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Marxism

2011-01-26T23:09:53Z

Cabal2122:

Marxism

2011-01-26T22:48:40Z

Cabal2122:

'''Marxism''' is an economic and socio-political worldview that contains within it a political ideology for how to change and improve society by implementing [[socialism (Marxism)|socialism]]. Originally developed in the early to mid 19th century by two German émigrés living in Britain, [[Karl Marx]] and [[Friedrich Engels]], Marxism is based upon [[Historical materialism|a materialist interpretation of history]]. Taking the idea that [[social change]] occurs because of the struggle between different [[social class|classes]] within society who are under contradiction one against the other, the [[Marxist analysis]] leads to the conclusion that [[capitalism]], the currently dominant form of economic management, leads to the oppression of the [[proletariat]], who not only make up the majority of the world's populace but who also spend their lives working for the benefit of the [[bourgeoisie]], or the wealthy ruling class in society.

To correct this inequality between the bourgeoisie, who are the wealthy minority, and the proletariat, who are the poorer majority, Marxism advocates, and believes in the historical inevitability of, a [[proletarian revolution]], when the proletariat [[dictatorship of the proletariat|take control of government]], and then implement reforms to benefit their class, namely the confiscation of [[private property]] which is then [[collective ownership|taken under state control and run for the benefit of the people]] rather than for the interests of private profit. Such a system is socialism, although Marxists believe that eventually a socialist society would develop into an entirely classless system, which is known as [[communism]] in Marxist thought.

A Marxist understanding of history and of society has been adopted by academics studying in a wide range of disciplines, including [[archaeology]], [[anthropology]],<ref>Bridget O'Laughlin (1975) ''Marxist Approaches in Anthropology'' Annual Review of Anthropology Vol. 4: pp. 341–70 (October 1975) (doi:10.1146/annurev.an.04.100175.002013).<br/>William Roseberry (1997) ''Marx and Anthropology'' Annual Review of Anthropology, Vol. 26: pp. 25–46 (October 1997) (doi:10.1146/annurev.anthro.26.1.25)</ref>
[[media studies]],<ref>S. L. Becker (1984) “Marxist Approaches to Media Studies: The British Experience”, Critical Studies in Mass Communication, 1(1): pp. 66–80.</ref> [[political science]], [[theater]], [[history]], [[sociological theory]], [[cultural studies]], [[education]], [[Marxian economics|economics]], [[Marxist geography|geography]], [[literary criticism]], [[aesthetics]], [[critical psychology]], and [[philosophy]].<ref>See [[Manuel Alvarado]], Robin Gutch, and Tana Wollen (1987) ''Learning the Media: Introduction to Media Teaching'', Palgrave Macmillan.</ref>

The first Marxist-run nation state was the [[Soviet Union]], founded in 1922 following the [[Russian revolution]] of 1917. Its leaders [[Vladimir Lenin]], [[Leon Trotsky]] and [[Joseph Stalin]] formulated the theoretical trends of [[Marxism-Leninism]], [[Trotskyism]] and [[Stalinism]] respectively while the [[Chinese Communist Party]] leader [[Mao Zedong]] later developed [[Maoism]].

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==Classical Marxism==
{{Main|Classical Marxism}}
The term '''Classical Marxism''' denotes the theory propounded by [[Karl Marx]] and [[Friedrich Engels]].{{Citation needed|date=November 2008}} As such, Classical Marxism distinguishes between “Marxism” as broadly perceived, and “what Marx believed”; thus, in 1883, Marx wrote to the French labour leader [[Jules Guesde]] and to [[Paul Lafargue]] (Marx’s son-in-law) — both of whom claimed to represent Marxist principles — accusing them of “revolutionary phrase-mongering” and of denying the value of reformist struggle; from which derives the paraphrase: “If that is Marxism, then I am not a Marxist”.<ref>"Accusing Guesde and Lafargue of 'revolutionary phrase-mongering' and of denying the value of reformist struggles, Marx made his famous remark that, if their politics represented Marxism, 'ce qu'il y a de certain c'est que moi, je ne suis pas Marxiste' ('what is certain is that I myself am not a Marxist')." See: http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1880/05/parti-ouvrier.htm</ref> To which, the US Marx scholar [[Hal Draper]] remarked, “there are few thinkers in modern history whose thought has been so badly misrepresented, by Marxists and anti-Marxists alike”.<ref>Not found in search function at [http://www.marxists.org/archive/draper/index.htm Draper Arkiv]</ref>

===Marx and Engels===
{{Main|Karl Marx|Friedrich Engels}}
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'''Karl Heinrich Marx''' (5 May 1818—14 March 1883) was a German [[philosopher]], [[political economy|political economist]], and [[socialism|socialist]] [[revolutionary]], who addressed the matters of [[Marx's theory of alienation|alienation]] and [[exploitation]] of the working class, the [[capitalist mode of production]], and [[historical materialism]]. He is famous for analysing history in terms of [[class struggle]], summarised in the initial line introducing the ''[[Communist Manifesto]]'' (1848): “The history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles”. His ideas were influential in his time, and it was greatly expanded by the successful [[Bolsheviks|Bolshevik]] [[October Revolution]] of 1917 in [[Russian Empire|Imperial Russia]].

'''Friedrich Engels''' (28 November 1820–5 August 1895) was a 19th century German
[[Political philosophy|political philosopher]] and Karl Marx’s co-developer of [[Communism|communist]] theory. Marx and Engels met in September 1844; discovering that they shared like views of [[philosophy]] and [[socialism]], they collaborated and wrote works such as ''Die heilige Familie'' (''[[The Holy Family (book)|The Holy Family]]''). After the French deported Marx from France in January 1845, Engels and Marx moved to Belgium, which then permitted greater [[freedom of expression]] than other European countries; later, in January 1846, they returned to Brussels to establish the Communist Correspondence Committee.

In 1847, they began writing ''The Communist Manifesto'' (1848), based upon Engels’ ''The Principles of Communism''; six weeks later, they published the 12,000-word pamphlet in February 1848. In March, Belgium expelled them, and they moved to [[Cologne]], where they published the ''[[Neue Rheinische Zeitung]]'', a politically [[Political radicalism|radical]] newspaper. Again, by 1849, they had to leave Cologne for London. The Prussian authorities pressured the British government to expel Marx and Engels, but Prime Minister [[John Russell, 1st Earl Russell|Lord John Russell]] refused.

After Karl Marx’s death in 1883, Friedrich Engels became the [[editor in chief|editor]] and [[translation|translator]] of Marx’s writings. With his ''[[Origins of the Family, Private Property, and the State]]'' (1884) — analysing [[Monogamy|monogamous]] [[marriage]] as guaranteeing male social domination of women, a concept analogous, in communist theory, to the capitalist class’s economic domination of the working class — Engels made [[intellectual]]ly significant contributions to [[feminist theory]] and [[Marxist feminism]].

===Early intellectual influences===
{{Main|Influences on Karl Marx}}

Different types of thinkers influenced the development of Classical Marxism; the primary influences derive from:

*'''[[Germany|German]] [[Philosophy|philosophers]]''': [[Immanuel Kant]], [[Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel|G. W. F. Hegel]], [[Ludwig Feuerbach]] et al.
*'''[[United Kingdom|British]] [[Political economy|political economists]]''': [[Adam Smith]] & [[David Ricardo]] et al.
*'''[[France|French]] social theorists''': [[Jean-Jacques Rousseau]]; [[Charles Fourier]]; [[Henri de Saint-Simon]]; [[Pierre-Joseph Proudhon]]; [[Flora Tristan]]; [[Louis Blanc]] et al.

and secondary influences derive from:
*Ancient materialism, e.g. [[Epicurus]], [[Lucretius]] et al.
*[[Aristotle]]
*[[Giambattista Vico]]
*[[Lewis H. Morgan|Lewis Morgan]]
*[[Charles Darwin]]

==Concepts==
===Historical Materialism===
{{Quote box|width=246px|bgcolor=#C0C0C0|align=right|quote="The discovery of the materialist conception of history, or rather, the consistent continuation and extension of materialism into the domain of social phenomenon, removed two chief defects of earlier historical theories. In the first place, they at best examined only the ideological motives of the historical activity of human beings, without grasping the objective laws governing the development of the system of social relations… in the second place, the earlier theories did not cover the activities of the ''masses'' of the population, whereas historical materialism made it possible for the first time to study with the accuracy of the [[natural sciences]] the social conditions of the life of the masses and the changes in these conditions."|source=Vladimir Lenin, 1913.<ref>[[#Len67|Lenin 1967 (1913)]]. p. 15.</ref>
}}
{{epigraph
| quote = "Society does not consist of individuals, but expresses the sum of interrelations, the relations within which these individuals stand." |cite =  [[Karl Marx]], ''[[Grundrisse]]'', 1858 <ref>''Grundrisse: Foundations of the Critique of Political Economy, by Karl Marx & Martin Nicolaus, ''Penguin Classics'', 1993, ISBN 0140445757, pg 265</ref>}}

The [[Historical materialism|historical materialist]] theory of history, also synonymous to “the economic interpretation of history” (a coinage by [[Eduard Bernstein]]),<ref>Evans, p. 53; Marx’s account of the theory is the Preface to ''[[A Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy]]'' (1859). [http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1859/critique-pol-economy/index.htm ].
Another exposition of th theory is in ''The German Ideology''. It, too, is available online from [http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1845/german-ideology marxists.org].
</ref> looks for the causes of societal development and change in the collective ways humans use to make the means for living. The social features of a society (social classes, political structures, ideologies) derive from economic activity; “base and superstructure” is the [[metaphor]]ic common term describing this historic condition.

The [[base and superstructure]] metaphor explains that the totality of social relations regarding “the social production of their existence” i.e. [[Civil_society#Modern_history|civil society]] forms a society’s economic ''base'', from which rises a ''superstructure'' of political and legal institutions i.e. [[political society]]. The base corresponds to the social consciousness (politics, religion, philosophy, etc.), and it conditions the superstructure and the social consciousness. A conflict between the development of material productive forces and the relations of production provokes social revolutions, thus, the resultant changes to the economic base will lead to the transformation of the superstructure.<ref>See ''[[A Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy]]'' (1859), [http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1859/critique-pol-economy/preface.htm Preface], Progress Publishers, Moscow, 1977, with some notes by R. Rojas,
and Engels: ''[[Anti-Dühring]]'' (1877), Introduction [http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1877/anti-duhring/introduction.htm General]
</ref> This relationship is reflexive; the base determines the superstructure, in the first instance, and remains the foundation of a form of social organization which then can act again upon both parts of the base and superstructure, whose relationship is [[dialectic]]al, not literal. {{Citation needed|date=June 2007}}{{Clarify|date=February 2009}}

Marx considered that these socio-economic conflicts have historically manifested themselves as distinct stages (one transitional) of development in Western Europe.<ref>Marx does not claim to have produced a master-key to history. Historical materialism is not “an historico-philosophic theory of the ''marche generale'', imposed by fate upon every people, whatever the historic circumstances in which it finds itself”, K. Marx, Letter to editor of the Russian newspaper paper ''Otetchestvennye Zapiskym'', 1877. He explains that his ideas are based upon a concrete study of the actual conditions in Europe.</ref>

# ''[[Primitive Communism]]:'' as in co-operative tribal societies.
# ''[[Slave]] Society:'' a development of tribal progression to city-state; Aristocracy is born.
# ''[[Feudalism]]:'' aristocrats are the ruling class; merchants evolve into capitalists.
# ''[[Capitalism]]:'' capitalists are the ruling class, who create and employ the proletariat.
# ''[[Socialism]]:'' workers gain class consciousness, and via [[proletarian revolution]] depose the capitalist dictatorship of the bourgeoisie, replacing it in turn with [[dictatorship of the proletariat]] through which the socialization of the means of production can be realized.
# ''[[Communism]]:'' a classless and stateless society.

===Criticism of capitalism===
According to the Marxist theoretician and revolutionary [[Vladimir Lenin]], "the principal content of Marxism" was "Marx's economic doctrine".<ref>[[#Len67|Lenin 1967 (1913)]]. p. 07.</ref> Marx believed that the capitalist bourgeois and their economists were promoting what he saw as the lie that "The interests of the capitalist and those of the worker are… one and the same"; he believed that they did this by purporting the concept that "the fastest possible growth of productive [[Capital (economics)|capital]]" was best not only for the wealthy capitalists but also for the workers because it provided them with employment.<ref>[[#Mar49|Marx 1849]].</ref>

A person is [[Exploitation (Marxism)|exploited]] if he or she performs more labour than necessary to produce the goods that he consumes; likewise, a person is an exploiter if he or she performs less labour than is necessary to produce the goods that he consumes.<ref>Elster, pp. 79–80.</ref> Exploitation is a matter of [[surplus labour]] — the amount of labour one performs beyond what one receives in goods. Exploitation has been a socio-economic feature of every class society, and is one of the principal features distinguishing the social classes. The power of one social class to control the [[means of production]] enables its exploitation of the other classes.

In capitalism, the [[labor theory of value|labour theory of value]] is the operative concern; the [[Value (economics)|value]] of a [[commodity (Marxism)|commodity]] equals the total labour time required to produce it. Under that condition, [[surplus value]] (the difference between the value produced and the value received by a labourer) is synonymous with the term “surplus labour”; thus, capitalist exploitation is realised as deriving surplus value from the worker.

In pre-capitalist economies, exploitation of the worker was achieved via physical coercion. In the capitalist mode of production, that result is more subtly achieved; because the worker does not own the means of production, he or she must voluntarily enter into an exploitive work relationship with a capitalist in order to earn the necessities of life. The worker's entry into such employment is voluntary in that he or she chooses which capitalist to work for. However, the worker must work or starve. Thus, exploitation is inevitable, and the "voluntary" nature of a worker participating in a capitalist society is illusory.


[[Marx's theory of alienation|Alienation]] denotes the estrangement of people from their humanity (<small>German:</small> ''Gattungswesen'', “species-essence”, “species-being”), which is a systematic result of capitalism. Under capitalism, the fruits of production belong to the employers, who expropriate the surplus created by others, and so generate alienated labourers.<ref>“Alienation” entry, ''A Dictionary of Sociology''</ref> Alienation objectively describes the worker’s situation in capitalism — his or her self-awareness of this condition is unnecessary.{{clarify|date=November 2010}}

The identity of a [[social class#Marxist|social class]] derives from its relationship to the [[means of production]]; Marx describes the [[social class]]es in capitalist societies:

*[[Proletariat]]: “those individuals who sell their [[labour power]], and who, in the capitalist mode of production, do not own the means of production“. {{Citation needed|date=May 2009}} The capitalist mode of production establishes the conditions enabling the [[bourgeoisie]] to [[Exploitation#Marxist theory|exploit]] the proletariat because the workers’ labour generates a [[surplus value]] greater than the workers’ [[wages]].
*[[Bourgeoisie]]: those who “own the means of production” and buy labour power from the proletariat, thus exploiting the proletariat; they subdivide as bourgeoisie and the petit bourgeoisie.
**[[Petit bourgeoisie]] are those who employ labourers, but who also work, i.e. small business owners, peasant landlords, trade workers et al. Marxism predicts that the continual reinvention of the means of production eventually would destroy the petit bourgeoisie, degrading them from the middle class to the proletariat.
*[[Lumpenproletariat]]: criminals, vagabonds, beggars, et al., who have no stake in the economy, and so sell their labour to the highest bidder.
*[[Landlords]]: an historically important social class who retain some wealth and power.
*[[Peasantry]] and [[farmers]]: a disorganised class incapable of effecting socio-economic change, most of whom would enter the proletariat, and some become landlords.

[[Class consciousness]] denotes the awareness — of itself and the social world — that a [[social class]] possesses, and its capacity to rationally act in their best interests; hence, class consciousness is required ''before'' they can effect a successful revolution.

Without defining [[Ideology#Ideology as an instrument of social reproduction|ideology]],<ref>Joseph McCarney: ''[http://marxmyths.org/joseph-mccarney/article.htm Ideology and False Consciousness]'', April 2005</ref> Marx used the term to denote the production of images of social reality; according to Engels, “ideology is a process accomplished by the so-called thinker consciously, it is true, but with a false consciousness. The real motive forces impelling him remain unknown to him; otherwise it simply would not be an ideological process. Hence he imagines false or seeming motive forces”.<ref>Engels: [http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1893/letters/93_07_14.htm Letter] to [[Franz Mehring]], (London 14 July 1893), Donna Torr, translator, in ''Marx and Engels Correspondence'', International Publishers, 1968</ref> Because the ruling class controls the society’s means of production, the superstructure of society, the ruling social ideas are determined by the best interests of said ruling class. In ''The German Ideology'', “the ideas of the ruling class are in every epoch the ruling ideas, i.e. the class which is the ruling material force of society, is, at the same time, its ruling intellectual force”.<ref>[http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1845/german-ideology/ch01b.htm Karl Marx, ''The German Ideology'']</ref> Therefore, the ideology of a society is of most importance, because it confuses the alienated classes and so might create a [[false consciousness]], such as [[commodity fetishism]]. {{Citation needed|date=June 2007}}

The term '''[[political economy]]''' originally denoted the study of the conditions under which economic production was organised in the capitalist system. In Marxism, political economy studies the means of production, specifically of capital, and how that is manifest as economic activity.

=== Revolution, socialism and communism ===
Marxists believe that the transition to socialism is an inevitable part of the development of human society; as Lenin stated, "it is evident that Marx deduces the inevitability of the transformation of capitalist society [into a socialist society] wholly and exclusively from the economic law of motion of contemporary society."<ref>[[#Len67|Lenin 1967 (1913)]]. p. 35.</ref>

Marxists believe that a socialist society will be far better for the majority of the populace than its capitalist counterpart, for instance, prior to the [[Russian revolution]] of 1917, Lenin wrote that "The socialization of production is bound to lead to the conversion of the means of production into the property of society… This conversion will directly result in an immense increase in productivity of labour, a reduction of working hours, and the replacement of the remnants, the ruins of small-scale, primitive, disunited production by collective and improved labour."<ref>[[#Len67|Lenin 1967 (1913)]]. p. 35-36.</ref>

==Academic Marxism==
Academic Marxism, which is sometimes known as [[Western Marxism]] due to its predominance in Europe and North America, refers to those academic subjects where Marxist approaches and concepts have been adopted.

Some Marxists have criticised Academic Marxism for being too detached from political Marxism. For instance, Zimbabwean [[Trotskyism|Trotskyist]] [[Alex Callinicos]], himself a professional academic, stated that "Its practitioners remind one of [[Narcissus]], who in the Greek legend fell in love with his own reflection… Sometimes it is necessary to devote time to clarifying and developing the concepts that we use, but for Western Marxists this has become an end in itself. The result is a body of writings incomprehensible to all but a tiny minority of highly qualified scholars."<ref>[[#Cal10|Callinicos 2010]]. p. 12.</ref>

==Political Marxism==
{{Socialism sidebar}}
{{Ref improve section|date=October 2010}}
Since Marx's death in 1883, various groups around the world have appealed to Marxism as the theoretical basis for their politics and policies, which have often proved to be dramatically different and conflicting{{Citation needed|date=October 2010}}. One of the first major political splits occurred between the advocates of 'reformism', who argued that the transition to socialism could occur within existing [[bourgeois]] parliamentarian frameworks, and [[communism|communist]]s, who argued that the transition to a socialist society required a revolution and the dissolution of the capitalist state. The 'reformist' tendency, later known as [[social democracy]], came to be dominant in most of the parties affiliated to the [[Second International (politics)|Second International]] and these parties supported their own governments in the First World War{{Citation needed|date=October 2010}}. This issue caused the communists to break away, forming their own parties which became members of the [[Third International]]{{Citation needed|date=October 2010}}.

The following countries had governments at some point in the 20th century who at least nominally adhered to Marxism{{Citation needed|date=October 2010}}:
[[Albania]], [[Afghanistan]], [[Angola]], [[Benin]], [[Bulgaria]], [[Chile]], [[China]], [[Republic of Congo]], [[Cuba]], [[Czechoslovakia]], [[East Germany]], [[Ethiopia]], [[Grenada]], [[Hungary]], [[Laos]], [[Moldova]], [[Mongolia]], [[Mozambique]], [[Nepal]], [[Nicaragua]], [[North Korea]], [[Poland]], [[Romania]], [[Russia]], the [[Soviet Union|USSR]] and [[Republics of the Soviet Union|its republics]], [[South Yemen]], [[Yugoslavia]], [[Venezuela]], [[Vietnam]]. In addition, the Indian states of [[Kerala]], [[Tripura]] and [[West Bengal]] have had Marxist governments, but change takes place in the government due to electoral process. Some of these governments such as in [[Venezuela]], [[Nicaragua]], [[Chile]], [[Moldova]] and parts of [[India]] have been democratic in nature and maintained regular [[multiparty democracy|multiparty elections]].

===History===
The 1917 [[October Revolution]], led by [[Vladimir Lenin]], was the first large scale attempt to put Marxist ideas about a workers' state into practice. The new government faced counter-revolution, civil war and foreign intervention{{Citation needed|date=October 2010}}. Many, both inside and outside the revolution, worried that the revolution came too early in Russia's economic development{{Citation needed|date=October 2010}}. Consequently, the major Socialist Party in the UK decried the revolution as anti-Marxist within twenty-four hours, according to [[Jonathan Wolff (philosopher)|Jonathan Wolff]].{{Citation needed|date=April 2008}} Lenin consistently explained "this elementary truth of Marxism, that the victory of socialism requires the joint efforts of workers in a number of advanced countries" (Lenin, Sochineniya (Works), 5th ed Vol XLIV p418.) It could not be developed in Russia in isolation, he argued, but needed to be spread internationally.

The 1917 October Revolution did help inspire a revolutionary wave over the years that followed{{Citation needed|date=October 2010}}, with the development of Communist Parties worldwide, but without success in the vital advanced capitalist countries of Western Europe. Socialist revolution in [[Germany]] and other western countries failed, leaving the [[Soviet Union]] on its own. An intense period of debate and stopgap solutions ensued, [[war communism]] and the [[New Economic Policy]] (NEP). Lenin died and [[Joseph Stalin]] gradually assumed control, eliminating rivals and consolidating power as the Soviet Union faced the events of the 1930s and its global crisis-tendencies. Amidst the geopolitical threats which defined the period and included the probability of invasion, he instituted a ruthless program of [[industrialization]] which, while successful{{Citation needed|date=October 2010}}, was executed at great cost in human suffering, including millions of deaths, along with long-term environmental devastation.

Modern followers of [[Leon Trotsky]] maintain that as predicted by Lenin, Trotsky, and others already in the 1920s, Stalin's "socialism in one country" was unable to maintain itself, and according to some Marxist critics, the [[Soviet Union|USSR]] ceased to show the characteristics of a socialist state long before its formal dissolution.

In the 1920s the [[economic calculation debate]] between [[Austrian School|Austrian Economists]] and Marxist economists took place. The Austrians claimed that Marxism is flawed because prices could not be set to recognize opportunity costs of factors of production, and so [[socialism]] could not make rational decisions.

