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Vladimir Lenin in 1920

Leninism refers to various related political and economic theories elaborated by Bolshevik revolutionary leader Vladimir Lenin, and by other theorists who claim to be carrying on Lenin's work. Communism is a Socioeconomic structure that promotes the establishment of an egalitarian, classless, stateless Society based See also Marxian economics, Marxism Marxist philosophy or Marxist theory are terms which cover work in Philosophy Class struggle is the active expression of Class conflict looked at from any kind of socialist perspective International Socialism redirects here For the journal of the same name see International Socialism (journal Proletarian internationalism is a A Political party described as a communist party includes those that advocate the application of the social principles of Communism through a communist form of Marxism is the political philosophy and practice derived from the work of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. Trotskyism is the theory of Marxism as advocated by Leon Trotsky. Maoism, variably and officially known as Mao Zedong Thought ( is a variant of Marxism derived from the teachings of the late Chinese leader The Juche Idea (주체사상 Juche Sasang) is the official state Ideology of North Korea and the Political system based on it Left communism is the range of communist viewpoints held by the Communist Left, which opposes the political ideas of the Bolsheviks Council communism is a Far-left movement originating in Germany and the Netherlands in the 1920s Religious communism is a form of Communism centered on religious principles Eurocommunism was a new trend in the 1970s and 1980s within various Western European communist parties to develop a theory and practice of social transformation that National Communism, is an Islamic form of Communism which had a strong Nationalist element The Communist League was the first Marxist international organisation The Second International (1889-1916 was an organization of socialist and labour parties formed in Paris on July 14, 1889. The Comintern ( Com munist Intern ational also known as the Third International) was an international Communist organisation founded in Moscow The Fourth International ( FI) is a communist international organisation working in opposition to both Capitalism and Stalinism. Friedrich Engels (28 November 1820 – 5 August 1895 was a German social scientist and philosopher, who Rosa Luxemburg (Róża Luksemburg 5 March 1870 or 1871 15 January 1919 was a Polish-born Jewish German Marxist theorist, socialist Joseph Stalin ( ნამდვილი გვარი ჯუღაშვილი|Iosif Vissarionovich Dzhugashvili; March 5 1953 was General Secretary of the Communist Party Leon Trotsky ( Russian:, Lev Davidovich Trotsky, also transliterated Leo, Lyev, Trotskii, Trotski, Trotskij Mao Zedong ( 26 December 1893 – 9 September 1976) was a Chinese Military and political leader who led Saloth Sar ( May 19, 1925 – April 15, 1998) also known as Pol Pot, was leader of the Communist movement known as Anarchism is a Political philosophy encompassing theories and attitudes which support the elimination of all compulsory Government, i Anti-capitalism describes a wide variety of movements ideas and attitudes which oppose Capitalism. Anti-communism refers to opposition to Communism. Historically the word "communism" has been used to refer to several types of communal social organization and 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 Communist symbolism consists of a series of Symbols that represent (either literally or figuratively a variety of themes associated with communism Criticisms of Communism can be divided in two broad categories Those concerning themselves with the practical aspects of 20th century Communist state and those concerning 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 The " dictatorship of the proletariat " or workers' state is a term employed by Marxists that refers to what they see as a temporary state between the This article intentionally focuses only on the history of communism as a self-contained self-aware political movement Luxemburgism (also written Luxembourgism) is a specific revolutionary theory within Communism, based on the writings of Rosa Luxemburg. The New Class is a term to describe the privileged Ruling class of Bureaucrats and Communist party functionaries which typically arises in a Stalinist The New Left were the Left-wing movements in different countries in the 1960s and 1970s that unlike the earlier leftist focus on union activism instead adopted a Post-Communism is a name sometimes given to the period of political and economic Transition in former Communist states located in parts of Europe and Primitive communism is A term usually associated with Karl Marx, but most fully elaborated by Friedrich Engels (in The Origin of the Family 1884 and referring 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 Socialist economics is a broad and sometimes controversial term Titoism is an adaptation of communist ideology named after Josip Broz Tito, leader of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, primarily used to describe The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR was a constitutionally Socialist state that existed in Eurasia from 1922 to 1991 Political science is a branch of Social sciences that deals with the theory and practice of Politics and the description and analysis of Political systems Economics is the social science that studies the production distribution, and consumption of goods and services. The Bolsheviks, originally also Bolshevists ( Большевик Большевист (singular, derived from bolshe, "more" were a faction Leninism builds upon and elaborates the ideas of Marxism, and serves as a philosophical basis for the ideology of Soviet Communism. 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

