Communist revolution

A communist revolution is a proletarian revolution inspired by the ideas of Marxism that aims to replace capitalism with communism. Depending on the type of government, the term socialism can be used to indicate an intermediate stage between Capitalism and Communism (especially in Marxist-Leninist views). The idea that a proletarian revolution is needed is a cornerstone of Marxism; Marxists believe that the workers of the world must unite and free themselves from capitalist oppression to create a world run by and for the working class. Thus, in the Marxist view, proletarian revolutions need to happen in countries all over the world.

Theory

Leninism argues that a communist revolution must be led by a vanguard of "professional revolutionaries", men and women who are fully dedicated to the communist cause and who can then form the nucleus of the revolutionary movement. Some Marxists disagree with the idea of a vanguard as put forth by Lenin, especially left communists. Some who continue to consider themselves Marxist–Leninists also oppose the vanguard despite disagreeing with the majority of left communism. These critics insist that the entire working class—or at least a large part of it—must be deeply involved and equally committed to the socialist or communist cause in order for a proletarian revolution to be successful. To this end, they seek to build massive communist parties with very large memberships.

Communist revolutions and coups throughout history

The following is a list of successful and unsuccessful communist revolutions and coups throughout history. Among the lesser known revolutions, a number of borderline cases have been included which may or may not have been communist revolutions. The nature of unsuccessful revolutions is particularly contentious since one can only speculate as to the kinds of policies that would have been implemented by the revolutionaries had they achieved victory.

Successful

Unsuccessful

Table of revolutions

Start date End date Duration Event(s) State Rebel group Revolutionary base area Deaths Result Notes
18 March 1871 28 May 1871 (72 days) Paris Commune France Paris 7,544 killed overall Revolt suppressed
  • Disbanding the Second National Guard
    by the French government
October 1915 5 June 1920 (4 years, 249 days) Jangal Movement Qajar Iran Jangal revolutionaries Gilan province Establishment of the Persian Socialist Soviet Republic
24 April 1916 29 April 1916 (6 days) Easter Rising United Kingdom Irish rebel forces Dublin 485 killed Unconditional surrender of rebel forces, execution of most leaders
7 November 1917 7 November 1917 (1 day) October Revolution Russia Bolsheviks
Petrograd Soviet
Left SRs
Red Guards
Anarchists 		Petrograd Few wounded Red Guard soldiers Bolshevik victory
Start of the Russian Civil War
27 January 1918 15 May 1918 (109 days) Finnish Civil War Finland Finland 38,300 killed Finnish Whites victory
2 August 1918 11 June 1925 (6 years, 314 days) Canadian Labour Revolt Canada Canada Failure of the revolt
28 October 1918 31 October 1918 (4 days) Aster Revolution Austria-Hungary Hungarian National Council Hungary 150–196 Revolutionary victory
9 November 1918 14 November 1918 (6 days) Red Week Netherlands Faction of the Social Democratic Workers' Party No revolution
29 October 1918 11 August 1919 (287 days) German Revolution of 1918–19 Germany
German Republic 		Communist revolutionaries:

Soviet Republics:

Various regions of Germany 150–196
9 November 1918 14 November 1918 (6 days) Red Week Netherlands Faction of the Social Democratic Workers' Party No revolution
10 November 1918 14 January 1919 (66 days) Luxembourg communist revolution Luxembourg Assorted communists, socialists, and liberals French Army victory
23 March 1919 1 August 1919 (132 days) Hungarian Soviet Republic Hungarian Republic Hungary Hungary 6,670 killed
27 May 1919 27 May 1919 (1 day) Bender Uprising Romania Red Guards
Ukrainian SSR 		Tighina 150 Romanian–French victory
2 May 1920 3 May 1920 (2 days) 1920 Georgian coup attempt Democratic Republic of Georgia Georgian Bolsheviks Georgia Several killed Government Victory
1 March 1921 11 July 1921 (133 days) Mongolian Revolution of 1921 Bogd Khanate of Mongolia
Outer Mongolia 		Mongolian People's Party Outer Mongolia Mongolian communist victory
3 March 1921 8 April 1921 (37 days) Labin mining strike and rebellion Italy Labin Republic Istria 5 Strike suppressed. Miners acquitted of crimes.
1 August 1927 1 October 1949 (22 years, 62 days) China Chinese Communist Party Communist-controlled China cca. 8 million Communist victory
22 January 1932 February 1932 (11 days) 1932 Salvadoran peasant uprising Republic of El Salvador Communist Party of El Salvador
Pipil rebels 		Western El Salvador
Departments:
 10,000 – 40,000 Revolt suppressed, ethnocide of Pipil people
19 July 1936 25 May 1937 (311 days) Spanish Revolution of 1936 Spain CNT-FAI

