Christian communism
Christian communism is a theological view that the teachings of Jesus compel Christians to support religious communism. Although there is no universal agreement on the exact dates when communistic ideas and practices in Christianity began, many Christian communists argue that evidence from the Bible suggests that the first Christians, including the Apostles in the New Testament, established their own small communist society in the years following Jesus' death and resurrection. Many advocates of Christian communism and other communists, including Karl Kautsky, argue that it was taught by Jesus and practised by the apostles themselves. This position is also held by historians studying early Christianity.
There are individuals who view the early Christian Church, such as the one described in the Acts of the Apostles, as an early form of communism or Christian socialism. They believe that communism was Christianity in practice and that Jesus was the first communist.
History
Christian communism was based on the concept of koinonia, which means common or shared life, which was not an economic doctrine but an expression of agape love. It was the voluntary sharing of goods amongst the community. Acts 4:35 records that in the early Christian Church in Jerusalem "o one claimed that any of their possessions was their own, but shared everything in common." The pattern helped the early Christians to survive after the siege of Jerusalem and was taken seriously for several centuries. While it later disappeared from church history, it remained within monasticism and was an important supporting factor in the rise of feudalism. This ideal returned in the 19th century with monasticism revival and the rise of religious movements wanting to revive the early Christian egalitarianism. Because they were accused of atheism due its association with Marxism, they preferred communalism to describe their Christian communism.Church Fathers
The early Church Fathers, like their non-Abrahamic religious predecessors, maintained that human society had declined to its current state from a now lost egalitarian social order. Several historians view the early Christian Church, as described in the Acts of the Apostles, as an early form of communism. Among Christian communists, the view is that communism was just Christianity in practice and Jesus was a communist. Later historians across several centuries supported the reading of early church communities as communistic in structure.European High Middle Ages
From the High Middle Ages in Europe, various groups supported Christian communist and rural communalist ideas, and these ideas were also occasionally adopted by reformist Christian sects. An early 12th-century proto-Protestant group originating in Lyon known as the Waldensians held their property in common in accordance with the Book of Acts but were persecuted by the Catholic Church and retreated to Piedmont.Around 1300, the Apostolic Brethren in northern Italy were taken over by Fra Dolcino, who formed a sect known as the Dulcinians, which advocated ending feudalism, dissolving hierarchies in the church, and holding all property in common. The Peasants' Revolt in England has been an inspiration for "the medieval ideal of primitive communism", with the priest John Ball of the revolt being an inspirational figure to later revolutionaries, and having allegedly declared that "things cannot go well in England, nor ever will, until all goods are held in common."
Renaissance
During the 15th century around the year 1420, a radical Hussite faction in Bohemia known as the Taborites established themselves in Tábor. The group sought to live a life similar to that of the early Church. All possessions were held in common, they declared the rejection of their king, and the ruling lord. Additionally, they declared equality among both men and women. This resulted in women receiving education for the first time. Ultimately, the encampment lasted until 1437.In the 16th century, English writer Thomas More, who is venerated in the Catholic Church as a saint, portrayed a society based on common ownership of property in his treatise Utopia, whose leaders administered it through the application of reason.
Reformation and early modernity
Several groupings in the English Civil War supported this idea, especially Gerrard Winstanley's Diggers, who espoused clear communistic and agrarianist ideals. Oliver Cromwell and the Grandees' attitude to these groups was at best ambivalent and often hostile. Thomas Müntzer led a large Anabaptist communist movement during the 16th-century German Peasants' War, which Friedrich Engels analysed in The Peasant War in Germany.The Hutterites believed in strict adherence to biblical principles and church discipline, and practised a form of communism. In the words of historians Max Stanton and Rod Janzen, the Hutterites "established in their communities a rigorous system of Ordnungen, which were codes of rules and regulations that governed all aspects of life and ensured a unified perspective. As an economic system, Christian communism was attractive to many of the peasants who supported social revolution in sixteenth century central Europe", such as the German Peasants' War, and Engels came to view Anabaptists as proto-communists.
