anti-communist (adj.)

word-forming element of Greek origin meaning "against, opposed to, opposite of, instead," shortened to ant- before vowels and -h-, from Old French anti- and directly from Latin anti-, from Greek anti (prep.) "over, against, opposite; instead, in the place of; as good as; at the price of; for the sake of; compared with; in opposition to; in return; counter-," from PIE *anti "against," also "in front of, before" (from root *ant- "front, forehead," with derivatives meaning "in front of, before"), which became anti- in Italian (hence antipasto) and French.

It is cognate with Sanskrit anti "over, against," and Old English and- (the first element in answer). A common compounding element in Greek, in some combinations it became anth- for euphonic reasons. It appears in some words in Middle English but was not commonly used in English word formations until modern times. In a few English words (anticipate, antique) it represents Latin ante.

In noun compounds where it has the sense of "opposed to, opposite" (Antichrist, anti-communist) the accent remains on the anti-; in adjectives where it retains its old prepositional sense "against, opposed to," the accent remains on the other element (anti-Christian, anti-slavery).

1841, as both a noun and adjective, from French communiste, from commun (Old French comun "common, general, free, open, public;" see common (adj.)) + -iste (see -ist). First attested in writing by John Goodwin Barmby (1820-1881), British Owenite and utopian socialist who founded the London Communist Propaganda Society in 1841. Main modern sense, "an opponent of capitalism or supporter of revolutionary leftism," emerged after publication of Communist Manifesto ("Manifest der Kommunistischen Partei") in 1848.

All communists without exception propose that the people as a whole, or some particular division of the people, as a village or commune, should own all the means of production--land, houses, factories, railroads, canals, etc.; that production should be carried on in common; and that officers, selected in one way or another, should distribute among the inhabitants the fruits of their labor. [Richard T. Ely, "French and German Socialism in Modern Times," New York, 1883] 

 Shortened form Commie is attested from 1939. Century Dictionary (1900) recognizes the noun alone; as an adjective it has only communistic (1850) "relating to communists or communism."