The following countries are one-party states in which the institutions of the ruling communist party and the state have become intertwined. They are adherents of Marxism–Leninism. They are listed here together with the year of their founding and their respective ruling parties.[1]
Although founded as a Marxist–Leninist state, North Korea began moving away from orthodox Marxism–Leninism and replaced all references to Marxism–Leninism in the Constitution of North Korea with Juche in 1992.[2] In 2009, the constitution was quietly amended so that not only did it remove all Marxist–Leninist references present in the first draft, but it also dropped all reference to communism.[3] According to North Korea: A Country Study by Robert L. Worden, Marxism–Leninism was abandoned immediately after the start of de-Stalinisation in the Soviet Union and it has been totally replaced by Juche since at least 1974.[4] The government's official ideology is now the Juche part of Kimilsungism–Kimjongilism policy of Kim Il Sung as opposed to orthodox Marxism–Leninism. The ruling Workers' Party of Korea reinstated its goal towards communism in 2021.[5] Some communists, especially the anti revisionists, call the DPRK a non marxistsocialist state.
There are multi-party states with communist parties leading the government. Such states are not considered to be communist states because the countries themselves allow for multiple parties and do not provide a constitutional role for their communist parties. Nepal was previously ruled by the Nepal Communist Party, the Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist–Leninist), and the Unified Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) between 1994 and 1998 and then again between 2008 and 2018 while states formerly ruled by one or more communist parties include San Marino (1945–1957 and 1978-1990), Nicaragua (1984–1990), Moldova (2001–2009), Cyprus (2008–2013), and Guyana (1992–2015).
In 2024, Anura Kumara Dissanayake of the Marxist-Leninist Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) was elected President of Sri Lanka, and the JVP's broader coalition, National People's Power won a landslide in parliamentary elections shortly thereafter. This represents the first time a communist party has been the ruling party of Sri Lanka.[12]
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Officially ruling parties in communist states Communist parties as ruling parties or part of a governing coalition in multi-party states Formerly ruling in a one-party system Formerly ruling in a parliamentary majority or minority government Formerly ruling as a coalition partner or supporter
The following communist states were socialist states committed to communism. Some were short-lived and preceded the widespread adoption of Marxism–Leninism by most communist states.
^Although the government's official ideology is now the Juche part of Kimilsungism–Kimjongilism policy of Kim Il Sung as opposed to orthodox Marxism–Leninism, it is still considered a socialist state. In 1992, all references to Marxism–Leninism in the Constitution of North Korea were dropped and replaced with Juche.[2] In 2009, the constitution was quietly amended so that not only did it remove all Marxist–Leninist references present in the first draft, but it also dropped all reference to communism.[37] According to North Korea: A Country Study by Robert L. Worden, Marxism–Leninism was abandoned immediately after the start of de-Stalinisation in the Soviet Union and it has been totally replaced by Juche since at least 1974.[38]
^"Libro Rojo" [Red Book] (PDF). psuv.org.ve (in Spanish). December 2014. Retrieved 10 March 2023.
^"Pedro Castillo: The primary school teacher who became Peru's president". BBC News. 28 July 2021. Retrieved 31 July 2021. Casting himself as a man of the people, Mr Castillo was rarely seen without the traditional white, broad-rimmed hat of his Cajamarca region, and a huge inflatable pencil, the symbol of his Marxist Free Peru party which also represents his background in education.
^Hoffrogge, Ralf (2014). "Working-Class Politics in the German Revolution". In Müller, Richard (ed.). The Revolutionary Shop Stewards and the Origins of the Council Movement. Leiden: Brill Publishers. ISBN978-90-04-21921-2.
^Mitchell, Allan (1965). Revolution in Bavaria, 1918–1919: The Eisner Regime and the Soviet Republic. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press. p. 346. ISBN978-1400878802.
^Gaab, Jeffrey S. (2006). Munich: Hofbräuhaus & History: Beer, Culture, and Politics. Peter Lang / International Academic Publishers. p. 58. ISBN978-0820486062.
