People's Republic
People's Republic (sometimes
Popular Republic) is a title that is often used by
Marxist-Leninist governments to describe their
state. The motivation for using this term lies in the claim that Marxist-Leninists govern in accordance with
the interests of the vast majority of the people, and, as such, a Marxist-Leninist republic is a
people's republic. Many of these countries also called themselves
socialist states in their
constitutions. Opponents of Marxism-Leninism argue that the name "people's republic" is merely used for
propaganda purposes. In
the West, countries governed by Marxist-Leninists are sometimes referred to as "
Communist states," though they never actually used this name for themselves (see the main article on
communist states for more information).
Currently, the
People's Republic of China is the only Marxist-Leninist state in the world that uses the title People's Republic, and American media may occassionally use just "People's Republic" to refer to the PRC.
Two other Marxist-Leninist states include the words People's Republic in their full names:
*
Laos (Lao
People's Democratic
Republic)
*
North Korea (Democratic
People's Republic of Korea)
Historical examples include:
*
Hungarian People's Republic (1949–1989)
*
Mongolian People's Republic (1924–1992)
*People's Republic of
Albania (1946–1976)
*People's Republic of
Bulgaria (1946–1990)
*
People's Republic of Bukhara (1920–1924)
*
People's Republic of Romania (1947–1965)
*
People's Republic of Poland (1952–1989)
*People's Republic of
South Yemen (1967–1970)
*People's Republic of
Benin (1975–1990)
*People's Republic of the
Congo (1970–1992)
*People's Republic of
Mozambique (1975–1990)
*People's Republic of
Angola (1975–1992)
*People's Republic of
Kampuchea (1979–1989)
Nominally socialist
Libya is officially named the "Great Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamhariya,"
jamhariya meaning "republic" in
Arabic.
Other titles commonly used by Marxist-Leninist states are "
Democratic Republic" (e.g. the
German Democratic Republic), and "
Socialist Republic" (e.g. the
Socialist Republic of Vietnam).
However, neither of the two titles mentioned above, nor the term "People's Republic" itself, are
unique to Marxist-Leninists. All three of them have also been used by a number of countries which are/were not Marxist-Leninist (in other words, they are/were not communist states). The reason for this is the rather generic nature of the titles in question. Marxist-Leninists are by no means alone in claiming to be democratic, socialist or popular. Thus, at the present time, there are two People's Republics which do not subscribe to Marxism-Leninism:
Algeria (People's Democratic Republic of Algeria) and
Bangladesh (People's Republic of Bangladesh).
Sometimes People's Republic is used
sarcastically to refer to any predominantly
left-wing or
liberal area, especially those cities with a large, liberal,
university population. The usage probably derives from the late
1960s, when
The People's Republic of Berkeley (California) was used to describe the site of the radical
Free Speech Movement. Similarly, the cities of
Austin, Texas,
Boulder, Colorado,
Ann Arbor, Michigan, and
Cambridge, Massachusetts are nicknamed
The People's Republic of Austin,
The People's Republic of Boulder,
The People's Republic of Ann Arbor, and
The People's Republic of Cambridge respectively, for their left-wing reputations. Attribution of the moniker is particularly prevalent in cases where a municipality represents an island of liberal politics within a more conservative, especially rural, area. Despite the derisive manner in which the term is used, some have come to adopt it, usually in an ironic manner. For example, there is a pub in Cambridge dubbed
People's Republik, complete with faux-
Cyrillic type on its storefront.
In the 1970s, industrial areas in the
north of England were known as the
People's (or Socialist) Republic of South Yorkshire."
Wadham College, part of the
University of Oxford has been called the "People's Republic of Wadham," as a result of its reputation for radicalism.
Cork City,
Ireland is often jocularly referred to as the "The People's Republic of Cork," due to its
sports teams' red shirts and the people's dislike for "jackeens" (residents of the capital,
Dublin City). The term was coined in 1997 [
1] and
The People's Republic of Cork is a popular satire website.
Some
anarchists use the term People's Republic as meaning any state that not only provides welfare and other public institutions, but also has little or no government. The theory is that a "truthfully named People's Republic" will be run by the people.
