The "dictatorship of the proletariat" is a term employed by Marxists that refers to what they see as a temporary state between the capitalist society and the classless and stateless communist society; during this transition period, "the state can be nothing but the revolutionary dictatorship of the proletariat. Marxism is the political philosophy and practice derived from the work of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. Manifesto of the Communist Party ( often referred to as The Communist Manifesto, was first published on February 21, 1848, and is The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Napoleon was written by Karl Marx between December 1851 and March 1852 and originally published in 1852 in Die Revolution On the Jewish Question is a work by Karl Marx, written in 1843, and first published in Paris in 1844 under the German title The Grundrisse der Kritik der Politischen Ökonomie ( German, Outlines of the Critique of Political Economy) is a lengthy Manuscript by the The German Ideology (1845 was a book written by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels around April or early May 1845. Economic & Philosophical Manuscripts of 1844 (also referred to as The Paris Manuscripts) are a series of notes written between April and August 1844 The " Theses on Feuerbach " are eleven short philosophical notes written by Karl Marx in 1845. Marx's theory of alienation ( Entfremdung in German) as expressed in the writings of young Karl Marx, refers to the separation of things that naturally Class consciousness, literally is consciousness of one's Social class. In Marxist theory Commodity Fetishism is a state of social relations said to arise in capitalist market based societies in which social relationships Communism is a Socioeconomic structure that promotes the establishment of an egalitarian, classless, stateless Society based Cultural hegemony is a Concept coined by Marxist Philosopher Antonio Gramsci. The rate of exploitation is a concept in Marxian Political economy. Marx's theory of human nature occupies an important place in his critique of Capitalism, his conception of Communism, and his ' materialist conception of history An ideology is a set of beliefs aims and Ideas especially in politics The proletariat (from Latin la ''proles'' "offspring" is a term used to identify a lower Social class; a member of such a class is proletarian Reification ( German: Verdinglichung, literally "thing-ification" (from Latin "Res" meaning "thing" or Versachlichung, literally Socialism refers to a broad set of economic theories of social organization advocating state or collective ownership and administration of the Means of production and distribution Relations of production (German Produktionsverhältnisse) is a concept frequently used by Karl Marx in his theory of Historical materialism and in Note Marxian economics is not restricted to Marxist economics as it includes the economic thought of those inspired by Marx's works who do not identify with Labour power (in German Arbeitskraft, or labour force is a crucial concept used by Karl Marx in his critique of capitalist Political economy The law of value is a concept in Karl Marx 's critique of Political economy. Means Of Production is a compilation of Aim 's early 12" and EP releases recorded between 1995 and 1998 In the writings of Karl Marx and the Marxist theory of Historical materialism, a mode of production (in German Produktionsweise, meaning 'the Productive forces, "productive powers" or "forces of production" German ''Produktivkräfte'' is a central concept in Marxism and Historical materialism Surplus labour is a concept used by Karl Marx in his critique of Political economy. Surplus value is a concept created by Karl Marx in his critique of Political economy, where its ultimate source is unpaid Surplus labor In 20th century discussions of Karl Marx 's Economics the transformation problem is the problem of finding a general rule to transform the "values" of commodities Wage labour is the socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer in which the worker sells their labour under a Contract ( Employment Anarchism and Marxism are related political philosophies which emerged in the nineteenth century In Marxian economic discourse the capitalist mode of production refers to the socio-economic base of capitalist society which began to grow rapidly in Western Europe from the Class struggle is the active expression of Class conflict looked at from any kind of socialist perspective Primitive Accumulation of capital is a concept introduced by Karl Marx in part 8 of the first volume of Das Kapital (in German ursprüngliche Akkumulation A proletarian revolution is a social and/or political Revolution in which the Working class attempts to overthrow the Bourgeoisie. International Socialism redirects here For the journal of the same name see International Socialism (journal Proletarian internationalism is a This is about the concept of world revolution in Marxist theory See also Marxian economics, Marxism Marxist philosophy or Marxist theory are terms which cover work in Philosophy Historical materialism is the methodological approach to the study of society economics and history which was first articulated by Karl Marx ( 1818 - 1883 Dialectical materialism, according to many followers of Karl Marx 's thinking is the philosophical basis of Marxism. Analytical Marxism refers to a style of thinking about Marxism that was prominent amongst English-speaking philosophers and social scientists during the 1980s Autonomism refers to a set of Left-wing political and social movements and theories close to the socialist movement. Marxist feminism is a sub-type of Feminist theory which focuses on the dismantling of Capitalism as a way to liberate women Marxist humanism is a branch of Marxism that primarily focuses on Marx's earlier writings, especially the Economic and Philosophical Manuscripts Marxist geography is a Critical geography which utilises the theories and philosophy of Marxism to examine the spatial relations of Human geography Structural Marxism was an approach to Marxist philosophy based on Structuralism, primarily associated with the work of the French philosopher Louis Althusser Western Marxism is a term used to describe a wide variety of Marxist theoreticians based in Western and Central Europe (and more recently North Libertarian Marxism is a school of Marxism that describes itself as taking a less Authoritarian view of Marxist theory than conventional currents such as Stalinism Young Marx is one half of the concept in Marxology that Karl Marx ’s intellectual development can be broken into two broad categories the other being ‘ Mature Friedrich Engels (28 November 1820 – 5 August 1895 was a German social scientist and philosopher, who Karl Kautsky ( October 16 1854 - October 17 1938) was a leading theoretician of Social democracy. Georgi Valentinovich Plekhanov (Георгий Валентинович Плеханов ( December 11, 1856 &ndash May 30, 1918; Rosa Luxemburg (Róża Luksemburg 5 March 1870 or 1871 15 January 1919 was a Polish-born Jewish German Marxist theorist, socialist Leon Trotsky ( Russian:, Lev Davidovich Trotsky, also transliterated Leo, Lyev, Trotskii, Trotski, Trotskij György Lukács (pronounced in IPA dyɶrdyə ˈlukɑtʃ) ( April 13, 1885 – June 4, 1971) was a Hungarian Guy Ernest Debord ( December 28, 1931 - November 30, 1994) was a Marxist theorist French writer Filmmaker, hypergraphist Antonio Gramsci ('ɡramʃi ( January 23, 1891 &ndash April 27, 1937) was an Italian Philosopher, Writer, Karl Korsch ( August 15, 1886 - October 21, 1961) was a German Marxist theorist Ernesto "Che" Guevara (June 14 Following the Cuban revolution,Guevara reviewed The Frankfurt School is a school of neo-Marxist Critical theory, Social research, and Philosophy. Jean-Paul Charles Aymard Sartre (21 June 1905 &ndash 15 April 1980 commonly known simply as Jean-Paul Sartre (ʒɑ̃ pol saʁtʁə was a French Louis Pierre Althusser (Pronunciation altuˡseʁ ( October 16, 1918 – October 22, 1990) was a Marxist philosopher. Various aspects of Marxist theory have been criticized These criticisms concern both the theory itself and its later interpretations and implementations Marxism is the political philosophy and practice derived from the work of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. Capitalism is the Economic system in which the Means of production are owned by private Persons and operated for Profit and where Communism is a Socioeconomic structure that promotes the establishment of an egalitarian, classless, stateless Society based A state is a political association with effective Sovereignty over a geographic Area and representing a Population. The proletariat (from Latin la ''proles'' "offspring" is a term used to identify a lower Social class; a member of such a class is proletarian " The term does not refer to a concentration of power by a dictator, but to a situation where the proletariat (working class) would hold power and replace the current political system controlled by the bourgeoisie (propertied class). A dictator is an Authoritarian ruler (eg Absolutist or autocratic) who assumes sole and absolute power without hereditary ascension such as an Absolute The proletariat (from Latin la ''proles'' "offspring" is a term used to identify a lower Social class; a member of such a class is proletarian Working class is a term used in academic Sociology and in ordinary conversation to describe depending on context and speaker those employed in specific fields or types In short, the "dictatorship of the proletariat" would replace the current "dictatorship of the bourgeoisie. " Many Marxists refer to this transitional stage as socialism or "workers' democracy. Socialism refers to a broad set of economic theories of social organization advocating state or collective ownership and administration of the Means of production and distribution "
