Social and economic theories of Marxism emerged after the Industrial Revolution transformed the Western society in the nineteenth century. Karl Marx’s revolutionary views on politics and social organization remain quite controversial till these days. Political ideologies which derived from Classical Marxism such as Marxism-Leninism, Trotskyism, and Maoism were applied to the communist societies in the twentieth century. These theories expanded the original hypotheses of Marx which targeted at building a classless and stateless society. Though these socialists ideologies were based on the Marxists philosophy, present-day critics assume that they to some extent distorted or even rejected concepts of Classical Marxism.
Apparently, countries which proceeded with the Marxist ideas were ruled by authoritarian governments. In fact, Marx and Engels were utterly opposed in their views to any socialist institutions which come near authoritarian rule. Then why such a controversy appeared? Researchers divide socialism it into “socialism-from-above” and “socialism-from-below”. While the first type implies the rule of an elite administration in socialist states, the second one is more democratic and close to the Marxist views. The suppressive ideas of authoritarian socialism make a vivid opposition to classless, humane Marxism. Apparently, most socialist governments turned authoritarian socialist because, unlike the pure Marxists ideas, the authoritarian approach was more practical.
Having a closer look at communist and socialist governments influenced by Marxist views, we can assume that they transformed the concepts of a class struggle, proletarian revolution , and social ownership to implement dogmatized ideology reinforced by terror and violence. The Marxist model of government appeared impractical to developing countries which had yet to industrialize, and politicians like Vladimir Lenin believed that working class was unprepared to rule. Consequently, the working class ended up under the rule of a single (communist) party.