Despite the fact that communism was an urban phenomenon (albeit with
rustic roots) - it abnegated these "bourgeoisie" values. Communal
ownership replaced individual property and servitude to the state
replaced individualism. In communism, feudalism was restored. Even
geographical mobility was severely curtailed, as was the case in
feudalism. The doctrine of the Communist party monopolized all modes of
thought and perception - very much as the church-condoned religious
strain did 700 years before.
Communism was characterized by tensions between party, state and the
economy - exactly as the medieval polity was plagued by conflicts
between church, king and merchants-bankers. Paradoxically, communism
was a faithful re-enactment of pre-capitalist history.
Communism should be well distinguished from Marxism. Still, it is
ironic that even Marx's "scientific materialism" has an equivalent in
the twilight times of feudalism. The eleventh and twelfth centuries
witnessed a concerted effort by medieval scholars to apply "scientific"
principles and human knowledge to the solution of social problems. The
historian R. W. Southern called this period "scientific humanism" (in
"Flesh and Stone" by Richard Sennett, London, Faber and Faber, 1994).
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