the existence of the laborer.” In simple terms, Marx and Engels wanted free trade, selling, and buying to disapper, captial to become a means of social power, and accumulated labour to be benefit to the workers not the bourgeois.
In conclusion, by the grounds of classical Marxist theory, Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels argued that the workers shoudl overthrow the bourgeois (the business owning class in a most likely violent revolution), created systems of decision-making that aim to achieve the ultimate goal of a classless society where everyone was equal and private property was non-existant with no centralized government since the elites within them can be used oppress lower classes and free trade, selling, and buying becoming non-existance, captial as a means of social power, and accumulated labour to be a benefit to the workers. A communist utopia that in real life would never play out, as states such as the Soviet Union maintained centralized governments, the elites oppressed lower classes, and somewhat free trade, selling, and buying was maintained. Most communsim states that existed in the 20th century embraced Marxist-Leninism, which has its own distinct philosophy, would be the domintating philosophy of communist states in the 20th century and even 21st century with the existence of Cuba, North Korea, Laos, and China (to note, marxist-leninism refers to a one-party political structure and offical idealogy dfined by the state not the economic or social philosophy). Classical marxist theory would never, in the real world, be praticaly applied, so yes, real communism has never occured, which I define as classical Marxist theory, has never occured.