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Marxism 1

Marxism

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Marxism is a method of socio-economic inquiry based upon a materialist interpretation of historical development, a

dialectical view of social change, and an analysis of class-relations and conflict within society. Marxist methodology

informs an economic and sociopolitical worldview based on their application to the analysis and critique of the

development of capitalism and the role of class struggle in systemic economic change. In the mid-to-late 19th

century, the intellectual tenets of Marxism were inspired by two German philosophers: Karl Marx and Friedrich

Engels. Marxist analyses and methodologies have influenced multiple political ideologies and social movements

throughout history. Marxism encompasses an economic theory, a sociological theory, a philosophical method, and a

revolutionary view of social change.[1]

There is no one definitive Marxist theory; Marxist analysis has been appliedto a variety of different subjects and has been misconceived and modified during the course of its development,

resulting in multiple and sometimes contradictory theories that fall under the rubric of Marxism or Marxian

analysis.[2]

Marxism is based on a materialist understanding of societal development, taking as its starting point the necessary

economic activities required by human society to provide for its material needs. The form of economic organization,

or mode of production, is understood to be the basis from which the majority of other social phenomena including

social relations, political and legal systems, morality and ideology arise (or at the least by which they are directly

influenced). These social relations form the superstructure, for which the economic system forms the base. As the

forces of production (most notably technology) improve, existing forms of social organization become inefficient

and stifle further progress. These inefficiencies manifest themselves as social contradictions in the form of class

struggle.[3]

According to Marxist analysis, class conflict within capitalism arises due to intensifying contradictions between

highly-productive mechanized and socialized production performed by the proletariat, and private ownership and

private appropriation of the surplus product in the form of surplus value (profit) by a small minority of private

owners called the bourgeoisie. As the contradiction becomes apparent to the proletariat, social unrest between the

two antagonistic classes intensifies, culminating in a social revolution. The eventual long-term outcome of this

revolution would be the establishment of socialism - a socioeconomic system based on cooperative ownership of the

means of production, distribution based on one's contribution, and production organized directly for use. Karl Marx

hypothesized that, as the productive forces and technology continued to advance, socialism would eventually give

way to a communist stage of social development. Communism would be a classless, stateless, humane society based

on common ownership and the principle of "From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs".
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Marxism 2

Marxism has developed into different branches and schools of thought. Different schools place a greater emphasis on

certain aspects of Classical Marxism while de-emphasizing or rejecting other aspects of Marxism, sometimes

combining Marxist analysis with non-Marxian concepts. Some variants of Marxism primarily focus on one aspect of

Marxism as the determining force in social development such as the mode of production, class,

power-relationships or property ownership while arguing other aspects are less important or current research

makes them irrelevant. Despite sharing similar premises, different schools of Marxism might reach contradictory

conclusions from each other.[4]

For example, different Marxian economists have contradictory explanations of

economic crisis and different predictions for the outcome of such crises. Furthermore, different variants of Marxism

apply Marxist analysis to study different aspects of society (e.g.: mass culture, economic crises, or Feminism).[5]

These theoretical differences have led various socialist and communist parties and political movements to embrace

different political strategies for attaining socialism, advocate different programs and policies. One example of this is

the division between revolutionary socialists and reformists that emerged in the German Social Democratic Party by

the [Revisionist] during the early 20th century.

Marxist understandings of history and of society have been adopted by academics in the disciplines of archaeology

and anthropology,[6]

media studies,[7]

political science, theater, history, sociological theory, art history and art

theory, cultural studies, education, economics, geography, literary criticism, aesthetics, critical psychology, and

philosophy.[8]

Overview

Karl Marx

The Marxian analysis begins with an analysis of material

conditions, taking at its starting point the necessary economic

activities required by human society to provide for its material

needs. The form of economic organization, or mode of production,

is understood to be the basis from which the majority of other

social phenomena

including social relations, political and legalsystems, morality and ideology arise (or at the least by which

they are directly influenced). These social relations base the

economic system and the economic system forms the

superstructure. As the forces of production, most notably

technology, improve, existing forms of social organization become

inefficient and stifle further progress. As Karl Marx observed: "At

a certain stage of development, the material productive forces of

society come into conflict with the existing relations of production

or_ this merely expresses the same thing in legal terms_ with the

property relations within the framework of which they haveoperated hitherto. From forms of development of the productive

forces these relations turn into their fetters. Then begins an era of

social revolution."[9]

These inefficiencies manifest themselves as

social contradictions in society in the form of class struggle. Under

the capitalist mode of production, this struggle materializes between the minority (the bourgeoisie) who own the

means of production, and the vast majority of the population (the proletariat) who produce goods and services.

Taking the idea that social change occurs because of the struggle between different classes within society who are

under contradiction against each other, leads the Marxist analysis to the conclusion that capitalism exploits and

oppresses the proletariat, which leads to a proletarian revolution.
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Marxism 3

Capitalism (according to Marxist theory) can no longer sustain the living standards of the population due to its need

to compensate for falling rates of profit by driving down wages, cutting social benefits and pursuing military

aggression. The socialist system would succeed capitalism as humanity's mode of production through workers'

revolution. According to Marxism, especially arising from Crisis theory, Socialism is a historical necessity (but not

an inevitability).[10]

In a socialist society private property in the means of production would be superseded by co-operative ownership. Asocialist economy would not base production on the creation of private profits, but would instead base production

and economic activity on the criteria of satisfying human needs that is, production would be carried out directly for

use. As Engels observed: "Then the capitalist mode of appropriation in which the product enslaves first the producer,

and then appropriator, is replaced by the mode of appropriation of the product that is based upon the nature of the

modern means of production; upon the one hand, direct social appropriation, as means to the maintenance and

extension of production_ on the other, direct individual appropriation, as means of subsistence and of

enjoyment."'[11]

Concepts

Historical Materialism

"The discovery of the materialist conception of history, or rather, the consistent continuation and extension of materialism into the

domain of social phenomenon, removed two chief defects of earlier historical theories. In the first place, they at best examined only

the ideological motives of the historical activity of human beings, without grasping the objective laws governing the development of

the system of social relations... in the second place, the earlier theories did not cover the activities of the masses of the population,

whereas historical materialism made it possible for the first time to study with the accuracy of the natural sciences the social

conditions of the life of the masses and the changes in these conditions."

