Socialist Regimes

There are many people out there who like to claim that socialism has failed every time it has been put into practice.
On the contrary, there are many different examples of the successes of socialism.
Many have been crushed by outside forces fearing of a good example. Others have been pressured to give up the socialist cause. However, there are those that still exist, despite the odds they face.
Go ahead and choose a name and I'll explain a bit about the accomplishments of these great people.

Louis Charles Delescluze/Paris Commune

Louis Charles Delescluze was the leader of the Paris Commune.
In 1871, the people of Paris, fed up with the French Government and its pro-monarchist leanings, refused to accept its authority and established the Commune.
Known as the Communards, they succeeded in establishing the first socialist state.
Other communes popped up around the country as well in Marseille, Lyon, Saint-Étienne, and other cities. These were, unfortunately, shortlived.
The Paris Commune lasted for only two and a half months, but that is not to say its accomplishments weren't apparent.
In its short existence, the Commune managed a great deal. In many cases, it established many things that we have today, such as the separation of church and state, as well as the eight-hour workday.
However, some things were more radical. For example, workers' self-management over deserted businesses, the takeover of hotels to house refugees, and the return of pawned items to the working class.
The crowning achievement of the Commune, though, was its unique participatory democracy. Unlike representative democracy, delegates of the commune were required to represent the will of their communities and could be recalled at any time by a simple vote.
In addition, the districts were largely autonomous and were allowed to organize in any way they saw fit.
Sadly, the Commune was crushed by the French Army in what became known as the Bloody Week. In a feat of bloody terror, somewhere between 10,000 and 20,000 people were killed by the army.
Delescluze himself was killed during the bloody week. Ironically, he was posthumously sentenced to death for his role in leading the Commune.
The Communards put up a fierce resistance, but it was all for naught. They were grossly outnumbered and outgunned. With that, the first socialist state fell and the army proceeded to rampage throughout the city, killing tens of thousands of innocents.
While the defeat of the Commune was tragic, it lends some important lessons for the future. The Communards tended to be too lenient with the capitalists, which was a key reason for their downfall.
They refused to take the wealth of the bourgeoisie and they let them roam freely, which were two things they were keen to use against the Communards.
Perhaps most importantly, though, is the lesson that it is indeed possible for the working class to take power and create a new society.

György Lukács/Hungarian Soviet Republic

György Lukács was a Marxist philosopher, a commissar for the Hungarian Red Army, and the Minister of Culture for the Hungarian Soviet Republic, a revolutionary socialist state that was established in the aftermath of the First World War.
With growing support after the end of the war, the Party of Communists in Hungary was quick to form a governing coalition called the Revolutionary Governing Council, which set up the Soviet Republic.
The Soviet government decreed the abolition of aristocratic titles and privileges, the separation of church and state, codified freedom of speech and assembly, and implemented free education, language, and cultural rights to minorities.
They also nationalized industrial and commercial enterprises, and socialized housing, transport, banking, medicine, cultural institutions, and all landholdings of more than 40 hectares.
However, when asking the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic for support, they were turned down. Because of this, the Hungarian Soviet Republic was left without allies.
Facing increased aggression from the Entente Powers and especially the Kingdom of Romania, the Soviet Republic fought to reclaim its lost territory.
Eventually a trade of Hungarian-controlled Slovakia for Romanian-Controlled eastern Hungary was agreed upon and the Hungarian Red Army withdrew its troops.
The Entente decided to go back on their deal, however, and the Soviet Republic responded by trying to take the land back by force. This failed and set the stage for a Romanian invasion.
Upon the defeat of the Soviet Republic, the Kingdom of Romania set up a puppet state and most of the communist government fled into exile, but were later purged by Stalin.
One of the few exceptions to this was Lukács, who stayed in Hungary and led the underground communist movement.  A white terror followed against not only communists, but all leftists including social democrats.
Lukács remained a prominent figure in communist circles until his death in 1971.

