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[[File:Marxism-leninism symbol.png| | [[File:Marxism-leninism symbol.png|alt=|right|frameless]] | ||
'''Marxism-Leninism''' is an ideological framework that originated in the application of Marxist theory to [[revolution|revolutionary]] practice by [[Vladimir Lenin]] and the [[Communist Party of the Soviet Union]]. It is based on [[dialectical materialism]], the [[Historical materialism|materialist conception of history]], and [[Marxism|Marxist political economy]] including the [[Leninism|Leninist]] conception of [[imperialism]]. | |||
After the success of the [[October Revolution|Russian revolution in 1917]] and the establishment of the [[Union of Soviet Socialist Republics|Soviet Union]] in 1922, many [[Communist party|communist parties]] around the world began to adopt | After the success of the [[October Revolution|Russian revolution in 1917]] and the establishment of the [[Union of Soviet Socialist Republics|Soviet Union]] in 1922, many [[Communist party|communist parties]] around the world began to adopt Marxism-Leninism as their political line, and Marxism-Leninism was the main theoretical framework which guided the [[Korean revolution|Korean]], [[Vietnamese revolution|Vietnamese]], and [[Chinese revolution|Chinese]] revolutions as well as other successful national liberation and revolutionary movements in [[Africa]] and [[Asia]]. | ||
Today, Marxism–Leninism is one of the theoretical foundations of governing [[communist parties]] in | Today, Marxism–Leninism is one of the theoretical foundations of governing [[communist parties]] in [[Communist Party of China|China]], [[Communist Party of Cuba|Cuba]], [[Workers' Party of Korea|Korea]], [[Lao People's Revolutionary Party|Laos]] and [[Communist Party of Vietnam|Vietnam]], and is the political line of [[Marxist-Leninist communist parties|many communist parties]] waging class struggle. | ||
== Origin of the term == | |||
In the 1920s, the term Marxism-Leninism was first formulated and defined by [[Joseph Stalin]] based on his synthesis of orthodox [[Marxism|Marxist theory]] and Lenin's thought. | |||
In the 1920s, the term | |||
Lenin never | [[Vladimir Ulyanov|Lenin]] never coined the term "Leninism" "Marxism-Leninism"; rather, his ideas developed upon classical [[Marxism|Marxist thought]]. His ideas were viewed by the [[Communist Party of the Soviet Union|Bolsheviks]] and many later communists as a major advance in Marxism. | ||
Major founding texts of Marxism-Leninism are Stalin's ''Problems of Leninism'' (1924) and ''Questions of Leninism'' (1926); and [http://www.marx2mao.com/PDFs/HCPSU39.pdf ''The History of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (Bolshevik)''], which was produced by a commission of the Central Committee of the CPSU in 1938.<ref>Ferenc Feher (1991), "Soviet Marxism", in Tom Bottomore, [https://comun.ourproject.org/documents/tom_b_dict/bottomore-a-dictionary-of-marxist-thought.pdf ''A Dictionary of Marxist Thought''] . (Hostile but informative).</ref> | |||
Major founding texts of | |||
== Characteristics == | == Characteristics == | ||
=== Dialectical and historical materialism === | === Dialectical and historical materialism === | ||
Marxism-Leninism follows the various tenets of Marx's materialist conception of history, such as primacy of the development of the [[Forces of production|productive forces]] in driving historical change. | |||
=== Critique of imperialism === | === Critique of imperialism === | ||
Imperialism as seen and described by Lenin is the highest stage of capitalism,<ref>https://en.prolewiki.org/wiki/Library:Imperialism,_the_highest_stage_of_capitalism</ref> | |||
Imperialism as seen and described by Lenin is the highest stage of | involving the domination of the economy by [[monopoly capital|monopolies]] and the export of capital as the principal form of exploitation and [[capital accumulation|accumulation]] engaged in by the leading capitalist countries. | ||
involving the domination of the economy by [[monopoly capital|monopolies]] and the | Imperialism in the Leninist sense is essentially limited to the capitalist era. | ||
Imperialism entails savage competition between the leading capitalist countries for colonies and spheres of influence, culminating in imperialist wars (such as the First | Imperialism entails savage competition between the leading capitalist countries for colonies and spheres of influence, culminating in imperialist wars (such as the First Wold War, which Lenin witnessed). | ||
=== Party organization principles === | === Party organization principles === | ||
Marxist-Leninist parties usually adhere to the principle of [[democratic centralism]] which involves free debate within the party and democratic development of party policies by the party members and their elected committees and leaders, but strict adherence by party members to those policies once the policies have been chosen. | |||
=== Strategy and tactics of revolution === | === Strategy and tactics of revolution === | ||
Marxist-Leninists hold that successful revolutions involve more than spontaneous, elemental action by the masses but require a [[vanguard party]] to provide them theoretical guidance and, in the revolutionary moment, tactical leadership. The vanguard (Communist) party is based on full-time revolutionaries and is a repository of revolutionary experience. | |||
=== Theory and practice of the dictatorship of the proletariat === | === Theory and practice of the dictatorship of the proletariat === | ||
Marxist-Leninists adhere to Marx's two-stages model of communism, involving an initial, "lower" stage, often termed "socialism", which is transitional between capitalism and "higher" stage communism in which the state, money, and other vestiges of capitalism and class society no longer exist. In the lower stage a state, controlled by the proletariat, remains necessary to defend against counter-revolution and to guide society away from capitalistic behaviours and toward cooperation and the "free association of the producers" which characterise true or higher-stage communism. The lower stage is also known as the ''dictatorship of the proletariat'' since it involves control of society by the proletariat. | |||
Belief in the necessity of the dictatorship of the proletariat distinguishes | Belief in the necessity of the dictatorship of the proletariat distinguishes Marxism-Leninism from more [[anarchism|anarchistic]] tendencies within social liberation theory. | ||
== | ==Signification== | ||
The term | The term Marxism-Leninism generally distinguishes parties which took the Russian Revolution of 1917 as foundational while other socialist formations including but not limited to [[Libertarian socialism]], [[Eurocommunism]], [[Austro-Marxism]], [[Bernsteinianism]], [[Syndicalism]], [[Anarcho-communism]], [[Daniel De Leon|DeLeonism]], and [[Social democracy]] reject it. | ||
== References == | == References == | ||
<references/> | <references/> | ||
[[Category:Marxism | |||
[[Category:Marxism-Leninism|Marxism-Leninism]] [[Category:Marxism]] [[Category:Communism]] | |||
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