The [[Kuomintang]] party, a Chinese nationalist revolutionary party, had Marxist members who opposed the Chinese Communist Party. They viewed the Chinese revolution in different terms than the Communists, claiming that China already went past its feudal stage and in a stagnation period rather than in another mode of production. These marxists in the Kuomintang opposed the Chinese communist party ideology.<ref>{{cite book|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=usOMZjTWrJ0C&pg=PA207&dq=china+stagnated+feudalism+political&hl=en&ei=AvO4TPjFE4T6lwfa5oWwDA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CCoQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=guomindang%20marxists&f=false|title=Feudalism and non-European societies|author=T. J. Byres, Harbans Mukhia|year=1985|publisher=Psychology Press|location=|page=207|isbn=0714632457|pages=|accessdate=2010-11-28}}</ref>

Following [[World War II]], Marxist ideology, often with Soviet military backing, spawned a rise in revolutionary communist parties all over the world. Some of these parties were eventually able to gain power, and establish their own version of a Marxist state. Such nations included the [[People's Republic of China]], [[Vietnam]], [[Romania]], [[East Germany]], [[Albania]], [[Cambodia]], [[Ethiopia]], [[South Yemen]], [[Yugoslavia]], [[Cuba]], and others. In some cases, these nations did not get along. The most notable examples were rifts that occurred between the Soviet Union and China, as well as Soviet Union and Yugoslavia (in 1948), whose leaders disagreed on certain elements of Marxism and how it should be implemented into society{{Citation needed|date=October 2010}}.

Many of these self-proclaimed Marxist nations (often styled [[People's Republic]]s) eventually became authoritarian states, with stagnating economies. This caused some debate about whether Marxism was doomed in practise or these nations were in fact not led by "true Marxists". Critics of Marxism speculated that perhaps Marxist ideology itself was to blame for the nations' various problems. Followers of the currents within Marxism which opposed Stalin, principally cohered around [[Leon Trotsky]], tended to locate the failure at the level of the failure of [[world revolution]]: for communism to have succeeded, they argue, it needed to encompass all the international trading relationships that capitalism had previously developed.

The Chinese experience seems to be unique. Rather than falling under a single family's self-serving and dynastic interpretation of Marxism as happened in North Korea and before 1989 in Eastern Europe, the Chinese government - after the end of the struggles over the Mao legacy in 1980 and the ascent of Deng Xiaoping - seems to have solved the succession crises{{Citation needed|date=October 2010}} that have plagued self-proclaimed Leninist governments since the death of Lenin himself. Key to this success is another Leninism which is a NEP ([[New Economic Policy]]) writ very large; Lenin's own NEP of the 1920s was the "permission" given to markets including speculation to operate by the Party which retained final control. The Russian experience in [[Perestroika]] was that markets under socialism were so opaque as to be both inefficient and corrupt but especially after China's application to join the [[WTO]] this does not seem to apply universally.

The death of "Marxism" in China has been prematurely announced but since the Hong Kong handover in 1997, the Beijing leadership has clearly retained final say over both commercial and political affairs{{Citation needed|date=October 2010}}. Questions remain however as to whether the Chinese Party has opened its markets to such a degree as to be no longer classified as a true Marxist party.{{Citation needed|date=April 2008}} A sort of tacit consent, and a desire in China's case to escape the chaos of pre-1949 memory, probably plays a role{{Citation needed|date=October 2010}}.

In 1991 the Soviet Union was dismantled and the new Russian state, alongside the other emerging republics, ceased to identify themselves with Marxism. Other nations around the world followed suit. Since then, radical Marxism or Communism has generally ceased to be a prominent political force in global politics, and has largely been replaced by more moderate versions of democratic socialism—or, more commonly, by [[neoliberalism|neoliberal]] capitalism. Marxism has also had to engage with the rise in the [[Environmental movement]]. Theorists including [[Joel Kovel]] and [[Michael Löwy]] have synthesized Marxism, [[socialism]], [[ecology]] and [[environmentalism]] into an ideology known as [[Eco-socialism]].<ref>{{cite web|title=An Ecosocialist Manifesto|url=http://www.iefd.org/manifestos/ecosocialist_manifesto.php|publisher=International Endowment for Democracy|accessdate=2 September 2010|author=Joel Kovel|coauthors=Michael Löwy|date=September 2001}}</ref>

===Social Democracy===
{{Main|Social Democracy}}
{{Social democracy sidebar}}
[[Social democracy]] is a [[political ideology]] that emerged in the late 19th and early 20th century. Many parties in the second half of the 19th century described themselves as social democratic, such as the British [[Social Democratic Federation]], and the [[Russian Social Democratic Labour Party]]. In most cases these were revolutionary socialist or Marxist groups, who were not only seeking to introduce socialism, but also democracy in un-democratic countries. Many social democrats reject the idea that socialism can be accomplished only through [[class conflict]], revolution and [[dictatorship of the proletariat]].

The modern social democratic current came into being through a break within the socialist movement in the early 20th century, between two groups holding different views on the ideas of [[Karl Marx]]. Many related movements, including [[pacifism]], [[anarchism]], and [[syndicalism]], arose at the same time (often by splitting from the main socialist movement, but also through the emergence of new theories) and had various, quite different objections to Marxism. The social democrats, who were the majority of socialists at this time, did not reject Marxism (and in fact claimed to uphold it), but wanted to ''reform'' it in certain ways and tone down their criticism of capitalism{{Citation needed|date=October 2010}}. They argued that socialism should be achieved through evolution rather than revolution. Such views were strongly opposed by the revolutionary socialists{{Citation needed|date=October 2010}}, who argued that any attempt to reform capitalism was doomed to fail, because the reformists would be gradually corrupted and eventually turn into capitalists themselves{{Citation needed|date=October 2010}}.

Despite their differences, the reformist and revolutionary branches of socialism remained united until the outbreak of [[World War I]]. The war proved to be the final straw that pushed the tensions between them to breaking point{{Citation needed|date=October 2010}}. The reformist socialists supported their respective national governments in the war, a fact that was seen by the revolutionary socialists as outright treason against the [[working class]] (Since it betrayed the principle that the workers "have no nation", and the fact that usually the lowest classes are the ones sent into the war to fight, and die, putting the cause at the side){{Citation needed|date=October 2010}}. Bitter arguments ensued within socialist parties, as for example between [[Eduard Bernstein]] (reformist socialist) and [[Rosa Luxemburg]] (revolutionary socialist) within the [[Social Democratic Party of Germany]] (SPD). Eventually, after the [[Russian Revolution of 1917]], most of the world's socialist parties fractured. The reformist socialists kept the name "Social democrats", while the revolutionary socialists began calling themselves "Communists", and soon formed the modern [[Communist]] movement. (See also [[Comintern]])

Since the 1920s, doctrinal differences have been constantly growing between social democrats and Communists (who themselves are not unified on the way to achieve socialism), and Social Democracy is mostly used as a specifically Central European label for [[List of Labour Parties|Labour Parties]] since then, especially in Germany and the Netherlands and especially since the 1959 [[Godesberg Program]] of the German SPD that rejected the praxis of class struggle altogether.

===Socialism===
{{Main|Socialism|Socialism (Marxism)}}

The term "socialism" could be used to describe two fundamentally different ideologies - [[democratic socialism]] and Marxist-Leninist socialism. While Marxist-Leninists ([[Trotskyism|Trotskyists]], [[Stalinism|Stalinists]], and [[Maoism|Maoists]]) are often described as [[communists]] in the contemporary media, they are not recognized as such academically or by themselves{{Citation needed|date=October 2010}}. The Marxist-Leninists sought to work towards the workers' [[utopia]] in Marxist ideology by first creating a socialist state, which historically had almost always been a single-party dictatorship. On the other hand, democratic socialists attempt to work towards an ideal state by social reform and are often little different from social democrats, with the democratic socialists having a more leftist stance.

The Marxist-Leninist form of government has been in decline since the [[collapse of the Soviet Union]] and its satellite states. Very few countries have governments which describe themselves as socialist. As of 2007, [[Laos]], [[Vietnam]], [[Nepal]], [[Cuba]], and the [[People's Republic of China]] had governments in power which describe themselves as [[socialism|socialist]] in the Marxist sense{{Citation needed|date=October 2010}}.

On the contrary, electoral parties which describe themselves as [[socialist]] or [[democratic socialist]] are on the rise, joined together by international organizations such as the [[Socialist International]] and the [[Fourth International]]. Parties described as socialist are currently dominant in Third World democracies and serve as the ruling party or the main opposition party in most European democracies. [[Eco-socialism]], and [[Green politics]] with a strong leftist tinge, are on the rise in European democracies.

The characterization of a party or government often has little to do with its actual economical and social platform. The government of [[mainland China]], which describes itself as socialist, allows a large private sector to flourish and is socially conservative compared to most Western democracies. A more specific example is universal health-care, which is a trademark issue of many European socialist parties but does not exist in mainland China. Therefore, the historical and cultural aspects of a movement must be taken into context in order for one to arrive at an accurate conclusion of its political ideology from its nominal characterization.

===Communism===
{{Communism sidebar |expanded=Ideologies}}
{{Main|Communist state}}

A number of states declared an allegiance to the principles of Marxism and have been ruled by self-described Communist Parties, either as a [[single-party state]] or a single list, which includes formally several parties, as was the case in the [[German Democratic Republic]]. Due to the dominance of the Communist Party in their governments, these states are often called "communist states" by Western political scientists. However, they have described themselves as "socialist", reserving the term "communism" for a future classless society{{Examples|date=October 2010}}, in which the state would no longer be necessary (on this understanding of communism, "communist state" would be an [[oxymoron]]){{ndash}} for instance, the [[USSR]] was the Union of Soviet ''Socialist'' Republics. Marxists contend that, historically, there has never been any communist country{{Citation needed|date=October 2010}}.

Communist governments have historically been characterized by state ownership of productive resources in a [[planned economy]] and sweeping campaigns of economic restructuring such as [[nationalization]] of industry and [[land reform]] (often focusing on [[collective farming]] or state farms.) While they promote collective [[ownership]] of the means of production, Communist governments have been characterized by a strong state apparatus in which decisions are made by the ruling Communist Party. Dissident 'authentic' communists have characterized the Soviet model as [[state socialism]] or [[state capitalism]].

====Marxism-Leninism====
{{Main|Marxism-Leninism|Leninism}}

Marxism-Leninism, strictly speaking, refers to the version of Marxism developed by [[Vladimir Lenin]] known as [[Leninism]]{{Citation needed|date=April 2007}}. However, in various contexts, different (and sometimes opposing) political groups have used the term "Marxism-Leninism" to describe the ideologies that they claimed to be upholding. The core ideological features of Marxism-Leninism are those of Marxism and Leninism, that is to say, belief in the necessity of a violent overthrow of capitalism through [[communist revolution]], to be followed by a [[dictatorship of the proletariat]] as the first stage of moving towards [[communism]], and the need for a [[vanguard party]] to lead the [[proletariat]] in this effort{{Citation needed|date=October 2010}}. Those who view themselves as Marxist-Leninists, however, vary with regards to the leaders and thinkers that they choose to uphold as progressive (and to what extent){{Citation needed|date=October 2010}}. [[Maoist]]s tend to downplay the importance of all other thinkers in favour of [[Mao Zedong]], whereas [[Hoxhaist]]s repudiate Mao{{Citation needed|date=October 2010}}.

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{{Citation needed|date=October 2010}}. The first goal of a Leninist party is to educate the proletariat, so as to remove the various modes of [[false consciousness]] the [[bourgeois]] have instilled in them, instilled in order to make them more docile and easier to exploit economically, such as [[religion]] and [[nationalism]]{{Citation needed|date=October 2010}}. Once the proletariat has gained [[class consciousness]] the party will coordinate the proletariat's total might to overthrow the existing government, thus the proletariat will seize all political and economic power. Lastly the proletariat (thanks to their education by the party) will implement a [[dictatorship of the proletariat]] which would bring upon them socialism, the lower phase of communism. After this, the party would essentially dissolve as the entire proletariat is elevated to the level of revolutionaries{{Citation needed|date=October 2010}}.

The dictatorship of the proletariat refers to the absolute power of the working class. It is governed by a system of proletarian [[direct democracy]], in which [[soviet democracy|workers hold political power through local councils]] known as [[soviet (council)|soviets]]{{Citation needed|date=October 2010}}.

====Trotskyism====
{{Main|Trotskyism}}
Trotskyism is the theory of Marxism as advocated by [[Leon Trotsky]]. Trotsky considered himself a [[Bolshevik]]-[[Leninism|Leninist]], arguing for the establishment of a [[vanguard party]]. He considered himself an advocate of orthodox Marxism. His politics differed sharply from those of [[Stalinism|Stalin]] or [[Maoism|Mao]], most importantly in declaring the need for an international "[[permanent revolution]]". Numerous groups around the world continue to describe themselves as Trotskyist and see themselves as standing in this tradition, although they have diverse interpretations of the conclusions to be drawn from this.

Trotsky advocated [[proletarian revolution]] as set out in his theory of "[[permanent revolution]]", and he argued that in countries where the [[bourgeois]]-[[democratic]] revolution had not triumphed already (in other words, in places that had not yet implemented a capitalist democracy, such as Russia before 1917), it was necessary that the proletariat make it permanent by carrying out the tasks of the social revolution (the "socialist" or "communist" revolution) at the same time, in an uninterrupted process. Trotsky believed that a new socialist state would not be able to hold out against the pressures of a hostile capitalist world unless socialist revolutions quickly took hold in other countries as well, especially in the industrial powers with a developed proletariat.

On the [[political spectrum]] of Marxism, Trotskyists are considered to be on the left. They fervently support democracy, oppose political deals with the imperialist powers, and advocate a spreading of the revolution until it becomes global{{Citation needed|date=October 2010}}.

Trotsky developed the theory that the Russian workers' state had become a "[[Degenerated workers' state|bureaucratically degenerated workers' state]]". Capitalist rule had not been restored, and nationalized industry and economic planning, instituted under Lenin, were still in effect{{Citation needed|date=October 2010}}. However, the state was controlled by a bureaucratic caste with interests hostile to those of the working class. Trotsky defended the Soviet Union against attack from imperialist powers and against internal [[counter-revolution]], but called for a [[political revolution]] within the USSR to restore socialist democracy. He argued that if the working class did not take power away from the Stalinist bureaucracy, the bureaucracy would restore capitalism in order to enrich itself{{Citation needed|date=October 2010}}. In the view of many Trotskyists, this is exactly what has happened since the beginning of [[Glasnost]] and [[Perestroika]] in the USSR. Some{{who|date=October 2010}} argue that the adoption of [[market socialism]] by the [[People's Republic of China]] has also led to capitalist counter-revolution{{Citation needed|date=October 2010}}.

====Maoism====
{{Main|Maoism}}
{{Maoism sidebar |expanded=all}}
Maoism or ''Mao Zedong Thought'' ({{zh|s=毛泽东思想|t=毛澤東思想|p=Máo Zédōng Sīxiǎng}}), is a variant of [[Marxism-Leninism]] derived from the teachings of the [[People's Republic of China|Chinese]] [[communist]] leader [[Mao Zedong]] ([[Wade-Giles transliteration]]: "Mao Tse-tung").

The term "Mao Zedong Thought" has always been the preferred term by the [[Communist Party of China]], and the word "Maoism" has never been used in its English-language publications except [[pejorative]]ly. Likewise, Maoist groups{{Which?|date=November 2010}} outside China have usually called themselves Marxist-Leninist rather than Maoist, a reflection of Mao's view that he did not change, but only developed, Marxism-Leninism. However, some{{Who|date=November 2008}} Maoist groups believing Mao's theories to have been sufficiently substantial additions to the basics of the [[Marxist]] [[wiktionary:canon|canon]], call themselves "Marxist-Leninist-Maoist" (MLM) or simply "Maoist".

In the People's Republic of China, Mao Zedong Thought is part of the official doctrine of the Communist Party of China, but since the 1978 beginning of [[Deng Xiaoping]]'s [[market economy]]-oriented reforms, the concept of "[[socialism with Chinese characteristics]]" has come to the forefront of Chinese politics, [[Chinese economic reform]] has taken hold, and the official definition and role of Mao's original [[ideology]] in the PRC has been radically altered and reduced (see ''[[History of China]]'').

Unlike the earlier forms of Marxism-Leninism in which the urban [[proletariat]] was seen as the main source of revolution, and the countryside was largely ignored, Mao believed that peasantry could be the main force behind a revolution, ''led'' by the proletariat and a vanguard Communist party. The model for this was of course the Chinese communist rural Protracted People's War of the 1920s and 1930s, which eventually brought the Communist Party of China to power{{Citation needed|date=October 2010}}. Furthermore, unlike other forms of Marxism-Leninism in which large-scale industrial development was seen as a positive force, Maoism made all-round rural development the priority{{Citation needed|date=October 2010}}.

Mao felt that this strategy made sense during the early stages of socialism in a country in which most of the people were peasants.
Unlike most other political ideologies, including other [[socialist]] and Marxist ones, Maoism contains an integral [[military]] doctrine and explicitly connects its political ideology with [[military strategy]]. In Maoist thought, "political power grows from the barrel of the gun" (a famous quote by Mao), and the [[peasantry]] can be mobilized to undertake a "[[people's war]]" of armed struggle involving [[guerrilla warfare]] in three stages.

====Left communism====
{{Main|Left communism}}
{{Left communism sidebar |expanded=all}}
Left communism is the range of [[Communism|communist]] viewpoints held by the Communist Left, which criticizes the political ideas of the [[Bolsheviks]] from a position that is asserted to be more authentically [[Marxist]] and [[Proletariat|proletarian]] than the views of [[Leninism]] held by the [[Communist International]] after its first two Congresses.

Two major traditions can be observed within Left communism: the [[Netherlands|Dutch]]-[[Germany|German]] tradition; and the [[Italy|Italian]] tradition. The political positions those traditions have in common are a shared opposition to what is termed ''[[frontism]]'', [[nationalism]], all kinds of national liberation movements and [[parliamentarianism]] and there is an underlying commonality at a level of abstract theory. Crucially, Left Communist groups from both traditions tend to identify elements of commonality in each other{{Vague|date=October 2010}}.

The historical origins of Left Communism can be traced to the period before the [[World War I|First World War]], but it only came into focus after 1918 . All{{Whom?|date=October 2010}} Left Communists were supportive of the [[October Revolution]] in [[Russia]]{{Citation needed|date=October 2010}}, but retained a critical view of its development. Some{{Which?|date=November 2010}}, however, would in later years come to reject the idea that the revolution had a [[proletarian]] or [[socialist]] nature, asserting that it had simply carried out the tasks of the [[bourgeois]] revolution by creating a [[state capitalism|state capitalist]] system{{Citation needed|date=October 2010}}.

Left Communism first came into being as a clear movement in or around 1918{{Citation needed|date=October 2010}}. Its essential features were: a stress on the need to build a [[Communist Party]] entirely separate from the [[reformist]] and [[Centrist#Marxist_movement|centrist]] elements who were seen as having betrayed [[socialism]] in 1914, opposition to all but the most restricted participation in [[elections]], and an emphasis on the need for revolutionaries to move on the offensive{{Citation needed|date=October 2010}}. Apart from that, there was little in common between the various wings. Only the Italians{{Or|date=October 2010}} accepted the need for electoral work at all for a very short period of time, and the German-Dutch, Italian and Russian wings opposed the "right of nations to self-determination", which they denounced as a form of [[bourgeois nationalism]].

===Dispute that the Soviet Union was Marxist===
Some academics such as [[Noam Chomsky]] dispute the claim that the political movements in the former Soviet Union are Marxist.<ref name="chomsky.info">http://www.chomsky.info/articles/1986----.htm</ref> Communist governments have historically been characterized by state ownership of productive resources in a [[planned economy]] and sweeping campaigns of economic restructuring such as [[nationalization]] of industry and [[land reform]] (often focusing on [[collective farming]] or state farms.) While they promote collective [[ownership]] of the means of production, Communist governments have been characterized by a strong state apparatus in which decisions are made by the ruling Communist Party. Dissident communists have characterized the Soviet model as [[state socialism]] or [[state capitalism]]. Further, critics such as [[Leon Trotsky]] and [[Rosa Luxemburg]] have often claimed that a Stalinist or Maoist system of government creates a [[new class|new ruling class]], usually called the [[nomenklatura]].

Marx defined "communism" as a classless, egalitarian and stateless society. To Marx, the notion of a communist state would have seemed an oxymoron,<ref name="State Capitalism">http://www.marxists.org/archive/dunayevskaya/works/1941/ussr-capitalist.htm</ref><ref name="Guide to the Communist Manifesto">http://www.wsu.edu/~brians/hum_303/manifesto.html</ref><ref name="Never Been A Communist Regime">http://www.historiography101.blogspot.com/2006_12_10_archive.html</ref> as he defined communism as the phase reached when class society and the state had already been abolished. Once the lower stage towards communism, commonly referred to as socialism, had been established, society would develop new social relations over the course of several generations, reaching what Marx called the higher phase of communism when not only bourgeois relations but every class social relations had been abandoned. Such a development has yet to occur in any historical self-claimed socialist state.<ref name="State Capitalism"/><ref name="Guide to the Communist Manifesto"/><ref name="Never Been A Communist Regime"/>

Some<ref name="State Capitalism"/> argue that socialist states have contained two new distinct classes: those who are in government and therefore have power (sometimes referred to as the [[political class]]), and those who are not in government and do not have power, the working class. This is taken to be a different form of capitalism, in which the government, as owner of the means of production, takes on the role formerly played by the capitalist class; this arrangement is referred to as "[[State capitalism]]."<ref name="State Capitalism"/> These statist regimes have generally followed a [[planned economy]] model without making a transition to this hypothetical final stage.<ref name="chomsky.info"/>

==Variants==
===Marxism-Leninism===
{{Main|Marxism-Leninism}}

At least in terms of adherents and the impact on the world stage, Marxism-Leninism, also known colloquially as [[Bolshevism]] or simply [[communism]] is the biggest trend within Marxism, easily dwarfing all of the other schools of thought combined.<ref>For example, the Communist Party of China alone has more than 66 million members. See http://www.chinatoday.com/org/cpc/</ref> Marxism-Leninism is a term originally coined by the [[CPSU]] in order to denote the ideology that [[Vladimir Lenin]] had built upon the thought of [[Karl Marx]]. There are two broad areas that have set apart Marxism-Leninism as a school of thought.