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On January 1, 1852, Joseph Weydemeyer had published an article in The New York Turn-Zeitung entitled "Dictatorship of the Proletariat. New Year See also New Year The Ancient Romans began their consular year on January 1st since 153 BC Year 1852 ( MDCCCLII) was a Leap year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Leap year Joseph Arnold Weydemeyer ( February 2, 1818 &ndash August 26, 1866) was an officer in the Kingdom of Prussia and the " Marx, in an 1852 letter to Weydemeyer, stated that "Now as for myself, I do not claim to have discovered either the existence of classes in modern society or the struggle between them. Long before me, bourgeois historians had described the historical development of this struggle between the classes, as had bourgeois economists their economic anatomy. My own contribution was 1. to show that the existence of classes is merely bound up with certain historical phases in the development of production; 2. that the class struggle necessarily leads to the dictatorship of the proletariat; 3. that this dictatorship itself constitutes no more than a transition to the abolition of all classes and to a classless society. " [1] He later also used the term in works such as the 1875 Critique of the Gotha Program. Year 1875 ( MDCCCLXXV) was a Common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common The Critique of the Gotha Program is a document based on a letter by Karl Marx written in early May 1875 to the Eisenach faction of
Marx and Engels said little about what in practice would characterize a "dictatorship of the proletariat. " In The Communist Manifesto they said:
| “ | The first step on the path to the workers' revolution is the elevation of the proletariat to the position of ruling class. Manifesto of the Communist Party ( often referred to as The Communist Manifesto, was first published on February 21, 1848, and is The proletariat will gain from its political domination by gradually tearing away from the bourgeoisie all capital, by centralizing all means of production in the hands of the State, that is to say in the hands of the proletariat itself organized as the ruling class. | ” |
The term "dictatorship" describes control by an entire class, rather than a single individual (dictator rei gerendae causa). A dictatorship is usually defined as an autocratic Form of government in which the Government is ruled by a Dictator. According to Marx, the bourgeois state, being a system of class rule, amounts to a 'dictatorship of the bourgeoisie. ' When workers take state power into their hands, they become the new ruling class and rule in their own interest, temporarily using the state machinery to prevent the bourgeoisie mounting a counterrevolution. The term ruling class refers to the Social class of a given society that decides upon and sets that society's political policy A counter-revolutionary is anyone who opposes a Revolution, particularly those who act after a revolution to try to overturn or reverse it in full or in part
Although Marx did not plan out the details of how such a dictatorship would be implemented, he pointed to the Paris Commune as a model of transition to communism. The Paris Commune (La Commune de Paris was a Government that briefly ruled Paris from 18 March (more formally from 26 March) to 28 May He stated that:
| “ | The Commune was formed of the municipal councilors, chosen by universal suffrage in the various wards of the town, responsible and revocable at short terms. Universal suffrage (also universal adult suffrage, general suffrage or common suffrage) consists of the extension of the right to vote to The majority of its members were naturally workers, or acknowledged representatives of the working class. The Commune was to be a working, not a parliamentary body, executive and legislative at the same time. [1] | ” |
This social order with its emphasis on recallable delegates and maximal public participation in governance has many similarities to the modern conception of direct democracy. Direct Democracy is a movement within the British Conservative Party dedicated to localism and Constitutional reform as a means of reviving public