Rosa Luxemburg/Free Socialist Republic of Germany

Rosa Luxemburg was a German revolutionary who founded the Communist Party of Germany and led the Spartacist Uprising along with Karl Liebknecht.
She never ran a government herself, but she became a symbol of the revolution and of the communist-controlled areas during the German Revolution.
Towards the end of the First World War, rebellions began to take place all over the German Empire. These rebellions evolved into a full-scale revolution that managed to seize Bremen, Braunschweig, Würzburg, Munich, and Alsace, among others.
The Spartacist League then declared these areas to be an independent socialist republic under the name of the Free Socialist Republic of Germany.
Revolutionary Councils were elected to represent the people, but the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) and the Independent Social Democratic Party of Germany (USPD) refused to work with them.
In response, the Sparticist League and other left parties united to form the Communist Party of Germany (KPD).
In January of 1919, the KPD organized strikes across Berlin which became known as the Spartacist Uprising.
Initially, Luxemburg was against this and desired that the KPD take place in the upcoming elections, but she changed her mind once she saw the direction of the Uprising.
They seized buildings across the capital and engaged in a standoff against the government, but while having the support of the workers, they were unable to garner the support of the military.
The KPD was invited to talks with the government, but it was soon discovered that the government had planned to hire the Freikorps (anti-Republican paramilitary organizations) to attack the workers.
In response, the KPD called on its members to engage in armed combat. The Freikorps was also ordered to attack.
Due to the Freikorps having leftover weapons from the First World War, they easily took back the buildings that had been siezed by the workers, killing 156 civilians in the process.
Luxemburg and Liebknecht were captured and executed by the Freikorps. While Liebknecht's body was delivered anonymously to a morgue, Luxemburg's body was thrown into the Landwehr Canal and was not found until July.
However, this was not the end of the German Revolution. There were further armed revolts in response to the executions and Council Republics were declared in Bavaria and Bremen.
Despite the offer to negotiate, the Bremen Council Republic was swiftly invaded by the Freikorps and about 400 innocents were killed.
Bavaria began to enact communist reforms, which included introcuding an eight-hour workday, forming a Red Army, seizing money and food supplies, expropriating luxurious apartments and giving them to the homeless, and placing factories under the ownership and control of their workers.
They also had plans to abolish paper money and reform the education system, but they never had time to implement them.
After only a month, the Bavarian Council Republic was crushed, once again by the Freikorps, along with the lives of 700 innocents.

Nestor Makhno/Free Territory

Nestor Makhno was the military leader of the Revolutionary Insurrectionary Army of Ukraine (also known as the Black Army) during the Russian Civil War.
The Black Army defended an area known as the Free Territory, which was an anarcho-communist society that functioned independently of the Bolsheviks.
In 1918, the Black Army was formed from the unification of several bands of Ukrainian anarcho-communist guerrillas.
From about 15,000 troops, they numbered over 100,000 by the end of the year.
With the protection of the Black Army, the Free Territory created a society based on co-operation with no state power, no politicians, and subsequently no concept of property. They called for freedom of speech, press, assembly, and unions.
The Makhnovists supported free worker-peasant soviets and opposed the central government. They threw open the prisons, blew up police stations, overthrew the bosses, and returned power directly to the workers.
There were various congresses of soviets, in which all political parties and groups (including Bolsheviks) were permitted to participate, to the extent that members of these parties were elected delegates from worker, peasant, or militia councils.
The Bolshevik government sided with the Makhnovists, seeing it as an experiment. Lenin called the Makhnovists important for the revolution, saying their influence would "speed up the victory of communism over capital and its authority."
Trotsky saw things differenly than Lenin, unfortunately. He referred to them as "bandits" and "kulaks", making outlandish claims of them stealing Bolshevik supplies, and even breaking their nonagression treaty on multiple occasions.
In 1919, Trotsky made the official order to crush the Makhnovists. They managed to hold out until 1921, but were unable to win against the strength of both the White and Red Armies, which were 24 and 30 times bigger then them, respectively.
About 7 million people lived under the Free Territory, and the Makhnovists continued to have and underground presence until the 1940s, even fighting in the Second World War.