The term "Leninism" itself did not exist during Lenin's life. It came into widespread use only after Lenin ended his active participation in the Soviet government due to a series of incapacitating strokes shortly before his death. A stroke is the rapidly developing loss of brain functions due to a disturbance in the blood vessels supplying blood to the brain Grigory Zinoviev popularized the term at the fifth congress of the Communist International (Comintern). Gregory Yevseevich Zinoviev (Григо́рий Евс́еевич Зин́овьев alternative transliteration Grigorii Ovseyevish Zinoviev born Ovsei-Gershon Aronovich The Comintern ( Com munist Intern ational also known as the Third International) was an international Communist organisation founded in Moscow

Leninism had become one of the dominant branches of Marxism, the political and economic philosophy based on the works of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, since the establishment of the Soviet Union. Marxism is the political philosophy and practice derived from the work of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR was a constitutionally Socialist state that existed in Eurasia from 1922 to 1991 Leninism's direct theoretical descendants are Marxism-Leninism associated with Joseph Stalin and Trotskyism, associated with Leon Trotsky. Marxism-Leninism is a Communist ideological stream that emerged as the mainstream tendency amongst the Communist parties in the 1920s as it was adopted Joseph Stalin ( ნამდვილი გვარი ჯუღაშვილი|Iosif Vissarionovich Dzhugashvili; March 5 1953 was General Secretary of the Communist Party Trotskyism is the theory of Marxism as advocated by Leon Trotsky. Leon Trotsky ( Russian:, Lev Davidovich Trotsky, also transliterated Leo, Lyev, Trotskii, Trotski, Trotskij Stalin and Trotsky were associates of Lenin who became the leaders of the two major political and theoretical factions that developed in the Soviet Union after Lenin's death. The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR was a constitutionally Socialist state that existed in Eurasia from 1922 to 1991 Proponents of each theory (including Stalin and Trotsky themselves) often deny that the other is a "real" Leninist theory, and claim that their own interpretation is the truest successor to Lenin's ideas.

Overview

In his pamphlet What is to be Done? (1902), Lenin argued that the proletariat can only achieve a successful revolutionary consciousness through the efforts of a vanguard party composed of full-time professional revolutionaries. What Is to Be Done? (Что делать? was a political pamphlet written by Vladimir Lenin at the end of 1901 and early 1902 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 A vanguard party is a Political party at the forefront of a mass action movement or revolution Lenin further believed that such a party could only achieve its aims through a form of disciplined organization known as democratic centralism, wherein tactical and ideological decisions are made with internal democracy, but once a decision has been made, all party members must externally support and actively promote that decision. 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

Leninism holds that capitalism can only be overthrown by revolutionary means; that is, any attempts to reform capitalism from within, such as Fabianism and non-revolutionary forms of democratic socialism, are doomed to fail. Capitalism is the Economic system in which the Means of production are owned by private Persons and operated for Profit and where The Fabian Society is a British Intellectual Socialist movement whose purpose is to advance the principles of Social democracy via Gradualist Democratic socialism is a description used by various socialist movements tendencies and organizations to emphasize the democratic character of their political orientation The goal of a Leninist party is to orchestrate the overthrow of the existing government by force and seize power on behalf of the proletariat (although in the October Revolution of 1917, the Soviets seized power, not the Bolshevik Party), and then implement a dictatorship of the proletariat. The " dictatorship of the proletariat " or workers' state is a term employed by Marxists that refers to what they see as a temporary state between the The party must then use the powers of government to educate the proletariat, so as to remove the various modes of false consciousness the bourgeois have instilled in them in order to make them more docile and easier to exploit economically, such as religion and nationalism. Theory The concept flows from the theory of Commodity fetishism &mdash that people experience social relationships as value relations between things e A religion is a set of Tenets and practices often centered upon specific Supernatural and moral claims about Reality, the Cosmos The term nationalism can refer to an Ideology, a sentiment, a form of Culture, or a Social movement that focuses on the Nation

