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One common feature of all communist states until very recently was the fact that they had centrally planned economies. This was the main reason, besides the political one, for putting "communist states" in a separate category of their own, rather than lumping them together with other one-party states (which had capitalist market economies). If the centrally planned economy dissappears, then there is arguably no difference between the "communist state" in question and a capitalist dictatorship (a category which includes most Third World countries during the Cold War, as well as many other examples).
Given these considerations, the recent pro-market reforms in China have given rise to unexpected questions. Can China still be considered a "communist state"? It is certainly ruled by a party that calls itself Communist, and it certainly refuses any label related to capitalism (preferring to call its economic system "socialism with Chinese characteristics"), but in many respects China's economy fits the definitions of capitalism.
For a complete discussion, see Politics of the People's Republic of China.
See also the articles on Marxism, Leninism, Trotskyism, Stalinism and Maoism.
Most communist states base themselves (at least in theory) on a form of Marxist-Leninist ideology. Historically speaking, all communist states that existed for significant periods of time during the 20th century had their roots in either Stalinism or Maoism. The relationship of these ideologies with the original form of Marxism (as well as their relationship with Leninism) is very disputed. In particular, Trotskyists are communist opponents of Stalinism and Maoism (and therefore they oppose most 20th century "communist states"), on the grounds that they were perversions of Marxism-Leninism and communist ideals.
Marxism holds -- among other things -- that human history has had and will have a developmental structure, alternating between slow development of technology/economy (and the according philosophy/religion) and short periods of rapid change in technology and economy (as well as philosophy and, sometimes, religion). The short periods of rapid change take place immediately after revolutions of one kind or another.
Also, in Marxist theory, communism is the final evolutionary phase of society (coming after socialism), at which time the state would have withered away. Marx specified that the workers should rise up to destroy capitalism and replace it with socialism, a transitional stage during which the state holds the property of the means of production (property over the objects used in economic activities, not over items meant for personal use) on behalf of its citizens. According to Marx, socialism is, in turn, destined to be replaced by a classless, stateless and propertyless stage of society, named communism. Communism is supposed to be achieved by the "withering away" of the socialist state. This "withering away" consists of the transfer of power from the state to the people themselves - to be more exact, the representative democracy of socialism is to be gradually replaced by the direct democracy of communism.
"Communist states" never actually claimed to have reached communism. They claimed to be in the process of building communism, and they claimed to be socialist and democratic states. While most people would strongly disagree with the claim that those states were actually democratic in any way, the same standard is usually not applied to their claims of being socialist.
Leninist theory, developed by Bolshevik leader Vladimir Lenin, emphasises the role of a well-organized group of revolutionaries (usually called a Communist party) in planning and carrying out the revolution. According to Leninism, a Communist party must be organized along the principles of democratic centralism in order to maximize efficiency. Leninism departs from classical Marxism in arguing that the revolution will not begin in the most advanced capitalist countries, but in those where the capitalist ruling class is weakest - mostly poor, underdeveloped countries. From there, the revolution would need to spread quickly to the more advanced capitalist countries, because it is only with the help of an advanced technological and industrial base that socialism can be built.
With these principles in mind, right after the Russian Revolution, Lenin argued that the success of socialism in Russia depended on the victory of socialist revolutions in other countries (most notably the German Revolution). However, all the socialist revolutions that flared up across Europe in the years 1918-1922 were crushed. Russia found itself alone in its attempt to build socialism.
Lenin did not live long enough to formulate a solution to this problem. Instead, the role fell on his successors, the most notable of whom were Leon Trotsky and Joseph Stalin. Trotsky proposed his thesis of the " permanent revolution", while Stalin proposed " socialism in one country". Over the following years, Stalin gradually succeeded in eliminating all his opponents (including Trotsky) and taking over the Soviet government. He upheld and implemented the idea of "socialism in one country", which argued that socialism could and should be built in a single underdeveloped country - as the Soviet Union was at that time.
Stalin's policies went far beyond what had been anticipated, however. Throughout the 1930's, he created the State and Party structure on which all subsequent "communist states" were to be based. Power was centralized in his hands, and democracy was gradually removed from the decision-making process of the Communist Party (a process which culminated in the Great Purge).
Later, the practices of Mao Zedong in the People's Republic of China (generally known as Maoism) diverged from traditional Stalinism by putting the main emphasis on the peasantry (rather than the urban proletariat) as the engine of the revolution and subsequent post-revolutionary development.
The history of Communist Party-run governments is varied and complex, but it is possible to make some valid generalizations which apply to most examples: Communist Party-run governments have historically been characterized by state ownership of productive resources in a centrally planned economy and sweeping campaigns of economic restructuring such as nationalization of industry and land reform (often focusing on collective farming or state farms). However, although they promote collective ownership of the means of production, Communist Party-run governments are also characterized by strong state apparatuses, and decidedly non-collective decision making processes (power is often concentrated in the hands of a single individual). Many have characterized the old Soviet model as state socialism or state capitalism. At various times they have had to allow or even encourage certain forms of private property.
Further, critics have often claimed that a Stalinist or Maoist system of government creates a new ruling class, usually called the nomenklatura.
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