^Kletzin, Jochen (1978). "Die Würzburger Sozialdemokratie in der Weimarer Republik" [The Würzburg Social Democracy in the Weimar Republic]. In Loew, Hans Werner; Schönhoven, Klaus (eds.). Würzburgs Sozialdemokraten: vom Arbeiterverein zur Sozialdemokratischen Volkspartei [Würzburg's Social Democrats. From the Workers' Association to the Social Democratic People's Party] (in German). Würzburg: Stürtz. pp. 60–64.
^Stickler, Matthias (2007). "Neuanfang und Kontinuität: Würzburg in der Weimarer Republik." [New Beginnings and Continuity: Würzburg in the Weimar Republic.]. In Wagner, Ulrich (ed.). Geschichte der Stadt Würzburg [History of the City of Würzburg] (in German). Stuttgart: Theiss. pp. 1269 note 18. ISBN978-3-8062-1478-9.
^Milza, Pierre (2009). L'année terrible: La Commune (mars–juin 1871) [The terrible year: La Commune (March–June 1871)] (in French). Paris: Perrin. ISBN978-2-262-03073-5.
^Moissonnier, Maurice (1972). La premiere internationale et la commune a Lyon (1865–1871) [The international premiere and the commune in Lyon (1865–1871)] (in French). Paris: Editions sociales. OCLC902707001.
^Völgyes, Iván (1970). "The Hungarian Dictatorship of 1919: Russian Example versus Hungarian Reality". East European Quarterly. 1 (4): 58. ISSN0012-8449.
References for when the individuals were elected to the office of CCP leader, the name of the offices and when they established and were abolished are found below.
Guins, George (July 1950). "Law Does not Wither Away in the Soviet Union". The Russian Review. 9 (3). Wiley on behalf of The Editors and Board of Trustees of the Russian Review: 187–204. doi:10.2307/125763. JSTOR125763.
Skilling, H. Gordon (January 1961). "People's Democracy and the Socialist Revolution: A Case Study in Communist Scholarship. Part I". Soviet Studies. Vol. 12, no. 3. Taylor & Francis. pp. 241–262.
Blasko, Dennis (2006). The Chinese Army Today: Tradition and Transformation for the 21st Century. Routledge. ISBN9781135988777.
Dimitrov, Vessellin (2006). "Bulgaria: A Core Against the Odds". In Dimitrov, Vessellin; Goetz, H. Klaus; Wollmann, Hellmut (eds.). Governing after Communism: Institutions and Policymaking (2nd ed.). Martinus Nijhoff Publishers. pp. 159–203. ISBN9780742540095.
Evans, Daniel (1993). Soviet Marxism–Leninism: The Decline of an Ideology. ABC-CLIO. ISBN9780275947637.
Feldbrugge, F. J. M. (1985). "Council of Ministers". In Feldbrugge, F. J. M.; Van den Berg, G. P.; Simons, William B. (eds.). Encyclopedia of Soviet Law (2nd ed.). Martinus Nijhoff Publishers. pp. 202–204. ISBN1349060860.
Harding, Neil (1981). "What Does It Mean to Call a Regime Marxist?". In Szajkowski, Bogdan (ed.). Marxist Governments. Vol. 1. Palgrave Macmillan. pp. 22–33. ISBN978-0-333-25704-3.
Hazard, John (1985). "Constitutional Law". In Feldbrugge, F. J. M.; Van den Berg, G. P.; Simons, William B. (eds.). Encyclopedia of Soviet Law (2nd ed.). Martinus Nijhoff Publishers. pp. 162–163. ISBN1349060860.
Loeber, Dietrich Andre (1984). "On the Status of the CPSU within the Soviet Legal System". In Simons, William; White, Stephen (eds.). The Party Statutes of the Communist World. Martinus Nijhoff Publishers. pp. 1–22. ISBN9789024729753.
Nelson, Daniel (1982). "Communist Legislatures and Communist Politics". In Nelson, Daniel; White, Stephen (eds.). Communist Legislatures in Comparative Perspective. Vol. 1. Palgrave Macmillan. pp. 1–13. ISBN1349060860.
Rosser, Barkley; Rosser, Marianne (2003). Comparative Economics in a Transforming World Economy. MIT Press. ISBN978-0262182348.
Steele, David Ramsay (September 1999). From Marx to Mises: Post Capitalist Society and the Challenge of Economic Calculation. Open Court. ISBN978-0875484495.