Russian Marxist theoretician and revolutionary Vladimir Lenin, 1913.[12]

"Society does not consist of individuals, but expresses the sum of interrelations, the relations within whichthese individuals stand."

Karl Marx, Grundrisse, 1858[13]

The historical materialist theory of history[14]

dialectically analyzes the underlying causes of societal development

and change in the collective ways humans make their living. All constituent features of a society (social classes,

political pyramid, ideologies) stem from economic activity, an idea often conveyed with the metaphor of the base

and superstructure.

The base and superstructure metaphor explains that the totality of social relations in and by which humans product

and re-product their social existence, forms a society's economic base. From this base rises a superstructure of

political and legal institutions, i.e., ruling class. The base corresponds to the social consciousness (politics, religion,

philosophy, etc.), and it conditions the superstructure and the dominant ideology. A conflict between the

development of material productive forces and the relations of production provokes social revolutions, thus, the

resultant changes to the economic base will lead to the transformation of the superstructure.[15]

This relationship is

reflexive; At first the base gives rise to the superstructure and remains the foundation of a form of social

organization. Hence, that formed social organization can act again upon both parts of the base and superstructure,

whose relationship is not unilinear but dialectic, namely a relationship driven by conflicts and contradictions. As

Friedrich Engels clarified: "The history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles. Freeman and

slave, patrician and plebeian, lord and serf, guild-master and journeyman, in a word, oppressor and oppressed, stood

in constant opposition to one another, carried on uninterrupted, now hidden, now open fight, a fight that each time

ended, either in a revolutionary reconstitution of society at large, or in the common ruin of the contending

classes."'[16]
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Marxism 4

Marx considered these socio-economic conflicts as the driving force of human history since these recurring conflicts

have manifested themselves as distinct transitional stages of development in Western Europe. Accordingly Marx

designates human history as encompassing four stages of development in relations of production.[17]

1. Primitive Communism: as in co-operative tribal societies.

2. Slave Society: a development of tribal progression to city-state; aristocracy is born.

3. Feudalism: aristocrats are the ruling class; merchants evolve into capitalists.4. Capitalism: capitalists are the ruling class, who create and employ the proletariat.

Criticism of capitalism

"We are, in Marx's terms, 'an ensemble of social relations' and we live our lives at the core of the intersection

of a number of unequal social relations based on hierarchically interrelated structures which, together, define

the historical specificity of the capitalist modes of production and reproduction and underlay their observable

manifestations."

Martha E. Gimenez,Marxism and Class, Gender and Race: Rethinking the Trilogy[18]

According to the Marxist theoretician and revolutionary Vladimir Lenin, "the principal content of Marxism" was

"Marx's economic doctrine".[19]

Marx believed that the capitalist bourgeois and their economists were promoting

what he saw as the lie that "The interests of the capitalist and those of the worker are... one and the same"; he

believed that they did this by purporting the concept that "the fastest possible growth of productive capital" was best

not only for the wealthy capitalists but also for the workers because it provided them with employment.[20]

Exploitation is a matter of surplus labour the amount of labour one performs beyond what one receives in goods.

Exploitation has been a socio-economic feature of every class society, and is one of the principal features

distinguishing the social classes. The power of one social class to control the means of production enables its

exploitation of the other classes.

In capitalism, the labour theory of value is the operative concern; the value of a commodity equals the socially

necessary labour time required to produce it. Under that condition, surplus value (the difference between the value

produced and the value received by a labourer) is synonymous with the term "surplus labour"; thus, capitalist

exploitation is realised as deriving surplus value from the worker.

In pre-capitalist economies, exploitation of the worker was achieved via physical coercion. In the capitalist mode of

production, that result is more subtly achieved; because the worker does not own the means of production, he or she

must voluntarily enter into an exploitive work relationship with a capitalist in order to earn the necessities of life.

The worker's entry into such employment is voluntary in that he or she chooses which capitalist to work for.

However, the worker must work or starve. Thus, exploitation is inevitable, and the "voluntary" nature of a worker

participating in a capitalist society is illusory.

Alienation is the estrangement of people from their humanity (German: Gattungswesen, "species-essence",

"species-being"), which is a systematic result of capitalism. Under capitalism, the fruits of production belong to the

employers, who expropriate the surplus created by others, and so generate alienated labourers.[21]

In Marx's view,

alienation is an objective characterization of the worker's situation in capitalism his or her self-awareness of this

condition is not prerequisite.
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Marxism 5

Social Classes

The identity of a social class derives from its relationship to the means of production; Marx describes the social

classes in capitalist societies:

Proletariat: "those individuals who has nothing to offer but their labour power, because in the capitalist mode of

production, they do not own the means of production". As Andrei Platonov expressed "The working class is my

home country and my future is linked with the proletariat."[22] The capitalist mode of production establishes the

conditions enabling the bourgeoisie to exploit the proletariat because the workers labour generates a surplus

value greater than the workers wages.

Bourgeoisie: those who "own the means of production" and buy labour power from the proletariat, thus exploiting

the proletariat; they subdivide as bourgeoisie and the petit bourgeoisie.

Petit bourgeoisie are those who work and can afford to buy little labour power i.e. small business owners,

peasant landlords, trade workers et al. Marxism predicts that the continual reinvention of the means of

production eventually would destroy the petit bourgeoisie, degrading them from the middle class to the

proletariat.

Lumpenproletariat: The outcasts of society such as criminals, vagabonds, beggars, prostitutes, et al., who have no

stake in the economy and no mind of their own and so are decoyed by every bidder.