Chen Duxiu/China

Chen Duxiu was one of the founders of the Communist Party of China.
He was a leading figure in the anti-imperial Xinhai Revolution and the May Fourth Movement for Science and Democracy.
After the founding of the Communist Party of China in 1921, Chen served as the head of Guangzhou province's education board.
The Coimintern ordered him to work together with the Kuomintang in the First United Front, which he was reluctant to do, and rightfully so, for the Kuomintang later purged the communists in the Shanghai Massacre of 1927.
Because of this, he refused to cooperate with the Comintern any longer. In addition, he came into conflict with Mao Zedong, whom was being pushed by Stalin to support peasant uprisings rather than the workers.
Chen denounced Stalin's dictatorship, and held that various democratic institutions, including independent judiciaries, opposition parties, a free press, and free elections were important and valuable.
Because of this, Chen was forced to resign from his position as general secretary and later was expelled from the party altogether.
He was then arrested by the government of the Shanghai International Settlement, which ironically saved him from the turmoil of the 1930s which killed most CPC leaders except for Mao. However, he was never able to regain influence.
Instead, Mao took power and would lead the People's Republic of China for 27 years, not including the areas controlled by the CPC before the founding of the PRC.
After the founding of the PRC, Chen's example was used to warn Communist Party members not to deviate from party orthodoxy.

Kim Chwa-chin/Shinmin Autonomous Region

Kim Chwa-chin was a Korean general who defended the Autonomous Shinmin Region from Japanese agression.
When the Korean Anarchist Federation founded a rebel community in Manchuria in the province of Shinmin in 1929, Kim was chosen to lead its armed forces.
Over two million Korean immigrants lived within Manchuria at the time when the KAF declared the Shinmin province autonomous and under the administration of the Korean People's Association.
The decentralized, federative structure the association adopted consisted of village councils, district councils and area councils, all of which operated in a cooperative manner to deal with agriculture, education, finance and other vital issues.
KAF sections in China, Korea, Japan and elsewhere devoted all their energies towards the success of the Shinmin Rebellion, most of them actually relocating there.
Like the Maknovists, the Autonomous Shinmin Region was stuck between two enemies: the Chinese Soviet Republic led by Mao Zedong and the Japanese Empire, who wanted the territory for themselves.
Kim Chwa-chin often took part in daily life in Shinmin, and was therefore assassinated in 1930 while repairing a rice mill the KAF had built.
After his assassination, Shinmin faced major trouble in terms of attacks from their enemies. The Maoist Chinese attacked from the north and the imperialist Japanese attacked from the south.
By 1932, the war had become unsustainable and the KAF went underground. Kim Chwa-chin is still seen as a hero in both Koreas today.

Buenaventura Durruti/Revolutionary Catalonia

Buenaventura Durruti was a CNT-FAI militant who fought in the Spanish Civil War.
Although he was killed early on in the war, he became a symbol for the anarcho-syndicalist movement and the Republican faction in general.
Following a nationalist coup that failed to take the entire country, a civil war ensued, and alongside it, a social revolution took place in the Republican-controlled areas.
This took place primarily in Catalonia, Aragon, Andalusia, and parts of the Valencian Community. Much of the economy of Spain was put under worker control. In anarchist strongholds like Catalonia, the figure was as high as 75%.
Factories were run through worker committees, agrarian areas became collectivized and run as libertarian socialist communes. Even places like hotels, barber shops, and restaurants were collectivized and managed by their workers.
The anarchist-held areas were run according to the basic principle of "From each according to his ability, to each according to his need." In some places, money was entirely eliminated, to be replaced with vouchers.
Numerous sources attest that industrial productivity doubled almost everywhere across the country and agricultural yields increased by as much as 50% as a result of newly applied scientific methods.
The newly liberated zones worked on entirely libertarian socialist principles; decisions were made through councils of ordinary citizens without any sort of bureaucracy.
In addition to the economic revolution, there was a spirit of cultural revolution. For instance, women were allowed to have abortions, and the idea of "free love" became popular.
Practically every building of any size had been seized by the workers and was draped with red flags and with the red and black flag of the Anarchists; every wall was scrawled with the hammer and sickle and with the initials of the revolutionary parties.
About eight million people participated directly or at least indirectly in the Spanish Revolution, which opened a new way of life to those who sought an alternative to anti-social capitalism.
The biggest problem that faced the revolution was the nationalist faction itself, however. It was being supported by the fascist regimes of Germany, Italy, and Portugal, while the Republicans only got minimal support from the Soviet Union, which had signed the Non-Intervention Agreement.
The nationalist faction was mostly made up of military personell as well, which left the Republican forces (mostly workers) at a disadvantage.
After the fall of Catalonia in January 1939, it wasn't long before countries started recognizing Franco's dictatorship. By April the war was lost and the revolution was crushed.
A period of white terror continued for nearly 10 years and Spain remained under a fascist regime until 1975, resulting in the killing of up to 400,000 innocents.

