Karl Marx predicted that industrial capitalism’s inherent instability and exploitation would lead to a Communist revolution in industrial Europe....

In Marxism, communism can only develop in a fully capitalist country, and this form of communism involves total worker control (not state control). Marx would be surprised to find out that communism largely spread to impoverished countries such as Cuba and Russia and that the government, not workers, are in control in these countries.

In 1917, the Bolsheviks overthrew the tsar in Russia, and by 1922, the communists gained control of what became the Soviet Union. Unlike what Marx had predicted, communism developed in Russia when it was not a fully capitalist system but under the feudal-like regime of the tsar. After Lenin died in 1924, Stalin put into place the system of Marxism-Leninism in which the government, not the workers, controlled all forms of business. Again, this idea was not textbook Marxism but a form of Marxism-Leninism. In 1991, communism collapsed in the Soviet Union, and the Russian Federation today has a system that is largely market-based. This transformation would have surprised Marx, as he thought that capitalism would lead to communism, not the reverse. 

Marxism inspired the ideas of Marxism-Leninism, the philosophy of the former Soviet Union. Many countries around the world adopted forms of Marxism-Leninism and set up similar one-party states in which the government controlled the economy. Marxism-Leninism also involves establishing a social welfare system and opposing capitalism. However, these Marxist-Leninist systems were different than pure Marxism.

For example, after Fidel Castro took over Cuba in 1959, the island became Communist and followed a form of Marxism-Leninism. Their system had strong ties to the Soviet Union (until its collapse in 1991). Like the Soviet Union, Cuba was not a fully developed capitalist economy when it turned to communism. Instead, it was an impoverished agricultural society that was largely controlled by the U.S. Also like the Soviet Union, the government controls all business and means of production. This system is slowing starting to change, as American investment expands in Cuba. Like the former Soviet Union, Cuba's communism may slowly turn to a more market-based economy, which is also different from what Marx predicted.