Landlords: an historically important social class who retain some wealth and power.

Peasantry and farmers: a scattered class incapable of organizing and effecting socio-economic change, most of

whom would enter the proletariat, and some become landlords.

Class consciousness denotes the awareness of itself and the social world that a social class possesses, and its

capacity to rationally act in their best interests; hence, class consciousness is required before they can effect a

successful revolution.

Without defining ideology,[23]

Marx used the term to denote the production of images of social reality; according to

Engels, "ideology is a process accomplished by the so-called thinker consciously, it is true, but with a false

consciousness. The real motive forces impelling him remain unknown to him; otherwise it simply would not be anideological process. Hence he imagines false or seeming motive forces".

[24]Because the ruling class controls the

societys means of production, the superstructure of society, the ruling social ideas are determined by the best

interests of the said ruling class. In The German Ideology, "the ideas of the ruling class are in every epoch the ruling

ideas, i.e. the class which is the ruling material force of society, is, at the same time, its ruling intellectual force".[25]

The term political economy originally denoted the study of the conditions under which economic production was

organised in the capitalist system. In Marxism, political economy studies the means of production, specifically of

capital, and how that manifests as economic activity.

"Marxism taught me what society was. I was like a blindfolded man in a forest, who doesn't even know where north or south is. If

you don't eventually come to truly understand the history of the class struggle, or at least have a clear idea that society is divided

between the rich and the poor, and that some people subjugate and exploit other people, you're lost in a forest, not knowing

anything."

Cuban revolutionary and Marxist-Leninist politician Fidel Castro on discovering Marxism, 2009.[26]
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Marxism 6

Revolution, socialism, and communism

Marxists believe that the transition from capitalism to socialism is an inevitable part of the development of human

society; as Lenin stated, "it is evident that Marx deduces the inevitability of the transformation of capitalist society

[into a socialist society] wholly and exclusively from the economic law of motion of contemporary society."[27]

Marxists believe that a socialist society will be far better for the majority of the populace than its capitalist

counterpart, for instance, prior to the Russian revolution of 1917, Lenin wrote that "The socialization of production

is bound to lead to the conversion of the means of production into the property of society... This conversion will

directly result in an immense increase in productivity of labour, a reduction of working hours, and the replacement of

the remnants, the ruins of small-scale, primitive, disunited production by collective and improved labour."[28]

Classical Marxism

The term Classical Marxism denotes the collection of socio-eco-political theories expounded by Karl Marx and

Friedrich Engels. "Marxism, as Ernest Mandel remarked, is always open, always critical, always self-critical."[29]

As

such, Classical Marxism distinguishes between "Marxism" as broadly perceived, and "what Marx believed"; thus, in

1883, Marx wrote to the French labour leader Jules Guesde and to Paul Lafargue (Marxs son-in-law)

both of

whom claimed to represent Marxist principles accusing them of "revolutionary phrase-mongering" and of denying

the value of reformist struggle; from Marx's letter derives the paraphrase: "If that is Marxism, then I am not a

Marxist".[30][31]

American Marxist scholar Hal Draper responded to this comment by saying, "there are few thinkers

in modern history whose thought has been so badly misrepresented, by Marxists and anti-Marxists alike".[32]

Criticism

Some Marxists have criticised the academic institutionalisation of Marxism for being too shallow and detached from

political action. For instance, Zimbabwean Trotskyist Alex Callinicos, himself a professional academic, stated that

"Its practitioners remind one of Narcissus, who in the Greek legend fell in love with his own reflection... Sometimes

it is necessary to devote time to clarifying and developing the concepts that we use, but indeed for Western Marxists

this has become an end in itself. The result is a body of writings incomprehensible to all but a tiny minority of highly

qualified scholars."[33]
https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Narcissus_%28mythology%29https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Alex_Callinicoshttps://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Trotskyismhttps://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Institutionhttps://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Hal_Draperhttps://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Paul_Lafarguehttps://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Jules_Guesdehttps://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Friedrich_Engelshttps://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Karl_Marxhttps://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Russian_Revolution_%281917%29


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Marxism 7

Academic Marxism

One of the 20th century's most prominent Marxist

academics; the Australian archaeologist V. Gordon

Childe.

Marxism has been adopted by a large number of academics and

other scholars working in various disciplines.

The theoretical development of Marxist archaeology was first

developed in the Soviet Union in 1929, when a young

archaeologist named Vladislav I. Ravdonikas (18941976)

published a report entitled "For a Soviet history of material

culture". Within this work, the very discipline of archaeology as it

then stood was criticised as being inherently bourgeoisie and

therefore anti-socialist, and so, as a part of the academic reforms

instituted in the Soviet Union under the administration of Premier

Stalin, a great emphasis was placed on the adoption of Marxist

archaeology throughout the country.[34]

These theoretical

developments were subsequently adopted by archaeologists

working in capitalist states outside of the Leninist bloc, most

notably by the Australian academic V. Gordon Childe

(18921957), who used Marxist theory in his understandings of

the development of human society.[35]

Political Marxism

Since the late 19th century, Marxist-inspired socialist parties have

been internally divided, between proponents of orthodox Marxism

and proponents of revisionist Marxism, and between the respective revolutionary and reformist branches.