Josip Broz Tito/Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia

Josip Broz Tito was the leader of the Yugoslav Partisans in the Second World War and later the president of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.
The Yugoslav Partisans were the most effective resistance group in the Second World War, having liberated the country with little outside support.
From small pockets of liberated territory like the Republic of Užice and the Republic of Bihać, most of the country was liberated by early 1944, save for strongholds in Zagreb, Belgrade, and the unique case of Slovenia, which had been divvied up and annexed by the axis powers.
With assistance from the Red Army, the Yugoslav Partisans had liberated Belgrade by the end of the year, and by 1945 had reached a fighting force of 800,000.
With that, Tito became the leader of the new Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia. Initially a favourite of Stalin, relations were quick to sour between the two. After becoming disillusioned with Stalinist repression, Tito refused to let it go on any longer, famously saying, "Enough of the killing. We've done enough of that. We must stop it."
Adopting a form of market socialism that came to be known as Titoism, Yugoslavia ended up with the highest living standards in Eastern Europe, on the same level as some Western European nations such as Portugal.
When Tito died in 1980, Yugoslavs were devastated. Amidst a football game, the announcement was made. The players were visually shaken and the crowd began to chant, "Druže Tito mi ti se kunemo, da sa tvoga puta ne skrenemo," which means, "Comrade Tito we swear to you, from your path we will never depart."
His funeral is regarded as the largest state funeral in history, with both sides of the Cold War gathering in the country to pay their respects. Notably absent from the funeral was Jimmy Carter, which he was criticized for even by Republicans, which shows just how much Tito was respected.
Despite his death, Yugoslavia continued to be as successful as ever under the policy of "After Tito - Tito," implying his legacy would go on. It even became the second socialist country to host the olympics in 1984, after the Soviet Union in 1980.
Things only started to go downhill after Ronald Reagan specifically targeted Yugoslavia in the mid-1980's and advocated "expanded efforts to promote a 'quiet revolution'" to overthrow the Yugoslav government. This meant sending aid to groups that the US government deemed "democratic", which were usually far-right nationalistic parties.
This allowed people like Slobodan Milošević and Franjo Franjo Tuđman to get into power and start pressing for nationalistic reforms and even full-on independence in some cases.
When George H.W. Bush cut off all relations with Yugoslavia, this was the final nail in the coffin before the bloody Yugoslav Wars that split up the country and ended socialism in Yugoslavia.
Despite this, many citizens of the former Yugoslav states have a feeling of Yugo-nostalgia and use the phrase "Jugoslavija i opet Tito," meaning "Yugoslavia and Tito again."

Imre Nagy/Hungarian Revolution

Imre Nagy was a Hungarian politican who led the Hungarian Revolution of 1956.
He had initally served for two years as Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the People's Republic of Hungary from 1953 to 1955, but fell out of favour with the Soviets after he promoted a "new course" in socialism.
When the 1956 Revolution sparked, the workers placed him back into power by popular demand.
He quickly announced Hungary's withdrawl from the Warsaw Pact and the intent to remain a neutral state while appealing for assistance from the international community in a feat similar to Josip Broz Tito in Yugoslavia.
Throughout this period, Nagy remained steadfastly committed to Marxism; but his conception of Marxism was as "a science that cannot remain static", and he railed against the "rigid dogmatism" of "the Stalinist monopoly".
Local revolutionary councils formed throughout Hungary, and the Nagy government asked for their support as "autonomous, democratic local organs formed during the Revolution".
Likewise, workers' councils were established at industrial plants and mines, and many unpopular regulations such as production norms were eliminated.
The workers' councils strove to manage the enterprise while protecting workers' interests, thus establishing a socialist economy free of rigid party control.
For the Soviets, this was unnaceptable. They refused to negotiate and instead quickly crushed the revolution and placed János Kádár into power. Some 3,000 Hungarians were killed and a period of political suppression followed for 30 years.
Imre Nagy himself was given sanctuary in the Yugoslav Embassy, and while he was promised free passage, he was arrested anyways and sentenced to death two years later.

