'Communist' State

[Comrade Njordr]

Nations such as China, Cuba etc. are labeled 'communist' states. These two terms are of course contradictory, but how did this label come about and why is it used? Was it created in an attempt to throw people off and prevent them from discovering what communism really is?

[Jacob Cliff]

It is highly unlikely this was intentional, or used by conscious bourgeois propagandists to paint communism as this terrible despotism that we saw in the SU and China. The term "Communist State" (which you are correct about: is an oxymoron) has come into wide use because people mean states ruled by communist parties – not necessarily that these were communist societies to begin with. So initially, people would call the USSR a "Communist State" because the CPSU ruled the State — but overtime people, especially in the West, began to confuse this with the actual communist society itself. Some Marxists use capitol-C Communism to denote to Communist Party-ruled States, while referring to communist society as "lowercase-c communism." I myself find this distinction ridiculous, but perhaps that helps if you see any Marxist speaking of "large-C/small-C communism."

[tuwix]

^^
I agree with that but there is a much stupidity that is related to calling some states communist too. Simply some idiots who are journalists who know nothing about communist ideology came to conclusion that country that is ruled by a party that calls itself 'communist' is just communist. And this was very usefel in terms of propaganda...

[The Modern Prometheus]

Well yes the term Communist state is inherently contradictory but what does your average western Liberal know about Communism anyway? Usually other then they have been told it's evil not much. The Soviet Union, Albania and others where labelled Communist States but of course where nowhere near Communist. It was and still is a term used to paint Communism in a negative light.