Revolutionary, Bolshevik leader Vladimir Lenin, said thatthe supersession of the bourgeois state by the proletarian

state is impossible without violent revolution.[36]

Reformist and democratic socialist political theorist Michael

Harrington claims that, in their later life, Engels and Marx had advocated the development of socialism through

parliamentary means, where-ever possible.[37]

Since Marx's death in 1883, various groups around the world have appealed to Marxism as the theoretical basis for

their politics and policies, which have oftenproved to be dramatically different and conflicting.[citation needed]

One of

the first major political splits occurred between the advocates of 'reformism', who argued that the transition to

socialism could occur within existing bourgeois parliamentarian frameworks, and communists, who argued that the

transition to a socialist society required a revolution and the dissolution of the capitalist state. The 'reformist'

tendency, later known as social democracy, came to be dominant in most of the parties affiliated to the Second

International and these parties supported their own governments in the First World War.[citation needed] This issue

caused the communists to break away, forming their own parties which became members of the Third

International.[citation needed]

The following countries had governments at some point in the 20th century who at least nominally adhered to

Marxism:[38]

Albania, Afghanistan, Angola, Benin, Bulgaria, Chile, China, Republic of Congo, Cuba,

Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Ethiopia, Grenada, Hungary, Laos, Moldova, Mongolia, Mozambique, Nepal,

Nicaragua, North Korea, Poland, Romania, Russia, the USSR and its republics, South Yemen, Yugoslavia,

Venezuela, Vietnam. In addition, out of twenty eight Indian states, three state viz. Kerala, Tripura and West Bengal

have had Marxist governments, but change occurred through electoral processes. Some of these governments such as

in Venezuela, Nicaragua, Chile, Moldova and India have been democratic in nature and maintained regular

multiparty elections.
https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Venezuelahttps://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Nicaraguahttps://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Chilehttps://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Moldovahttps://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Indiahttps://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Multiparty_democracyhttps://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Venezuelahttps://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Nicaraguahttps://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Chilehttps://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Moldovahttps://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Indiahttps://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Multiparty_democracyhttps://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Multiparty_democracyhttps://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Indiahttps://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Moldovahttps://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Chilehttps://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Nicaraguahttps://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Venezuelahttps://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=West_Bengalhttps://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Tripurahttps://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Keralahttps://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Vietnamhttps://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Venezuelahttps://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Yugoslaviahttps://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=South_Yemenhttps://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Republics_of_the_Soviet_Unionhttps://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Soviet_Unionhttps://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Russiahttps://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Romaniahttps://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Polandhttps://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=North_Koreahttps://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Nicaraguahttps://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Nepalhttps://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Mozambiquehttps://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Mongoliahttps://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Moldovahttps://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Laoshttps://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Hungaryhttps://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Grenadahttps://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Ethiopiahttps://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=East_Germanyhttps://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Czechoslovakiahttps://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Cubahttps://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Republic_of_Congohttps://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Chinahttps://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Chilehttps://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Bulgariahttps://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Beninhttps://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Angolahttps://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Afghanistanhttps://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Albaniahttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citation_neededhttps://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Third_Internationalhttps://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Third_Internationalhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citation_neededhttps://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Second_International_%28politics%29https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Second_International_%28politics%29https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Social_democracyhttps://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Communismhttps://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Bourgeoishttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citation_neededhttps://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Parliamenthttps://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Michael_Harringtonhttps://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Michael_Harringtonhttps://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Democratic_socialismhttps://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Reformismhttps://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Dictatorship_of_the_proletariathttps://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Dictatorship_of_the_proletariathttps://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Bourgeoishttps://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Vladimir_Leninhttps://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Bolshevikhttps://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Revolutionary_socialismhttps://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Revisionism_%28Marxism%29https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Orthodox_Marxismhttps://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=V._Gordon_Childehttps://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Bourgeoisiehttps://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Marxist_archaeologyhttps://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Archaeological_theoryhttps://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File%3AGordon_Childe.jpghttps://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=V._Gordon_Childehttps://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=V._Gordon_Childe


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Marxism 8

History

The 1917 October Revolution, led by Vladimir Lenin, was the first large scale attempt to put Marxist ideas about a

workers' state into practice. The new government faced counter-revolution, civil war and foreign intervention.[]

Lenin consistently explained "this elementary truth of Marxism, that the victory of socialism requires the joint efforts

of workers in a number of advanced countries" (Lenin, Sochineniya (Works), 5th ed Vol XLIV p418.) It could not be

developed in Russia in isolation, he argued, but needed to be spread internationally.

The 1917 October Revolution did help inspire a revolutionary wave over the years that followed,[][][][]

with the

development of Communist Parties worldwide, but without success in the vital advanced capitalist countries of

Western Europe. Socialist revolution in Germany and other western countries failed, leaving the Soviet Union on its

own. An intense period of debate and stopgap solutions ensued, war communism and the New Economic Policy

(NEP). Lenin died and Joseph Stalin gradually assumed control, eliminating rivals and consolidating power as the

Soviet Union faced the events of the 1930s and its global crisis-tendencies. Amidst the geopolitical threats which

defined the period and included the probability of invasion, he instituted a ruthless program of industrialization

which, while successful,[]

was executed at great cost in human suffering, along with long-term environmental

devastation.[]

Modern followers of Leon Trotsky maintain that as predicted by Lenin, Trotsky, and others already in the 1920s,

Stalin's "socialism in one country" was unable to maintain itself, and according to some Marxist critics, the USSR

ceased to show the characteristics of a socialist state long before its formal dissolution.

In the 1920s the economic calculation debate between Austrian Economists and Marxist economists took place. The

Austrians claimed that Marxism is flawed because prices could not be set to recognize opportunity costs of factors of

production, and so socialism could not make rational decisions.

The Kuomintang party, a Chinese nationalist revolutionary party, had Marxist members who opposed the Chinese

Communist Party. They viewed the Chinese revolution in different terms than the Communists, claiming that China

had already passed its feudal stage and was in a stagnation period rather than in another mode of production. These

Marxists in the Kuomintang opposed the Chinese communist party ideology.[39]

Following World War II, Marxist ideology, often with Soviet military backing, spawned a rise in revolutionary

communist parties all over the world. Some of these parties were eventually able to gain power, and establish their

own version of a Marxist state. Such nations included the People's Republic of China, Vietnam, Romania, East

Germany, Albania, Cambodia, Ethiopia, South Yemen, Yugoslavia, Cuba, and others. In some cases, these nations

did not get along. Rifts occurred between the Soviet Union and China,[]

as well as Soviet Union and Yugoslavia (in

1948), whose leaders disagreed on certain elements of Marxism and how it should be implemented into society.[]

Many of these self-proclaimed Marxist nations (often styled People's Republics) eventually became authoritarian

states, with stagnating economies. This caused some debate about whether Marxism was doomed in practise or these

nations were in fact not led by "true Marxists". Critics of Marxism speculated that perhaps Marxist ideology itself

was to blame for the nations' various problems. Followers of the currents within Marxism which opposed Stalin,

principally cohered around Leon Trotsky, tended to locate the failure at the level of the failure of world revolution:

for communism to have succeeded, they argue, it needed to encompass all the international trading relationships that

capitalism had previously developed.