First, Lenin's followers generally view his additions to the body of Marxism as the practical corollary to Marx's original theoretical contributions of the 19th century; insofar as they apply under the conditions of advanced capitalism that they found themselves working in. Lenin called this time-frame the era of [[Imperialism]]. For example, [[Joseph Stalin]] wrote that {{Cquote|Leninism grew up and took shape under the conditions of imperialism, when the contradictions of capitalism had reached an extreme point, when the proletarian revolution had become an immediate practical question, when the old period of preparation of the working class for revolution had arrived at and passed into a new period, that of direct assault on capitalism.<ref>http://www.marx2mao.com/Stalin/FL24.html#c1</ref>}} The most important consequence of a Leninist-style theory of Imperialism is the strategic need for workers in the industrialized countries to bloc or ally with the oppressed nations contained within their respective countries' colonies abroad in order to overthrow capitalism. This is the source of the slogan, which shows the Leninist conception that not only the proletariat, as is traditional to Marxism, are the sole revolutionary force, but all oppressed people:{{Cquote|Workers '''and Oppressed Peoples''' of the World, Unite!<ref>http://www.workers.org/2008/us/ww_1982_1120/</ref>}}

Second, the other distinguishing characteristic of Marxism-Leninism is how it approaches the question of organization. Lenin believed that the traditional model of the Social Democratic parties of the time, which was a loose, multitendency organization was inadequate for overthrowing the Tsarist regime in Russia. He proposed a cadre of professional revolutionaries that disciplined itself under the model of [[Democratic Centralism]].

===Marxism-Leninism after Stalin===

For better or worse, Marxism-Leninism as a body of thought and practice was closely identified with the figure of Joseph Stalin after the death of Lenin. After the death of Stalin, the leader of the USSR, [[Nikita Khrushchev]] made several ideological and practical ruptures with his predecessor which lead to the eventual split of Marxism-Leninism into two main branches, post-Stalin "Moscow-aligned" communism and [[anti-revisionism]]. In turn, these branches evolved into multiple schools of thought over time.

===Post-Stalin Moscow-aligned communism===

At the [[20th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union]], Khrushchev made several ideological ruptures with his predecessor, Joseph Stalin. First, Khrushchev denounced the so-called [[Cult of Personality]] that had developed around Stalin, which ironically enough Khrushchev had had a pivotal role in fostering decades earlier. More importantly, however, Khrushchev rejected the heretofore orthodox Marxist-Leninist tenet that class struggle continues even under socialism. Rather, the State ought to rule in the name of all classes. A related principle that flowed from the former was the notion of [[peaceful co-existence]], or that the newly emergent socialist bloc could peacefully compete with the capitalist world, solely by developing the productive forces of society.

====Eurocommunism====

Beginning around the 1970s, various communist parties in Western Europe, such as the [[Italian Communist Party|Partito Comunista Italiano]] in Italy and the [[Communist Party of Spain (main)|Partido Comunista de España]] under [[Santiago Carillo]] tried to hew to a more independent line from Moscow. Particularly in Italy, they leaned on the theories of [[Antonio Gramsci]], despite the fact that by 1921 Gramsci believed that a Communist Party in the [[Leninist]] sense was needed. This trend went by the name [[Eurocommunism]].

===Anti-revisionism===
There are many proponents of Marxist-Leninism who rejected the theses of Khrushchev, particularly Marxists of the [[Third World]].{{Citation needed|date=June 2009}} They believed that Khrushchev was unacceptably altering or "revising" the fundamental tenets of Marxism-Leninism, a stance from which the label "anti-revisionist" is derived. Usually, they are referred to externally by the following epithets, although anti-revisionists typically refer to themselves simply as Marxist-Leninists.

====Maoism====
[[Maoism]] takes its name from [[Mao Zedong]], the erstwhile leader of the [[Peoples Republic of China]]; it is the variety of [[anti-revisionism]] that took inspiration, and in some cases received material support, from China, especially during the Mao period. There are several key concepts that were developed by Mao. First, Mao concurred with Stalin that not only does class struggle continue under the [[dictatorship of the proletariat]], it actually accelerates as long as gains are being made by the proletariat at the expense of the disenfranchised bourgeoisie. Second, Mao developed a strategy for revolution called [[Prolonged People's War]] in what he termed the [[semi-feudal]] countries of the Third World. Prolonged People's War relied heavily on the peasantry. Third, Mao wrote many theoretical articles on epistemology and dialectics, which he called [[contradictions]].

====Hoxhaism====
[[Hoxhaism]], so named because of the central contribution of Albanian statesman [[Enver Hoxha]], was closely aligned with [[China]] for a number of years, but grew critical of [[Maoism]] because of the so-called [[Three Worlds Theory]] put forth by elements within the [[Communist Party of China]] and because it viewed the actions of Chinese leader [[Deng Xiaoping]] unfavorably. Ultimately, however, Hoxhaism as a trend came to the understanding that Socialism had never existed in China at all.

===Trotskyism===
{{Main|Trotskyism}}

Trotskyism is the usual term for followers of the ideas of Russian Marxist [[Leon Trotsky]], the second most prominent leader of the [[Russian Revolution]]. Trotsky was a contemporary of Lenin from the early years of the [[Russian Social Democratic Labour Party]], where he led a small trend in competition with both Lenin's [[Bolsheviks]] and the [[Mensheviks]]; nevertheless Trotsky's followers claim to be the heirs of Lenin in the same way that mainstream Marxist-Leninists do. There are several distinguishing characteristics of this school of thought; foremost is the theory of [[Permanent Revolution]]. Another shared characteristic between Trotskyists is a variety of theoretical justifications for their negative appraisal of the post-Lenin Soviet Union; that is to say, after Trotsky was expelled by a majority vote from the CPSU<ref>http://www.plp.org/books/Stalin/node14.html#SECTION00500000000000000000</ref> and subsequently from the Soviet Union. Trotsky characterized the government of the USSR after his expulsion as being dominated by a "bureaucratic caste" and called for it to be overthrown.<ref>"The characterisation of the anti-bureaucratic revolution as “political revolution” referred to the fact that the bureaucracy had politically expropriated the proletariat ..." http://www.radicalsocialist.in/index.php/articles/marxist-theory/100-capitalist-restoration-in-the-former-soviet-union</ref> Trotskists as a consequence usually advocate the overthrow of socialist governments around the world that are ruled by Marxist-Leninist parties.

===Left Communism===
{{Main|Left Communism}}

Left communism is the range of communist viewpoints held by the communist left, which criticizes the political ideas of the Bolsheviks from a position that is asserted to be more authentically Marxist and proletarian than the views of Leninism held by the Communist International after its first two congresses.

Although she lived before left communism became a distinct tendency, [[Rosa Luxemburg]] has been heavily influential for most left communists, both politically and theoretically. Proponents of left communism have included [[Herman Gorter]], [[Anton Pannekoek]], [[Otto Rühle]], [[Karl Korsch]], [[Amadeo Bordiga]], and [[Paul Mattick]].

Prominent left communist groups existing today include the International Communist Current and the International Bureau for the Revolutionary Party. Also, different factions from the old Bordigist International Communist Party are considered left communist organizations.

===Western Marxism===
{{Main|Western Marxism}}
Western Marxism is a term used to describe a wide variety of [[Marxist theory|Marxist theoreticians]] based in [[Western Europe|Western]] and [[Central Europe]] (and more recently [[North America]] ), in contrast with [[philosophy in the Soviet Union]], the [[Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia]] or [[the People's Republic of China]].

===Structural Marxism===
{{Main|Structural Marxism}}

Structural Marxism is an approach to Marxism based on [[structuralism]], primarily associated with the work of the French theorist [[Louis Althusser]] and his students. It was influential in France during the late 1960s and 1970s, and also came to influence philosophers, political theorists and sociologists outside of France during the 1970s.

===Autonomist Marxism===
{{Main|Autonomism}}

[[Autonomism]] is a term applied to a variety of social movements around the world, which emphasizes the ability to organize in autonomous and horizontal networks, as opposed to hierarchical structures such as unions or parties. Autonomist Marxists, including [[Harry Cleaver]], broaden the definition of the working-class to include salaried and unpaid labour, such as skilled professions and housework; it focuses on the working class in advanced capitalist states as the primary force of change in the construct of capital. Modern autonomist theorists such as [[Antonio Negri]] and [[Michael Hardt]] argue that network power constructs are the most effective methods of organization against the neoliberal regime of accumulation, and predict a massive shift in the dynamics of capital into a 21st Century [[Empire (book)|Empire]].

===Marxist humanism===
{{Main|Marxist humanism}}

Marxist humanism is a branch of Marxism that primarily focuses on [[unpublished|Marx's earlier writings]], especially the ''[[Economic and Philosophical Manuscripts of 1844]]'' in which Marx develops his [[Marx's theory of alienation|theory of alienation]], as opposed to his later works, which are considered to be concerned more with his structural conception of [[capitalist society]]. It was opposed by [[Louis Althusser]]'s "[[antihumanism]]", who qualified it as a [[Marxist revisionism|revisionist]] movement.

Marxist humanists contend that ‘Marxism’ developed lopsidedly because Marx’s early works were unknown until after the orthodox ideas were in vogue{{ndash}} the Manuscripts of 1844 were published only in 1932{{ndash}} and it is necessary to understand Marx’s philosophical foundations to understand his latter works properly.

===Marxism-Deleonism===

Marxism-Deleonism, is a form of syndicalist Marxism developed by [[Daniel De Leon]]. De Leon was an early leader of the first US socialist political party, the Socialist Labor Party. This party exists to the present day. De Leonism lies outside the Leninist tradition of communism. The highly decentralized and democratic nature of the proposed De Leonist government is in contrast to the democratic centralism of Marxism-Leninism and what they see as the dictatorial nature of the Soviet Union. The success of the De Leonist plan depends on achieving majority support among the people both in the workplaces and at the polls, in contrast to the Leninist notion that a small vanguard party should lead the working class to carry out the revolution. Daniel De Leon and other De Leonist writers have issued frequent polemics against 'democratic socialist' movements, especially the Socialist Party of America, and consider them to be "reformist" or "bourgeois socialist". De Leonists have traditionally refrained from any activity or alliances viewed by them as trying to reform capitalism, though the Socialist Labor Party in De Leon's time was active during strikes and such, such as social justice movements.{{Citation needed|date=November 2010}}

===Marxist feminism===
{{Main|Marxist feminism}}
Marxist feminism is a sub-type of [[feminism|feminist]] theory which focuses on the dismantling of capitalism as a way to liberate women. Marxist feminism states that private property, which gives rise to economic inequality, dependence, political confusion and ultimately unhealthy social relations between men and women, is the root of women's oppression. According to [[Marxist theory]], in capitalist societies the individual is shaped by class relations; that is, people's capacities, needs and interests are seen to be determined by the mode of production that characterises the society they inhabit. Marxist feminists see gender inequality as determined ultimately by the capitalist mode of production. Gender oppression is class oppression and women's subordination is seen as a form of class oppression which is maintained (like [[racism]]) because it serves the interests of capital and the [[ruling class]]. Marxist feminists have extended traditional [[Marxist analysis]] by looking at domestic labour as well as wage work in order to support their position.{{Citation needed|date=November 2010}}

==See also==
{{Multicol}}
* [[Analytical Marxism]]
* [[Anarchism and Marxism]]
* [[Austromarxism]]
* [[Classical Marxism]]
* [[Commodity (Marxism)]]
* [[Cultural Marxism]]
* [[Democracy in Marxism]]
* [[Freudo-Marxism]]
* [[Fundamentals of Marxism Leninism]]
* [[In Defence of Marxism]]
* [[International Marxist Tendency]]
* [[Karl Marx]]
* [[Karl Marx House]]
* [[Karl Marx's Theory of History: A Defence|''Karl Marx's Theory of History'']]
* [[Legal Marxism]]
* [[Libertarian Marxism]]
* ''[[Living Marxism]]''
* [[Marxian Class Theory]]
* [[Marxian economics]]
* [[Marxism and Freedom: From 1776 Until Today|''Marxism and Freedom'']]
{{Multicol-break}}
* ''[[Marxism and the U.S.A.]]''
* [[Marxism–Leninism]]
* ''[[Marxism Today]]''
* [[Marxist aesthetics]]
* [[Marxist analysis]]
* [[Marxist criminology]]
* [[Marxist feminism]]
* [[Marxist film theory]]
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* [[Marxist philosophy of nature]]
* [[Marxist sociology]]
* [[Marxist Workers' League (US)]]
* ''[[Marxists Internet Archive]]''
* [[Marx Memorial Library]]
{{Multicol-break}}
* [[Marx’s method]]
* [[Marx's notebooks on the history of technology|Marx's notebooks on technology]]
* [[Marx's theory of alienation]]
* [[Marx's theory of human nature]]
* [[Neo-Marxism]]
* [[Open Marxism]]
* [[Orthodox Marxism]]
* [[Political Marxism]]
* [[Post-Marxism]]
* [[Pre-Marx socialists]]
* [[Reification (Marxism)]]
* ''[[Rethinking Marxism]]''
* [[Revisionism (Marxism)]]
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* ''[[Specters of Marx]]''
* [[Structural Marxism]]
* ''[[The Marxism of Che Guevara]]''
* [[Western Marxism]]
* [[Young Marx]]
{{Multicol-end}}

==References==
;Notes

;Footnotes
{{reflist|colwidth=35em}}

;Bibliography
{{Refbegin}}
{{columns-list|2|
* {{cite book |title= The Revolutionary Ideas of Karl Marx |last= {{aut|[[Alex Callinicos|Callinicos, Alex]]}} |year= 2010 [1983]|publisher= Bookmarks |location= Bloomsbury, London |isbn=9781905192687 |nopp=|ref=Cal10}}
* {{cite book |title= Karl Marx: A Brief Biographical Sketch with an Exposition of Marxism|last= {{aut|[[Vladimir Lenin|Lenin, Vladimir]]}} |year= 1967 [1913]|publisher= Foreign Languages Press |location= Peking |isbn=|nopp=|ref=Len67}} Available online at [http://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1914/granat/index.htm here]
* {{cite book |title= Wage Labour and Capital |last= {{aut|[[Karl Marx|Marx, Karl]]}} |year= 1849 |publisher=Neue Rheinische Zeitung |location=Germany |isbn=|nopp=|ref=Mar49}} Available online [http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1847/wage-labour/index.htm here]

}}
{{Refend}}
* {{cite book
|author=[[Shlomo Avineri|Avineri, Shlomo]]
|year=1968
|title=The Social and Political Thought of Karl Marx
|publisher=Cambridge University Press}}
*{{cite book
|author=[[Ralf Dahrendorf|Dahrendorf, Ralf]]
|title=Class and Class Conflict in Industrial Society
|year=1959}} Stanford: Stanford University Press.
*[[Jon Elster]], ''An Introduction to Karl Marx''. Cambridge, England, 1986.
*Michael Evans, ''Karl Marx''. London, 1975.
* {{cite book
|author=[[Leszek Kołakowski|Kołakowski, Leszek]]
|title=Main Currents of Marxism
|year=1976
|publisher=Oxford University Press}}
* {{cite book
|author=[[Henry Bamford Parkes|Parkes, Henry Bamford]]
|title=Marxism: An Autopsy
|year=1939
|location=Boston
|publisher=Houghton Mifflin}}
*[[Cedric Robinson|Robinson, Cedric J.]] : ''Black Marxism: The Making of the Black Radical Tradition'', 1983, Reissue: Univ North Carolina Press, 2000
*[[R. J. Rummel|Rummel, R.J.]] (1977) ''[http://www.hawaii.edu/powerkills/NOTE12.HTM Conflict In Perspective]'' Chap. 5 ''[http://www.hawaii.edu/powerkills/CIP.CHAP5.HTM Marxism, Class Conflict, and the Conflict Helix]''
* {{cite book
|last=Screpanti
|first=E
|coauthors=S. Zamagna
|year=1993
|title=An Outline of the History of Economic Thought}}
* {{cite book
|author=[[David McLellan (academic)|McLellan, David]]
|title=Marxism After Marx
|year=2007
|location=Basingstoke
|publisher=Palgrave Macmillan}}

==External links==
===General resources===
*[http://www.marxists.org/ Marxists Internet Archive] ([[Marxists Internet Archive|MIA]])
*[http://www.marxisteconomics.com/ Marxist Economics Site]
*[http://www.marxmail.org/ Marxmail.org]
*[http://marxmyths.org/ Marx Myths & Legends]
*[http://www.anu.edu.au/polsci/marx/ Marxism Page]
*[http://www.ucl.ac.uk/philosophy/LPSG/Marx.htm London Philosophy Study Guide on Marxism] (offers many suggestions on what to read, depending on the student's familiarity with the subject)
*[http://libcom.org/library/marxism Libertarian Communist Library Marxism archive]
*[http://www.marxist.net/ Marxist.net] Marxist Resources from the [[Committee for a Workers' International]] (a Trotskyist organization)
*[http://www.newyouth.com/archives/theory/marxismfaq.asp Marxism FAQ] at the website of [[Youth for International Socialism]] (a Trotskyist organization)

===Introductory articles===
*[http://www.dougdowd.org/NewFiles/articles/lebowitzhi.html Introductory article by Michael A. Lebowitz]
*[http://cepa.newschool.edu/het/schools/marxian.htm History of Economic Thought: Marxian School]
*[http://cepa.newschool.edu/het/schools/neomarx.htm Modern Variants of Marxian political economy]

===Marxist websites===
*[http://www.mrzine.org MRZine] a project of the Monthly Review Foundation
*[http://wsws.org/ World Socialist Web Site]
*[http://bataillesocialiste.wordpress.com/english-pages/ La Bataille socialiste] information and documents for living Marxism
*[http://www.cpim.org CPI(M) Website]
*[http://www.marxist.com/ In Defence of Marxism] website of the [[International Marxist Tendency]]
*[http://www.karlmarx.net/ KarlMarx.net] Marxist website of news and analysis.
*[http://www.fifthinternational.org/ League for the Fifth International] Website the League for the Fifth International
*[http://www.pathfinderpress.com Pathfinder Press] online Marxist bookstore
*[http://www.rethinkingmarxism.org Rethinking Marxism] a journal of economics, society, and culture
*[http://www.socialistproject.ca Socialist Project] issues, events, theory, and debate
*[http://www.solidarityeconomy.net/ Solidarity Economy] Marxist theory, analysis, and debate
*[http://www.worldsocialism.org/ World Socialist Movement]
*[http://democom.neuf.fr/democraticcommunism.htm For Democratic Communism]

===Specific topics===
*[http://www.zmag.org/debateiso.htm Debating Marxism] Michael Albert (ParEcon) vs. Alan Maass (Marxism)]
*[http://www.anti-caste.org/marx-and-engels-on-india-and-the-colonial-question.html ''Marx and Engels on India and colonialism''] and [http://www.anti-caste.org/marx-on-caste-and-the-village-community.html ''Marx on caste and the village community''] from [http://www.anti-caste.org/ anti-caste]

{{Marx/Engels}}
{{Marxist & Communist phraseology}}
{{Philosophy topics}}

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User talk:Cabal2122

2011-01-26T22:38:30Z

Cabal2122:

Hi Cabal, and welcome! I see you've been copying articles from Wikipedia. I'd encourage you to make original contributions, rather than direct copies, for a number of reasons:
*Many of the Wikipedia templates are not needed here, and the broken links to them are unsightly
*The license on our text is less restrictive than that of Wikipedia, which means that all text from Wikipedia must be flagged and carefully managed so that it stays separate from new contributions
*Most importantly, our goal is not to be a mirror of Wikipedia, but to provide information from a libertarian and anarchist perspective: something Wikipedia cannot do. Merely copying from Wikipedia in general doesn't further that goal.
Anyway, I hope you stick around and start contributing here! --[[User:Forgottenman|Forgottenman]] ([[User talk:Forgottenman|talk]]) 11:29, 26 January 2011 (CST)

No problem, do you want me to delete the work?[[User:Cabal2122|Cabal2122]] 16:38, 26 January 2011 (CST) Cabal2122

User talk:Cabal2122

2011-01-26T22:38:02Z

Cabal2122:

Principle of non-aggression

2011-01-26T17:19:11Z

Cabal2122: Created page with "{{Refimprove|date=May 2008}} {{Libertarianism sidebar |expanded=Concepts}} The '''non-aggression principle''' (also called the '''non-aggression axiom''', or the '''anti-coercio..."

{{Refimprove|date=May 2008}}
{{Libertarianism sidebar |expanded=Concepts}}

The '''non-aggression principle''' (also called the '''non-aggression axiom''', or the '''anti-coercion''' or '''zero aggression principle''' or '''non-initiation of force''') is an ethical stance which asserts that "aggression" is inherently illegitimate. "Aggression" is defined as the "initiation" of physical force against persons or property, the threat of such, or [[fraud]] upon persons or their property. In contrast to [[pacifism]], the non-aggression principle does not preclude violent self-defense. The principle is a [[deontological]] (or rule-based) ethical stance.

==Origin==
The principle has a long tradition but has been mostly popularized by [[market anarchism|market anarchists]] and other schools of [[libertarianism]] ([[consequentialist libertarianism|consequentialist libertarians]] do not base their libertarianism on it).<ref>[http://www.libertyunbound.com/archive/2005_01/editors-right.html What's Right vs. What Works]. Charles Murray, David Friedman, David Boaz, and R.W. Bradford. ''Liberty''. January 2005, Vol 15, No 1</ref> It is an [[axiom]] of some forms of [[anarchism]], and traces of it can be found in [[Judaism]], [[Christianity]], and [[Islam]], as well as in Eastern philosophies such as [[Taoism]].<ref>[http://mises.org/daily/3903 Libertarianism in Ancient China] Murray N. Rothbard ''Libertarianism in Ancient China''</ref>

==Definition==
Libertarians typically claim that the non-aggression principle includes [[property]] and [[freedom of contract]] as a part of self-ownership. The basis for this extension of self-ownership to one's property is [[John Locke]]'s argument (also called the [[homestead principle]]) that mixing of labor with an unowned resource makes that resource part of one's self. Subsequent [[exchange]] of such property (e.g. sale, rental) simply transfers this right. Hence, to aggress against someone's property is to aggress against the individual. As for freedom of contract, the right of self-ownership is held to imply freedom of action in the absence of aggression (e.g. in the absence of false or duress contracts, and the absence of contracts stipulating aggression against third-parties).

==Consequences==
If these two rights to private property and to freedom of contract are taken as given, then the non-aggression principle is held by its supporters to lead to the rejection of [[theft]], [[vandalism]], [[assault]], [[fraud]] and [[victimless crimes]].

When applied to the [[state (polity)|state]], it has been taken to prohibit many policies including [[taxation]], the [[military draft]], [[regulation]] of voluntary exchange and individual participation in non-defensive state wars. When taken to the logical conclusion, [[anarchists]] argue that it calls for abolition of the state itself, asserting that individuals would be protected from aggression by what amount to insurance contracts with private organizations, through a militia union, or completely by self-defense. This proposed system resembles fire protection services in colonial Philadelphia.

The [[United States Libertarian Party]] and others view it as an essential tenet of all [[libertarianism|libertarian]] thought.

