Minimum program

The minimum program in Marxism refers to a set of demands for immediate reforms, which is in contrast to the maximum program of fully constructed socialism or communism.

One of the first examples of a minimum programme is in the 1880 programme drawn up for the French Workers' Party by Jules Guesde with Paul Lafargue, Friedrich Engels and Karl Marx. The introductory Preamble, also known as the "maximum section" was given to Guesde by Marx and concludes with the following paragraph (according to the Penguin translation from the German in MEW)

The French socialist workers, who have set themselves in the economic arena the goal of the return of all means of production to collective ownership, have decided, as the means of organisation and struggle, to enter the elections with the following minimum programme.

Examples

Communist Manifesto

In the Communist Manifesto, the short-term demands were as follows:

• progressive income tax
• abolition of inheritances and private property
• abolition of child labour
• free public education
• nationalisation of the means of transport and communication
• centralisation of credit via a national bank
• expansion of publicly owned land, etc.

Black Panther Party's Ten Point Program

These are abbreviated points, the original can be read here.

• Freedom
• Full employment
• End the robbery of the oppressed communities
• Decent housing
• Public education
• Free healthcare
• End of police brutality
• End the wars
• Re-try all Black people by a jury of their peers
• "land, bread, housing, education, clothing, justice, peace and people’s community control of modern technology"

Further reading

• "Minimum programme" on English Wikipedia