The Chinese experience seems to be unique. Rather than falling under a single family's self-serving and dynastic

interpretation of Marxism as happened in North Korea and before 1989 in Eastern Europe, the Chinese

government after the end of the struggles over the Mao legacy in 1980 and the ascent of Deng Xiaoping seems to

have solved the succession crises[citation needed]

that have plagued self-proclaimed Leninist governments since the

death of Lenin himself. Key to this success is another Leninism which is a NEP (New Economic Policy) writ very

large; Lenin's own NEP of the 1920s was the "permission" given to markets including speculation to operate by theParty which retained final control. The Russian experience in Perestroika was that markets under socialism were so

opaque as to be both inefficient and corrupt but especially after China's application to join the WTO this does not
https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=New_Economic_Policyhttps://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=New_Economic_Policyhttps://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Perestroikahttps://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=WTOhttps://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=WTOhttps://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Perestroikahttps://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=WTOhttps://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Perestroikahttps://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=WTOhttps://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=WTOhttps://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Perestroikahttps://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=New_Economic_Policyhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citation_neededhttps://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=World_revolutionhttps://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Leon_Trotskyhttps://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=People%27s_Republichttps://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Cubahttps://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Yugoslaviahttps://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=South_Yemenhttps://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Ethiopiahttps://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Cambodiahttps://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Albaniahttps://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=East_Germanyhttps://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=East_Germanyhttps://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Romaniahttps://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Vietnamhttps://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=People%27s_Republic_of_Chinahttps://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=World_War_IIhttps://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Kuomintanghttps://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Socialismhttps://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Austrian_Schoolhttps://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Economic_calculation_debatehttps://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Soviet_Unionhttps://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Leon_Trotskyhttps://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Industrializationhttps://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Joseph_Stalinhttps://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=New_Economic_Policyhttps://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=War_communismhttps://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Soviet_Unionhttps://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Germanyhttps://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Vladimir_Leninhttps://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=October_Revolution


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Marxism 9

seem to apply universally.

The death of "Marxism" in China has been prematurely announced but since the Hong Kong handover in 1997, the

Beijing leadership has clearly retained final say over both commercial and political affairs.[citation needed]

In 1991 the Soviet Union was dismantled and the new Russian state, alongside the other emerging republics, ceased

to identify themselves with Marxism. Other nations around the world followed suit. Since then, radical Marxism or

Communism has generally ceased to be a prominent political force in global politics, and has largely been replacedby more moderate versions of democratic socialism or, more commonly, by neoliberal capitalism. Marxism has

also had to engage with the rise in the Environmental movement. Theorists including Joel Kovel and Michael Lwy

have synthesized Marxism, socialism, ecology and environmentalism into an ideology known as Eco-socialism.[40]

Social democracy

Socialdemocracy

Social democracy is a political ideology that emerged in the late 19th and early 20th century. Many parties in the

second half of the 19th century described themselves as social democratic, such as the British Social Democratic

Federation, and the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party. In most cases these were revolutionary socialist or

Marxist groups, who were not only seeking to introduce socialism, but also democracy in un-democratic countries.

Many social democrats reject the idea that socialism can be accomplished only through class conflict, revolution and

dictatorship of the proletariat.

The modern social democratic current came into being through abreak within the socialist movement in the early20th century, between two groups holding different views on the ideas of Karl Marx. Many related movements,

including pacifism, anarchism, and syndicalism, arose at the same time (often by splitting from the main socialist

movement, but also through the emergence of new theories) and had various, quite different objections to Marxism.

The social democrats argued that socialism should be achieved through evolution rather than revolution. Such views

were strongly opposed by the revolutionary socialists,[][]

who argued that any attempt to reform capitalism was

doomed to fail, because the reformists would be gradually corrupted and eventually turn into capitalists themselves.

Despite their differences, the reformist and revolutionary branches of socialism remained united until the outbreak of

World War I. The war proved to be the final straw that pushed the tensions between them to breaking point.[citation

needed]The reformist socialists supported their respective national governments in the war, a fact that was seen by the

revolutionary socialists as outright treasonagainst the working class (Since[citation needed]

it betrayed the principlethat the workers "have no nation", and the fact that usually the lowest classes are the ones sent into the war to fight,

and die, putting the cause at the side). Bitter arguments ensued within socialist parties, as for example between

Eduard Bernstein (reformist socialist) and Rosa Luxemburg (revolutionary socialist) within the Social Democratic

Party of Germany (SPD). Eventually, after the Russian Revolution of 1917, most of the world's socialist parties

fractured. The reformist socialists kept the name "Social democrats", while the revolutionary socialists began calling

themselves "Communists", and soon formed the modern Communist movement, the Comintern.