E.M.S. Namboodiripad/Kerala

Elamkulam Manakkal Sankaran Namboodiripad, known as E.M.S., was an Indian politician who served as the first Chief Minister of Kerala and founded the Communist Party of India (Marxist).
A Communist-led government under E.M.S. resulted from the first elections for the new Kerala Legislative Assembly in 1957, making him the first communist leader in India to head a popularly-elected government.
It was one of the earliest elected communist governments, after the success of the Sammarinese Communist Party in the 1945 elections in San Marino.
Soon after the introduction of the Land Reform Ordinance and Education Bill, the opposition of the elected state government broke out to an open struggle and statewide violence against the government machinery and institutions.
The conflict culminated when Indira Gandhi convinced Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru to dismiss the democratically-elected government in 1959 and place it directly under the president's rule.
Declassified CIA documents show that the first communist government concerned them and "preventing additional Keralas became an important argument for augmenting U.S. assistance to India".
To their dismay, however, E.M.S. was re-elected. In response, the government was forced out of office once again and E.M.S. resigned. Despite this, the CPI(M) managed to maintain power in the state for 50 years.
Thanks to land reforms made in the 60s and 70s, far-left governments have had a lasting impact in the state, which has some of the highest human development indexes in India.
Nowadays Kerala has the lowest positive population growth rate in India; the highest Human Development Index; the highest literacy rate; the highest life expectancy; and the highest sex ratio, being the only state where women outnumber men.

Alexander Dubček/Prague Spring

Alexander Dubček was a Czechoslovak politican who initiated the Prague Spring.
After 20 years of Czechoslovakia's status as a Soviet satellite state, Dubček came to power with his idea of "socialism with a human face," in which he promised to reform the socialist system in place in the country. Because of this, he became popular not only at home, but abroad as well.
Dubček soon launched the "Action Programme," which included increasing freedom of the press, freedom of speech, and freedom of movement, with economic emphasis on consumer goods, limits on the secret police, and the possibility of a multiparty government.
The programme also covered foreign policy, including both the maintenance of good relations with Western countries and cooperation with the Soviet Union and other Eastern Bloc nations.
It spoke of a ten-year transition through which democratic elections would be made possible and a new form of democratic socialism would replace the status quo.
Fearing another Hungary, the Warsaw Pact invaded Czechoslovakia despite ongoing talks. Neither Romania nor Albania took part in the invasion, and East Germany received orders from Moscow not to take part.
Dubček was captured and expelled from the Communist Party. After this, under the leadership of Gustáv Husák, most of the reforms of the Prague Spring were undone and Czechoslovakia was kept under a watchful eye by the Soviet Union.

Salvador Allende/Chile

Salvador Allende was the 29th president of Chile and the first communist to be elected in Latin America.
In 1970 the Unidad Popular (Popular Unity) alliance managed to secure a plurality of votes, resulting in Allende being elected to the presidency. Despite efforts to prevent him taking office, he successfuly assumed the presidency after being ratified by Congress.
Allende referred to his policies as "the Chilean way to socialism," which included nationalization of large-scale industries such as copper, of the health care system, reforming the educational system, a program of free milk for children, and land redistribution.
The Allende Government achieved economic growth, reductions in inflation and unemployment, a redistribution of income, and an increase in consumption. The government also significantly increased salaries and wages, reduced taxes, and introduced free distribution of some items of prime necessity.
Groups which had previously been excluded from the state labor insurance scheme were included for the first time, while pensions were increased for widows, invalids, orphans, and the elderly. The National Milk Plan affected 50% of Chilean children in 1970, providing millions with half a litre of milk daily, free of charge.
The government's intention was to seize all holdings of more than eighty basic irrigated hectares. Allende also intended to improve the socio-economic welfare of Chile's poorest citizens; a key element was to provide employment, either in the new nationalised enterprises or on public works projects.
The economic results of the government's expansive monetary policy were unambiguously favorable: 12% industrial growth and an 8.6% increase in GDP, accompanied by major declines in Chile's long-endemic chronic inflation (down from 34.9% to 22.1%) and unemployment (down to 3.8%).
Behind Allende's back, the Nixon administration and Chile's corporate and military elite conspired to sabotage Allende's reforms and destroy the economy. Although Allende's policies were successful, Chile still needed foreign loans to survive, and so the Nixon administration got the IMF to suspend all aid.
This decimated the economy and stunted the progress Allende had made over his first few years in office. In addition, businessowners began to hoard food and other necessities to purposefully sabotage the economy.
Sabotage turned to treason when the CIA sponsored a coup to overthrow Allende. During the coup, Allende died in uncertain and controversial circumstances which allowed to General Augusto Pinochet to take power and set up a repressive military junta that lasted for 17 years.
Still, communist resistance to Pinochet continued to exist under his rule. Even guerrilla groups like the FPMR fought to restore Chilean socialism.