Friedrich Engels, in his 1891 postscript to The Civil War in France, stated that "Well and good, gentlemen, do you want to know what this dictatorship looks like? Look at the Paris Commune. Year 1891 ( MDCCCXCI) was a Common year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common The Civil War in France was a book written by Karl Marx as an address to the General Council of the International with the aim of distributing to workers of all countries That was the Dictatorship of the Proletariat. " He criticized what he saw as corruption among politicians and stated that "the Commune made use of two infallible expedients. In this first place, it filled all posts — administrative, judicial, and educational — by election on the basis of universal suffrage of all concerned, with the right of the same electors to recall their delegate at any time. And in the second place, all officials, high or low, were paid only the wages received by other workers. The highest salary paid by the Commune to anyone was 6,000 francs. In this way an effective barrier to place-hunting and careerism was set up, even apart from the binding mandates to delegates to representative bodies which were also added in profusion. " He also stated that the state is "at best an evil inherited by the proletariat after its victorious struggle for class supremacy, whose worst sides the proletariat, just like the Commune, cannot avoid having to lop off at the earliest possible moment, until such time as a new generation, reared in new and free social conditions, will be able to throw the entire lumber of the state on the scrap-heap. "[2] Marx's attention to the Paris Commune would make the commune take a central place in the thought of later Marxists. Traditionally the revolutionary left sees the commune as a populist replacement for the elitist parliament
The Paris Commune was short-lived, and no other serious attempt at implementing Marx's ideas was made during his lifetime. Vladimir Lenin developed on Marxist theory which after his death became known as Marxism-Leninism which became the official ideology of the Communist states. Marxism-Leninism is a Communist ideological stream that emerged as the mainstream tendency amongst the Communist parties in the 1920s as it was adopted Communist state is a term used by many Political scientists to describe a Form of government in which the State operates under a one-party system He discussed the concept of the "dictatorship of the proletariat" in The State and Revolution (1917), elaborating his proposals for putting it into practice. State and Revolution is a book written by Vladimir Lenin in August and September of 1917 Year 1917 ( MCMXVII) was a Common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common year Lenin believed that the political form of the Paris Commune was revived in the councils of workers and soldiers that appeared after the 1905 Russian Revolution that called themselves soviets. See also Russian Revolution (1917 The 1905 Russian Revolution also known as the Failed Russian Revolution of 1905 was an empire-wide struggle of A soviet (сове́т, "council" originally was a workers' local council in late Imperial Russia. Their task, according to Lenin, was to overthrow the capitalist state and establish socialism, the stage preceding communism.
Meanwhile, the role of the revolutionary party, in his case the Bolsheviks, was to serve as a "vanguard of the proletariat," which would start the revolution when the time was right and lead the soviets to victory. The Bolsheviks, originally also Bolshevists ( Большевик Большевист (singular, derived from bolshe, "more" were a faction A vanguard party is a Political party at the forefront of a mass action movement or revolution Like Marx and Engels, Lenin did not think that a liberal democracy could represent the interests of the proletariat because it would inevitably lead to the aforementioned "dictatorship of the bourgeoisie. The term "liberal" in "liberal democracy" does not imply that the government of such a democracy must follow the political ideology of " Lenin argued that since trade unions are inevitably reformist, seeking only an accommodation with capitalists to improve the lot of their members, revolutionary activity on behalf of the proletariat requires a Vanguard party. A trade union or labour union is an organization of workers who have banded together to achieve common goals in key areas such as wages hours and working conditions forming A vanguard party is a Political party at the forefront of a mass action movement or revolution The party will then impose a "dictatorship of the proletariat," assisting the workers to transcend their "trade-union consciousness" by developing a "true revolutionary class consciousness", and thus eliminate the intra-class divisions that impede the development of communism. Lenin believed that, even after a successful proletarian revolution overthrows capitalism in one country, the bourgeoisie still remains stronger than the proletariat, because:
For these reasons, Lenin argued that a "class dictatorship" was necessary in Russia. Lenin advocated the use of force to suppress the former ruling class and the removal of their voting rights, while quoting statements by Marx and Engels to support his policies against the criticism of other Marxists (such as Karl Kautsky), who argued that Lenin was being overly undemocratic. Karl Kautsky ( October 16 1854 - October 17 1938) was a leading theoretician of Social democracy.