The dictatorship of the proletariat is theoretically to be governed by a decentralized system of proletarian direct democracy, in which workers hold political power through local councils known as soviets (see soviet democracy). Direct Democracy is a movement within the British Conservative Party dedicated to localism and Constitutional reform as a means of reviving public A soviet (сове́т, "council" originally was a workers' local council in late Imperial Russia. For the Soviet republics of the Soviet Union see Republics of the Soviet Union. The extent to which the dicatorship of the proletariat is democratic is disputed. Lenin wrote in the fifth chapter of 'State & Revolution':

Democracy for the vast majority of the people, and suppression by force, i. e. , exclusion from democracy, of the exploiters and oppressors of the people--this is the change democracy undergoes during the transition from capitalism to communism.

The elements of Leninism that include the notion of the disciplined revolutionary, the more dictatorial revolutionary state and of a war between the various social classes is often attributed to the influence of Nechayevschina and of the 19th century narodnik movement (of which Lenin's older brother was a member) - "The morals of [the Bolshevik] party owed as much to Nechayev as they did to Marx" writes historian Orlando Figes. Sergey Gennadiyevich Nechayev (also Sergei Nechaev, Сергей Геннадиевич Нечаев) born October 2, 1847, died either Sergey Gennadiyevich Nechayev (also Sergei Nechaev, Сергей Геннадиевич Нечаев) born October 2, 1847, died either ^[1] This would help explain the traces of class bigotry (e. g. Lenin's frequent description of the bourgeoisie as parasites, insects, leeches, bloodsuckers etc ^[2] and the creation of the GULAG system of concentration camps for former members of the bourgeois and kulak classes ^[3]) detectable in Leninism but foreign in Marxism.

Imperialism

In his Imperialism, the Highest Stage of Capitalism (1916) Lenin advanced the view that imperialism is the highest stage of the capitalist economic system. Imperialism the Highest Stage of Capitalism (1916 by Vladimir Lenin is a classic Marxist theoretical treatise on the relationship between Capitalism Imperialism has two meanings one describing an action and the other describing an attitude Capitalism is the Economic system in which the Means of production are owned by private Persons and operated for Profit and where Lenin developed a theory of imperialism aimed to improve and update Marx's work by explaining a phenomenon which Marx predicted: the shift of capitalism towards becoming a global system (hence the slogan "Workers of the world, unite!"). The Political slogan "Workers of the world unite!", one of the most famous rallying cries of Communism, comes from Karl Marx At the core of this theory of imperialism lies the idea that advanced capitalist industrial nations increasingly come to export capital to captive colonial countries. They then exploit those colonies for their resources and investment opportunities. This superexploitation of poorer countries allows the advanced capitalist industrial nations to keep at least some of their own workers content, by providing them with slightly higher living standards. Superprofit (or surplus profit or extra surplus-value; in German extra-Mehrwert) is a concept in Karl Marx 's critique of political economy (See labor aristocracy; globalization. " Labor aristocracy " (or " aristocracy of labor " has three meanings as a term with Marxist theoretical underpinnings as a specific type of trade Globalization (or globalisation) in its literal sense is the process of transformation of local or regional phenomena into global ones )