UGT

Various regions of Spain – primarily Madrid, Catalonia, Aragon, Andalusia, and parts of Levante, Spain. Suppressed after ten-month period.
16 September 1942 1945 (2 years, 320 days) National Liberation Movement Albanian Kingdom National Anti-Fascist Liberation Movement Albania Establishment of the People's Socialist Republic of Albania
16 August 1945 30 August 1945 (15 days) August Revolution Empire of Vietnam Việt Minh Northern, Central and Southern Vietnam Việt Minh victory
19 December 1946 1 August 1954 (7 years, 226 days) First Indochina War French Indochina DR Vietnam

Lao Issara (1945–1949)
Pathet Lao (1949–1954) Khmer Issarak

400,000–842,707 total killed DR Vietnam-allied victory
21 February 1948 25 February 1948 (5 days 1948 Czechoslovak coup d'état Czechoslovak Republic Appointment of a communist-dominated government
2 April 1948 16 April 1989 (41 years, 15 days Communist insurgency in Burma Shan State 3,000+ killed Burmese government victory
16 June 1948 31 July 1960 (12 years, 46 days) Malayan Emergency Malayan Communist Party British Malaya 11,107 British-allied victory
26 July 1953 1 January 1959 (5 years, 160 days) Cuban Revolution Cuba 26th of July Movement
Student Revolutionary Directorate
Second National Front of Escambray 		3,000 26 July Movement victory
1 November 1955 30 April 1975 (19 years, 181 days) Vietnam War South Vietnam Viet Cong Memot District (1966–72)
Lộc Ninh (1972–75) 		1,326,494–3,447,494 Communist victory
23 May 1959 2 December 1975 (16 years, 194 days) Laotian Civil War Laos Lao People's Party

North Vietnam

Xam Neua 20,000–62,000 killed Pathet Lao and North Vietnamese victory
13 November 1960 29 December 1996 (36 years, 47 days) Guatemalan Civil War Guatemala URNG (from 1982)
  • PGT (until 1998)
  • MR-13 (1960–1971)
  • FAR (1960–1971)
  • EGP (1971–1996)
  • ORPA (1979–1996)
Guatemala Between 140,000–200,000 dead and missing (estimated) Peace accord signed in 1996
19 July 1961 17 July 1979 (17 years, 364 days) Nicaraguan Revolution Nicaragua FSLN

MAP-ML (1978–1979)

Panama (1978–1979)

