Marxism-Leninism is a world outlook based on dialectical materialism, the materialist conception of history, and Marxist political economy including the Leninist conception of imperialism. It follows the application of Marxist theory by Vladimir Lenin and the Bolsheviks to the strategy and tactics of revolution.
After the success of the Russian revolution in 1917 and the establishment of the Soviet Union in 1922, many 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, Vietnamese, and the Chinese revolutions as well as other national liberation and revolutionary movements in Africa, Asia and Latin America.
Today, Marxism–Leninism is one of the theoretical foundations of currently in govern communist parties in China, Cuba, Laos and Vietnam, and it is currently the political line of many surviving communist parties today.
Origin of the term
In the 1920s, the term Marxism-Leninism was first formulated as well as defined by Joseph Stalin based on his understanding of Orthodox Marxism and Leninism.
Lenin never used the term "Leninism", nor did he include his ideas in the term "Marxism-Leninism". His ideas developed out of classical Marxist thought. His ideas weere seen by the Bolsheviks and many later communists as a major advance in Marxism.
Characteristics
Dialectical and historical materialism
Critique of imperialism
Imperialism as seen and described by Lenin as well as various other Marxists, has been considered to be the highest stage of capitalist society.[1] Imperialism involves the usage of finance capital as well as the economic exploitation of nations in other forms for the purpose of economic gain and profit for the capitalist class. Imperialism within this sense, is essentially limited to the capitalist system.