==Justification==
The principle has been derived by various philosophical approaches, including:
* [[Argumentation ethics]]. [[Hans-Hermann Hoppe]] has argued that [[property rights]] are inalienable;
* [[Natural law]]. [[Murray Rothbard]] has made efforts to derive non-aggression from [[self-ownership]];
* [[Contractarianism]];<ref>[http://www.daviddfriedman.com/Academic/Property/Property.html A Positive Account of Property Rights]. David Friedman. Originally published in Social Philosophy & Policy, volume 11, number 2 (Summer 1994), published by Cambridge University Press.</ref>
* [[Objectivism (Ayn Rand)|Objectivism]]. [[Ayn Rand]] has made efforts in deriving the principle from the [[right to life]]; and
* [[Universally Preferable Behavior]]. [[Stefan Molyneux]] formulated a rational proof of secular ethics that made an effort to validate the non-aggression principle.

==Historical formulations and background==
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:left;border-collapse:collapse;" cellpadding="2"
|+ Historical formulations of the non-aggression principle
|-
! style="background:#efefef;"| Year
! style="background:#efefef;"| Formulated by
! style="background:#efefef;"| Formulation
|-
|300's BC
|[[Epicurus]]
|"Natural justice is a symbol or expression of usefullness, to prevent one person from harming or being harmed by another."<ref>[http://classics.mit.edu/Epicurus/princdoc.html]</ref>
|-
|900's
|[[Abu Mansur Al Maturidi]], [[Ibn Qayyim Al-Jawziyya]], [[Averroes]]
|These Islamic theologians and philosopher wrote that man could rationally know that man had a right to life and property.
|-
|early 1200's
|[[Ibn Tufayl]]
|In [[Hayy ibn Yaqzan]] the Islamic philosopher discussed the life story of a baby living alone without prior knowledge who discovered natural law, and natural rights, which obliged man not to coerce against another's life or property. Ibn Tufayl influenced Locke's notion of [[Tabula Rasa]].<ref>G. A. Russell (1994), ''The 'Arabick' Interest of the Natural Philosophers in Seventeenth-Century England'', pp. 224-239, [[Brill Publishers]], ISBN 9004094598.</ref>
|-
|1618
|[[John Locke]]
|In [[Second Treatise on Government]] he wrote "Being all equal and independent, no one ought to harm another in his life, health, liberty, or possessions."<ref>http://oregonstate.edu/instruct/phl302/texts/locke/locke2/locke2nd-a.html#Sect.%206.</ref>
|-
|1682
|[[Samuel von Pufendorf]]
|In ''On the Duty of Man and Citizen'' he wrote "Among the absolute duties, i.e., of anybody to anybody, the first place belongs to this one: let no one injure another. For this is the broadest of all duties, embracing all men as such."<ref>http://www.constitution.org/puf/puf-dut_106.htm</ref>
|-
|1722
|[[William Wollaston]]
|In ''The Religion of Nature Delineated'' he formulated "No man can have a right to begin to interrupt the happiness of another." This formulation emphasized "begin" to distinguish aggressive disturbances from those in self-defense ("...yet every man has a right to defend himself and his against violence, to recover what is taken by force from him, and even to make reprisals, by all the means that truth and prudence permit.")
|-
|1790
|[[Mary Wollstonecraft]]
|("Vindication of the Rights of Men") "The birthright of man ... is such a degree of liberty, civil and religious, as is compatible with the liberty of every other individual with whom he is united in a social compact, and the continued existence of that compact."<ref>[http://oll.libertyfund.org/Home3/Book.php?recordID=0532]</ref>
|-
|1816
|[[Thomas Jefferson]]
|"Rightful liberty is unobstructed action according to our will within limits drawn around us by the equal rights of others. I do not add 'within the limits of the law', because law is often but the tyrant's will, and always so when it violates the rights of the individual." and "No man has a natural right to commit aggression on the equal rights of another, and this is all from which the laws ought to restrain him." (Thomas Jefferson to Francis Gilmer, 1816)
|-
|1851
|[[Herbert Spencer]]
|The [[law of equal freedom]]: "Every man is free to do that which he wills, provided he infringes not the equal freedom of any other man." This notion of equal freedom goes back to earlier liberal thought.
|-
|1859
|[[John Stuart Mill]]
| The [[harm principle]] formulated in [[On Liberty]], states that "the only purpose for which power can be rightfully exercised over any member of a civilized community, against his will, is to prevent harm to others".
|-
|1961
|[[Ayn Rand]]
|In an essay called "Man's Rights" in the book "[[The Virtue of Selfishness]]" she formulated "The precondition of a civilized society is the barring of physical force from social relationships. ... In a civilized society, force may be used only in retaliation and only against those who initiate its use."<ref>http://www.ccsindia.org/ccsindia/lssreader/2lssreader.pdf</ref><ref>http://www.freedomkeys.com/ar-rootsofwar.htm</ref><ref>http://freedomkeys.com/faithandforce.htm</ref> Note that she stipulated the context - civilized society.
|-
|1963
|[[Murray Rothbard]]
|"No one may threaten or commit violence ('aggress') against another man's person or property. Violence may be employed only against the man who commits such violence; that is, only defensively against the aggressive violence of another. In short, no violence may be employed against a nonaggressor. Here is the fundamental rule from which can be deduced the entire corpus of libertarian theory." Cited from "War, Peace, and the State" (1963) which appeared [[Egalitarianism as a Revolt Against Nature and Other Essays]]<ref>http://www.lewrockwell.com/rothbard/rothbard26.html</ref>
|-
|
|[[L. Neil Smith]]
|The libertarian science fiction writer, claims, "No one has the right, under any circumstances, to initiate force against another human being, nor to delegate its initiation." This is considered an imprecise formulation, since it explicitly ignores context.
|-
|
|[[Walter Block]]
|"It shall be legal for anyone to do anything he wants, provided only that he not initiate (or threaten) violence against the person or legitimately owned property of another."<ref>http://www.lewrockwell.com/block/block26.html</ref>
|}

Natural law theorist [[Murray Rothbard]] traces the non-aggression principle to natural law theorist [[St. Thomas Aquinas]] and the early Thomist scholastics of the Salamanca school [http://www.lewrockwell.com/rothbard/rothbard135.html].

Early formulations that use terms such as "harm" or "injury," such as those of Epicurus and Mill above, are today generally considered imprecise. "Harm" and "injury" are too subjective; one man's harm may be another man's benefit. For example, a squatter may make "improvements" that the owner considers detrimental. Modern formulations avoid such subjectivity by formulating the NAP in terms of [[individual rights]] or observable conduct (''initiation of force/violence'').

==Criticism==
The non-aggression principle faces three kinds of criticism: the first holds that the principle is immoral, the second argues that it is impossible to apply consistently in practice, while the third holds that the interpretation of the principle is too ambiguous to be useful; respectively, the consequentialist criticism, the inconsistency criticism, and the ambiguity criticism.

===Consequentialist criticism===
This moral criticism is based on [[consequentialism|consequentialist]] [[ethics]], usually [[utilitarianism]]. It holds that the non-aggression principle is unethical because it opposes the initiation of force even when the results of such initiation would be better than the results of any other course of action. Suppose, for instance, that you could save a million lives by killing one innocent man. The non-aggression principle holds that you should not kill that man. But this leads to a million deaths. While such extreme situations are unlikely, opponents of the non-aggression principle argue that milder forms of the same dilemma (for example the choice between taking away part of a wealthy man's property or allowing a poor person to starve) are very common. Of course, many formulations, such as Rothbard's and Block's, avoid this objection by either specifying that the NAP only applies to a civilized context (and not 'lifeboat situations')<ref>{{cite web|url=http://mises.org/daily/1628|title=Lifeboat Situations|last=Rothbard|first=Murray|authorlink=Murray Rothbard|accessdate=2010-05-13}}</ref> or that it applies only to legal rights (as opposed to general morality.) Thus a starving man may, in consonance with general morality, break into a hunting cabin and steal food, but nevertheless he is aggressing, i.e. violating the NAP, and (by most rectification theories) should pay compensation.

Some consequentialist libertarians promote the non-aggression principle by basing its advocacy on forms of consequentialism such as [[rule utilitarianism]] and [[rule egoism]]. These utilitarians do not believe that it is categorically immoral to engage in aggression, but because they believe situations where aggression would lead to the best consequences are rare, they promote the non-aggression principle with the justification that if others accept it as a rule it would lead to better consequences than if they did not accept it as a rule. They believe the consequences of advocating the rule are superior to advocating that other individuals attempt to calculate each of their own actions to determine whether aggression or non-aggression would lead to better consequences. Other consequentialist libertarians do not promote the non-aggression principle at all; they simply believe that allowing a very large scope of political and economic liberty results in the maximum well-being or efficiency for a society, even if securing this liberty involves some governmental actions that would be considered violations of the non-aggression principle. It just so happens that these actions are limited in the free society they envision. This type of libertarianism is associated with [[Ludwig von Mises]] and [[Friedrich Hayek]].<ref>Barry, Norman P. Review Article:The New Liberalism. B.J. Pol. S. 13, p. 93</ref>

===Inconsistency criticism===
The second type of criticism focuses on the difficulty of determining who exactly ''initiated'' force in many real-life conflicts. As a general rule, each side in a conflict claims that the other "started it". Sometimes it is plainly clear who initiated force - for example, when a mugger demands a person's wallet. Other times, however, the situation is more complicated. For example, one side may have been the first to ''threaten'' force and the other side may have been the first to actually ''use'' force, or the conflict began such a long time in the past that no one remembers who started it. [[War]]s are a particularly difficult case, because very few of them begin with a country openly declaring that it wants to initiate force on another.

Libertarians usually respond by stating that such pragmatic issues are well dealt with already in today's legal systems. For instance, an example of a dissipative game is a situation where a person starts insulting another in a bar, the other person responds by shoving, the other throws a punch, and the situation dissipates into a fight. In such cases, both parties are simply guilty of aggression toward the other because the aggression clearly went beyond self defense.{{Citation needed|date=September 2009}}

A version of this second criticism is often upheld by [[libertarian socialism|libertarian socialists]] and others, who claim that almost every patch of land on Earth was stolen (i.e. obtained through initiation of force) at some point in its history. The stolen land was later inherited or sold until it reached its present owners. Thus, property over land and natural resources is based on the initiation of force. Among those who make this argument, some (such as followers of [[Henry George]]) claim that private property over natural resources is unique in being based on the initiation of force, while others hold that, by extension, private property over ''all'' goods derives from violence, because natural resources are required in the production of all goods.

Libertarians often reply to the "who started it?" problem by contending that the difficulty in determining who is the transgressor should not dissuade us from engaging in that process.

Furthermore, libertarians often reply to either variant of this last point with the "water under the bridge" argument: that transgressions of the past cannot all be rectified, and that an act of theft which happened very long ago can reasonably be ignored - since it is irrelevant to people living today. This, however, can generate more charges of inconsistency, because it implies that peaceful possession of property in the present legitimizes theft and/or trespass in the past{{ndash}} the principle known in some contexts as "squatters' rights" and in other contexts as "the right of [[adverse possession]]". This requires a "cutoff" point: a point in time when illegitimate property becomes legitimate property. Opponents argue that any such point is arbitrary.

One prominent [[Anarcho-capitalism|anarcho-capitalist]] theorist, [[Murray Rothbard]], argued that much private property in the U.S. southwest ought to be taken from its present private owners, and given to the lawful heirs of those who had claim to it under Mexican law before the [[Mexican–American War]], although he also regarded this case as historically unique.

Another reply can be made on the basis of the existence of proof of possession and individuality of owners. That is: if current heirs of long dead property owners can identify the property that has been stolen and ''prove'' that the owner has passed down to him or her his initial right of property - then those persons must be recognized as the rightful owners. This is similar to the "innocent until proven guilty" proposition of modern law, that owners should be regarded as legitimate until proven differently.

===Ambiguity criticism===
In addition to the above two kinds of criticism, there is also a debate around the manner in which libertarians typically ''interpret'' the non-aggression principle. Specifically, some libertarians see [[tax]]es as a [[Taxation as theft|form of government aggression]]. However, unless their libertarianism is of such an absolute degree that it opposes any kind of state, some consider taxation as a "necessary evil." They may argue that because of the [[free-rider problem]], enough funds would not be obtainable by voluntary means to protect individuals from aggression of a greater severity. Hence, they will accept taxation as long as no more is levied than is necessary to ''optimise'' protection of individuals against aggression (from other individuals and from government itself). On the other hand, many libertarian anarchists, as strict adherents to the non-aggression principle, argue that security should be maintained by voluntary payment to [[Private defense agency|private defense forces]], rather than taxation. Both anarchists and opponents of libertarianism in general have made the argument that the non-aggression principle, if embraced in a pure or absolute sense, forbids the existence of states. Anarchists use this argument in their attempts to convert other libertarians to their views, while opponents of libertarianism use it to support the claim that consistent application of libertarian principles would result in the complete abolition of the state - which, in their view, is an [[extremist]] and absurd position to hold.

Some radical libertarians argue that [[minarchism]] stemming from the non-aggression principle is logically inconsistent, and consider anarchism to be the natural-rights doctrine applied in full. Others feel that minarchism from a consequentialist libertarian perspective is more cogent and a better alternative to rights-libertarian minarchism.

===Social contract===
There are many who oppose the libertarian idea that taxation is a form of aggression on [[social contract]] grounds. Specifically, advocates of most social contract theories see taxes as analogous to contract fees, and tax-collecting governments as agents of an (implicit) agreement among the members of a society to share certain common burdens. However, [[Herbert Spencer]] argues that: "If every man has freedom to do all that he wills, provided he infringes not the equal freedom of any other man, then he is free to drop connection with the state - to relinquish its protection and to refuse paying toward its support. It is self-evident that in so behaving he in no way trenches upon the liberty of others, for his position is a passive one, and while passive he cannot become an aggressor. It is equally self-evident that he cannot be compelled to continue one of a political corporation without a breach of the moral law, seeing that citizenship involves payment of taxes; and the taking away of a man's property against his will is an infringement of his rights" [http://www.panarchy.org/spencer/ignore.state.1851.html]. Some social contract supporters argue that a person is obliged to adhere to the "social contract" by staying within the confines of a state. Rebuttals to this view often turn on whether there is a genuine choice, whether there is a possibility to "opt out." One possible obstacle is that leaving a country can be difficult and require sacrifice, especially in the case of state-controlled borders (e.g. through the use of border guards, dogs, and walls). Another take on the issue might be that a contract implies willful adherence. Laws of the state are, by their definition, imposed. A state can be compared to the [[Mafia]], from this perspective; meaning that people are 'free' to pay protection tax, but they are still coerced. Other libertarians point out that, as long as all the land on Earth is administered by states, a person may not exit a state without entering another state and, hence, opting out of a social contract would be impossible unless one decides to live in the ocean. Supporters of social contract theories, on the other hand, argue that opting out of many contracts that libertarians do not oppose is also difficult. For example, if a private corporation owned the water supply in a region ''(see "''[[Monopoly]]''")'', and disgruntled residents of the region found it impossible to establish a new entrant in that market, then the revocation of one's contract with that corporation would mean that one would have to move out of the region. Thus, the argument goes, one's contract with the water corporation is very similar to a social contract.

Inspired by such considerations, some [[minarchist]]s have suggested establishing social contracts (and taxes or "fees") only at local or regional levels, the smaller the better, since leaving a neighborhood, for example, is less burdensome and is much better at preserving freedom of choice, than having to leave an entire country. Such a system also introduces an element of competition among the various taxing entities to which a monopolistic central government does not have to answer. On the other hand, this system also makes it difficult to undertake any sort of large-scale public project, since an agreement between different regional governments would be needed. The additional challenges would limit the implementation of large-scale public projects to only those with widespread support, perhaps consolidated through an umbrella organization of smaller governments (e.g., the [[United Nations]], [[European Union]], [[North American Free Trade Agreement]], [[NATO|North Atlantic Treaty Organization]]). Furthermore, lacking a centralized point of taxation control, this system also allows for the creation of "tax havens": if a certain region has little or no local taxes, many of the rich people from neighboring regions may move to it, thus depriving their original home regions of tax revenue. Whether this is good or bad depends on one's political views.

Of course, the existence of a social contract, much like the non-aggression principle, is itself a matter of dispute among the advocates of different political ideologies and views. Many libertarians argue that no contract can exist without conscious and voluntary assent by all participants. [[American individualist anarchist]] [[Lysander Spooner]] is a noted proponent of this view, while espousing the non-aggression principle as [[natural law]]. Spooner holds that the fact that governments hold the threat of force over the heads of those who would not pay taxes, any supposed social contract to pay taxes would not be legitimate since legitimate contracts can only be made in the absence of coercion (i.e., they must be voluntary).

Others argue that a social contract can indeed exist, but that it is an implicit contract between individuals to adhere to the non-aggression principle; these argue that taxation is therefore a violation of the social contract. For example, anarchist [[Pierre-Joseph Proudhon]] maintains that rather than being a contract between man and government, the "social contract is an agreement of man with man; an agreement from which must result what we call society" to "abdicate all pretension to govern each other."

==Notes==

{{Reflist}}

==Notes and references==
# {{note|Block2003}} Source: [http://www.lewrockwell.com/block/block26.html (Walter Block 2003)]
# {{note|Block2001}} Source: [http://www.lewrockwell.com/orig/block1.html (Walter Block 2001)]
# {{note|Rothbard}} Murray N. Rothbard, in "War, Peace, and the State"
# {{note|lpmembership}} [https://www.lp.org/membership Libertarian Party Membership Form]

==See also==
* [[Harm principle]]
* [[law of equal liberty]]
* [[Natural law]]
* [[Nonviolence]]
* [[Self ownership]]
* [[Simple living]]
* [[Taxation as theft]]
* [[Victimless crime]], [[public order crime]]

==External links==
* [http://www.mises.org/rothbard/ethics.pdf ''The Ethics of Liberty''] e-book by [[Murray Rothbard]], Mises.org
* [http://mises.org/books/Socialismcapitalism.pdf ''A Theory of Socialism and Capitalism''] e-book by [[Hans-Hermann Hoppe]], Mises.org
* [http://www.lewrockwell.com/block/block26.html The Non-Aggression Axiom of Libertarianism] by [[Walter Block]], LewRockwell.com
* [http://www.mises.org/asc/2002/ASC8-Machan.pdf Against Utilitarianism; or, Why Not Violate Rights if it'd Do Good] by [[Tibor Machan]], Mises.org
* [http://www.mises.org/story/2103 Economics and Its Ethical Assumptions] by [[Roderick Long]], Mises.org
* [http://www.mises.org/journals/jls/12_2/12_2_5.pdf New Rationalist Directions in Libertarian Rights Theory] by [[N. Stephan Kinsella]], Mises.org
*[http://www.isil.org/resources/introduction.html The Philosophy of Liberty], an animated production, derives a [[libertarianism|libertarian]] philosophy from the principle of self-ownership. Central to this is the non-aggression principle.

{{Libertarianism}}
{{Anarcho-capitalism}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Non-Aggression Principle}}
[[Category:Libertarian theory]]
[[Category:Anarchist theory]]
[[Category:Anarcho-capitalism]]

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[[es:Principio de no agresión]]
[[fr:Principe de non-agression]]
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[[zh:互不侵犯原則]]

Maoism

2011-01-26T17:16:41Z

Cabal2122: Created page with "{{multiple issues|cleanup=December 2010|copyedit=December 2010|npov=December 2010}} {{Maoism sidebar |expanded=all}} {{Communism sidebar |expanded=Ideologies}} '''Maoism''', als..."

{{multiple issues|cleanup=December 2010|copyedit=December 2010|npov=December 2010}}
{{Maoism sidebar |expanded=all}}
{{Communism sidebar |expanded=Ideologies}}

'''Maoism''', also known as '''Mao Zedong Thought ''' (''mao zedong sixiang 毛泽东思想''), is a form of [[Marxism|Marxist]] communist theory, derived from the teachings of the [[People's Republic of China|Chinese]] political leader [[Mao Zedong]] (1893–1976). Developed during the 1950s and 1960s, it is widely applied as the political and military guiding ideology in the [[Communist Party of China]] (CPC) from Mao's ascendancy to its leadership until the party was taken over by [[Deng Xiaoping]], who implemented [[Deng Xiaoping Theory]] and [[Chinese economic reform]]s in 1978. Nonetheless, although not fully adhered to by the government of the People's Republic of China anymore due to the reforms, Maoist parties and groups exist throughout the world, most notably in [[Shining Path|Peru]], [[Communist Party of India (Maoist)|India]], and [[Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist)|Nepal]], in the latter of which, the Maoist party won the [[Nepalese Constituent Assembly election, 2008|elections]] in 2008.<ref>http://www.india-defence.com/reports-2361</ref>

==Marxist origins==
{{More footnotes|section|date=August 2010}}
Mao drew information from the writings of [[Marx]], [[Engels]] and [[Lenin]] in elaborating his theory. Philosophically, his most important reflections emerge on the concept of "contradiction" (''maodun''). These are contained in two major essays: “On contradiction” and “On the correct handling of contradictions among the people”. He adopts therein the positivist-empiricist idea (shared by Engels) that contradiction is present in matter itself (and thus, also in the ideas of the brain). Matter always develops through a dialectical contradiction: "The interdependence of the contradictory aspects present in all things and the struggle between these aspects determine the life of things and push their development forward. There is nothing that does not contain contradiction; without contradiction nothing would exist".<ref>Mao Tse Tung, "On contradiction", Selected Readings from the Works of Mao Tse-Tung, Foreign Language Press, Peking, 1967, p. 75, or http://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/mao/selected-works/volume-1/mswv1_17.htm.</ref> Thanks to this development or unfolding, something that was subordinated in the past may become dominant in the present and the future. This should be directly read in the light of the principle of class struggle, Mao said. Furthermore, each contradiction ("class struggle", then: the contradiction holding between relations of production and the concrete development of forces of production) expresses itself in a series of other contradictions, some dominant, others not. "There are many contradictions in the process of development of a complex thing, and one of them is necessarily the principal contradiction whose existence and development determine or influence the existence and development of the other contradictions".<ref>Mao Tse-Tung, "On contradiction", Selected Readings from the Works of Mao Tse-Tung, op. cit., p. 89, or http://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/mao/selected-works/volume-1/mswv1_17.htm.</ref> Thus, the principal contradiction should be tackled with priority when trying to make the basic contradiction "solidify".

His basic stand on contradiction is founded on Marxist epistemology. The two essays just quoted contain reflections on this issue, but the theme is elaborated further in the essay “On practice. On the relation between knowledge and practice, between knowing and doing”. “Practice” connects "contradiction" with "class struggle" in the following way: Inside a mode of production, there are 3 realms where practice functions: economic production, scientific experimentation (which also takes place in economic production and should not be radically disconnected from the former) and finally, class struggle. These may be considered the proper objects of economy, scientific knowledge, and politics.<ref>Cfr. Mao Tse-Tung, "On practice. On the relation between knowledge and practice, between knowing and doing", Selected Readings from the Works of Mao Tse-Tung, op.cit., p. 55: "Man's social practice is not confined to activity in production, but takes many forms --class struggle, political life, scientific and artistic pursuits; in short, as a social being, man participates in all spheres of the practical life of society. Thus man, in varying degrees, comes to know the different relations between man and man, not only through his material life but also though his political and cultural life (both of which are intimately bound up with material life)", or http://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/mao/selected-works/volume-1/mswv1_16.htm.</ref> The three of them deal with matter in its various forms, socially mediated. As a result, they are the only realms where knowledge may arise (since truth and knowledge only make sense in relation to matter, according to Marxist epistemology). Mao emphasizes—like Marx in trying to confront the "bourgeoisie idealism" of his time—that knowledge must be based on empirical evidence. Knowledge result from hypotheses verified in the contrast with a real object; this real object, despite being mediated by the subject’s theoretical frame, retains its materiality and will offer resistance to those ideas that do not conform to its truth. Thus, in each of these realms (economic, scientific and political practice), contradictions (principle and secondary) must be identified, explored and put to function to achieve the communist goal. This involves the need to know, "scientifically", how the masses produce (how they live, think, and work), to obtain knowledge of how class struggle (the main contradiction that articulates a mode of production, in its various realms) expresses itself.

