define Maxism and Lennism
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Marxism–Leninism is a communist ideology and the main communist movement throughout the 20th century. It was the ideology of the Soviet Union and other ruling parties of the Eastern Bloc as well as the Communist International after Bolshevisation.
Marxism–Leninism is a communist ideology and the main communist movement throughout the 20th century.[1] It was the ideology of the Soviet Union[2] and other ruling parties of the Eastern Bloc as well as the Communist International after Bolshevisation.[3] The goal of Marxism–Leninism is the establishment of socialism with a two-stage revolution through the dictatorship of the proletariat.[4] This would be achieved with the leadership of a vanguard party, to be organised hierarchically, which would make decisions through democratic centralism.[5][6][7] The socialist state would control the economy and means of production as a path to development,[8] promote collectivism in society and pave the way for the eventual communist society which would be both classless and stateless.[5] Marxist–Leninist states have been commonly referred to by Western academics as communist states.[9][10][11][12] Marxist–Leninists generally support internationalism and oppose capitalism, fascism, imperialism and liberal democracy. As an ideology, it was developed by Joseph Stalin in the late 1920s based on his understanding and synthesis of both orthodox Marxism and Leninism.[13][14]
After the death of Vladimir Lenin in 1924, Marxism–Leninism became a distinct movement in the Soviet Union when Stalin and his supporters gained control of the party. It rejected the common notions among Western Marxists of world revolution, as a prerequisite for building socialism, in favour of the concept of socialism in one country. According to its supporters, the gradual transition from capitalism to socialism was signified by the introduction of the first five-year plan and the 1936 Soviet Constitution.[15] The socio-economic nature of Marxist–Leninist states, especially that of the Soviet Union under the Stalin era, has been much debated, varyingly being labelled a form of bureaucratic collectivism, state capitalism, state socialism, or a totally unique mode of production.[16] China's socio-economic structure has been referred to as "nationalistic state capitalism" and the Eastern Bloc as "bureaucratic-authoritarian regimes."[7][8]
The internationalism of Marxism–Leninism was expressed in supporting revolutions in other countries (e.g. initially through the Communist International or through the concept of socialist-leaning countries after de-Stalinisation). By the late 1920s, Stalin established ideological orthodoxy among the Russian Communist Party (Bolsheviks), the Soviet Union and the Communist International to establish universal Marxist–Leninist praxis.[17][18] The formulation of the Soviet version of dialectical and historical materialism in the 1930s by Stalin and his associates (such as in Stalin's book Dialectical and Historical Materialism) became the official Soviet interpretation of Marxism[19] and was taken as example by Marxist–Leninists in other countries. In the late 1930s, Stalin's official textbook History of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (Bolsheviks) (1938) popularised the term Marxism–Leninism among communists and non-communists.[20] During the Cold War, Marxism–Leninism was a driving force in international relations for most of the 20th century.[21] With the establishment of other communist states, the death of Stalin and de-Stalinisation, Marxism–Leninism underwent several revisions and adaptations such as Maoism, Guevarism, Ho Chi Minh Thought, Hoxhaism, socialism with Chinese characteristics and Titoism. Today, Marxism–Leninism is the ideology of several communist parties and remains the official ideology of the ruling parties of China, Cuba, Laos and Vietnam as unitary one-party socialist republics[5] and of Nepal in a people's multiparty democracy system.[22]
Marxist–Leninist philosophy has been criticised by a broad political spectrum both on the left and right. Marxist–Leninist rule has been especially criticised, including by other socialists such as anarchists, communists, democratic socialists, libertarian socialists and Marxists. Marxist–Leninist states have been described as authoritarian, or accused of being totalitarian, for suppressing and killing political dissidents and social classes (so-called "enemies of the people"), religious persecution, ethnic cleansing, forced collectivisation and use of forced labor in concentration camps.[23][6][24] Such states have been accused of genocidal acts in China, Poland and Ukraine.[25][26][27][28] Anti-Stalinist left and other left-wing critics see it as an example of state capitalism[29][30] and have referred to it as a "red fascism" contrary to left-wing politics.[31][32][33] Other leftists, including Marxist–Leninists, criticise it for its repressive state actions while recognising certain advancements such as egalitarian achievements and modernisation under such states.[34][35]