France-Albert René/Seychelles

France-Albert René was the socialist president of Seychelles for 27 years.
In 1977, supporters of René installed him as president in a coup d'état. After coming to power, René declared that he was not a Soviet-style communist, but rather an "Indian Ocean socialist."
After the 1977 coup, a significant portion of the population fled to the UK and South Africa due to fear of political persecution.
With assistance from the United States and South Africa, these deserters attempted to launch multiple coups through South African mercenaries. These all failed and the mercenaries were detained, later being exchanged for ransom.
During the many years of his Presidency, René was an extremely well-loved and respected national figure. He managed to turn Seychelles from a poverty-stricken country to a middle income well-governed state, with universal health coverage and over 90% literacy rate.
He led his country to the point of being the most developed country in Africa, as measured by the Human Development Index, and helped build one of the continent's highest gross domestic products per capita.
His supporters believe that he had solid social priorities, including his government's extensive funding of education, health care and the environment. Critical indicators such as infant mortality, literacy rate, and economic well-being are among the best in the continent.
During his rule, Seychelles avoided the volatile political climate and underdevelopment in neighbouring island countries such as Comoros and Madagascar.
His extreme popularity allowed him to win presidential elections in 1979, 1984, 1989, 1993, 1998 and 2001. In 2004, René stepped down from the presidency. For the time being, he continues as leader of the Seychelles People's Progressive Front.

Heng Samrin/People’s Republic of Kampuchea

Heng Samrin was the leader of the Kampuchean United Front for National Salvation (known by its French acronym, FUNSK) during the Kampuchean Revolution and, after its victory, the president of the People's Republic of Kampuchea.
Originally being a member of the Khmer Rouge, he became disillusioned once he saw the horrific acts being committed by the government of the so-called Democratic Kampuchea.
Being a military commander in the east of the country, he managed to get in contact with the Vietnamese and other Kampucheans who had managed to defect. Not long after, Pol Pot ordered for massacres among his ranks in the east.
Amidst fighting between Eastern Zone defectors and Central Zone forces loyal to Pol Pot, Vietnam launched an operation inside Kampuchea to contact Heng Samrin, Chea Sim, and others in the jungle and escort them to Vietnam.
Here the Eastern Zone defectors met the Khmer Viet Minh, Kampuchean communists who lived in exile in Vietnam after the 1954 Geneva Conference. Together they formed FUNSK, which aimed to overthrow the Pol Pot-Ieng Sary clique.
A force of 20,000 FUNSK rebels entered the country, and with Vietnamese assistance, managed to topple the regime of Pol Pot in less than two weeks. People were so supportive of the Revolution that as the country was liberated, more and more people joined until the FUNSK's numbers had doubled.
Despite liberating the country, very few nations recognized the new government. While a few countries like the Soviet Union, Vietnam, and India supported the new PRK, most of the world including the United States, the United Kingdom, and China continued to support the Khmer Rouge.
As such, they continued to wage a guerrilla war on the Thai border. But despite being in a constant state of war and in near-complete isolation, the PRK government managed some amazing things.
In a mere 10 years, the PRK managed to restore much of Kampuchea to its pre-war standards of living, returning people to the cities, ending the famine the Khmer Rouge started, and educating the youth of the country despite the Khmer Rouge's purges of teachers.
When the PRK was first established, there was no police, no schools, no books, no hospitals, no post and telecommunications, no legal system and no commercial networks, whether state-owned or private. From 1979 to 1989 this changed under Heng Samrin's leadership.
Most importantly, the PRK managed to restore the idea of communism for the Kampuchean people.
Unfortunately, with the fall of socialism worldwide, the PRK was faced with two options: give concessions to the West or starve like in Cuba or North Korea and possibly fall to the Khmer Rouge due to losing most of its allies.
In response, Heng Samrin stepped down and the monarchy was restored to appease the west, ending socialism in Kampuchea. Rather than participate in bourgeois democracy, Heng Samrin completely retired from politics, though his party, the Cambodian People's Party, continues to be elected.
Heng Samrin is still seen as a national hero and is known as "the man of the people," monuments are still built in remembrance of the FUNSK rebels, and the days of the PRK are fondly remembered by the Cambodian people.

