Which statement best describes communism?

• A. A political theory derived from Karl Marx advocating class war and a society in which all property is publicly owned and each person works and is paid according to their abilities and needs.
• B. A political system headed by a dictator that calls for extreme nationalism and racism and has no tolerance for opposition.
• C. The First Industrial Revolution began in Great Britain in the late 18th century; it centered on coal-powered steam engines, textile machinery, and blast furnaces to produce iron.
• D. A system of government in which power is divided among legislative, executive, and judicial branches.

Answer: (A)

Communism centers on ownership of the means of production by the community and distribution based on need, aiming for a classless society. The statement is the best match because it explicitly says property is publicly owned and that people are paid according to their abilities and needs. This combines the idea of ending private control of major resources with a system that allocates goods and services based on need rather than market forces. In Marxist thought, this leads toward a planned, collective economy where wealth isn’t privately accumulated.

The other descriptions point to different ideas: a dictatorship with extreme nationalism describes fascism; a note about the Industrial Revolution describes a historical era and tech shift; and a system with separated government branches describes constitutional structure, not an economic ideology.