Maoism's political orientation emphasizes the "revolutionary struggle of the vast majority of people against the exploiting classes and their state structures", which Mao termed a "[[People's War]]". Usually involving peasants, its military strategies have involved [[guerrilla war]] tactics focused on surrounding the cities from the countryside, with a heavy emphasis on political transformation through mass involvement of the lower classes of society.

Maoism departs from conventional European-inspired Marxism in that its focus is on the agrarian countryside, rather than the industrial urban forces. This is known as [[Agrarian socialism]]. Notably, Maoist parties in Peru, Nepal and Philippines have adopted equal stresses on urban and rural areas, depending on the country's focus of economic activity. Maoism broke with the [[state capitalist]] framework of the [[Soviet Union]] under [[Nikita Khrushchev]] and dismisses it as modern [[Marxist revisionism|revisionism]], a traditional pejorative term among communists referring to those who fight for capitalism in the name of socialism.

In its post-revolutionary period, Mao Zedong Thought is defined in the CPC's Constitution as "[[Marxism-Leninism]] applied in a Chinese context", synthesized by Mao Zedong and China's "[[Generations of Chinese leadership|first-generation leaders]]". It asserts that [[class struggle]] continues even if the [[proletariat]] has already overthrown the [[bourgeoisie]], and there are capitalist restorationist elements within the Communist Party itself. Maoism provided the CPC's first comprehensive theoretical guideline with regards to how to continue socialist revolution, the creation of a socialist society, socialist military construction, and highlights various contradictions in society to be addressed by what is termed "socialist construction". While it continues to be lauded to be the major force that defeated "imperialism and feudalism" and created a "New China" by the Communist Party of China, the ideology survives only in name on the Communist Party's Constitution; [[Deng Xiaoping]] abolished most Maoist practices in 1978, advancing a guiding ideology called "[[Socialism with Chinese characteristics]].<ref>[http://news.xinhuanet.com/ziliao/2002-11/18/content_633225_1.htm Xinhua: Constitution of the Communist Party of China]</ref>

marxists.org definition of Maoism (aka Mao Zedong Thought)

A theory and practice which claims to be an advancement of Marxism, developed as a critique of the Soviet Union. While Mao Zedong (1893-1976) valued Stalin as a “great Marxist-Leninist”, he explained Stalin committed some crucial errors:

1) He did not understand dialectics and ended up in metaphysics. He hence sometimes did not understand the demands of the masses. He did not distinguish between the different kinds of contradictions.
2) During the 30’s the regime of Stalin sentenced many innocents to death.
3) He did not conduct democratic centralism within the party good enough.
4) He did not handle the connections with foreign Communist parties well enough, especially his handling of the 1927 events in China.

The result of these errors according to Maoism was that the Soviet Union was governed by a bureaucratic [[nomenclatura]] which later was to conduct a “silent counterrevolution” turning the Soviet Union into an imperialist country, not crucially different from the USA.

These are the most distinct components of Maoism:

1) Guerrilla warfare/People’s War: The armed branch of the party must not be distinct from the masses. To conduct a successful revolution the needs and demands of the masses must be the most important issues.

2) New democracy: In backward countries socialism cannot be introduced before the country has gone through a period in which the material conditions are improved. This cannot be done by the bourgeoisie, as its progressive character is long since replaced by a regressive character.

3) Contradictions as the most important feature of society: Society is dominated of a wide range of contradictions. As these are different of nature, they must also be handled in different ways. The most important divide is the divide between contradictions among the masses and contradictions between the masses and their enemies. Also the socialist institutions are plagued with contradictions, and these contradictions must not be suppressed as they were during Stalin.

4) Cultural revolution: Bourgeois ideology is not wiped out by the revolution; the class-struggle continues, and even intensifies, during socialism. Therefore an instant struggle against these ideologies and their social roots must be conducted.

5) Theory of three worlds: During the cold war two imperialist states formed the “first world”; the USA and the Soviet Union. The second world consisted of the other imperialist states in their spheres of influence. The third world consisted of the non-imperialist countries. Both the first and the second world exploit the third world, but the first world is the most aggressive part. The workers in the first and second world are “bought up” by imperialism, preventing socialist revolution. The people of the third world, on the other hand, have not even a short-sighted interest in the prevailing circumstances. Hence revolution is most likely to appear in third world countries, which again will weaken imperialism opening up for revolutions in other countries too.

Maoism as a theory has grown its strongest roots among revolutionaries in the third world, and some of these movements, e.g. the CPN(M) in Nepal and the CPP of the Philippines, are advancing in their guerrilla warfare during the beginning of the 21st century. Western Maoism grew from the 1960s, and some of the movements have had some success in establishing themselves as the main communist parties in their countries.
(Transcribed by Mathias Bismo. Available at: http://www.marxists.org/glossary/terms/m/a.htm#maoism Accessed on the 22/12/2010)

And the theory of the new democracy was known to the Chinese revolutionaries from the late 40’s. This thesis held that for the majority of the peoples of the planet, the long road to socialism could only be opened by a ‘national, popular, democratic, anti-feudal and anti-imperialist revolution [the language of the day], run by the communists.'<ref>{{Cite news
| last = Amin
| first = Samir
| title = The Countries of the South Must Take Their Own Independent Initiatives
| newspaper =
| publisher = The Third World Forum
| date = October 2009
| url = http://www.forumtiersmonde.net/fren/index.php/activitesactions/249-the-countries-of-the-south-must-take-their-own-independent-initiatives
| accessdate = 2011-01-07}}
</ref>

== Maoism in China ==
{{Context|date=March 2009}}
{{Politics of the People's Republic of China}}
Since the death of Mao Zedong in 1976, and the capitalist reforms of [[Deng Xiaoping]] starting in 1978, the role of Mao's ideology within the People's Republic of China (PRC) has radically changed.<ref>[http://journalism.berkeley.edu/faculty/schell/schelldeng.html UC Berkeley Journalism - Faculty - Deng's Revolution]</ref> Although Mao Zedong Thought nominally remains the state ideology, Deng's admonition to [[seek truth from facts]] means that state policies are judged on their practical consequences; the role of ideology in determining policy, in many areas, has thus been considerably reduced. Deng also separated Mao from Maoism, making it clear that Mao was fallible and hence that the truth of Maoism comes from observing social consequences rather than by using Mao's quotations as [[Holy Writ|holy writ]], as was done in Mao's lifetime.{{Citation needed|date=April 2010}}

In addition, the party constitution has been rewritten to give the capitalist ideas of Deng Xiaoping prominence over those of Mao. One consequence of this is that groups outside China which describe themselves as Maoist generally regard China as having repudiated Maoism and restored [[capitalism]], and there is a wide perception both in and out of China that China has abandoned Maoism. However, while it is now permissible to question particular actions of Mao and to talk about excesses taken in the name of Maoism, there is a prohibition in China on either publicly questioning the validity of Maoism or questioning whether the current actions of the CPC are "Maoist."

Although Mao Zedong Thought is still listed as one of the [[four cardinal principles]] of the People's Republic of China, its historical role has been re-assessed. The Communist Party now says that Maoism was necessary to break China free from its feudal past, but that the actions of Mao are seen to have led to excesses during the [[Cultural Revolution]].{{Citation needed|date=April 2010}}

The official view is that China has now reached an economic and political stage, known as the [[Socialism with Chinese characteristics|primary stage of socialism]], in which China faces new and different problems completely unforeseen by Mao, and as such the solutions that Mao advocated are no longer relevant to China's current conditions. The official proclamation of the new CPC stand came in June 1981, when the Sixth Plenum of the Eleventh National Party Congress Central Committee took place. The 35,000-word "Resolution on Certain Questions in the History of Our Party Since the Founding of the People's Republic of China" reads:

[[Image:LonggangZhen-NanyangShidi-0026.jpg|thumb|"Mao Zedong is the Chinese people's savior!", an old slogan painted on the brick wall of a [[Chinese Buddhist]] [[Temple]]]]
"Chief responsibility for the grave 'Left' error of the 'cultural revolution,' an error comprehensive in magnitude and protracted in duration, does indeed lie with Comrade Mao Zedong . . . . [and] far from making a correct analysis of many problems, he confused right and wrong and the people with the enemy. . . . Herein lies his tragedy."<ref>http://www.country-studies.com/china/the-four-modernizations,-1979-82.html</ref>

Both Maoist critics{{Who|date=April 2010}} outside China and most Western commentators{{Who|date=April 2010}} see this re-working of the definition of Maoism as providing an ideological justification for what they see as the restoration of the essentials of capitalism in China by Deng and his successors.

Mao himself is officially regarded by the CPC as a "great revolutionary leader" for his role in fighting the Japanese and creating the People's Republic of China, but Maoism as implemented between 1959 and 1976 is regarded by today's CPC as an economic and political disaster. In Deng's day, support of radical Maoism was regarded as a form of "left deviationism" and being based on a [[cult of personality]], although these 'errors' are officially attributed to the [[Gang of Four (China)|Gang of Four]] rather than to Mao himself.{{Citation needed|date=April 2010}} Thousands of Maoists were arrested in the Hua Guofeng period after 1976, with prominent Maoists sentenced to death.{{Citation needed|date=April 2010}}

== Maoism outside China ==
From 1962 onwards, the challenge to the Soviet [[hegemony]] in the [[World Communist Movement]] made by the CPC resulted in various divisions in communist parties around the world. At an early stage, the [[Albanian Party of Labour]] sided with the CPC. So did many of the [[mainstream]] (non-splinter group) communist parties in South-East Asia, like the [[Burmese Communist Party]], [[Communist Party of Thailand]], and [[Communist Party of Indonesia]]. Some Asian parties, like the [[Workers Party of Vietnam]] and the [[Workers Party of Korea]] attempted to take a middle-ground position.

The Khmer Rouge of Cambodia is said to have been a replica of the Maoist regime. The Communist Party of Kampuchea (Cambodia), better known as the "[[Khmer Rouge]]", identified strongly with Maoism, and is generally labeled a "Maoist" movement today.<ref>{{cite news| url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8373556.stm | work=BBC News | title=Khmer Rouge Duch trial nears end | date=2009-11-23 | accessdate=2010-05-12}}</ref><ref>http://www.straitstimes.com/BreakingNews/SEAsia/Story/STIStory_459313.html</ref> Maoists, however, are quick to point out that the CPK strongly deviated from Marxist doctrine, and that the few references to Maoist China in CPK propaganda were critical of the Chinese.<ref>http://www.aworldtowin.org/back_issues/1999-25/PolPot_eng25.htm</ref>

In Africa, [[Siad Barre|Siad Barre's]] regime in [[Somalia]] is often cited as being pro-Maoist, as it sided with the [[People's Republic of China]] during the [[Sino-Soviet split]] and, as such, China provided support to the regime during [[Ogaden War|its war]] with the pro-Soviet nations of [[Derg|Ethiopia]], [[Cuba]] and [[South Yemen]].

In the west and south, a plethora of parties and organizations were formed that upheld links to the CPC. Often they took names such as ''Communist Party (Marxist-Leninist)'' or ''Revolutionary Communist Party'' to distinguish themselves from the traditional pro-Soviet communist parties. The pro-CPC movements were, in many cases, based among the wave of student radicalism that engulfed the world in the 1960s and 1970s.

The [[Communist Party of India (Maoist)]] is a [[Maoist]] [[political party]] in [[India]] which aims to overthrow the government of India.<ref>{{Cite news
| last = Ridge
| first = Mian
| title = Maoists' hijacking of Indian train reveals new audacity
| newspaper = The Christian Science Monitor
| publisher = The Christian Science Monitor
| date = 2009-10-29
| url = http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Maoists-looking-at-armed-overthrow-of-state-by-2050/articleshow/5648742.cms
| accessdate = 2009-12-14}}
</ref> It was founded on September 21, 2004, through the merger of the [[Communist Party of India (Marxist–Leninist) People's War]] and the [[Maoist Communist Centre|Maoist Communist Centre of India]] (MCC). The merger was announced to the public on October 14 the same year. In the merger a provisional central committee was constituted, with the erstwhile People's War Group leader [[Muppala Lakshmana Rao]] alias Ganapathi as General Secretary. It is currently proscribed as a [[terrorist]] organization by the Indian government for organizing mass killings in furtherance of their ideology.

Only one [[Western world|Western]] classic communist party sided with CPC, the [[Communist Party of New Zealand]]. Under the leadership of CPC and Mao Zedong, a parallel international communist movement emerged to rival that of the [[Soviets]], although it was never as formalized and homogeneous as the pro-Soviet tendency.

In the United States, the [[Black Panther Party]], especially [[Huey Newton]], was profoundly influenced by Maoist thought.

After the death of Mao in 1976 and the resulting power-struggles in China that followed, the international Maoist movement was divided into three camps. One group, composed of various ideologically nonaligned groups, gave weak support to the new Chinese leadership under Deng Xiaoping. Another camp denounced the new leadership as traitors to the cause of Marxism-Leninism-Mao Zedong Thought. The third camp sided with the Albanians in denouncing the [[Three Worlds Theory]] of the CPC (see [[Sino-Albanian Split]].)

[[Che Guevara]], though initially praising the [[Soviet Union]] prior to, during and shortly after the [[Cuban Revolution]], later came out in support of Maoism, and advocated the adoption of the ideology throughout [[Latin America]]. The pro-Albanian camp would start to function as an international group as well,<ref>''ROMA OF THE FORMER YUGOSLAVIA'' Author: Judith Latham DOI: 10.1080/009059999109037. Published in: journal Nationalities Papers, Volume 27, Issue 2 June 1999 , pages 205 - 226</ref> led by [[Enver Hoxha]] and the [[Albanian Party of Labour|APL]], and was also able to amalgamate many of the communist groups in Latin America, including the [[Communist Party of Brazil]] and [[Marxist-Leninist Communist Party of Ecuador|Marxist-Leninist Communist Party]] in [[Ecuador]]. Later Latin American Communists such as [[Peru|Peru's]] [[Shining Path]] also embraced the tenets of Maoism.

The new Chinese leadership showed little interest in the various foreign groups supporting Mao's China. Many of the foreign parties that were [[fraternal party|fraternal parties]] aligned with the Chinese government before 1975 either disbanded, abandoned the new Chinese government entirely, or even renounced [[Marxism-Leninism]] and developed into non-communist, [[social democratic]] parties. What is today called the "international Maoist movement" evolved out of the second camp{{ndash}} the parties that opposed Deng and claimed to uphold the legacy of Mao.

== Maoist organizations ==
Today, there is no consensus on who does and who does not represent Maoism. Various efforts have sought to regroup the international communist movement under Maoism since the time of Mao's death in 1976.

One notable organization was the [[Revolutionary Internationalist Movement]] (RIM). RIM was founded in 1984 and included such notable organizations as the [[Shining Path|Communist Party of Peru]] (PCP), also known as "Sendero Luminoso" or "Shining Path," the then [[Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist)]], now known as the [[Unified Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist)]] UCPN(M), and the [[Revolutionary Communist Party USA]] (RCP(USA)). Today, the RIM appears to be defunct or near defunct. The magazine associated with the RIM, A World To Win, has not published an issue since 2006, though A World To Win News Service still publishes regularly on the internet.<ref>http://www.aworldtowin.org/wordpress/</ref> In addition, many of the one-time RIM organizations have become increasingly critical of each other. This has resulted in many public splits. For example, recently the RCP USA has criticized the UCPN(M) as revisionist after the UCPN(M) abandoned its people's war for the parliamentary road. In addition, Red Sun, a web page that claims to be affiliated with some faction the Communist Party of Peru, has criticized both the UCPN(M) and RCP USA. Another movement that has criticized the UCPN(M) is the Communist Party of India (Maoist) -- although they were never formally a RIM member, the CPI(Maoist) was formed out of three organizations, some of which were RIM members, at conferences organized by RIM.<ref>http://revcom.us/a/1200/awtwindia.htm</ref><ref>http://www.massline.info/India/Indian_Groups.htm#CPI%28Maoist%29</ref>

Another effort at regrouping the international communist movement is the [[International Conference of Marxist-Leninist Parties and Organizations]] (ICMLPO). Two notable parties that participate in the ICMLPO are the [[Marxist Leninist Party of Germany]] (MLPD) and the [[Communist Party of the Philippines]] (CPP). The ICMLPO seeks to unity around Marxism-Leninism, not Maoism. However, some of the parties and organizations within the ICMLPO identify as Mao Zedong Thought or Maoist.

Other trends have sought to lead international Maoism. The [[Maoist Internationalist Movement]] (MIM) was founded in 1983 and largely dissolved by 2009. Although smaller than the ICMLPO and RIM, MIM's main influence was in intellectual and literary circles. Even though MIM dissolved organizationally, MIM-influenced efforts continue to exist. The Maoist-Third Worldist movement and the Leading Light Communist Organization, which was founded between 2007 and 2009, continues its efforts to spread its distinct form of Maoism through its print journal and online webpage Monkey Smashes Heaven. The Maoist-Third Worldist movement holds that there is no first world proletariat, that the first world "working class" is a bought-off, bourgeoisified labor aristocracy that aligns with imperialism against the masses of the third world, and claims to have developed Marxism to a new, fourth stage. Monkey Smashes Heaven takes a positive view of Lin Biao, a view not shared by others claiming to be Maoist. The Maoist-Third Worldist movement has published materials in English, Chinese, Tagalog, Czech, Greek, Macedonian, French, and Spanish.

The [[Unified Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist)]], a national communist party with a revolutionary background, is a follower of Maoism, although it is believed that the party has developed its own ideology, [[Prachanda Path]], which was developed taking Nepal's political, sociological and geographical constraints into consideration. Still, this party is believed to have taken Maoism as its doctrine as its name suggests.

In the USA the [[Kasama Project]] (KP), was initiated by former RCP USA members critical of what they viewed as the dogmatism and cult of personality of RCP USA. KP describes itself as seeking to radically re-imagine contemporary revolutionary politics. It is deeply influenced by Maoist thought, in particular as developed by the RCP USA, but claims members who arrive from other traditions, such as anarchism. KP has published articles in English, [[Persian language|Persian]], Spanish, and other languages.

== Military strategy ==
His writings include ''[[On Guerrilla Warfare]]'', where he lays out his ideas on [[guerrilla warfare]].<ref>[http://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/mao/works/1937/guerrilla-warfare/ On Guerrilla Warfare]</ref>

As with his economic and political ideas, Maoist military credo seems to have a more relevance at the start of the 21st century outside of the [[People's Republic of China]] than within it. There is a consensus both within and outside the PRC that the military context that the PRC faces in the early 21st century are very different from the one faced by China in the 1930s. As a result, within the inner circle of the [[People's Liberation Army]] there has been extensive debate over whether and how to relate Mao's military doctrines to 21st-century military ideas, especially the idea of a [[revolution in military affairs]].

== Critique and interpretations ==
Maoism has fallen out of favour within the Communist Party of China, beginning with Deng Xiaoping's reforms in 1978. Deng believed that Maoism showed the dangers of "ultra-leftism", manifested in the harm perpetrated by the various mass movements that characterized the Maoist era. In Chinese Communism, the term "left" can be taken as a euphemism for Maoist policies. However, Deng stated that the revolutionary side of Maoism should be considered separate from the governance side, leading to his famous epithet that Mao was "70% good, 30% bad". China scholars generally agree that Deng's interpretation of Maoism preserves the legitimacy of Communist rule in China but at the same time criticizes Mao's brand of economic and political governance.

Critic Graham Young claims that Maoists see [[Joseph Stalin]] as the last true socialist leader of the Soviet Union, but allows that the Maoist assessments of Stalin vary between the extremely positive and the more ambivalent.<ref>Graham Young, ''On Socialist Development and the Two Roads'', The Australian Journal of Chinese Affairs, No. 8 (Jul., 1982), pp. 75-84, doi:10.2307/2158927</ref> Some political philosophers, such as Martin Cohen, have seen in Maoism an attempt to combine [[Confucianism]] and [[Socialism]] - what one such called 'a third way between communism and capitalism'.<ref>Political Philosophy from Plato to Mao, by Martin Cohen, page 206, published 2001 by Pluto Press, London and Sterling VA ISBN 0745316034</ref>

== See also ==
* ''[[Quotations from Chairman Mao Zedong]]''
* [[History of the People's Republic of China]]
* [[Cult of Personality]]
* [[New Democracy]]
* [[Deng Xiaoping Theory]]
* [[Three Represents]]
* [[Chinese New Left]]
* [[Guevarism]]
* [[Communist Party of India (Maoist)]]
* [[Naxalite]]
* [[Naxalite-Maoist insurgency]]

== References ==
{{Reflist|2}}

== External links ==
=== General ===
<div class="references-small">
*[http://www.marx2mao.com/Mao/Index.html Marx2Mao.org] Mao Internet Library
*[http://marxists.org/glossary/terms/m/a.htm#maoism The Encyclopedia of Marxism] Mao Zedong Thought.
*[http://www.marxists.org/glossary/people/m/a.htm#mao-tse-tung The Encyclopedia of Marxism] Mao's life.
*[http://www.monthlyreview.org/0105commentary.htm ''Monthly Review'' January 2005] Text of the leaflets distributed by the Zhengzhou Four.
*[http://revmedia.net World Revolution Media] Maoist revolutionary film, music, and art archive
* Batchelor, J. [http://cliojournal.wikispaces.com/Maoism+and+Classical+Marxism Maoism and Classical Marxism], Clio History Journal, 2009.
</div>

=== Selected organizations ===
<div class="references-small">
*[http://pcpargentina.es.tl Communist Party of Argentina People]
*[http://slmarxist.yolasite.com Maoist Group of Sri Lanka.]
*[http://llco.org Leading Light Communist Organization -- Internationalist Maoist-Third Worldist Organization]
*[http://www.kasamaproject.org The Kasama Project]
*[http://english.cpc.people.com.cn/ Chinese Communist Party]
*[http://www.freedomroad.org/ Freedom Road Socialist Organization]
*[http://www.aworldtowin.org Revolutionary Internationalist Movement]
Committee of Marxist-Leninist-Maoist parties from around the world
*[http://revcom.us/ Revolutionary Communist Party, USA] ''Revolution'' newspaper online
*[http://www.ucpnm.org/english/index.php www.ucpnm.org] Unified Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist)
*[http://www.sarbedaran.org www.sarbedaran.org] Communist Party of Iran (MLM) *in [[Persian language|Persian]]*
*[http://www.philippinerevolution.net/ Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP)]
*[http://www.redsun.org/ Communist Party of Peru Shining Path ]
*[http://www.risparty.org/ Revolutionary Internationalist Socialist Party, USA (RISP) ]
*[http://www.ip.org.tr/ Workers' Party (Turkey)]
*[http://www.pcr-rcpcanada.org/ Revolutionary Communist Party of Canada (PCR-RCP)]
*[http://www.pctpmrpp.org Communist Party of the Portuguese Workers] PCTP/MRPP (Portugal)
*[http://trzeciswiat.wordpress.com Third World] Polish Journal of Maoism-Third Worldism
</div>

===Revolutions===
<div class="references-small">
* [http://news.google.com/news?q=Maoists&hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&safe=off&sa=N&tab=wn Search for Maoists] on [[Google News]]
</div>

{{Maoism}}
{{BlackPanther}}

[[Category:Maoism]]
[[Category:Political philosophy by politician]]
[[Category:Chinese philosophy]]

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Marxism

2011-01-26T17:13:48Z

Cabal2122: Created page with "{{Marxism}} {{Communism sidebar}} {{Socialism sidebar}} '''Marxism''' is an economic and socio-political worldview that contains within it a political ideology for how to change..."