Maurice Bishop/People’s Revolutionary Government of Grenada

Maurice Bishop was a Grenadian revolutionary who led an armed revolt against the dictatorship of Eric Gairy and replaced it with the People's Revolutionary Government.
In 1979, the New JEWEL Movement had formed the National Liberation Army which seized the military barracks, radio station, government buildings, and police stations across the country.
With the success of the Revolution, PRG established close relations with the government of Cuba, and with Cuban assistance began construction of a large international airport.
The PRG improved the condition of women, housing development and rehabilitation, supported creation of agricultural and worker cooperatives, massive growth in university scholarships, expansion of adult education/literacy, and infrastructure development such as rural electrification and extension of the road network.
Grenada's per capita income was $870 in 1982, ranking the country 10th in per capita income among the English-speaking Caribbean; about 38% of Grenadians now had access to pipe-drawn water; unemployment dropped from 49% at the time of the Revolution to 14%; the economy also grew by 5.5% in 1982; and real wages increased by 3%.
But despite being a tiny island nation of about 100,000 people, the United States still saw Grenada as a threat that had followed the example of Cuba and Nicaragua. In order to prevent any more revolutions, the United States decided to make an example of Grenada since they had failed in doing so to the former two.
After a coup by pro-Soviet elements of the New JEWEL Movement that had Bishop placed under house arrest, large popular demonstrations began to form in different areas of the country. The masses managed to free Bishop and made their way to the police headquarters at Fort Rupert.
Fighting broke out between the police and the civilians at Fort Rupert resulting in Bishop and several others being rounded up and executed.
After the executions, a new government called the Revolutionary Military Council, led by General Hudson Austin, was formed to rule the country and the PRG ceased to exist.
The United States saw this chaos as an opportunity to invade the island and the new government was crushed in six days, much of it due to low morale from Bishop's death.
Despite the lasting US influence after the invasion, Bishop is still a much-beloved figure in Grenada. The airport built with Cuban funds was even renamed in his honour in 2009.

Thomas Sankara/Burkina Faso

Thomas Sankara was a Marxist revolutionary who served as president of Burkina Faso from 1983 to 1987.
Sankara seized power in a popularly-supported coup with the goal of eliminating corruption and the dominance of the former French colonial power.
He immediately launched one of the most ambitious programs for social and economic change ever attempted on the African continent. To symbolize this new autonomy and rebirth, he renamed the country from the French colonial Upper Volta to Burkina Faso ("Land of Upright Man").
His foreign policies were centered on anti-imperialism, with his government eschewing all foreign aid, pushing for odious debt reduction, nationalizing all land and mineral wealth, and averting the power and influence of the IMF and World Bank.
His domestic policies were focused on preventing famine with agrarian self-sufficiency and land reform, prioritizing education with a nationwide literacy campaign, and promoting public health by vaccinating 2.5 million children against meningitis, yellow fever, and measles.
Other components of his national agenda included planting over ten million trees to halt the growing desertification of the Sahel, doubling wheat production by redistributing land from feudal landlords to peasants, suspending rural poll taxes and domestic rents, and establishing an ambitious road and rail construction program to "tie the nation together".
On the localized level Sankara also called on every village to build a medical dispensary and had over 350 communities construct schools with their own labour.
Moreover, his commitment to women's rights led him to outlaw female genital mutilation, forced marriages and polygamy, while appointing women to high governmental positions and encouraging them to work outside the home and stay in school even if pregnant.
His revolutionary programs for African self-reliance made him an icon to many of Africa's poor. Sankara remained popular with most of his country's impoverished citizens.
With support from the tribal leaders whom he stripped of the long-held traditional right to forced labour and tribute payments, France, and Ivory Coast, Sankara was overthrown and assassinated in a coup d'état led by Blaise Compaoré in 1987.
He remains a popular figure in Africa, commonly referred to as "Africa's Che Guevara".

