Marxism v Socialism v Communism

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3/10/2016 Marxism v Socialism v Communism. What is the difference and why are they so popular in developing nations? : AskHistorians

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Marxism v Socialism v

Communism. What is the

difference and why are

they so popular in

developing nations?submitted 1 year ago by RJeevC

3 comments share

all

3

comments

[–] ainrialai The Left in 20th c. Latin America 7

points 1 year ago

Socialism is an economy in which

productive property (factories, farms,

workshops) is controlled socially. This

can mean direct workers' control, or

community ownership, or statecontrol on behalf of the people. There

are a great deal of socialist

ideologies. Broad categories include

Ask a question

This Week's Theme is Vice and Virtue

This is an archived post. You won't be

able to vote or comment.

I'm currently researching for a major

work in my last year in high school.

I've been looking at Sri Lanka

recently and have noticed a

popularity in the political sphere with

Communist/Marxist parties amongboth ethnic groups (tamil/sinhala). I

was just wondering why that might

be the case and what are the specific

outlines of each ideology?

comments

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democratic socialism, Marxism, and

anarchism.

Communism is a classless, stateless

society in which productive property

is commonly owned and economic

distribution is operated on the

principle of "from each according to

his ability, to each according to his

need." It also refers to a group of

ideologies which hold this form of

social organization as their end goal.

The most significant form of

communism is Marxism, and the

20th century was characterized by a

number of Marxist-Leninist states.

Anarchist communism is also

historically significant, though hasnot been nearly as popular as the

various forms of Marxist communism

since the late-19th and early-20th

centuries, except in select countries

or localities.

MARXIST

SOCIALISM/COMMUNISM

Marxism is an analytical framework

based on the writings of 19th

century German philosopher,

economist, and sociologist Karl Marx

and political philosopher and social

scientist Friedrich Engels. It holds

that human society is built primarily

on economic relations between

classes and that political and social

structures are built around these

relations. One's class is defined byone's relationship to production—who

owns capital, who works it for a

wage? Marxism analyzes social

changes and developments as the

product of conflicting classes

changing the structure of the

economy. Modern capitalism as the

result of the bourgeoisie, the current

capital-owning class, having wrestedcontrol of the economy away from

the aristocracy, or the feudal owning-

class. Bourgeois democracy follows as

political structures adapt. The

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primary class conflict in capitalism is

between the capital-owning class

(the bourgeoisie) and the working-

class (the proletariat). Marx argued

that the proletariat would seize

control of the economy and society,

in a stage he described as socialism.

In Marxist analysis, every state is the"dictatorship" of the economically

dominant class. The socialist stage is

therefore the "dictatorship of the

proletariat," in which the workers will

reorganize the economy until there

are no longer any classes. Without a

class that needs to enforce its

dominance over others, Marxists

believe that the state will witheraway and the final stage,

communism, will be reached. These

socialist revolutions will happen when

capitalism reaches its final stages of

development and becomes consumed

by its own contradictions. There's a

great deal of in-depth theory here—

this is just the barest summary.

Marxism-Leninism is a term coinedby Joseph Stalin to describe the

ideology of the Soviet Union during

his time, though Leninism also

refers more broadly to the ideas of

Vladimir Lenin. The bolshevik faction

of the Russian Revolution, lead by

Vladimir Lenin, established the

Soviet Union and had huge influence

on the global left. Lenin made

theoretical additions and alterations

to Marxism. For instance, Marx

argued that truly successful socialist

revolutions could only occur in fully

industrialized economies in the high

stages of capitalism. Lenin, however,

claimed that revolution would occur

where capitalism was weak, like in

semi-feudal Russia which was in

earlier stages of capitalism thanGermany or Britain. Marx's

conception of the dictatorship of the

proletariat was purposefully vague,

195 points · 78 comments

Sergey Lavrov says post-Napoleonic

international system was stable and just. It

ensured peace in Europe and was destroyed

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though in his life he did point to the

Paris Commune as an example.

Leninism introduces the vanguard

party, which is an organization of a

particularly class conscious sector of

the working-class (though some

bolshevik leaders like Lenin, Trotsky,

and Stalin were not working-class)which seizes control of the state and

guides the rest of the working-class

to socialism. After Lenin's death,

Stalin's codified Marxism-Leninism

also included the idea of Socialism in

One Country: that a Marxist

revolution didn't necessarily have to

engulf all the world at once and that

Marxist-Leninist states should focuson strengthening themselves and

building socialism internally.

Trotskyism is a Marxist and Leninist

(but not exactly "Marxist-Leninist")

ideology based on the theories of

Russian revolutionary Leon Trotsky.