{{Marxism}}
{{Communism sidebar}}
{{Socialism sidebar}}

'''Marxism''' is an economic and socio-political worldview that contains within it a political ideology for how to change and improve society by implementing [[socialism (Marxism)|socialism]]. Originally developed in the early to mid 19th century by two German émigrés living in Britain, [[Karl Marx]] and [[Friedrich Engels]], Marxism is based upon [[Historical materialism|a materialist interpretation of history]]. Taking the idea that [[social change]] occurs because of the struggle between different [[social class|classes]] within society who are under contradiction one against the other, the [[Marxist analysis]] leads to the conclusion that [[capitalism]], the currently dominant form of economic management, leads to the oppression of the [[proletariat]], who not only make up the majority of the world's populace but who also spend their lives working for the benefit of the [[bourgeoisie]], or the wealthy ruling class in society.

To correct this inequality between the bourgeoisie, who are the wealthy minority, and the proletariat, who are the poorer majority, Marxism advocates, and believes in the historical inevitability of, a [[proletarian revolution]], when the proletariat [[dictatorship of the proletariat|take control of government]], and then implement reforms to benefit their class, namely the confiscation of [[private property]] which is then [[collective ownership|taken under state control and run for the benefit of the people]] rather than for the interests of private profit. Such a system is socialism, although Marxists believe that eventually a socialist society would develop into an entirely classless system, which is known as [[communism]] in Marxist thought.

A Marxist understanding of history and of society has been adopted by academics studying in a wide range of disciplines, including [[archaeology]], [[anthropology]],<ref>Bridget O'Laughlin (1975) ''Marxist Approaches in Anthropology'' Annual Review of Anthropology Vol. 4: pp. 341–70 (October 1975) (doi:10.1146/annurev.an.04.100175.002013).<br/>William Roseberry (1997) ''Marx and Anthropology'' Annual Review of Anthropology, Vol. 26: pp. 25–46 (October 1997) (doi:10.1146/annurev.anthro.26.1.25)</ref>
[[media studies]],<ref>S. L. Becker (1984) “Marxist Approaches to Media Studies: The British Experience”, Critical Studies in Mass Communication, 1(1): pp. 66–80.</ref> [[political science]], [[theater]], [[history]], [[sociological theory]], [[cultural studies]], [[education]], [[Marxian economics|economics]], [[Marxist geography|geography]], [[literary criticism]], [[aesthetics]], [[critical psychology]], and [[philosophy]].<ref>See [[Manuel Alvarado]], Robin Gutch, and Tana Wollen (1987) ''Learning the Media: Introduction to Media Teaching'', Palgrave Macmillan.</ref>

The first Marxist-run nation state was the [[Soviet Union]], founded in 1922 following the [[Russian revolution]] of 1917. Its leaders [[Vladimir Lenin]], [[Leon Trotsky]] and [[Joseph Stalin]] formulated the theoretical trends of [[Marxism-Leninism]], [[Trotskyism]] and [[Stalinism]] respectively while the [[Chinese Communist Party]] leader [[Mao Zedong]] later developed [[Maoism]].

{{TOC limit|limit=3}}

==Classical Marxism==
{{Main|Classical Marxism}}
The term '''Classical Marxism''' denotes the theory propounded by [[Karl Marx]] and [[Friedrich Engels]].{{Citation needed|date=November 2008}} As such, Classical Marxism distinguishes between “Marxism” as broadly perceived, and “what Marx believed”; thus, in 1883, Marx wrote to the French labour leader [[Jules Guesde]] and to [[Paul Lafargue]] (Marx’s son-in-law) — both of whom claimed to represent Marxist principles — accusing them of “revolutionary phrase-mongering” and of denying the value of reformist struggle; from which derives the paraphrase: “If that is Marxism, then I am not a Marxist”.<ref>"Accusing Guesde and Lafargue of 'revolutionary phrase-mongering' and of denying the value of reformist struggles, Marx made his famous remark that, if their politics represented Marxism, 'ce qu'il y a de certain c'est que moi, je ne suis pas Marxiste' ('what is certain is that I myself am not a Marxist')." See: http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1880/05/parti-ouvrier.htm</ref> To which, the US Marx scholar [[Hal Draper]] remarked, “there are few thinkers in modern history whose thought has been so badly misrepresented, by Marxists and anti-Marxists alike”.<ref>Not found in search function at [http://www.marxists.org/archive/draper/index.htm Draper Arkiv]</ref>

===Marx and Engels===
{{Main|Karl Marx|Friedrich Engels}}
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'''Karl Heinrich Marx''' (5 May 1818—14 March 1883) was a German [[philosopher]], [[political economy|political economist]], and [[socialism|socialist]] [[revolutionary]], who addressed the matters of [[Marx's theory of alienation|alienation]] and [[exploitation]] of the working class, the [[capitalist mode of production]], and [[historical materialism]]. He is famous for analysing history in terms of [[class struggle]], summarised in the initial line introducing the ''[[Communist Manifesto]]'' (1848): “The history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles”. His ideas were influential in his time, and it was greatly expanded by the successful [[Bolsheviks|Bolshevik]] [[October Revolution]] of 1917 in [[Russian Empire|Imperial Russia]].

'''Friedrich Engels''' (28 November 1820–5 August 1895) was a 19th century German
[[Political philosophy|political philosopher]] and Karl Marx’s co-developer of [[Communism|communist]] theory. Marx and Engels met in September 1844; discovering that they shared like views of [[philosophy]] and [[socialism]], they collaborated and wrote works such as ''Die heilige Familie'' (''[[The Holy Family (book)|The Holy Family]]''). After the French deported Marx from France in January 1845, Engels and Marx moved to Belgium, which then permitted greater [[freedom of expression]] than other European countries; later, in January 1846, they returned to Brussels to establish the Communist Correspondence Committee.

In 1847, they began writing ''The Communist Manifesto'' (1848), based upon Engels’ ''The Principles of Communism''; six weeks later, they published the 12,000-word pamphlet in February 1848. In March, Belgium expelled them, and they moved to [[Cologne]], where they published the ''[[Neue Rheinische Zeitung]]'', a politically [[Political radicalism|radical]] newspaper. Again, by 1849, they had to leave Cologne for London. The Prussian authorities pressured the British government to expel Marx and Engels, but Prime Minister [[John Russell, 1st Earl Russell|Lord John Russell]] refused.

After Karl Marx’s death in 1883, Friedrich Engels became the [[editor in chief|editor]] and [[translation|translator]] of Marx’s writings. With his ''[[Origins of the Family, Private Property, and the State]]'' (1884) — analysing [[Monogamy|monogamous]] [[marriage]] as guaranteeing male social domination of women, a concept analogous, in communist theory, to the capitalist class’s economic domination of the working class — Engels made [[intellectual]]ly significant contributions to [[feminist theory]] and [[Marxist feminism]].

===Early intellectual influences===
{{Main|Influences on Karl Marx}}

Different types of thinkers influenced the development of Classical Marxism; the primary influences derive from:

*'''[[Germany|German]] [[Philosophy|philosophers]]''': [[Immanuel Kant]], [[Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel|G. W. F. Hegel]], [[Ludwig Feuerbach]] et al.
*'''[[United Kingdom|British]] [[Political economy|political economists]]''': [[Adam Smith]] & [[David Ricardo]] et al.
*'''[[France|French]] social theorists''': [[Jean-Jacques Rousseau]]; [[Charles Fourier]]; [[Henri de Saint-Simon]]; [[Pierre-Joseph Proudhon]]; [[Flora Tristan]]; [[Louis Blanc]] et al.

and secondary influences derive from:
*Ancient materialism, e.g. [[Epicurus]], [[Lucretius]] et al.
*[[Aristotle]]
*[[Giambattista Vico]]
*[[Lewis H. Morgan|Lewis Morgan]]
*[[Charles Darwin]]

==Concepts==
===Historical Materialism===
{{Quote box|width=246px|bgcolor=#C0C0C0|align=right|quote="The discovery of the materialist conception of history, or rather, the consistent continuation and extension of materialism into the domain of social phenomenon, removed two chief defects of earlier historical theories. In the first place, they at best examined only the ideological motives of the historical activity of human beings, without grasping the objective laws governing the development of the system of social relations… in the second place, the earlier theories did not cover the activities of the ''masses'' of the population, whereas historical materialism made it possible for the first time to study with the accuracy of the [[natural sciences]] the social conditions of the life of the masses and the changes in these conditions."|source=Vladimir Lenin, 1913.<ref>[[#Len67|Lenin 1967 (1913)]]. p. 15.</ref>
}}
{{epigraph
| quote = "Society does not consist of individuals, but expresses the sum of interrelations, the relations within which these individuals stand." |cite =  [[Karl Marx]], ''[[Grundrisse]]'', 1858 <ref>''Grundrisse: Foundations of the Critique of Political Economy, by Karl Marx & Martin Nicolaus, ''Penguin Classics'', 1993, ISBN 0140445757, pg 265</ref>}}

The [[Historical materialism|historical materialist]] theory of history, also synonymous to “the economic interpretation of history” (a coinage by [[Eduard Bernstein]]),<ref>Evans, p. 53; Marx’s account of the theory is the Preface to ''[[A Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy]]'' (1859). [http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1859/critique-pol-economy/index.htm ].
Another exposition of th theory is in ''The German Ideology''. It, too, is available online from [http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1845/german-ideology marxists.org].
</ref> looks for the causes of societal development and change in the collective ways humans use to make the means for living. The social features of a society (social classes, political structures, ideologies) derive from economic activity; “base and superstructure” is the [[metaphor]]ic common term describing this historic condition.

The [[base and superstructure]] metaphor explains that the totality of social relations regarding “the social production of their existence” i.e. [[Civil_society#Modern_history|civil society]] forms a society’s economic ''base'', from which rises a ''superstructure'' of political and legal institutions i.e. [[political society]]. The base corresponds to the social consciousness (politics, religion, philosophy, etc.), and it conditions the superstructure and the social consciousness. A conflict between the development of material productive forces and the relations of production provokes social revolutions, thus, the resultant changes to the economic base will lead to the transformation of the superstructure.<ref>See ''[[A Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy]]'' (1859), [http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1859/critique-pol-economy/preface.htm Preface], Progress Publishers, Moscow, 1977, with some notes by R. Rojas,
and Engels: ''[[Anti-Dühring]]'' (1877), Introduction [http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1877/anti-duhring/introduction.htm General]
</ref> This relationship is reflexive; the base determines the superstructure, in the first instance, and remains the foundation of a form of social organization which then can act again upon both parts of the base and superstructure, whose relationship is [[dialectic]]al, not literal. {{Citation needed|date=June 2007}}{{Clarify|date=February 2009}}

Marx considered that these socio-economic conflicts have historically manifested themselves as distinct stages (one transitional) of development in Western Europe.<ref>Marx does not claim to have produced a master-key to history. Historical materialism is not “an historico-philosophic theory of the ''marche generale'', imposed by fate upon every people, whatever the historic circumstances in which it finds itself”, K. Marx, Letter to editor of the Russian newspaper paper ''Otetchestvennye Zapiskym'', 1877. He explains that his ideas are based upon a concrete study of the actual conditions in Europe.</ref>

# ''[[Primitive Communism]]:'' as in co-operative tribal societies.
# ''[[Slave]] Society:'' a development of tribal progression to city-state; Aristocracy is born.
# ''[[Feudalism]]:'' aristocrats are the ruling class; merchants evolve into capitalists.
# ''[[Capitalism]]:'' capitalists are the ruling class, who create and employ the proletariat.
# ''[[Socialism]]:'' workers gain class consciousness, and via [[proletarian revolution]] depose the capitalist dictatorship of the bourgeoisie, replacing it in turn with [[dictatorship of the proletariat]] through which the socialization of the means of production can be realized.
# ''[[Communism]]:'' a classless and stateless society.

===Criticism of capitalism===
According to the Marxist theoretician and revolutionary [[Vladimir Lenin]], "the principal content of Marxism" was "Marx's economic doctrine".<ref>[[#Len67|Lenin 1967 (1913)]]. p. 07.</ref> Marx believed that the capitalist bourgeois and their economists were promoting what he saw as the lie that "The interests of the capitalist and those of the worker are… one and the same"; he believed that they did this by purporting the concept that "the fastest possible growth of productive [[Capital (economics)|capital]]" was best not only for the wealthy capitalists but also for the workers because it provided them with employment.<ref>[[#Mar49|Marx 1849]].</ref>

A person is [[Exploitation (Marxism)|exploited]] if he or she performs more labour than necessary to produce the goods that he consumes; likewise, a person is an exploiter if he or she performs less labour than is necessary to produce the goods that he consumes.<ref>Elster, pp. 79–80.</ref> Exploitation is a matter of [[surplus labour]] — the amount of labour one performs beyond what one receives in goods. Exploitation has been a socio-economic feature of every class society, and is one of the principal features distinguishing the social classes. The power of one social class to control the [[means of production]] enables its exploitation of the other classes.

In capitalism, the [[labor theory of value|labour theory of value]] is the operative concern; the [[Value (economics)|value]] of a [[commodity (Marxism)|commodity]] equals the total labour time required to produce it. Under that condition, [[surplus value]] (the difference between the value produced and the value received by a labourer) is synonymous with the term “surplus labour”; thus, capitalist exploitation is realised as deriving surplus value from the worker.

In pre-capitalist economies, exploitation of the worker was achieved via physical coercion. In the capitalist mode of production, that result is more subtly achieved; because the worker does not own the means of production, he or she must voluntarily enter into an exploitive work relationship with a capitalist in order to earn the necessities of life. The worker's entry into such employment is voluntary in that he or she chooses which capitalist to work for. However, the worker must work or starve. Thus, exploitation is inevitable, and the "voluntary" nature of a worker participating in a capitalist society is illusory.


[[Marx's theory of alienation|Alienation]] denotes the estrangement of people from their humanity (<small>German:</small> ''Gattungswesen'', “species-essence”, “species-being”), which is a systematic result of capitalism. Under capitalism, the fruits of production belong to the employers, who expropriate the surplus created by others, and so generate alienated labourers.<ref>“Alienation” entry, ''A Dictionary of Sociology''</ref> Alienation objectively describes the worker’s situation in capitalism — his or her self-awareness of this condition is unnecessary.{{clarify|date=November 2010}}

The identity of a [[social class#Marxist|social class]] derives from its relationship to the [[means of production]]; Marx describes the [[social class]]es in capitalist societies:

*[[Proletariat]]: “those individuals who sell their [[labour power]], and who, in the capitalist mode of production, do not own the means of production“. {{Citation needed|date=May 2009}} The capitalist mode of production establishes the conditions enabling the [[bourgeoisie]] to [[Exploitation#Marxist theory|exploit]] the proletariat because the workers’ labour generates a [[surplus value]] greater than the workers’ [[wages]].
*[[Bourgeoisie]]: those who “own the means of production” and buy labour power from the proletariat, thus exploiting the proletariat; they subdivide as bourgeoisie and the petit bourgeoisie.
**[[Petit bourgeoisie]] are those who employ labourers, but who also work, i.e. small business owners, peasant landlords, trade workers et al. Marxism predicts that the continual reinvention of the means of production eventually would destroy the petit bourgeoisie, degrading them from the middle class to the proletariat.
*[[Lumpenproletariat]]: criminals, vagabonds, beggars, et al., who have no stake in the economy, and so sell their labour to the highest bidder.
*[[Landlords]]: an historically important social class who retain some wealth and power.
*[[Peasantry]] and [[farmers]]: a disorganised class incapable of effecting socio-economic change, most of whom would enter the proletariat, and some become landlords.

[[Class consciousness]] denotes the awareness — of itself and the social world — that a [[social class]] possesses, and its capacity to rationally act in their best interests; hence, class consciousness is required ''before'' they can effect a successful revolution.

Without defining [[Ideology#Ideology as an instrument of social reproduction|ideology]],<ref>Joseph McCarney: ''[http://marxmyths.org/joseph-mccarney/article.htm Ideology and False Consciousness]'', April 2005</ref> Marx used the term to denote the production of images of social reality; according to Engels, “ideology is a process accomplished by the so-called thinker consciously, it is true, but with a false consciousness. The real motive forces impelling him remain unknown to him; otherwise it simply would not be an ideological process. Hence he imagines false or seeming motive forces”.<ref>Engels: [http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1893/letters/93_07_14.htm Letter] to [[Franz Mehring]], (London 14 July 1893), Donna Torr, translator, in ''Marx and Engels Correspondence'', International Publishers, 1968</ref> Because the ruling class controls the society’s means of production, the superstructure of society, the ruling social ideas are determined by the best interests of said ruling class. In ''The German Ideology'', “the ideas of the ruling class are in every epoch the ruling ideas, i.e. the class which is the ruling material force of society, is, at the same time, its ruling intellectual force”.<ref>[http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1845/german-ideology/ch01b.htm Karl Marx, ''The German Ideology'']</ref> Therefore, the ideology of a society is of most importance, because it confuses the alienated classes and so might create a [[false consciousness]], such as [[commodity fetishism]]. {{Citation needed|date=June 2007}}

The term '''[[political economy]]''' originally denoted the study of the conditions under which economic production was organised in the capitalist system. In Marxism, political economy studies the means of production, specifically of capital, and how that is manifest as economic activity.

=== Revolution, socialism and communism ===
Marxists believe that the transition to socialism is an inevitable part of the development of human society; as Lenin stated, "it is evident that Marx deduces the inevitability of the transformation of capitalist society [into a socialist society] wholly and exclusively from the economic law of motion of contemporary society."<ref>[[#Len67|Lenin 1967 (1913)]]. p. 35.</ref>

Marxists believe that a socialist society will be far better for the majority of the populace than its capitalist counterpart, for instance, prior to the [[Russian revolution]] of 1917, Lenin wrote that "The socialization of production is bound to lead to the conversion of the means of production into the property of society… This conversion will directly result in an immense increase in productivity of labour, a reduction of working hours, and the replacement of the remnants, the ruins of small-scale, primitive, disunited production by collective and improved labour."<ref>[[#Len67|Lenin 1967 (1913)]]. p. 35-36.</ref>

==Academic Marxism==
Academic Marxism, which is sometimes known as [[Western Marxism]] due to its predominance in Europe and North America, refers to those academic subjects where Marxist approaches and concepts have been adopted.

Some Marxists have criticised Academic Marxism for being too detached from political Marxism. For instance, Zimbabwean [[Trotskyism|Trotskyist]] [[Alex Callinicos]], himself a professional academic, stated that "Its practitioners remind one of [[Narcissus]], who in the Greek legend fell in love with his own reflection… Sometimes it is necessary to devote time to clarifying and developing the concepts that we use, but for Western Marxists this has become an end in itself. The result is a body of writings incomprehensible to all but a tiny minority of highly qualified scholars."<ref>[[#Cal10|Callinicos 2010]]. p. 12.</ref>

==Political Marxism==
{{Socialism sidebar}}
{{Ref improve section|date=October 2010}}
Since Marx's death in 1883, various groups around the world have appealed to Marxism as the theoretical basis for their politics and policies, which have often proved to be dramatically different and conflicting{{Citation needed|date=October 2010}}. One of the first major political splits occurred between the advocates of 'reformism', who argued that the transition to socialism could occur within existing [[bourgeois]] parliamentarian frameworks, and [[communism|communist]]s, who argued that the transition to a socialist society required a revolution and the dissolution of the capitalist state. The 'reformist' tendency, later known as [[social democracy]], came to be dominant in most of the parties affiliated to the [[Second International (politics)|Second International]] and these parties supported their own governments in the First World War{{Citation needed|date=October 2010}}. This issue caused the communists to break away, forming their own parties which became members of the [[Third International]]{{Citation needed|date=October 2010}}.

The following countries had governments at some point in the 20th century who at least nominally adhered to Marxism{{Citation needed|date=October 2010}}:
[[Albania]], [[Afghanistan]], [[Angola]], [[Benin]], [[Bulgaria]], [[Chile]], [[China]], [[Republic of Congo]], [[Cuba]], [[Czechoslovakia]], [[East Germany]], [[Ethiopia]], [[Grenada]], [[Hungary]], [[Laos]], [[Moldova]], [[Mongolia]], [[Mozambique]], [[Nepal]], [[Nicaragua]], [[North Korea]], [[Poland]], [[Romania]], [[Russia]], the [[Soviet Union|USSR]] and [[Republics of the Soviet Union|its republics]], [[South Yemen]], [[Yugoslavia]], [[Venezuela]], [[Vietnam]]. In addition, the Indian states of [[Kerala]], [[Tripura]] and [[West Bengal]] have had Marxist governments, but change takes place in the government due to electoral process. Some of these governments such as in [[Venezuela]], [[Nicaragua]], [[Chile]], [[Moldova]] and parts of [[India]] have been democratic in nature and maintained regular [[multiparty democracy|multiparty elections]].

===History===
The 1917 [[October Revolution]], led by [[Vladimir Lenin]], was the first large scale attempt to put Marxist ideas about a workers' state into practice. The new government faced counter-revolution, civil war and foreign intervention{{Citation needed|date=October 2010}}. Many, both inside and outside the revolution, worried that the revolution came too early in Russia's economic development{{Citation needed|date=October 2010}}. Consequently, the major Socialist Party in the UK decried the revolution as anti-Marxist within twenty-four hours, according to [[Jonathan Wolff (philosopher)|Jonathan Wolff]].{{Citation needed|date=April 2008}} Lenin consistently explained "this elementary truth of Marxism, that the victory of socialism requires the joint efforts of workers in a number of advanced countries" (Lenin, Sochineniya (Works), 5th ed Vol XLIV p418.) It could not be developed in Russia in isolation, he argued, but needed to be spread internationally.