Subcomandante Marcos/Rebel Zapatista Autonomous Municipalities

Subcomandante Marcos was the nom de guerre of the main spokesperson for the Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN).
The Zapatistas began an uprising against the Mexican government in 1994 in response to the implementation of the NAFTA agreement. After 12 days of fighting a ceasefire was called and peace talks began.
Since 1994, the group has been in a declared war against the Mexican state, and against military, paramilitary, and corporate incursions into Chiapas.
In 1996, the Zapatistas and the government reached an agreement, and signed the San Andrés Accords, which granted autonomy, recognition, and rights to the indigenous population of Mexico.
The Zapatistas also control small territories called the Rebel Zapatista Autonomous Municipalities which function outside of Mexican law.
Known as MAREZ, these territories are coordinated by Autonomous Councils and their main objectives have been to promote education and health in their territories.
They also fight for land rights, labor and trade, housing, and fuel-supply issues, promoting arts (especially, indigenous language and traditions), and administering justice.
In various communities, the general assemblies meet for a week to decide on various aspects concerning the community. The assemblies are open to everyone, without a formal bureaucracy.
The decisions made by the communities are then passed to elected delegates whose job is to pass the information to a board of delegates. The delegates can be revoked and also serve on a rotation basis. In this way, it is expected that the largest number of people may express their points of view.
In 2014, Subcomandante Marcos announced his last public appearance, but the Zapatistas live on.

Salih Muslim Muhammad/Rojava

Salih Muslim Muhammad is the co-chairman of the Democratic Union Party, the driving force behind the Kurdish-controlled state of Rojava in northern Syria.
Rojava gained its autonomy in 2013, as part of the ongoing Rojava conflict, establishing a society based on principles of direct democracy, gender equality, and sustainability.
Its political system of Rojava is inspired by Democratic Confederalism and communalism. It is influenced by anarchist and libertarian principles and is considered by many a type of libertarian socialism.
The governance model of Rojava has an emphasis on local management, with regions divided into cantons with democratically elected committees to make decisions.
The extreme laws restricting independent political organizing, women's freedom, religious and cultural expression and the discriminatory policies carried out by the Assad regime have been abolished. In its place, a constitution guaranteeing the cultural, religious and political freedom of all people has been established.
It also explicitly states the equal rights and freedom of women and also "mandates public institutions to work towards the elimination of gender discrimination." Under the Assad regime as well as militant Islamist groups, women face extreme forms of repression, violence and discrimination.
The Rojava economy is a blend of private companies, the autonomous administration and worker cooperatives. The majority of the economy goes towards supporting forces fighting the Assad regime, Islamist forces and now on occasion Turkish forces.
Before the revolution, the Assad regime intentionally kept northern Syria de-industrialized in order to keep the area dependent on Arab majority areas to the south. Since the revolution, efforts have been made to transition the economy to one of self-sufficiency based on worker and producer cooperatives.
Seen as a modern-day Catalonia, leftists from around the globe have flocked to Rojava to fight in the war, forming the International Freedom Battalion. Inspiration for the group came from the International Brigades of the Spanish Civil War.
The Rojavan forces have proven themselves to be the most effective fighting force against ISIS, and, despite some concessions, are fiercely opposed to the Assad regime as well.
Only time will tell what becomes of the Rojavan revolution.

(I want Xexizy to marry me <3)