Marxism–Leninism

Marxism–Leninism is a communist ideology that is officially based upon the theories of Marxism and Vladimir Lenin, that promotes the development and creation of international communist society through the leadership of a vanguard party over a revolutionary socialist state that represents the will and rule of the proletariat. It supports the creation of a totalitarian single party state. It rejects political pluralism external to communism, claiming that the proletariat need a single, able political party to represent them and exercise political leadership. The Marxist-Leninist state forbids opposition to itself and its ideology. Through the policy of democratic centralism, the communist party is the supreme political institution of the Marxist-Leninist state.

Marxism-Leninism is a far-left ideology. It is based on principles of egalitarianism, dialectical materialism and rationalism, as well as social progress and atheism. It is anti-bourgeois, anti-capitalist, anti-conservative, anti-fascist, anti-imperialist, anti-liberal, anti-reactionary, anti-religious, is opposed to revisionism of Marxism, and is opposed to bourgeois democracy.

Marxism-Leninism supports a centrally-planned state socialist economy. It supports public ownership of the economy and supports the confiscation of almost all private property that becomes public property administered by the state, while a miniscule portion of private property is allowed to remain. It replaces the role of market in the capitalist economy with centralized state management of the economy that is known as a command economy.

In various contexts, different (and sometimes opposing) political groups have used the term "Marxism–Leninism" to describe the ideology that they claimed to be upholding.

History of the term

Within five years of Vladmir Lenin's death in 1924, Stalin completed his rise to power in the Soviet Union. According to G. Lisichkin, Marxism–Leninism as a separate ideology was compiled by Stalin in his book "The questions of Leninism". During the period of Stalin's rule in the Soviet Union, Marxism–Leninism was proclaimed the official ideology of the state.

Whether Stalin's practices actually followed the principles of Karl Marx and Lenin is still a subject of debate among historians and political scientists. Trotskyists in particular believe that Stalinism contradicted authentic Marxism and Leninism, and they initially used the term "Bolshevik–Leninism" to describe their own ideology of anti-Stalinist (and later anti-Maoist) communism. Left communists rejected "Marxism–Leninism" as an anti-Marxist current.

The term "Marxism–Leninism" is most often used by those who believe that Lenin's legacy was successfully carried forward by Joseph Stalin (Stalinists). However, it is also used by some who repudiate Stalin, such as the supporters of Nikita Khrushchev.

After the Sino–Soviet split, communist parties of the Soviet Union and the People's Republic of China each claimed to be the sole intellectual heir to Marxism–Leninism. In China, the claim that Mao had "adapted Marxism–Leninism to Chinese conditions" evolved into the idea that he had updated it in a fundamental way applying to the world as a whole; consequently, the term "Marxism–Leninism–Mao Zedong Thought" (commonly known as Maoism) was increasingly used to describe the official Chinese state ideology as well as the ideological basis of parties around the world who sympathized with the Communist Party of China (such as the Communist Party of the Philippines, Marxist–Leninist/Mao Zedong Thought, founded by Jose Maria Sison in 1968). Following the death of Mao, Peruvian Maoists associated with the Communist Party of Peru (Sendero Luminoso) subsequently coined the term Marxism–Leninism–Maoism, arguing that Maoism was a more advanced stage of Marxism.

Following the Sino–Albanian split, a small portion of Marxist–Leninists began to downplay or repudiate the role of Mao Zedong in the International Communist Movement in favor of the Party of Labor of Albania and a stricter adherence to Stalin.

In North Korea, Marxism–Leninism was officially superseded in 1977 by Juche, in which concepts of class and class struggle, in other words Marxism itself, play no significant role. However, the government is still sometimes referred to as Marxist–Leninist—or, more commonly, Stalinist—due to its political and economic structure (see History of North Korea).

In the other four communist states existing today—Cuba, Nepal, Laos, and Vietnam—the ruling Parties hold Marxism–Leninism as their official ideology, although they give it different interpretations in terms of practical policy.

Current usage

Some contemporary communist parties continue to regard Marxism–Leninism as their basic ideology, although some have modified it to adapt to new and local political circumstances.

In party names, the appellation "Marxist–Leninist" is normally used by a communist party who wishes to distinguish itself from some other (and presumably 'revisionist') communist party in the same country.

Popular confusion abounds concerning the complex terminology describing the various schools of Marxist-derived thought. The appellation "Marxist–Leninist" is often used by those not familiar with communist ideology in any detail (e.g. many newspapers and other media) as a synonym for any kind of Marxism.

See also

• Fundamentals of Marxism–Leninism

External links

• Definition at marxists.org
• Fundamentals of Marxism–Leninism Soviet textbook explaining Marxism–Leninism
• Leninist Ebooks
• Alexander Spirkin. Fundamentals of Philosophy. Translated from Russian by Sergei Syrovatkin. Moscow: Progress Publishers, 1990.

  Spirkin's textbook offers a systematic exposition of the foundations of dialectical and historical materialism. The book was awarded a prize at a competition of textbooks for students of higher educational establishments.