Marxism is the (delusional) political philosophy of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, and the related interpretation and practice. Any political practice or theory that is based on an interpretation of the works of Marx and Engels may be called Marxism. Sadly, the theoretical presence of Marxism is prevalent in many areas of western academia. This had radicalized most college and university campuses and damaged mosts fields of the "arts" and "sciences", "history", "journalism", "economics", "sociology", "philosophy", and definitely "political science". http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marxism What flavor of "communisim"? There are many. Generally speaking, Communism is a socioeconomic structure that promotes the establishment of a (purportedly) classless society based on common ownership of the means of production and property. According to Marxism, communism is the "final stage" in human society and is classless and stateless. Yeah, right! Leninists have attempted to produce communist societies by establishing political parties that become governments. Such attempts have never produced "pure" communist societies as envisioned by Marx and Engels. All ultimately lead to oppressive totalitarian states. Communism is often passed off as a branch of "socialism" -- a large conglomeration of social and political ideologies that draw from an assortment of movements. Communism attempts to offer an alternative to capitalism. Communism states that the only way to overcome the "problems" associated with capitalism is for the working class to rise up and destroy the wealthy class. Stalinism, Leninism, Trotskyism, and Maoism are the four most dominant formas of Communism, all of which are variants on Marxism. Non-Marxist versions of "communism" also exist. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Communism#Marxist_schools_of_communism Marxism and various forms of Communism are responsible for the slaughter of nearly 200 million souls in the past century. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democide So much for enthography. ;-)