North Caribbean Coast Autonomous Region 30,000+ killed FSLN military victory in 1979
  • Overthrow of Somoza government in 1979
  • Insurgency of the Contras
  • FSLN junta led by Daniel Ortega take power of Nicaragua in 1981
  • Electoral victory of FSLN in 1984
c. December 1962 3 November 1990 (27 years, 338 days) Communist insurgency in Sarawak Malaysia North Kalimantan Communist Party
  • North Kalimantan People's Army
 Sarawak 400–500 killed Government victory
1965 1983 (18 years, 1 day) Communist insurgency in Thailand Thailand Nakhon Phanom Province 6,762+ killed Thai government victory
  • Amnesty declared on 23 April 1980 by the Thai government
  • Order 66/2523 signed by Prime Minister Prem Tinsulanonda
  • Communist insurgency declines and ends in 1983
18 May 1967 Present (56 years, 250 days) India Communist Party of India (Maoist) Red corridor Since 1997: 13,060–14,552 Ongoing
17 June 1968 2 December 1989 (21 years, 169 days) Communist insurgency in Malaysia Malaysia Malayan Communist Party Malay Peninsula and Sarawak 367 Peace Agreement of Hat Yai signed
17 January 1968 17 April 1975 (7 years, 91 days) Cambodian Civil War Cambodia Communist Party of Kampuchea Ratanakiri Province 275,000–310,000 killed Communist victory
29 March 1969 Present (54 years, 300 days) New People's Army rebellion Philippines Communist Party of the Philippines Samar 43,000+ killed (up to 2008) (63,973+ killed) Ongoing
22 June 1969 22 June 1969 (1 day) Corrective Move South Yemen Marxist faction of the NLF No deaths Coup successful
  • Overthrow of Al-Shaabi and his allies
  • Nasserists purged from the National Liberation Front
  • South Yemen becomes a socialist state.
21 October 1969 21 October 1969 (1 day) 1969 Somali coup d'état Somali Republic Supreme Revolutionary Council Mogadishu Supreme Revolutionary Council victory
19 July 1970 1 November 1970 (106 days) Teoponte Guerrilla Bolivia Guerrilla de Teoponte (Ejército de Liberación Nacional) Teoponte Municipality Bolivian government victory
5 April 1971 June 1971 (62 days) 1971 JVP insurrection Dominion of Ceylon JVP
  • State of Augestan
 Southern Province and Sabaragamuwa Province Official: 1,200
Estimated: 4,000–5,000 		Ceylonese government victory
  • Rebel leaders were captured and the remaining members surrendered
  • Ceylonese government re-established control of the entire island
  • Expulsion of North Korean diplomats
19 July 1971 22 July 1971 (4 days) 1971 Sudanese coup d'état Democratic Republic of Sudan Revolutionary Council Khartoum Coup attempt fails
  • Nimeiry government restored
  • Anti-communist purges by government forces
  • Execution of rebelling officers
  • Execution of several Sudanese Communist Party leaders
  • Consolidation of Nimeiry's control
24 April 1972 Present (51 years, 274 days) Maoist insurgency in Turkey Turkey Communist Party of Turkey/Marxist–Leninist
  • Liberation Army of the Workers and Peasants of Turkey

MKP-HKO-PHG

Tunceli Province 500+ Maoists killed Ongoing
12 September 1974 12 September 1974 (1 day) 1974 Ethiopian coup d'état Ethiopia Coordinating Committee of the Armed Forces, Police and Territorial Army 500+ Maoists killed Coup successful
  • Emperor Haile Selassie is placed under arrest and is taken to the Fourth Division Army headquarters
  • Derg suspends constitution
  • Beginning of the civil war
7 November 1975 7 November 1975 (1 day) 7 November 1975 Bangladeshi coup d'état (Bengali: সিপাই-জানাটা বিপ্লব (Sepoy-Janata Biplob)) Bangladesh Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal
Biplobi Shainik Sangstha 		Successful coup
27 April 1978 28 April 1978 (2 days) Saur Revolution Afghanistan People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan Afghanistan 2,000 PDPA victory
13 March 1979 13 March 1979 (1 day) New Jewel Movement Grenada New Jewel Movement Installation of the People's Revolutionary Government
15 October 1979 16 January 1992 (12 years, 94 days) Salvadoran Civil War El Salvador FMLN Ayacucho Region 87,795+ killed Chapultepec Peace Accords
17 May 1980 Present (43 years, 251 days) Internal conflict in Peru Peru Communist Party of Peru–Shining Path

Militarized Communist Party of Peru

Red Mantaro Base Committee

Túpac Amaru Revolutionary Movement (1982–1997)

Ayacucho Region 70,000+ killed Ongoing
25 January 1982 25 January 1982 (1 day) 1982 Amol uprising Iran Union of Iranian Communists (Sarbedaran) Amol County 80–300 killed Iranian government victory
4 August 1983 4 August 1983 (1 day) Upper Voltan coup d'état Upper Volta Left-wing armed forces faction led by Thomas Sankara and Blaise Compaoré 13 killed

15 April 1987 29 December 1989 (259 days) 1987–1989 JVP insurrection Sri Lanka Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna 60,000–80,000 killed Sri Lankan Government victory
  • Execution of Rohana Wijeweera
  • Emergency conditions in South-western and Central provinces lifted
  • Insurgency declined following the fall of the Eastern bloc
13 February 1996 21 November 2006 (10 years, 282 days) Nepalese Civil War Nepal Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) Rapti Zone 17,800 killed overall Comprehensive Peace Accord
August 2021 Present (2 years, 175 days) Myanmar civil war (2021–present) Myanmar Myanmar Ongoing

See also