For these reasons, Lenin argued that a proletarian revolution could not occur in the developed capitalist countries as long as the global system of imperialism remained intact. A proletarian revolution is a social and/or political Revolution in which the Working class attempts to overthrow the Bourgeoisie. Thus, he believed that a lesser-developed country would have to be the location of the first proletarian revolution. This was an open revision of Marx' thesis that such a revolution could only occur in a developed capitalist country. A particularly good candidate, in his view, was Russia - which Lenin considered to be the "weakest link" in global capitalism at the time. The Russian Empire ( Pre-reform Russian: Pоссійская Имперія Modern Russian: Российская Империя translit: Rossiyskaya ^[4] At the time, Russia's economy was primarily agrarian (outside of the large cities of St. Petersburg and Moscow), still driven by peasant manual and animal labor, and very underdeveloped compared to the industrialized economies of western Europe and North America. Agriculture refers to the production of goods through the growing of plants and fungi and the raising of domesticated Animals The study of agriculture Saint Petersburg ( tr: Sankt-Peterburg,) is a city and a federal subject of Russia located on the Neva River Moscow (Москва́ romanised: Moskvá, IPA: see also other names) is the Capital and the largest city of A peasant is an agricultural worker who subsists by working a small plot of ground Western Europe at its most general meaning means 'all the countries in the West of Europe '

However, if the revolution could only start in a poor, underdeveloped country, this posed a challenge: According to Marx, such an underdeveloped country would not be able to develop a socialist system (in Marxist theory, socialism is the stage of development that comes after capitalism but before communism), because capitalism hasn't run its full course yet in that country, and because foreign powers will try to crush the revolution at any cost. 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 Communism is a Socioeconomic structure that promotes the establishment of an egalitarian, classless, stateless Society based This required Lenin to openly revise Marx's theory on this point. He proposed two possible solutions.

One option would be for the revolution in the underdeveloped country to spark off a revolution in a developed capitalist nation. The developed country would then establish socialism and help the underdeveloped country do the same. Lenin hoped that the Russian Revolution would spark a revolution in Germany; indeed it did, but the German uprisings were quickly suppressed. (see Spartacist League and Bavarian Soviet Republic)

Another option would be for the revolution to happen in a large number of underdeveloped countries at the same time or in quick succession; the underdeveloped countries would then join together into a federal state capable of fighting off the great capitalist powers and establishing socialism. The Spartacist League ( Spartakusbund in German) was a left-wing Marxist revolutionary movement organized in Germany The Bavarian Soviet Republic, also known as the Munich Soviet Republic ( German: Bayerische Räterepublik or Münchner Räterepublik) was This was the original idea behind the foundation of the Soviet Union. The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR was a constitutionally Socialist state that existed in Eurasia from 1922 to 1991

Notably, during Lenin's lifetime, he never asserted that the Soviet Union had become a socialist society, only that the communist party had won power. In fact, he saw to the enactment of what was called "state capitalism" to accelerate the development of what was essentially a third world economy to the point where socialism was feasible. Shortly after his death, it was Joseph Stalin who formally "declared" the establishment of socialism in the Soviet Union, although the Soviet economy remained far behind Western Europe and the United States.

Successors

Leninism calls for world revolution in one form or another under the idea that socialism can not survive in one country alone. This is about the concept of world revolution in Marxist theory

After Lenin died, there was a fierce power struggle in the Soviet Union. The two main contenders were Joseph Stalin and Leon Trotsky. Joseph Stalin ( ნამდვილი გვარი ჯუღაშვილი|Iosif Vissarionovich Dzhugashvili; March 5 1953 was General Secretary of the Communist Party Leon Trotsky ( Russian:, Lev Davidovich Trotsky, also transliterated Leo, Lyev, Trotskii, Trotski, Trotskij In 1924, Stalin advanced a line which is usually called "Socialism in one country", which taught that the Soviet Union should aim to build socialism by itself while supporting revolutionary governments across the world. Socialism in One Country was a thesis developed by Nikolai Bukharin in 1925 and adopted as state policy by Joseph Stalin. Trotsky argued that socialism in one country was impossible and that the USSR should have supported revolution in the developed countries: Stalin and his supporters termed this view as "Trotskyism", in order to suggest that their policy was Leninism's political continuation. Trotskyism is the theory of Marxism as advocated by Leon Trotsky. Later described as Marxism-Leninism (or as Stalinism by its opponents), Stalin's view was adopted, and Trotsky was expelled from the country. Marxism-Leninism is a Communist ideological stream that emerged as the mainstream tendency amongst the Communist parties in the 1920s as it was adopted Stalinism is the political regime named after Joseph Stalin, leader of the Soviet Union from 1929–1953