The 1917 October Revolution did help inspire a revolutionary wave over the years that followed{{Citation needed|date=October 2010}}, with the development of Communist Parties worldwide, but without success in the vital advanced capitalist countries of Western Europe. Socialist revolution in [[Germany]] and other western countries failed, leaving the [[Soviet Union]] on its own. An intense period of debate and stopgap solutions ensued, [[war communism]] and the [[New Economic Policy]] (NEP). Lenin died and [[Joseph Stalin]] gradually assumed control, eliminating rivals and consolidating power as the Soviet Union faced the events of the 1930s and its global crisis-tendencies. Amidst the geopolitical threats which defined the period and included the probability of invasion, he instituted a ruthless program of [[industrialization]] which, while successful{{Citation needed|date=October 2010}}, was executed at great cost in human suffering, including millions of deaths, along with long-term environmental devastation.

Modern followers of [[Leon Trotsky]] maintain that as predicted by Lenin, Trotsky, and others already in the 1920s, Stalin's "socialism in one country" was unable to maintain itself, and according to some Marxist critics, the [[Soviet Union|USSR]] ceased to show the characteristics of a socialist state long before its formal dissolution.

In the 1920s the [[economic calculation debate]] between [[Austrian School|Austrian Economists]] and Marxist economists took place. The Austrians claimed that Marxism is flawed because prices could not be set to recognize opportunity costs of factors of production, and so [[socialism]] could not make rational decisions.

The [[Kuomintang]] party, a Chinese nationalist revolutionary party, had Marxist members who opposed the Chinese Communist Party. They viewed the Chinese revolution in different terms than the Communists, claiming that China already went past its feudal stage and in a stagnation period rather than in another mode of production. These marxists in the Kuomintang opposed the Chinese communist party ideology.<ref>{{cite book|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=usOMZjTWrJ0C&pg=PA207&dq=china+stagnated+feudalism+political&hl=en&ei=AvO4TPjFE4T6lwfa5oWwDA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CCoQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=guomindang%20marxists&f=false|title=Feudalism and non-European societies|author=T. J. Byres, Harbans Mukhia|year=1985|publisher=Psychology Press|location=|page=207|isbn=0714632457|pages=|accessdate=2010-11-28}}</ref>

Following [[World War II]], Marxist ideology, often with Soviet military backing, spawned a rise in revolutionary communist parties all over the world. Some of these parties were eventually able to gain power, and establish their own version of a Marxist state. Such nations included the [[People's Republic of China]], [[Vietnam]], [[Romania]], [[East Germany]], [[Albania]], [[Cambodia]], [[Ethiopia]], [[South Yemen]], [[Yugoslavia]], [[Cuba]], and others. In some cases, these nations did not get along. The most notable examples were rifts that occurred between the Soviet Union and China, as well as Soviet Union and Yugoslavia (in 1948), whose leaders disagreed on certain elements of Marxism and how it should be implemented into society{{Citation needed|date=October 2010}}.

Many of these self-proclaimed Marxist nations (often styled [[People's Republic]]s) eventually became authoritarian states, with stagnating economies. This caused some debate about whether Marxism was doomed in practise or these nations were in fact not led by "true Marxists". Critics of Marxism speculated that perhaps Marxist ideology itself was to blame for the nations' various problems. Followers of the currents within Marxism which opposed Stalin, principally cohered around [[Leon Trotsky]], tended to locate the failure at the level of the failure of [[world revolution]]: for communism to have succeeded, they argue, it needed to encompass all the international trading relationships that capitalism had previously developed.

The Chinese experience seems to be unique. Rather than falling under a single family's self-serving and dynastic interpretation of Marxism as happened in North Korea and before 1989 in Eastern Europe, the Chinese government - after the end of the struggles over the Mao legacy in 1980 and the ascent of Deng Xiaoping - seems to have solved the succession crises{{Citation needed|date=October 2010}} that have plagued self-proclaimed Leninist governments since the death of Lenin himself. Key to this success is another Leninism which is a NEP ([[New Economic Policy]]) writ very large; Lenin's own NEP of the 1920s was the "permission" given to markets including speculation to operate by the Party which retained final control. The Russian experience in [[Perestroika]] was that markets under socialism were so opaque as to be both inefficient and corrupt but especially after China's application to join the [[WTO]] this does not seem to apply universally.

The death of "Marxism" in China has been prematurely announced but since the Hong Kong handover in 1997, the Beijing leadership has clearly retained final say over both commercial and political affairs{{Citation needed|date=October 2010}}. Questions remain however as to whether the Chinese Party has opened its markets to such a degree as to be no longer classified as a true Marxist party.{{Citation needed|date=April 2008}} A sort of tacit consent, and a desire in China's case to escape the chaos of pre-1949 memory, probably plays a role{{Citation needed|date=October 2010}}.

In 1991 the Soviet Union was dismantled and the new Russian state, alongside the other emerging republics, ceased to identify themselves with Marxism. Other nations around the world followed suit. Since then, radical Marxism or Communism has generally ceased to be a prominent political force in global politics, and has largely been replaced by more moderate versions of democratic socialism—or, more commonly, by [[neoliberalism|neoliberal]] capitalism. Marxism has also had to engage with the rise in the [[Environmental movement]]. Theorists including [[Joel Kovel]] and [[Michael Löwy]] have synthesized Marxism, [[socialism]], [[ecology]] and [[environmentalism]] into an ideology known as [[Eco-socialism]].<ref>{{cite web|title=An Ecosocialist Manifesto|url=http://www.iefd.org/manifestos/ecosocialist_manifesto.php|publisher=International Endowment for Democracy|accessdate=2 September 2010|author=Joel Kovel|coauthors=Michael Löwy|date=September 2001}}</ref>

===Social Democracy===
{{Main|Social Democracy}}
{{Social democracy sidebar}}
[[Social democracy]] is a [[political ideology]] that emerged in the late 19th and early 20th century. Many parties in the second half of the 19th century described themselves as social democratic, such as the British [[Social Democratic Federation]], and the [[Russian Social Democratic Labour Party]]. In most cases these were revolutionary socialist or Marxist groups, who were not only seeking to introduce socialism, but also democracy in un-democratic countries. Many social democrats reject the idea that socialism can be accomplished only through [[class conflict]], revolution and [[dictatorship of the proletariat]].

The modern social democratic current came into being through a break within the socialist movement in the early 20th century, between two groups holding different views on the ideas of [[Karl Marx]]. Many related movements, including [[pacifism]], [[anarchism]], and [[syndicalism]], arose at the same time (often by splitting from the main socialist movement, but also through the emergence of new theories) and had various, quite different objections to Marxism. The social democrats, who were the majority of socialists at this time, did not reject Marxism (and in fact claimed to uphold it), but wanted to ''reform'' it in certain ways and tone down their criticism of capitalism{{Citation needed|date=October 2010}}. They argued that socialism should be achieved through evolution rather than revolution. Such views were strongly opposed by the revolutionary socialists{{Citation needed|date=October 2010}}, who argued that any attempt to reform capitalism was doomed to fail, because the reformists would be gradually corrupted and eventually turn into capitalists themselves{{Citation needed|date=October 2010}}.

Despite their differences, the reformist and revolutionary branches of socialism remained united until the outbreak of [[World War I]]. The war proved to be the final straw that pushed the tensions between them to breaking point{{Citation needed|date=October 2010}}. The reformist socialists supported their respective national governments in the war, a fact that was seen by the revolutionary socialists as outright treason against the [[working class]] (Since it betrayed the principle that the workers "have no nation", and the fact that usually the lowest classes are the ones sent into the war to fight, and die, putting the cause at the side){{Citation needed|date=October 2010}}. Bitter arguments ensued within socialist parties, as for example between [[Eduard Bernstein]] (reformist socialist) and [[Rosa Luxemburg]] (revolutionary socialist) within the [[Social Democratic Party of Germany]] (SPD). Eventually, after the [[Russian Revolution of 1917]], most of the world's socialist parties fractured. The reformist socialists kept the name "Social democrats", while the revolutionary socialists began calling themselves "Communists", and soon formed the modern [[Communist]] movement. (See also [[Comintern]])

Since the 1920s, doctrinal differences have been constantly growing between social democrats and Communists (who themselves are not unified on the way to achieve socialism), and Social Democracy is mostly used as a specifically Central European label for [[List of Labour Parties|Labour Parties]] since then, especially in Germany and the Netherlands and especially since the 1959 [[Godesberg Program]] of the German SPD that rejected the praxis of class struggle altogether.

===Socialism===
{{Main|Socialism|Socialism (Marxism)}}

The term "socialism" could be used to describe two fundamentally different ideologies - [[democratic socialism]] and Marxist-Leninist socialism. While Marxist-Leninists ([[Trotskyism|Trotskyists]], [[Stalinism|Stalinists]], and [[Maoism|Maoists]]) are often described as [[communists]] in the contemporary media, they are not recognized as such academically or by themselves{{Citation needed|date=October 2010}}. The Marxist-Leninists sought to work towards the workers' [[utopia]] in Marxist ideology by first creating a socialist state, which historically had almost always been a single-party dictatorship. On the other hand, democratic socialists attempt to work towards an ideal state by social reform and are often little different from social democrats, with the democratic socialists having a more leftist stance.

The Marxist-Leninist form of government has been in decline since the [[collapse of the Soviet Union]] and its satellite states. Very few countries have governments which describe themselves as socialist. As of 2007, [[Laos]], [[Vietnam]], [[Nepal]], [[Cuba]], and the [[People's Republic of China]] had governments in power which describe themselves as [[socialism|socialist]] in the Marxist sense{{Citation needed|date=October 2010}}.

On the contrary, electoral parties which describe themselves as [[socialist]] or [[democratic socialist]] are on the rise, joined together by international organizations such as the [[Socialist International]] and the [[Fourth International]]. Parties described as socialist are currently dominant in Third World democracies and serve as the ruling party or the main opposition party in most European democracies. [[Eco-socialism]], and [[Green politics]] with a strong leftist tinge, are on the rise in European democracies.

The characterization of a party or government often has little to do with its actual economical and social platform. The government of [[mainland China]], which describes itself as socialist, allows a large private sector to flourish and is socially conservative compared to most Western democracies. A more specific example is universal health-care, which is a trademark issue of many European socialist parties but does not exist in mainland China. Therefore, the historical and cultural aspects of a movement must be taken into context in order for one to arrive at an accurate conclusion of its political ideology from its nominal characterization.

===Communism===
{{Communism sidebar |expanded=Ideologies}}
{{Main|Communist state}}

A number of states declared an allegiance to the principles of Marxism and have been ruled by self-described Communist Parties, either as a [[single-party state]] or a single list, which includes formally several parties, as was the case in the [[German Democratic Republic]]. Due to the dominance of the Communist Party in their governments, these states are often called "communist states" by Western political scientists. However, they have described themselves as "socialist", reserving the term "communism" for a future classless society{{Examples|date=October 2010}}, in which the state would no longer be necessary (on this understanding of communism, "communist state" would be an [[oxymoron]]){{ndash}} for instance, the [[USSR]] was the Union of Soviet ''Socialist'' Republics. Marxists contend that, historically, there has never been any communist country{{Citation needed|date=October 2010}}.

Communist governments have historically been characterized by state ownership of productive resources in a [[planned economy]] and sweeping campaigns of economic restructuring such as [[nationalization]] of industry and [[land reform]] (often focusing on [[collective farming]] or state farms.) While they promote collective [[ownership]] of the means of production, Communist governments have been characterized by a strong state apparatus in which decisions are made by the ruling Communist Party. Dissident 'authentic' communists have characterized the Soviet model as [[state socialism]] or [[state capitalism]].

====Marxism-Leninism====
{{Main|Marxism-Leninism|Leninism}}

Marxism-Leninism, strictly speaking, refers to the version of Marxism developed by [[Vladimir Lenin]] known as [[Leninism]]{{Citation needed|date=April 2007}}. However, in various contexts, different (and sometimes opposing) political groups have used the term "Marxism-Leninism" to describe the ideologies that they claimed to be upholding. The core ideological features of Marxism-Leninism are those of Marxism and Leninism, that is to say, belief in the necessity of a violent overthrow of capitalism through [[communist revolution]], to be followed by a [[dictatorship of the proletariat]] as the first stage of moving towards [[communism]], and the need for a [[vanguard party]] to lead the [[proletariat]] in this effort{{Citation needed|date=October 2010}}. Those who view themselves as Marxist-Leninists, however, vary with regards to the leaders and thinkers that they choose to uphold as progressive (and to what extent){{Citation needed|date=October 2010}}. [[Maoist]]s tend to downplay the importance of all other thinkers in favour of [[Mao Zedong]], whereas [[Hoxhaist]]s repudiate Mao{{Citation needed|date=October 2010}}.

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{{Citation needed|date=October 2010}}. The first goal of a Leninist party is to educate the proletariat, so as to remove the various modes of [[false consciousness]] the [[bourgeois]] have instilled in them, instilled in order to make them more docile and easier to exploit economically, such as [[religion]] and [[nationalism]]{{Citation needed|date=October 2010}}. Once the proletariat has gained [[class consciousness]] the party will coordinate the proletariat's total might to overthrow the existing government, thus the proletariat will seize all political and economic power. Lastly the proletariat (thanks to their education by the party) will implement a [[dictatorship of the proletariat]] which would bring upon them socialism, the lower phase of communism. After this, the party would essentially dissolve as the entire proletariat is elevated to the level of revolutionaries{{Citation needed|date=October 2010}}.

The dictatorship of the proletariat refers to the absolute power of the working class. It is governed by a system of proletarian [[direct democracy]], in which [[soviet democracy|workers hold political power through local councils]] known as [[soviet (council)|soviets]]{{Citation needed|date=October 2010}}.

====Trotskyism====
{{Main|Trotskyism}}
Trotskyism is the theory of Marxism as advocated by [[Leon Trotsky]]. Trotsky considered himself a [[Bolshevik]]-[[Leninism|Leninist]], arguing for the establishment of a [[vanguard party]]. He considered himself an advocate of orthodox Marxism. His politics differed sharply from those of [[Stalinism|Stalin]] or [[Maoism|Mao]], most importantly in declaring the need for an international "[[permanent revolution]]". Numerous groups around the world continue to describe themselves as Trotskyist and see themselves as standing in this tradition, although they have diverse interpretations of the conclusions to be drawn from this.

Trotsky advocated [[proletarian revolution]] as set out in his theory of "[[permanent revolution]]", and he argued that in countries where the [[bourgeois]]-[[democratic]] revolution had not triumphed already (in other words, in places that had not yet implemented a capitalist democracy, such as Russia before 1917), it was necessary that the proletariat make it permanent by carrying out the tasks of the social revolution (the "socialist" or "communist" revolution) at the same time, in an uninterrupted process. Trotsky believed that a new socialist state would not be able to hold out against the pressures of a hostile capitalist world unless socialist revolutions quickly took hold in other countries as well, especially in the industrial powers with a developed proletariat.

On the [[political spectrum]] of Marxism, Trotskyists are considered to be on the left. They fervently support democracy, oppose political deals with the imperialist powers, and advocate a spreading of the revolution until it becomes global{{Citation needed|date=October 2010}}.

Trotsky developed the theory that the Russian workers' state had become a "[[Degenerated workers' state|bureaucratically degenerated workers' state]]". Capitalist rule had not been restored, and nationalized industry and economic planning, instituted under Lenin, were still in effect{{Citation needed|date=October 2010}}. However, the state was controlled by a bureaucratic caste with interests hostile to those of the working class. Trotsky defended the Soviet Union against attack from imperialist powers and against internal [[counter-revolution]], but called for a [[political revolution]] within the USSR to restore socialist democracy. He argued that if the working class did not take power away from the Stalinist bureaucracy, the bureaucracy would restore capitalism in order to enrich itself{{Citation needed|date=October 2010}}. In the view of many Trotskyists, this is exactly what has happened since the beginning of [[Glasnost]] and [[Perestroika]] in the USSR. Some{{who|date=October 2010}} argue that the adoption of [[market socialism]] by the [[People's Republic of China]] has also led to capitalist counter-revolution{{Citation needed|date=October 2010}}.

====Maoism====
{{Main|Maoism}}
{{Maoism sidebar |expanded=all}}
Maoism or ''Mao Zedong Thought'' ({{zh|s=毛泽东思想|t=毛澤東思想|p=Máo Zédōng Sīxiǎng}}), is a variant of [[Marxism-Leninism]] derived from the teachings of the [[People's Republic of China|Chinese]] [[communist]] leader [[Mao Zedong]] ([[Wade-Giles transliteration]]: "Mao Tse-tung").

The term "Mao Zedong Thought" has always been the preferred term by the [[Communist Party of China]], and the word "Maoism" has never been used in its English-language publications except [[pejorative]]ly. Likewise, Maoist groups{{Which?|date=November 2010}} outside China have usually called themselves Marxist-Leninist rather than Maoist, a reflection of Mao's view that he did not change, but only developed, Marxism-Leninism. However, some{{Who|date=November 2008}} Maoist groups believing Mao's theories to have been sufficiently substantial additions to the basics of the [[Marxist]] [[wiktionary:canon|canon]], call themselves "Marxist-Leninist-Maoist" (MLM) or simply "Maoist".

In the People's Republic of China, Mao Zedong Thought is part of the official doctrine of the Communist Party of China, but since the 1978 beginning of [[Deng Xiaoping]]'s [[market economy]]-oriented reforms, the concept of "[[socialism with Chinese characteristics]]" has come to the forefront of Chinese politics, [[Chinese economic reform]] has taken hold, and the official definition and role of Mao's original [[ideology]] in the PRC has been radically altered and reduced (see ''[[History of China]]'').

Unlike the earlier forms of Marxism-Leninism in which the urban [[proletariat]] was seen as the main source of revolution, and the countryside was largely ignored, Mao believed that peasantry could be the main force behind a revolution, ''led'' by the proletariat and a vanguard Communist party. The model for this was of course the Chinese communist rural Protracted People's War of the 1920s and 1930s, which eventually brought the Communist Party of China to power{{Citation needed|date=October 2010}}. Furthermore, unlike other forms of Marxism-Leninism in which large-scale industrial development was seen as a positive force, Maoism made all-round rural development the priority{{Citation needed|date=October 2010}}.

Mao felt that this strategy made sense during the early stages of socialism in a country in which most of the people were peasants.
Unlike most other political ideologies, including other [[socialist]] and Marxist ones, Maoism contains an integral [[military]] doctrine and explicitly connects its political ideology with [[military strategy]]. In Maoist thought, "political power grows from the barrel of the gun" (a famous quote by Mao), and the [[peasantry]] can be mobilized to undertake a "[[people's war]]" of armed struggle involving [[guerrilla warfare]] in three stages.

====Left communism====
{{Main|Left communism}}
{{Left communism sidebar |expanded=all}}
Left communism is the range of [[Communism|communist]] viewpoints held by the Communist Left, which criticizes the political ideas of the [[Bolsheviks]] from a position that is asserted to be more authentically [[Marxist]] and [[Proletariat|proletarian]] than the views of [[Leninism]] held by the [[Communist International]] after its first two Congresses.

Two major traditions can be observed within Left communism: the [[Netherlands|Dutch]]-[[Germany|German]] tradition; and the [[Italy|Italian]] tradition. The political positions those traditions have in common are a shared opposition to what is termed ''[[frontism]]'', [[nationalism]], all kinds of national liberation movements and [[parliamentarianism]] and there is an underlying commonality at a level of abstract theory. Crucially, Left Communist groups from both traditions tend to identify elements of commonality in each other{{Vague|date=October 2010}}.

The historical origins of Left Communism can be traced to the period before the [[World War I|First World War]], but it only came into focus after 1918 . All{{Whom?|date=October 2010}} Left Communists were supportive of the [[October Revolution]] in [[Russia]]{{Citation needed|date=October 2010}}, but retained a critical view of its development. Some{{Which?|date=November 2010}}, however, would in later years come to reject the idea that the revolution had a [[proletarian]] or [[socialist]] nature, asserting that it had simply carried out the tasks of the [[bourgeois]] revolution by creating a [[state capitalism|state capitalist]] system{{Citation needed|date=October 2010}}.

Left Communism first came into being as a clear movement in or around 1918{{Citation needed|date=October 2010}}. Its essential features were: a stress on the need to build a [[Communist Party]] entirely separate from the [[reformist]] and [[Centrist#Marxist_movement|centrist]] elements who were seen as having betrayed [[socialism]] in 1914, opposition to all but the most restricted participation in [[elections]], and an emphasis on the need for revolutionaries to move on the offensive{{Citation needed|date=October 2010}}. Apart from that, there was little in common between the various wings. Only the Italians{{Or|date=October 2010}} accepted the need for electoral work at all for a very short period of time, and the German-Dutch, Italian and Russian wings opposed the "right of nations to self-determination", which they denounced as a form of [[bourgeois nationalism]].

===Dispute that the Soviet Union was Marxist===
Some academics such as [[Noam Chomsky]] dispute the claim that the political movements in the former Soviet Union are Marxist.<ref name="chomsky.info">http://www.chomsky.info/articles/1986----.htm</ref> Communist governments have historically been characterized by state ownership of productive resources in a [[planned economy]] and sweeping campaigns of economic restructuring such as [[nationalization]] of industry and [[land reform]] (often focusing on [[collective farming]] or state farms.) While they promote collective [[ownership]] of the means of production, Communist governments have been characterized by a strong state apparatus in which decisions are made by the ruling Communist Party. Dissident communists have characterized the Soviet model as [[state socialism]] or [[state capitalism]]. Further, critics such as [[Leon Trotsky]] and [[Rosa Luxemburg]] have often claimed that a Stalinist or Maoist system of government creates a [[new class|new ruling class]], usually called the [[nomenklatura]].

Marx defined "communism" as a classless, egalitarian and stateless society. To Marx, the notion of a communist state would have seemed an oxymoron,<ref name="State Capitalism">http://www.marxists.org/archive/dunayevskaya/works/1941/ussr-capitalist.htm</ref><ref name="Guide to the Communist Manifesto">http://www.wsu.edu/~brians/hum_303/manifesto.html</ref><ref name="Never Been A Communist Regime">http://www.historiography101.blogspot.com/2006_12_10_archive.html</ref> as he defined communism as the phase reached when class society and the state had already been abolished. Once the lower stage towards communism, commonly referred to as socialism, had been established, society would develop new social relations over the course of several generations, reaching what Marx called the higher phase of communism when not only bourgeois relations but every class social relations had been abandoned. Such a development has yet to occur in any historical self-claimed socialist state.<ref name="State Capitalism"/><ref name="Guide to the Communist Manifesto"/><ref name="Never Been A Communist Regime"/>

Some<ref name="State Capitalism"/> argue that socialist states have contained two new distinct classes: those who are in government and therefore have power (sometimes referred to as the [[political class]]), and those who are not in government and do not have power, the working class. This is taken to be a different form of capitalism, in which the government, as owner of the means of production, takes on the role formerly played by the capitalist class; this arrangement is referred to as "[[State capitalism]]."<ref name="State Capitalism"/> These statist regimes have generally followed a [[planned economy]] model without making a transition to this hypothetical final stage.<ref name="chomsky.info"/>

==Variants==
===Marxism-Leninism===
{{Main|Marxism-Leninism}}

At least in terms of adherents and the impact on the world stage, Marxism-Leninism, also known colloquially as [[Bolshevism]] or simply [[communism]] is the biggest trend within Marxism, easily dwarfing all of the other schools of thought combined.<ref>For example, the Communist Party of China alone has more than 66 million members. See http://www.chinatoday.com/org/cpc/</ref> Marxism-Leninism is a term originally coined by the [[CPSU]] in order to denote the ideology that [[Vladimir Lenin]] had built upon the thought of [[Karl Marx]]. There are two broad areas that have set apart Marxism-Leninism as a school of thought.