Since the 1920s, doctrinal differences have been constantly growing between social democrats and Communists

(who themselves are not unified on the way to achieve socialism), and Social Democracy is mostly used as a

specifically Central European label for Labour Parties since then, especially in Germany and the Netherlands and

especially since the 1959 Godesberg Program of the German SPD that rejected the praxis of class struggle

altogether.
https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Godesberg_Programhttps://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=List_of_Labour_Partieshttps://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Godesberg_Programhttps://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Godesberg_Programhttps://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=List_of_Labour_Partieshttps://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Cominternhttps://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Communisthttps://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Russian_Revolution_of_1917https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Social_Democratic_Party_of_Germanyhttps://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Social_Democratic_Party_of_Germanyhttps://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Rosa_Luxemburghttps://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Eduard_Bernsteinhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citation_neededhttps://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Working_classhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citation_neededhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citation_neededhttps://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=World_War_Ihttps://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Syndicalismhttps://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Anarchismhttps://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Pacifismhttps://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Karl_Marxhttps://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Dictatorship_of_the_proletariathttps://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Class_conflicthttps://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Russian_Social_Democratic_Labour_Partyhttps://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Social_Democratic_Federationhttps://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Social_Democratic_Federationhttps://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Political_ideologyhttps://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Social_democracyhttps://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Red_rose_02_-.jpg.svghttps://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Social_democracyhttps://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Social_democracyhttps://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Eco-socialismhttps://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Environmentalismhttps://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Ecologyhttps://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Socialismhttps://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Michael_L%C3%B6wyhttps://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Joel_Kovelhttps://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Environmental_movementhttps://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Neoliberalismhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citation_needed


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Marxism 10

Socialism

Part of a series on

Socialism

Socialism portal

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Politics portal

The term socialism refers to two fundamentally different ideologies

democratic socialism and Marxist-Leninistsocialism. The Marxist-Leninists sought to work towards a classless, stateless, moneyless society with a Marxist

ideology by first creating a socialist state, which represents the proletariat. On the other hand, democratic socialists

attempt to work towards an ideal state by social reform and are often little different from social democrats, with the

democratic socialists having a more leftist stance.

The Marxist-Leninist form of government has been in decline since the dissolution of the Soviet Union and its

satellite states. Very few countries have governments that describe themselves as socialist in the Marxist sense; as of

2012, only Laos, Vietnam, Nepal, Cuba, and the People's Republic of China do so.[citation needed]

On the contrary, electoral parties that describe themselves as socialist or democratic socialist are on the rise, joined

together by international organizations such as the Socialist International and the Fourth International. Parties

described as socialist are currently dominant in the democracies of the developing world and serve as the ruling party

or the main opposition party in most European democracies. Eco-socialism, and Green politics with a strong leftist

tinge, are on the rise in European democracies.

The characterization of a party or government often has little to do with its actual economical and social platform.

The government of mainland China, which describes itself as socialist, allows a large private sector to flourish and is

socially conservative compared to most Western democracies. A more specific example is universal health-care,

which is a trademark issue of many European socialist parties but does not exist in mainland China. Therefore, the

historical and cultural aspects of a movement must be taken into context in order for one to arrive at an accurate

conclusion of its political ideology from its nominal characterization.

Communism
https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Mainland_Chinahttps://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Green_politicshttps://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Eco-socialismhttps://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Fourth_Internationalhttps://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Socialist_Internationalhttps://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Democratic_socialisthttps://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Socialisthttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citation_neededhttps://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=People%27s_Republic_of_Chinahttps://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Cubahttps://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Nepalhttps://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Vietnamhttps://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Laoshttps://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Dissolution_of_the_Soviet_Unionhttps://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Democratic_socialismhttps://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Portal:Politicshttps://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Portal:Economicshttps://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Portal:Socialismhttps://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Red_flag_waving.svghttps://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Socialismhttps://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Category:Socialism


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Marxism 11

Part of the series on

Communism

Communism

portal

A number of states declared an allegiance to the principles of Marxism and have been ruled by self-described

Communist Parties, either as a single-party state or a single list, which includes formally several parties, as was the

case in the German Democratic Republic. Due to the absolute dominance of the Communist Party in their

governments, these states are often called "communist states" by Western political scientists. However, they havedescribed themselves as "socialist", reserving the term "communism" for a future classless society,

[]in which the

state would no longer be necessary (on this understanding of communism, "communist state" would be an

oxymoron) for instance, the USSR was the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.

Communist governments have historically been characterized by state ownership of productive resources in a

centrally planned economy and sweeping campaigns of economic restructuring such as nationalization of industry

and land reform (often focusing on collective farming or state farms.) While they promote collective ownership of

the means of production, Communist governments have been characterized by a totaliterian state apparatus in which

decisions are made by the ruling Communist Party. Libertarian communists have characterized the Soviet model as

state socialism or state capitalism since the concentrated state played the part formerly capitalist played in economy.

MarxismLeninism

Part of a series on

MarxismLeninism

Communism portal

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Marxism-Leninism, strictly speaking, refers to the ideology based upon the economic theories of Marx and the

revolutionary political theories developed by Vladimir Lenin known as Leninism. However, in various contexts,

different (and sometimes opposing) political groups have used the term "MarxismLeninism" to denote the

ideologies that they claimed to be upholding. The core ideological features of Marxism-Leninism are those of

Marxism and Leninism, that is to say, belief in the necessity of a revolutionary overthrow of capitalism through

communist revolution, to be followed by a dictatorship of the proletariat as the first stage of moving towards

communism, and the need for a vanguard party to lead the proletariat in this effort. Those who view themselves as

Marxist-Leninists, however, vary with regards to the leaders and thinkers that they choose to uphold as progressive
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Marxism 12

(and to what extent).[citation needed]

Leninism holds that capitalism can only be overthrown by revolutionary means; that is, any attempts to reform

capitalism fromwithin, such as Social Democracy, Fabianism and non-revolutionary forms of democratic socialism,

are doomed to fail due to the inherent contradictions of the capitalist and labour class relations.[]

The first goal of a

Leninist party is to educate the proletariat, so as to remove the various modes of perceived false consciousness the

bourgeois have instilled in them, instilled in order to make them more docile and easier to exploit economically, suchas religion and nationalism.

[citation needed]Once the proletariat has gained class consciousness the party will

coordinate the proletariat's total might to overthrow the bourgeois government, thus the proletariat will seize all

political and economic power. Lastly the proletariat (thanks to their education by the party) will implement a

dictatorship of the proletariat which would bring upon them the construction and development of socialism, the

lower phase of communism. After this, partisan and non-partisan distinction would essentially dissolve as the entire

proletariat is elevated to the level of revolutionaries.