The leader of the Red Army during

the revolution and civil war, Trotsky

was an opponent of Stalin during a1920s power struggle and therefore

Trotskyism doesn't grow out of the

exact ideology of "Marxism-Leninism"

coined by Stalin so much as from the

Leninism of the revolutionary and

early Soviet years. It has similar

ideas of a vanguard party, though

criticized the Soviet Union as a

degenerated workers' state in which

the state was no longer worker-

controlled but instead controlled by

Stalin's bureaucracy. Trotsky also had

the theory of permanent revolution,

in which a workers' revolution in an

economy which had not yet

experienced a complete bourgeois

capitalist revolution could carry out

the necessary developments of the

bourgeois revolution and its ownrevolution. This revolution could not

survive long under assault from

outside capitalists, and so Trotsky


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argued that it must be constantly

expansive, rather than focused on

building socialism in one country.

Expanding the revolution to

Germany, for example, would not

only put class enemies on the run

but also allow Germany's more

advanced industrial base—theproduct of a more complete

bourgeois revolution—to speed

Russia's journey to socialism.

Personally, Trotsky saw himself as a

Leninist.

Maoism is a development of

Marxism-Leninism based on the work

of Chinese revolutionary Mao

Zedong, and is sometimes calledMarxism-Leninism-Maoism. It is

"anti-revisionist," meaning that it is

based in Stalin's conception of

Marxism-Leninism and critiques the

post-Stalin reforms of Nikita

Khrushchev and other Soviet leaders

as abandoning the revolution.

Maoism draws lessons from the

Chinese revolutionary experience anda theoretical base from Mao's

additions to and adaptations of

Marxism-Leninism. It focuses more

on the peasantry—which Mao saw as

proletarianizing—as a revolutionary

class and puts more of an emphasis

on agrarian communities as the

center of socialism and the site of

future industrialization. In

comparison, classical Marxism was

more focused on urban, industrial

centers. Third World countries, the

victims of imperialism, are the places

where Maoist revolutions will begin

because capitalism has not made the

kind of appeasement to workers

there as it has in wealthier countries.

Maoism also adds ideas like the Mass

Line to the vanguard party, in orderto constantly incorporate the ideas of

the masses into party policy. Mao

argued that bourgeois ideology does


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believe that the state, which

concentrates power, cannot be used

to abolish class society and will not

wither away on its own. Syndicalist

revolutions, as in 1936 Spain,

attempt to directly seize and

reorganize the economy through

democratically run industrial laborunions, rather than through the

state. An anarchist society is typically

governed through community

democracy and temporary delegate

systems, rather than through fixed

representatives in a permanent state

structure. Market forms of anarchism

—like mutualism—exist, but

anarchist communism would be adecentralized planned economy

based on principles of mutual aid and

organized globally between

communities and industry-wide

workers' syndicates. There's much

more to say here, but anarchism

doesn't seem very relevant to what

you're studying, so I'll leave off it.

why are they so popular in

developing nations?

Well, I can't say for sure, but if you

look at what socialism promises—

workers' control, economic equality,

prosperity—then it's hardly

surprising that it would take off in

areas with high rates of poverty and

economic insecurity among theworking classes. Realities and results

have of course varied widely

depending on the characteristics of

individual movements.

I can't speak much to Sri Lanka, but

I anticipate you'll be looking into

Marxist-Leninist groups. I'm not an

expert in every topic I've covered

here, but let me know if you haveany more questions.

permalink

[–] Samuel_INapoleonic Europe | Medieval Military History

https://www.reddit.com/user/Samuel_Ihttp://void%280%29/https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/2r3dfa/marxism_v_socialism_v_communism_what_is_the/cnc9by5


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2 points 1 year ago

I've deleted my comment as

yours is a better answer to the

question. However, I will paste

part of my answer here to add

to your explanations.

For starters, it is important

to understand that Leftist

parties are and have also

been popular in many

'developed' nations. Eugene

V. Debbs ran for president in

the United States on the

Socialist Party ticket and

garnered 5-6% of the vote

more than once. Die Linke in

Germany is currently seeingan upswing in popularity.

The reasons why many

'developing' nations look to

Leftist alternatives are as

varied as the countries.

Common trends which can

be seen in revolutions and

popular movements

throughout the 20th centuryincluded economic inequality,

disenchantment with

capitalism, colonialism,

political pressure from the

USSR or other ostensible

Leftist states, opposition to

the United States and allies,

unequal distribution of

resources, empowering of

the populace, presence of de

facto oligarchies, etc. It

really depends on the

specific country in question.

Unfortunately, I do not know

much about Sri Lanka in

particular and would rather

leave that for someone more

well versed in the area.

I always feel it's important to

point out that there once was a

very strong Leftist movement

(though often disjointed) in the


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https://www reddit com/r/AskHistorians/comments/2r3dfa/marxism v socialism v communism what is the/ 9/9

United States. In my

experience, many Americans are

surprised to learn about Debbs.

In addition, Leftist parties tend

to have at least some political

capital in other Western states.

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