Beginning of the Age of Enlightenment
Criticism of the idea of private property continued into the Enlightenment era of the 18th century through such thinkers as the deeply religious Jean-Jacques Rousseau. Raised a Calvinist, Rousseau was influenced by the Jansenist movement within the Catholic Church. The Jansenist movement originated from the most orthodox Catholic bishops who tried to reform the Catholic Church in the 17th century to stop secularization and Protestantism. One of the main Jansenist aims was democratizing to stop the aristocratic corruption at the top of the Church hierarchy.Late modern period
In the 19th century in Christian Europe, communists were believed to have adopted atheism. In Protestant England, the word communism was too close to the Catholic communion rite, hence socialist was the preferred term. Friedrich Engels argued that in 1848, when The Communist Manifesto was published, socialism was respectable in Europe while communism was not. The teachings of Jesus are frequently described as socialist, especially by Christian socialists, such as Terry Eagleton. The Owenites in England and the Fourierists in France were considered respectable socialists, while working-class movements that "proclaimed the necessity of total social change" denoted themselves communists. This branch of socialism produced the communist work of Étienne Cabet in France and Wilhelm Weitling in Germany. Weitling was the leader of the Christian communist League of the Just whose stated goal was "the establishment of the Kingdom of God on Earth, based on the ideals of love of one's neighbor, equality and justice". This was also referred to by the League as the "new Jerusalem".In the earliest years of the Mormon movement, Joseph Smith promoted the law of consecration and the concept of the United Order. Today, some Mormon fundamentalist groups still apply this principle. Christian socialism was one of the founding threads of the Labour Party in the United Kingdom and is said to begin with the uprising of John Ball and Wat Tyler in the 14th century.
Pehr Götrek translated The Communist Manifesto into Swedish the same year it was published in German. He made changes in it from his Christian influence, such as changing the now famous quote, Workers of the world, unite! to Folkets röst, guds röst!. He also wrote several works criticising the developing capitalist society from a Christian perspective. Igal Halfin of Tel Aviv University argues the Marxist ethos that aims for unity reflects the Christian universalist teaching that humankind is one and that there is only one god who does not discriminate among people.
In 1914 the American socialist leader Eugene Debs declared that "Pure communism was the economic and social gospel preached by Jesus Christ, and every act and utterance which may properly be ascribed to him conclusively affirms it". He argued that subsequently Christ's words have been co-opted and diluted by individuals to serve their own ends.
Early 20th century science fiction author and socialist Olaf Stapledon stated that "Marxism and Christianity spring from the same emotional experience". Fidel Castro believed, "Christ chose the fishermen because he was a communist", In his book "Fidel and Religion", Castro states that there is a "great coincidence between Christianity's objectives and the ones we Communists seek, between the Christian teachings of humility, austerity, selflessness, and loving thy neighbour and what we might call the content of a revolutionary's life and behaviour". Castro saw a similarity to his goals with the goals of Christ: "Christ multiplied the fish and the loaves to feed the people. That is precisely what we want to do with the Revolution and socialism", adding that, "I believe Karl Marx could have subscribed to the Sermon on the Mount".
Ho Chi Minh, although venerated as a communist leader in Vietnam and of a Confucian family background, was well-disposed to Christianity. He said: "The good side of Confucianism is the cultivation of personal ethics. The good side of Christianity is noble benevolence. The good side of Marxism is the dialectical method. The good side of Sun Yat-sen is that his thinking is suitable to the conditions in Vietnam. Do Confucius, Jesus, Marx and Sun Yat-sen not all have the same good side? They all sought the happiness for the people, and prosperity for the society. If today, they were still alive, if they were gathered in the same place, I believe they would certainly be living together in perfect harmony, as good friends. I strive to be their little student". He also used the language of Christianity and quoted Bible stories to appeal to Catholics in Vietnam in the fight against France and America, as well as calling for unity between Catholics and followers of other religions. Ho Chi Minh Thought is said to have absorbed ideals from Christianity.
Nicaraguan Sandinista activist, priest and former Minister for Culture Ernesto Cardenal was a proponent of the idea of Christian communism, saying "Christ led me to Marx...for me, the four Gospels are all equally Communist. I’m a Marxist who believes in God, follows Christ and is a revolutionary for his Kingdom". He later said "The Bible is full of revolutions. The prophets are people with a message of revolution. Jesus of Nazareth takes the revolutionary message of the prophets. And we also will continue trying to change the world and make revolution. Those revolutions failed, but others will come".