The dictatorship of the proletariat refers to the absolute power of the working class. It is governed by a system of

proletarian direct democracy, in which workers hold political power through local councils, known in the Russian

Revolution as "soviets".

Trotskyism

Trotskyism is the theory of Marxism as advocated by Leon Trotsky. Trotsky considered himself a

Bolshevik-Leninist, arguing for the establishment of a vanguard party. He considered himself an advocate of

orthodox Marxism. His politics differed sharply from those of Stalin or Mao, most importantly in declaring the need

for an international "permanent revolution". Numerous groups around the world continue to describe themselves as

Trotskyist and see themselves as standing in this tradition, although they have diverse interpretations of the

conclusions to be drawn from this.

Trotsky advocated proletarian revolution as set out in his theory of "permanent revolution", and he argued that in

countries where the bourgeois-democratic revolution had not triumphed already (in other words, in places that had

not yet implemented a capitalist democracy, such as Russia before 1917), it was necessary that the proletariat make it

permanent by carrying out the tasks of the social revolution (the "socialist" or "communist" revolution) at the same

time, in an uninterrupted process. Trotsky believed that a new socialist state would not be able to hold out against the

pressures of a hostile capitalist world unless socialist revolutions quickly took hold in other countries as well,

especially in the industrial powers with a developed proletariat.

On the political spectrum of Marxism, Trotskyists are considered to be on the left. They fervently support

democracy, oppose political deals with the imperialist powers, and advocate a spreading of the revolution until it

becomes global.

Trotsky developed the theory that the Russian workers' state had become a "bureaucratically degenerated workers'

state". Capitalist rule had notbeen restored, and nationalized industry and economic planning, instituted under Lenin,were still in effect.

[]However, the statewas controlled by a bureaucratic caste with interests hostile to those of the

working class. Trotsky defended the Soviet Union against attack from imperialist powers and against internal

counter-revolution, but called for a political revolution within the USSR to restore socialist democracy. He argued

that if the working class did not take power away from the Stalinist bureaucracy, the bureaucracy would restore

capitalism in order to enrich itself.[]

In the view of many Trotskyists, this is exactly what has happened since the

beginning of Glasnost and Perestroika in the USSR. SomeWikipedia:Avoid weasel words argue that the adoption of

market socialism by the People's Republic of China has also led to capitalist counter-revolution.[citation needed]

Most

modern Trotskyist organisations are organised internationally, such as the International Marxist Tendency,

International Socialist Tendency and the Committee for a Workers' International. They are mostly rather small

groupings.
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Marxism 13

Maoism

Part of a series on

Maoism

Communism portal

Maoism or Mao Zedong Thought (simplified Chinese:

; traditional Chinese:

;pinyin: Mo Zdng Sxing), is a variant of MarxismLeninism derived from the teachings of the Chinese

communist leader Mao Zedong (Wade-Giles transliteration: "Mao Tse-tung").

The term "Mao Zedong Thought" has always been the preferred term by the Communist Party of China, and the

word "Maoism" has never been used in its English-language publications except pejoratively. Likewise, Maoist

groupsWikipedia:Avoid weasel words outside China have usually called themselves Marxist-Leninist rather than

Maoist, a reflection of Mao's view that he did not change, but only developed, Marxism-Leninism. However,

someWikipedia:Avoid weasel words Maoist groups believing Mao's theories to have been sufficiently substantial

additions to the basics of the Marxist canon, call themselves "Marxist-Leninist-Maoist" (MLM) or simply "Maoist".

In the People's Republic of China, Mao Zedong Thought is part of the official doctrine of the Communist Party of

China, but since the 1978 beginning of Deng Xiaoping's market economy-oriented reforms, the concept of

"socialism with Chinese characteristics" has come to the forefront of Chinese politics, Chinese economic reform has

taken hold, and the official definition and role of Mao's original ideology in the PRC has been radically altered and

reduced (seeHistory of China).

Unlike the earlier forms of Marxism-Leninism in which the urban proletariat was seen as the main source of

revolution, and the countryside was largely ignored, Mao believed that peasantry could be the main force behind a

revolution, led by the proletariat and a vanguard Communist party. The model for this was of course the Chinese

communist rural Protracted People's War of the 1920s and 1930s, which eventually brought the Communist Party of

China to power.[citation needed]

Furthermore, unlike other forms of Marxism-Leninism in which large-scale industrial

development was seen as a positive force, Maoism made all-round rural development the priority.[citation needed]

Mao felt that this strategy made sense during the early stages of socialism in a country in which most of the people

were peasants. Unlike most other political ideologies, including other socialist and Marxist ones, Maoism contains

an integral military doctrine and explicitly connects its political ideology with military strategy. In Maoist thought,

"political power grows from the barrel of the gun" (a famous quote by Mao), and the peasantry can be mobilized to

undertake a "people's war" of armed struggle involving guerrilla warfare in three stages.
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Marxism 14

Socialism with Chinese characteristics

Socialism with Chinese characteristics (simplified Chinese: ; traditional Chinese:

; pinyin: Zhngguts shhuzhy), literally the modern form of Chinese Marxism, is the official

ideology of the CPC based upon scientific socialism. This ideology supports the creation of a socialist market

economy dominated by the public sector since China is in the primary stage of socialism. The Chinese government

maintains that it has not abandoned Marxism but has developed many of the terms and concepts of Marxist theory toaccommodate reality. The CPC argues that socialism is compatible with these economic policies. In current Chinese

Communist thinking, China is in the primary stage of socialisma view which explains the Chinese government's

flexible economic policies to develop into an industrialized nation.