In the People's Republic of China, the Communist Party of China described its organizational structure as Leninist. Talk People's Republic of China) PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF CHINA ARTICLE GUIDELINES The Communist Party of China ( CPC) ( also known as the Chinese Communist Party ( CCP) is the founding and ruling political party of the Later, the Chinese Communists developed Marxism-Leninism into the theory of Mao Zedong Thought or Maoism, which remains popular in many third world revolutionary movements. Maoism, variably and officially known as Mao Zedong Thought ( is a variant of Marxism derived from the teachings of the late Chinese leader Maoism, variably and officially known as Mao Zedong Thought ( is a variant of Marxism derived from the teachings of the late Chinese leader Third World is a name given to nations that are generally considered to be underdeveloped economically

Present-day Leninists often see globalization as a modern continuation of imperialism in that capitalists in developed countries exploit the working class in developing and underdeveloped countries, maintaining higher profits by lowering the costs of production through lower wages, longer working time, and more intensive working conditions. Globalization (or globalisation) in its literal sense is the process of transformation of local or regional phenomena into global ones

See also

• Marxism-Leninism
• He who does not work neither shall he eat
• An equal amount of products for an equal amount of labor
• Lenin's national policy
• New Economic Policy
• Democratic centralism
• Anti-Leninism

Notes

Further reading

• Marcel Liebman. Marcel Liebman (1929 - 1986 was a Belgian Marxist historian of political sociology and theory active at the Université Libre de Bruxelles and Vrije Leninism Under Lenin. The Merlin Press. 1980. ISBN 0-85036-261-X
• Roy Medvedev. For the current Russian President, see Dmitry Medvedev. Roy Aleksandrovich Medvedev (Рой Александрович Leninism and Western Socialism. Verso Books. 1981. ISBN 0-86091-739-8
• Neil Harding. Leninism. Duke University Press. 1996. ISBN 0-8223-1867-9
• Joseph Stalin. Joseph Stalin ( ნამდვილი გვარი ჯუღაშვილი|Iosif Vissarionovich Dzhugashvili; March 5 1953 was General Secretary of the Communist Party Foundations of Leninism. University Press of the Pacific. 2001. ISBN 0-89875-212-4
• CLR James. Cyril Lionel Robert James ( 4 January 1901 &ndash 19 May 1989) was an Afro- Trinidadian Journalist Notes on Dialectics: Hegel, Marx, Lenin. Pluto Press. 2005. ISBN 0-7453-2491-6
• Edmund Wilson. Edmund Wilson ( May 8, 1895 &ndash June 12 1972) was an American Writer and To the Finland Station: A Study in the Writing and Acting of History. To the Finland Station A Study in the Writing and Acting of History is the most famous book by the American critic and historian Edmund Wilson. Phoenix Press. 2004. ISBN 0-7538-1800-0
• Non-Leninist Marxism: Writings on the Workers Councils (texts by Gorter, Pannekoek, Pankhurst and Ruhle), Red and Black Publishers, St Petersburg, Florida, 2007. ISBN 978-0-9791813-6-8
• Paul Le Blanc. Lenin and the Revolutionary Party. Humanities Press International, Inc. 1990. ISBN 0-391-03604-1.

External links

Works by Vladimir Lenin:

• What is to be Done?
• Imperialism: The Highest Stage of Capitalism
• The State and Revolution
• The Lenin Archive at Marxists.org
• First Conference of the Communist International

Other links:

• Marcel Liebman on Lenin and democracy
• An excerpt on Leninism and State Capitalism from the work of Noam Chomsky
• Organizational Questions of the Russian Social Democracy by Rosa Luxemburg
• LENIN'S PHILOSOPHY by Karl Korsch
• Cyber Leninism