Hedonism is a school of thought that argues that pleasure is the only intrinsic good.

-Ethical hedonism is said to have been started by a student of Socrates, Aristippus of Cyrene
Aristippus - was the founder of the Cyrenaic school of Philosophy
-Utilitarianism addresses problems with moral motivation neglected by Kantianism by giving a central
role to happiness.
Defects of Hedonism & Utilitarianism
-Both propose earthly good here on earth in this life.
-Tend to make morality Relative; leads to chaos and destruction.
-Both theories makes morality Extrinsic; on the effect.

COMMUNISM
It is a socio-economic structure that promotes the establishment of a classless, stateless society based
on common ownership of the means of production.
It encourages the formation of a
proletarian state in order to overcome the class structures and alienation of labour
that characterize capitalistic societies,
and their legacy of imperialism and nationalism. Communism holds that the only way to solve these
problems is for the working class (or proletariat) to replace the wealthy ruling class (or bourgeoisie),
through revolutionary action, in order to establish a peaceful, free society, without classes or
government.

In the late 19th Century, the terms "socialism" and "communism" were often used interchangeably.
However, Marxist theory argues that Communism would not emerge from Capitalism in a fully
developed state, but would pass through a "first phase" (Socialism) in which most productive property
was owned in common, but some class differences remained. This would eventually evolve into a
"higher phase" (Communism) in which class differences were eliminated, and a state was no longer
needed and would wither away.
It further argued that revolutionary activity by the working classes was required to bring about these
changes.

Communism grew out of the Socialist movements of 19th Century Europe and the critics of Capitalism
during the Industrial Revolution. Foremost among these critics were the German philosopher Karl
Marx and his associate Friedrich Engels (1820 - 1895), and their ground-breaking "Communist
Manifesto" of 1848, the defining document of the movement, offered a new definition of Communism
and popularized the term.

The usage of the terms "communism" and "socialism" shifted after the Russian Revolution of 1917,
when the avowedly
Marxist Bolshevik Party in Russia changed their name to the Communist Party and installed a single
party regime devoted to the implementation of socialist policies under
Vladimir Ilyich Lenin (1870 - 1924). Lenin created the Third International (or Communist
International or Comintern) in 1919 and set the twenty-one conditions
(including democratic centralism) for any European socialist parties willing to join.
Lenin's New Economic Policy (NEP) lasted until 1928, when Joseph Stalin (1878 - 1953) decame party
leader under the banner of "socialism in one country" and proceeded down the road of isolationism
and Totalitarianism with the first of many Five Year Plans. Marxist critics of the Soviet Union, most
notably Leon Trotsky
(1879 - 1940), referred to the Soviet system as a "degenerated" or "deformed" workers
state, arguing that it fell far short of Marx's communist ideal, and claiming that the
working class was politically dispossessed.

Types of COMMUNISM
MARXISM It is the theoretical-practical framework on which Socialism and Communism are based.

LENINISM builds upon and elaboratees the ideas of Marxism, and served as the philosophical basis
for the ideology of Soviet Communism after the Russian Revolution of 1917 and the establishment of
the Soviet Union.

MARXISM-LENINISM It is the Communist ideological stream that emerged as the mainstream
tendency amongst Communist parties in the 1920s as it was adopted as the ideological foundation of
the Communist International during the era of Joseph Stalin, with whom it is mainly associated.

STALINISM is a more pejorative term for Joseph Stalin's vision of Communism (which Stalin himself
described as Marxism-Leninism). Proponents of the term argue that it includes an extensive use of
propaganda to establish a personality cult around
an absolute dictator, as well as extensive use of a
secret police to maintain social submission and silence political dissent, all of which are trappings
of Totalitarianism.

TROTSKYISM is the theory of Marxism advocated by Leon Trotsky (1879 - 1940), who considered
himself an orthodox Marxist and Bolshevik-Leninist, and argued for the establishment of a vanguard
party.

LUXEMBURGISM is a specific revolutionary theory within Communism, based on the writings of
Rosa Luxemberg. Her politics diverged from those of Lenin and Trotsky mainly in her disagreement
with their concept of democratic centralism, which she saw as insufficiently democratic.

MAOISM (Mao Zedong Thought) is a variant of Communism derived from the teachings of the
Chinese leader Mao Zedong or Mao Tse-tung, and practiced in the Peoples Republic of China after the
Chinese revolution of 1949.

LEFT COMMUNISM is a range of Communist viewpoints held by the Communist Left, which claims to
be more authentically Marxist and proletarian than the views of Leninism and its successors. Left
Communists supported the Russian Revolution, but did not accept the subsequent methods of
the Bolsheviks.

COUNCIL COMMUNISM is a radical left movement, originating in Germany and the Netherlands, and
continuing today as the theoretical and activist position within both left wing Marxism and Libertarian
Socialism.

ANARCHIST COMMUNISM advocates the complete abolition of the state and Capitalism in favour of
a horizontal network of voluntary association, workers, which everyone will be free to satisfy their
needs.

EUROCOMMUNISM was a trend in the 1970s and 1980s within various Western European
Communist parties to develop a theory and practice of social transformation that was more relevant
in a Western European Democracy.

RELIGIOUS COMMUNISM is a form of Communism centred on religious priciples, whether they be
Christian, Taoist, Jain, Hindu
or Buddhist.