Left communism

Part of a series on

Leftcommunism

Communism

portal

Left communism is the range of communist viewpoints held by the Communist Left, which criticizes the political

ideas of the Bolsheviks from a position that is asserted to be more authentically Marxist and proletarian than the

views of Leninism held by the Communist International after its first two Congresses.

Two major traditions can be observed within Left communism: the Dutch-German tradition; and the Italian tradition.

The political positions those traditions have in common are a shared opposition to what is termed frontism,

nationalism, all kinds of national liberation movements and parliamentarianism and there is an underlyingcommonality at a level of abstract theory. Crucially, Left Communist groups from both traditions tend to identify

elements of commonality in each other.Wikipedia:Vagueness

The historical origins of Left Communism can be traced to the period before the First World War, but it only came

into focus after 1918 . AllWikipedia:Avoid weasel words Left Communists were supportive of the October

Revolution in Russia,[citation needed]

but retained a critical view of its development. SomeWikipedia:Avoid weasel

words, however, would in later years come to reject the idea that the revolution had a proletarian or socialist nature,

asserting that it had simply carried out the tasks of the bourgeois revolution by creating a state capitalist

system.[citation needed]

Left Communism first came into being as a clear movement in or around 1918.[citation needed]

Its essential features

were: a stress on the need to build a Communist Party entirely separate from the reformist and centrist elements who

were seen as having betrayed socialism in 1914, opposition to all but the most restricted participation in elections,

and an emphasis on the need for revolutionaries to move on the offensive.[citation needed]

Apart from that, there was

little in common between the various wings. Only the ItaliansWikipedia:No original research accepted the need for

electoral work at all for a very short period of time, and the German-Dutch, Italian and Russian wings opposed the

"right of nations to self-determination", which they denounced as a form of bourgeois nationalism.
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Marxism 15

Dispute that the Soviet Union was Marxist

Marx defined "communism" as a classless, egalitarian and stateless society. To Marx, the notion of a communist

state would have seemed an oxymoron,[41][42][43]

as he defined communism as the phase reached when class society

and the state had already been abolished. Once the lower stage towards communism, commonly referred to as

socialism, had been established, society would develop new social relations over the course of several generations,

reaching what Marx called the higher phase of communism when not only bourgeois relations but all class socialrelations had been abandoned. Such a development has yet to occur in any historical self-claimed socialist

state.[41][42][43]

Even within the Stalinist state at its height, there were repressed[41]

expressions of Marxist orthodoxy, revealed after

the fall of the USSR, arguing that it had developed new class structures: those who are in government and therefore

have power (sometimes referred to as the political class), and those who are not in government and do not have

power, the working class. This is taken to be a different form of capitalism, in which the government, as owner of the

means of production, takes on the role formerly played by the capitalist class; this arrangement is referred to as "state

capitalism."[41]

These statist regimes have generally followed a planned economy model without making a transition

to this hypothetical final stage.[44]

Some academics such as Noam Chomsky dispute the claim that the political movements in the former Soviet Union

were Marxist.[44]

Communist governments have historically been characterized by state ownership of productive

resources in a planned economy and sweeping campaigns of economic restructuring such as nationalization of

industry and land reform (often focusing on collective farming or state farms). While they promote collective

ownership of the means of production, Communist governments have been characterized by a strong state apparatus

in which decisions are made by the ruling Communist Party. Dissident communists have characterized the Soviet

model as state socialism or state capitalism.

Variants

Marxists can interpret theManifesto differently, and therefore all variants cannot be covered in this article.

Marxism-Leninism

At least in terms of adherents and the impact on the world stage, Marxism-Leninism, also known colloquially as

Bolshevism or simply communism is the biggest trend within Marxism, easily dwarfing all of the other schools of

thought combined.[45]

Marxism-Leninism is a term originally coined by the CPSU in order to denote the ideology

that Vladimir Lenin had built upon the thought of Karl Marx. There are two broad areas that have set apart

Marxism-Leninism as a school of thought.

First, Lenin's followers generally view his additions to the body of Marxism as the practical corollary to Marx's

original theoretical contributions of the 19th century; insofar as they apply under the conditions of advanced

capitalism that they found themselves working in. Lenin called this time-frame the era of Imperialism. For example,

Joseph Stalin wrote that

Leninism grew up and took shape under the conditions of imperialism, when the contradictions of capitalism had reached an extreme point,

when the proletarian revolution had become an immediate practical question, when the old period of preparation of the working class for

revolution had arrived at and passed into a new period, that of direct assault on capitalism.[46]

The most important consequence of a Leninist-style theory of Imperialism is the strategic need for workers in the

industrialized countries to bloc or ally with the oppressed nations contained within their respective countries'

colonies abroad in order to overthrow capitalism. This is the source of the slogan, which shows the Leninist

conception that not only the proletariat, as is traditional to Marxism, are the sole revolutionary force, but alloppressed people:
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Marxism 16

Workers and Oppressed Peoples of the World, Unite!

[47]

Second, the other distinguishing characteristic of Marxism-Leninism is how it approaches the question of

organization. Lenin believed that the traditional model of the Social Democratic parties of the time, which was a

loose, multitendency organization was inadequate for overthrowing the Tsarist regime in Russia. He proposed a

cadre of professional revolutionaries that disciplined itself under the model of Democratic Centralism.

Marxism-Leninism after Stalin

For better or worse, Marxism-Leninism as a body of thought and practice was closely identified with the figure of

Joseph Stalin after the death of Lenin. After the death of Stalin, the leader of the USSR, Nikita Khrushchev made

several ideological and practical ruptures with his predecessor which lead to the eventual split of Marxism-Leninism

into two main branches, post-Stalin "Moscow-aligned" communism and anti-revisionism. In turn, these branches

evolved into multiple schools of thought over time.

Post-Stalin Moscow-aligned communismAt the 20th Congress of the Communist Party of the SovietUnion, Khrushchev made several ideological ruptures

with his predecessor, Joseph Stalin. First, Khrushchev denounced the so-called Cult of Per

Documents

Marxism.pdf