Communism as a modern political movement is usually dated to the mid‑19th century, especially to 1848 with the publication of The Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. As an actual governing system, it begins with the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution in Russia and the creation of the Soviet Union in 1922.

Quick Scoop: Core Timeline

  • The word “communism” began to be used in the 1840s for radical socialist ideas in Europe.
  • In 1848, Marx and Engels published The Communist Manifesto , giving communism its classic modern program.
  • In 1917, the Bolsheviks seized power in Russia, leading to the first self-declared socialist/communist state and, in 1922, the Soviet Union.

So, if someone asks “when did communism start?”:

  • As an idea/ideology : the 1840s–1848.
  • As a state system in power : 1917–1922 in Russia.

Many historians also point out that earlier communities, like the first Christians or Thomas More’s fictional Utopia (1516), practiced or imagined communal property that looks “communist‑like,” but this is usually treated as precursors, not the start of modern communism.

TL;DR: Modern communism starts as a theory in the 1840s (especially 1848) and as a real political system with the Russian Revolution in 1917 and the founding of the Soviet Union in 1922.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.