At the same time, however, Lenin stated that the system of soviet democracy did guarantee voting rights to the majority of the population. For the Soviet republics of the Soviet Union see Republics of the Soviet Union. Suffrage (from the Latin suffragium, meaning "voting tablet" and figuratively "right to vote" probably from suffrago "hough" and originally The principle of soviet democracy was that the local workers' soviets would elect representatives that would go on to form regional soviets, which would in turn elect representatives that would form higher soviets, and so on up to a Supreme Soviet, the highest legislative body of the entire country. The Supreme Soviet of the USSR (Верхо́вный Сове́т СССР Verkhóvnyj Sovét SSSR) was the highest legislative body in the Soviet Union in The Soviet Union never claimed to have achieved the communist society; the 1977 Soviet Constitution stated that the revolution had "established the dictatorship of the proletariat", that "It is a society of true democracy", and that "The supreme goal of the Soviet state is the building of a classless communist society in which there will be public, communist self-government. At the Seventh (Special Session of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR Ninth Convocation on October 7, 1977, the fourth and last Soviet Constitution "[4]
During the Russian Civil War, non-Bolshevik political parties - including socialist and other Marxist ones - were banned one by one on charges of sabotage, attempted assassination of Bolshevik leaders and cooperation with the enemy. The Russian Civil War (1917–1923 was a multi-party war that occurred within the former Russian Empire after the Russian provisional government collapsed Socialism refers to a broad set of economic theories of social organization advocating state or collective ownership and administration of the Means of production and distribution Critics of Lenin argue that he intended to ban opposition parties all along and was merely looking for excuses to do so, while supporters argue that this measure became necessary due to the extreme wartime conditions and that the charges brought against the various opposition parties were genuine (citing, for example, the attempt on Lenin's life by Fanya Kaplan on August 30, 1918, and the successful assassination of Moisei Uritsky the same day). Fanya Yefimovna Kaplan (Фаниа Ефимовна Каплан February 10, 1890 – September 3, 1918) also known as Fanny Kaplan Events 1363 - Beginning date of the Battle of Lake Poyang; the forces of two Chinese rebel leaders— Chen Youliang and Year 1918 ( MCMXVIII) was a Common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common Moisei Solomonovich Uritsky (Моисей Соломонович Урицкий 1873&ndash August 30 1918) was a Bolshevik Revolutionary leader What is certain is that the Bolsheviks were the only political party left standing by the end of the Civil War, and Lenin died shortly thereafter.
Critics, including anti-communists but also Trotskyist communists (which defend the historical need for a Dictatorship of the Proletariat), Marxists, anarcho-communists, and virtually all communists and socialists who were/are anti-Stalinist contend that Stalin's Soviet Union and the countries that followed its Stalinist model used the notion of a "dictatorship of the proletariat" to justify what was in effect a dictatorship of a new ruling elite, although of a different nature than the previous ruling elite. Anti-communism refers to opposition to Communism. Historically the word "communism" has been used to refer to several types of communal social organization and Trotskyism is the theory of Marxism as advocated by Leon Trotsky. Marxism is the political philosophy and practice derived from the work of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. Communism is a Socioeconomic structure that promotes the establishment of an egalitarian, classless, stateless Society based Socialism refers to a broad set of economic theories of social organization advocating state or collective ownership and administration of the Means of production and distribution Stalinism is the political regime named after Joseph Stalin, leader of the Soviet Union from 1929–1953 The term ruling class refers to the Social class of a given society that decides upon and sets that society's political policy Some also say that the degeneration of the Russian revolution began before Lenin's death, and that he and Trotsky played a crucial role in it (for example, by crushing the Kronstadt uprising and eliminating opposing factions like the Workers' Opposition). This article is about the historical event known as the Kronstadt rebellion The Workers' Opposition (Рабочая оппозиция was a faction of the Russian Communist Party that emerged in 1920 as a response to the perceived over-bureaucratisation Also, despite the principle of democratic centralism within the party, after the Kronstadt Rebellion and while Lenin was still in power, the Communist (Bolshevik) Party issued a "temporary" ban on factions within the party. Democratic centralism is the name given to the principles of internal organization used by Leninist political parties and the term is sometimes used as a synonym for any Leninist This article is about the historical event known as the Kronstadt rebellion This ban remained until the fall of Communism and according to critics made the democratic procedures an empty formality. [3]
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