Date of Award

3-1937

Degree Type

Bachelors Essay

Degree Name

Bachelor of Arts (BA)

Department

Philosophy

First Advisor

Joseph A. Ormsby

Abstract

Communism is not exclusively the product of our modern age. As the term is commonly used today, it signifies, in its mildest form, a political theory of community control of the means of production and distribution; in its severest form it means the attainment of such control by a force so ruthless as to disregard life, liberty, and humanity of mankind in the accomplishment of its purpose. Through the ages, however, Communism has had many different meanings. History records some of these meanings for us. To the early Christian Church it meant, "As many as were possessors of lands or houses, sold them, and brought the prices of the things that were sold, and laid them down at the apostles feet, and distribution was made unto every man according as he had need/' (Acts 4:34-35). To certain small religious groups of other days since that time it meant a withdrawal from the world into a convent or monastery, and a life of sharing, both of the necessities of life and of the labor required to produce them. To various philanthropic groups of the nineteenth century it meant the formation of ideal communities among the working people, communities in which the members would live under like conditions, and would share equally in labor and in profits.

Comments

A Thesis submitted to the Faculty of the College of Liberal Arts of Marquette University in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Bachelor of Philosophy Milwaukee, Wisconsin

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