First, Lenin's followers generally view his additions to the body of Marxism as the practical corollary to Marx's original theoretical contributions of the 19th century; insofar as they apply under the conditions of advanced capitalism that they found themselves working in. Lenin called this time-frame the era of [[Imperialism]]. For example, [[Joseph Stalin]] wrote that {{Cquote|Leninism grew up and took shape under the conditions of imperialism, when the contradictions of capitalism had reached an extreme point, when the proletarian revolution had become an immediate practical question, when the old period of preparation of the working class for revolution had arrived at and passed into a new period, that of direct assault on capitalism.<ref>http://www.marx2mao.com/Stalin/FL24.html#c1</ref>}} The most important consequence of a Leninist-style theory of Imperialism is the strategic need for workers in the industrialized countries to bloc or ally with the oppressed nations contained within their respective countries' colonies abroad in order to overthrow capitalism. This is the source of the slogan, which shows the Leninist conception that not only the proletariat, as is traditional to Marxism, are the sole revolutionary force, but all oppressed people:{{Cquote|Workers '''and Oppressed Peoples''' of the World, Unite!<ref>http://www.workers.org/2008/us/ww_1982_1120/</ref>}}

Second, the other distinguishing characteristic of Marxism-Leninism is how it approaches the question of organization. Lenin believed that the traditional model of the Social Democratic parties of the time, which was a loose, multitendency organization was inadequate for overthrowing the Tsarist regime in Russia. He proposed a cadre of professional revolutionaries that disciplined itself under the model of [[Democratic Centralism]].

===Marxism-Leninism after Stalin===

For better or worse, Marxism-Leninism as a body of thought and practice was closely identified with the figure of Joseph Stalin after the death of Lenin. After the death of Stalin, the leader of the USSR, [[Nikita Khrushchev]] made several ideological and practical ruptures with his predecessor which lead to the eventual split of Marxism-Leninism into two main branches, post-Stalin "Moscow-aligned" communism and [[anti-revisionism]]. In turn, these branches evolved into multiple schools of thought over time.

===Post-Stalin Moscow-aligned communism===

At the [[20th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union]], Khrushchev made several ideological ruptures with his predecessor, Joseph Stalin. First, Khrushchev denounced the so-called [[Cult of Personality]] that had developed around Stalin, which ironically enough Khrushchev had had a pivotal role in fostering decades earlier. More importantly, however, Khrushchev rejected the heretofore orthodox Marxist-Leninist tenet that class struggle continues even under socialism. Rather, the State ought to rule in the name of all classes. A related principle that flowed from the former was the notion of [[peaceful co-existence]], or that the newly emergent socialist bloc could peacefully compete with the capitalist world, solely by developing the productive forces of society.

====Eurocommunism====

Beginning around the 1970s, various communist parties in Western Europe, such as the [[Italian Communist Party|Partito Comunista Italiano]] in Italy and the [[Communist Party of Spain (main)|Partido Comunista de España]] under [[Santiago Carillo]] tried to hew to a more independent line from Moscow. Particularly in Italy, they leaned on the theories of [[Antonio Gramsci]], despite the fact that by 1921 Gramsci believed that a Communist Party in the [[Leninist]] sense was needed. This trend went by the name [[Eurocommunism]].

===Anti-revisionism===
There are many proponents of Marxist-Leninism who rejected the theses of Khrushchev, particularly Marxists of the [[Third World]].{{Citation needed|date=June 2009}} They believed that Khrushchev was unacceptably altering or "revising" the fundamental tenets of Marxism-Leninism, a stance from which the label "anti-revisionist" is derived. Usually, they are referred to externally by the following epithets, although anti-revisionists typically refer to themselves simply as Marxist-Leninists.

====Maoism====
[[Maoism]] takes its name from [[Mao Zedong]], the erstwhile leader of the [[Peoples Republic of China]]; it is the variety of [[anti-revisionism]] that took inspiration, and in some cases received material support, from China, especially during the Mao period. There are several key concepts that were developed by Mao. First, Mao concurred with Stalin that not only does class struggle continue under the [[dictatorship of the proletariat]], it actually accelerates as long as gains are being made by the proletariat at the expense of the disenfranchised bourgeoisie. Second, Mao developed a strategy for revolution called [[Prolonged People's War]] in what he termed the [[semi-feudal]] countries of the Third World. Prolonged People's War relied heavily on the peasantry. Third, Mao wrote many theoretical articles on epistemology and dialectics, which he called [[contradictions]].

====Hoxhaism====
[[Hoxhaism]], so named because of the central contribution of Albanian statesman [[Enver Hoxha]], was closely aligned with [[China]] for a number of years, but grew critical of [[Maoism]] because of the so-called [[Three Worlds Theory]] put forth by elements within the [[Communist Party of China]] and because it viewed the actions of Chinese leader [[Deng Xiaoping]] unfavorably. Ultimately, however, Hoxhaism as a trend came to the understanding that Socialism had never existed in China at all.

===Trotskyism===
{{Main|Trotskyism}}

Trotskyism is the usual term for followers of the ideas of Russian Marxist [[Leon Trotsky]], the second most prominent leader of the [[Russian Revolution]]. Trotsky was a contemporary of Lenin from the early years of the [[Russian Social Democratic Labour Party]], where he led a small trend in competition with both Lenin's [[Bolsheviks]] and the [[Mensheviks]]; nevertheless Trotsky's followers claim to be the heirs of Lenin in the same way that mainstream Marxist-Leninists do. There are several distinguishing characteristics of this school of thought; foremost is the theory of [[Permanent Revolution]]. Another shared characteristic between Trotskyists is a variety of theoretical justifications for their negative appraisal of the post-Lenin Soviet Union; that is to say, after Trotsky was expelled by a majority vote from the CPSU<ref>http://www.plp.org/books/Stalin/node14.html#SECTION00500000000000000000</ref> and subsequently from the Soviet Union. Trotsky characterized the government of the USSR after his expulsion as being dominated by a "bureaucratic caste" and called for it to be overthrown.<ref>"The characterisation of the anti-bureaucratic revolution as “political revolution” referred to the fact that the bureaucracy had politically expropriated the proletariat ..." http://www.radicalsocialist.in/index.php/articles/marxist-theory/100-capitalist-restoration-in-the-former-soviet-union</ref> Trotskists as a consequence usually advocate the overthrow of socialist governments around the world that are ruled by Marxist-Leninist parties.

===Left Communism===
{{Main|Left Communism}}

Left communism is the range of communist viewpoints held by the communist left, which criticizes the political ideas of the Bolsheviks from a position that is asserted to be more authentically Marxist and proletarian than the views of Leninism held by the Communist International after its first two congresses.

Although she lived before left communism became a distinct tendency, [[Rosa Luxemburg]] has been heavily influential for most left communists, both politically and theoretically. Proponents of left communism have included [[Herman Gorter]], [[Anton Pannekoek]], [[Otto Rühle]], [[Karl Korsch]], [[Amadeo Bordiga]], and [[Paul Mattick]].

Prominent left communist groups existing today include the International Communist Current and the International Bureau for the Revolutionary Party. Also, different factions from the old Bordigist International Communist Party are considered left communist organizations.

===Western Marxism===
{{Main|Western Marxism}}
Western Marxism is a term used to describe a wide variety of [[Marxist theory|Marxist theoreticians]] based in [[Western Europe|Western]] and [[Central Europe]] (and more recently [[North America]] ), in contrast with [[philosophy in the Soviet Union]], the [[Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia]] or [[the People's Republic of China]].

===Structural Marxism===
{{Main|Structural Marxism}}

Structural Marxism is an approach to Marxism based on [[structuralism]], primarily associated with the work of the French theorist [[Louis Althusser]] and his students. It was influential in France during the late 1960s and 1970s, and also came to influence philosophers, political theorists and sociologists outside of France during the 1970s.

===Autonomist Marxism===
{{Main|Autonomism}}

[[Autonomism]] is a term applied to a variety of social movements around the world, which emphasizes the ability to organize in autonomous and horizontal networks, as opposed to hierarchical structures such as unions or parties. Autonomist Marxists, including [[Harry Cleaver]], broaden the definition of the working-class to include salaried and unpaid labour, such as skilled professions and housework; it focuses on the working class in advanced capitalist states as the primary force of change in the construct of capital. Modern autonomist theorists such as [[Antonio Negri]] and [[Michael Hardt]] argue that network power constructs are the most effective methods of organization against the neoliberal regime of accumulation, and predict a massive shift in the dynamics of capital into a 21st Century [[Empire (book)|Empire]].

===Marxist humanism===
{{Main|Marxist humanism}}

Marxist humanism is a branch of Marxism that primarily focuses on [[unpublished|Marx's earlier writings]], especially the ''[[Economic and Philosophical Manuscripts of 1844]]'' in which Marx develops his [[Marx's theory of alienation|theory of alienation]], as opposed to his later works, which are considered to be concerned more with his structural conception of [[capitalist society]]. It was opposed by [[Louis Althusser]]'s "[[antihumanism]]", who qualified it as a [[Marxist revisionism|revisionist]] movement.

Marxist humanists contend that ‘Marxism’ developed lopsidedly because Marx’s early works were unknown until after the orthodox ideas were in vogue{{ndash}} the Manuscripts of 1844 were published only in 1932{{ndash}} and it is necessary to understand Marx’s philosophical foundations to understand his latter works properly.

===Marxism-Deleonism===

Marxism-Deleonism, is a form of syndicalist Marxism developed by [[Daniel De Leon]]. De Leon was an early leader of the first US socialist political party, the Socialist Labor Party. This party exists to the present day. De Leonism lies outside the Leninist tradition of communism. The highly decentralized and democratic nature of the proposed De Leonist government is in contrast to the democratic centralism of Marxism-Leninism and what they see as the dictatorial nature of the Soviet Union. The success of the De Leonist plan depends on achieving majority support among the people both in the workplaces and at the polls, in contrast to the Leninist notion that a small vanguard party should lead the working class to carry out the revolution. Daniel De Leon and other De Leonist writers have issued frequent polemics against 'democratic socialist' movements, especially the Socialist Party of America, and consider them to be "reformist" or "bourgeois socialist". De Leonists have traditionally refrained from any activity or alliances viewed by them as trying to reform capitalism, though the Socialist Labor Party in De Leon's time was active during strikes and such, such as social justice movements.{{Citation needed|date=November 2010}}

===Marxist feminism===
{{Main|Marxist feminism}}
Marxist feminism is a sub-type of [[feminism|feminist]] theory which focuses on the dismantling of capitalism as a way to liberate women. Marxist feminism states that private property, which gives rise to economic inequality, dependence, political confusion and ultimately unhealthy social relations between men and women, is the root of women's oppression. According to [[Marxist theory]], in capitalist societies the individual is shaped by class relations; that is, people's capacities, needs and interests are seen to be determined by the mode of production that characterises the society they inhabit. Marxist feminists see gender inequality as determined ultimately by the capitalist mode of production. Gender oppression is class oppression and women's subordination is seen as a form of class oppression which is maintained (like [[racism]]) because it serves the interests of capital and the [[ruling class]]. Marxist feminists have extended traditional [[Marxist analysis]] by looking at domestic labour as well as wage work in order to support their position.{{Citation needed|date=November 2010}}

==See also==
{{Multicol}}
* [[Analytical Marxism]]
* [[Anarchism and Marxism]]
* [[Austromarxism]]
* [[Classical Marxism]]
* [[Commodity (Marxism)]]
* [[Cultural Marxism]]
* [[Democracy in Marxism]]
* [[Freudo-Marxism]]
* [[Fundamentals of Marxism Leninism]]
* [[In Defence of Marxism]]
* [[International Marxist Tendency]]
* [[Karl Marx]]
* [[Karl Marx House]]
* [[Karl Marx's Theory of History: A Defence|''Karl Marx's Theory of History'']]
* [[Legal Marxism]]
* [[Libertarian Marxism]]
* ''[[Living Marxism]]''
* [[Marxian Class Theory]]
* [[Marxian economics]]
* [[Marxism and Freedom: From 1776 Until Today|''Marxism and Freedom'']]
{{Multicol-break}}
* ''[[Marxism and the U.S.A.]]''
* [[Marxism–Leninism]]
* ''[[Marxism Today]]''
* [[Marxist aesthetics]]
* [[Marxist analysis]]
* [[Marxist criminology]]
* [[Marxist feminism]]
* [[Marxist film theory]]
* [[Marxist geography]]
* [[Marxist historiography]]
* [[Marxist humanism]]
* [[Marxist international relations theory]]
* [[Marxist–Leninist atheism]]
* [[Marxist literary criticism]]
* [[Marxist philosophy]]
* [[Marxist philosophy of nature]]
* [[Marxist sociology]]
* [[Marxist Workers' League (US)]]
* ''[[Marxists Internet Archive]]''
* [[Marx Memorial Library]]
{{Multicol-break}}
* [[Marx’s method]]
* [[Marx's notebooks on the history of technology|Marx's notebooks on technology]]
* [[Marx's theory of alienation]]
* [[Marx's theory of human nature]]
* [[Neo-Marxism]]
* [[Open Marxism]]
* [[Orthodox Marxism]]
* [[Political Marxism]]
* [[Post-Marxism]]
* [[Pre-Marx socialists]]
* [[Reification (Marxism)]]
* ''[[Rethinking Marxism]]''
* [[Revisionism (Marxism)]]
* [[Revolutionary Marxist League]]
* [[Socialism (Marxism)]]
* ''[[Specters of Marx]]''
* [[Structural Marxism]]
* ''[[The Marxism of Che Guevara]]''
* [[Western Marxism]]
* [[Young Marx]]
{{Multicol-end}}

==References==
;Notes

;Footnotes
{{reflist|colwidth=35em}}

;Bibliography
{{Refbegin}}
{{columns-list|2|
* {{cite book |title= The Revolutionary Ideas of Karl Marx |last= {{aut|[[Alex Callinicos|Callinicos, Alex]]}} |year= 2010 [1983]|publisher= Bookmarks |location= Bloomsbury, London |isbn=9781905192687 |nopp=|ref=Cal10}}
* {{cite book |title= Karl Marx: A Brief Biographical Sketch with an Exposition of Marxism|last= {{aut|[[Vladimir Lenin|Lenin, Vladimir]]}} |year= 1967 [1913]|publisher= Foreign Languages Press |location= Peking |isbn=|nopp=|ref=Len67}} Available online at [http://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1914/granat/index.htm here]
* {{cite book |title= Wage Labour and Capital |last= {{aut|[[Karl Marx|Marx, Karl]]}} |year= 1849 |publisher=Neue Rheinische Zeitung |location=Germany |isbn=|nopp=|ref=Mar49}} Available online [http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1847/wage-labour/index.htm here]

}}
{{Refend}}
* {{cite book
|author=[[Shlomo Avineri|Avineri, Shlomo]]
|year=1968
|title=The Social and Political Thought of Karl Marx
|publisher=Cambridge University Press}}
*{{cite book
|author=[[Ralf Dahrendorf|Dahrendorf, Ralf]]
|title=Class and Class Conflict in Industrial Society
|year=1959}} Stanford: Stanford University Press.
*[[Jon Elster]], ''An Introduction to Karl Marx''. Cambridge, England, 1986.
*Michael Evans, ''Karl Marx''. London, 1975.
* {{cite book
|author=[[Leszek Kołakowski|Kołakowski, Leszek]]
|title=Main Currents of Marxism
|year=1976
|publisher=Oxford University Press}}
* {{cite book
|author=[[Henry Bamford Parkes|Parkes, Henry Bamford]]
|title=Marxism: An Autopsy
|year=1939
|location=Boston
|publisher=Houghton Mifflin}}
*[[Cedric Robinson|Robinson, Cedric J.]] : ''Black Marxism: The Making of the Black Radical Tradition'', 1983, Reissue: Univ North Carolina Press, 2000
*[[R. J. Rummel|Rummel, R.J.]] (1977) ''[http://www.hawaii.edu/powerkills/NOTE12.HTM Conflict In Perspective]'' Chap. 5 ''[http://www.hawaii.edu/powerkills/CIP.CHAP5.HTM Marxism, Class Conflict, and the Conflict Helix]''
* {{cite book
|last=Screpanti
|first=E
|coauthors=S. Zamagna
|year=1993
|title=An Outline of the History of Economic Thought}}
* {{cite book
|author=[[David McLellan (academic)|McLellan, David]]
|title=Marxism After Marx
|year=2007
|location=Basingstoke
|publisher=Palgrave Macmillan}}

==External links==
===General resources===
*[http://www.marxists.org/ Marxists Internet Archive] ([[Marxists Internet Archive|MIA]])
*[http://www.marxisteconomics.com/ Marxist Economics Site]
*[http://www.marxmail.org/ Marxmail.org]
*[http://marxmyths.org/ Marx Myths & Legends]
*[http://www.anu.edu.au/polsci/marx/ Marxism Page]
*[http://www.ucl.ac.uk/philosophy/LPSG/Marx.htm London Philosophy Study Guide on Marxism] (offers many suggestions on what to read, depending on the student's familiarity with the subject)
*[http://libcom.org/library/marxism Libertarian Communist Library Marxism archive]
*[http://www.marxist.net/ Marxist.net] Marxist Resources from the [[Committee for a Workers' International]] (a Trotskyist organization)
*[http://www.newyouth.com/archives/theory/marxismfaq.asp Marxism FAQ] at the website of [[Youth for International Socialism]] (a Trotskyist organization)

===Introductory articles===
*[http://www.dougdowd.org/NewFiles/articles/lebowitzhi.html Introductory article by Michael A. Lebowitz]
*[http://cepa.newschool.edu/het/schools/marxian.htm History of Economic Thought: Marxian School]
*[http://cepa.newschool.edu/het/schools/neomarx.htm Modern Variants of Marxian political economy]

===Marxist websites===
*[http://www.mrzine.org MRZine] a project of the Monthly Review Foundation
*[http://wsws.org/ World Socialist Web Site]
*[http://bataillesocialiste.wordpress.com/english-pages/ La Bataille socialiste] information and documents for living Marxism
*[http://www.cpim.org CPI(M) Website]
*[http://www.marxist.com/ In Defence of Marxism] website of the [[International Marxist Tendency]]
*[http://www.karlmarx.net/ KarlMarx.net] Marxist website of news and analysis.
*[http://www.fifthinternational.org/ League for the Fifth International] Website the League for the Fifth International
*[http://www.pathfinderpress.com Pathfinder Press] online Marxist bookstore
*[http://www.rethinkingmarxism.org Rethinking Marxism] a journal of economics, society, and culture
*[http://www.socialistproject.ca Socialist Project] issues, events, theory, and debate
*[http://www.solidarityeconomy.net/ Solidarity Economy] Marxist theory, analysis, and debate
*[http://www.worldsocialism.org/ World Socialist Movement]
*[http://democom.neuf.fr/democraticcommunism.htm For Democratic Communism]

===Specific topics===
*[http://www.zmag.org/debateiso.htm Debating Marxism] Michael Albert (ParEcon) vs. Alan Maass (Marxism)]
*[http://www.anti-caste.org/marx-and-engels-on-india-and-the-colonial-question.html ''Marx and Engels on India and colonialism''] and [http://www.anti-caste.org/marx-on-caste-and-the-village-community.html ''Marx on caste and the village community''] from [http://www.anti-caste.org/ anti-caste]

{{Marx/Engels}}
{{Marxist & Communist phraseology}}
{{Philosophy topics}}

[[Category:Economic ideologies]]
[[Category:Marxism| ]]
[[Category:Criticism of religion]]
[[Category:Philosophical movements]]
[[Category:Philosophical traditions]]
[[Category:Theories of history]]
[[Category:Karl Marx]]
[[Category:Sociological paradigms]]
[[Category:Communism]]
[[Category:Socialism]]
[[Category:Social theories]]
[[Category:Materialism]]

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Bill of Rights

2011-01-26T17:10:34Z

Cabal2122: Created page with "Excerpt taken from Archives.gov "During the debates on the adoption of the Constitution, its opponents repeatedly charged that the Constitution as drafted would open the way to..."

Excerpt taken from Archives.gov

"During the debates on the adoption of the Constitution, its opponents repeatedly charged that the Constitution as drafted would open the way to tyranny by the central government. Fresh in their minds was the memory of the British violation of civil rights before and during the Revolution. They demanded a "bill of rights" that would spell out the immunities of individual citizens. Several state conventions in their formal ratification of the Constitution asked for such amendments; others ratified the Constitution with the understanding that the amendments would be offered.

On September 25, 1789, the First Congress of the United States therefore proposed to the state legislatures 12 amendments to the Constitution that met arguments most frequently advanced against it. The first two proposed amendments, which concerned the number of constituents for each Representative and the compensation of Congressmen, were not ratified. Articles 3 to 12, however, ratified by three-fourths of the state legislatures, constitute the first 10 amendments of the Constitution, known as the Bill of Rights."

----

'''First Ten Amendments'''

Amendment 1 - Freedom of Religion, Press, Expression. Ratified 12/15/1791.

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

Amendment 2 - Right to Bear Arms. Ratified 12/15/1791.

A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.

Amendment 3 - Quartering of Soldiers. Ratified 12/15/1791.

No Soldier shall, in time of peace be quartered in any house, without the consent of the Owner, nor in time of war, but in a manner to be prescribed by law.

Amendment 4 - Search and Seizure. Ratified 12/15/1791.

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

Amendment 5 - Trial and Punishment, Compensation for Takings. Ratified 12/15/1791.

No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the Militia, when in actual service in time of War or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offense to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.

Amendment 6 - Right to Speedy Trial, Confrontation of Witnesses. Ratified 12/15/1791.

In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the Assistance of Counsel for his defence.

Amendment 7 - Trial by Jury in Civil Cases. Ratified 12/15/1791.

In Suits at common law, where the value in controversy shall exceed twenty dollars, the right of trial by jury shall be preserved, and no fact tried by a jury, shall be otherwise re-examined in any Court of the United States, than according to the rules of the common law.

Amendment 8 - Cruel and Unusual Punishment. Ratified 12/15/1791.

Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.

Amendment 9 - Construction of Constitution. Ratified 12/15/1791.

The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.

Amendment 10 - Powers of the States and People. Ratified 12/15/1791.

The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.