The Early Origins of Communism
Plato observed that the concepts of personal ownership were the seeds of social decay. He believed a well-governed city required citizens to share their successes and failures, binding the community together through collective pleasure and pain. This ancient Greek ideal suggested that true political stability could only be reached when individuals equated their own fortunes with those of the state.
Christianity later introduced a radical moral dimension to this search for equality. By teaching that the poor and humble held as much value as the mighty, it challenged the existing social order. Figures like Saint Martin of Tours turned the renunciation of wealth into a spiritual virtue. While early believers chose poverty freely, their example established a moral standard that would later be used to justify the forced redistribution of wealth.
The encounter with the New World breathed fresh life into these concepts. Early explorers described indigenous peoples who shared everything they owned without hesitation. These stories inspired Thomas More to imagine a society called Utopia, where economic activity was rationally planned for the public good and money did not exist. Radical reformers eventually tried to turn these theories into reality through force, such as when a sect of Anabaptists seized the city of Münster, abolished money, and enforced communal living with a regime of terror.
Jean-Jacques Rousseau later argued that the invention of private property was the original sin of civilization. He believed that the first person to claim ownership of land brought crimes and wars upon the human race. He introduced the concept of the general will, which allowed the community to force individuals into obedience. This idea became a cornerstone for revolutionaries who used the state to control the economy and purge political enemies during the French Revolution.
Étienne-Gabriel Morelly proposed a rigid code where nothing belonged to anyone, arguing that greed could only be cured by the total abolition of private property. In his system, the state would oversee all labor and distribute goods from public warehouses according to need. This vision transformed the ancient dream of equality into a practical plan for state-managed life. It provided the intellectual foundation for the radical movements that would soon attempt to reshape the world.
After the French Revolution, François-Noël Babeuf formed a secret group to push for absolute economic equality. His manifesto called for a republic where the distinctions between master and servant would vanish entirely. The conspirators planned an armed uprising to seize public warehouses and execute those who refused to surrender their wealth. Authorities crushed the movement and executed Babeuf, but his failed plot established the martyr-driven foundation for modern communism.
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