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{{Marxism}}
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'''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.
'''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.


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[[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>
[[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]].  
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]].{{Fact|Some sources would be good here.}}
 
{{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 = &nbsp;[[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.
<!-- production not circulation; Marx emphasised that capitalism (''per se'') does not cheat the worker. -->
 
[[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.
==Criticisms==
Critics of Marxism constantly point to a number of problems within Marxism itself. One major concern is the use of force within such a society. A Marxist society encourages the use of force against those who are considered to be a part of the bourgeoisie class. It is worth noting that the bourgeoisie class is never fully defined within Marx's work. It is simply those who own the means of production. In Marxism, the force of government would be used against this class of people. This could easily include the bread baker who sells his goods for profit to the CEO of a major corporation. The force of government would not discern between the two and simply punish both based on ill-defined class.  


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.
Another problem within Marxism is the lack of motivation to produce. In such a society, the means of production would be owned by the government for the most part if not completely. There is staggering amounts of evidence that if individuals are not allowed to own private property, said individuals will not be motivated to innovate or perform. There simply is no incentive. The state has no reason to innovate simply because it has the ability to tax and use force to acquire what it needs.  


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>
A major concern among critics of Marxism is the road to achieving such a state of government. Most cases where socialistic ideologies are formed, they have been brought about by violence and chaos. These ideologies often encourage the use of a revolution to bring about change in the form of violence. If this change happens on a more peaceful term such as a democracy, the violence will still be present as individuals resist the authority of government to maintain there sovereign rights.{{Fact}}
 
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==
==References==
;Notes
{{Reflist}}


;Footnotes
==Bibliography==
{{reflist|colwidth=35em}}
* {{Cite book
 
|last=Böhm-Bawerk|first=Eugen von|authorlink=Eugen von Böhm-Bawerk
;Bibliography
|title=Karl Marx and the Close of His System
{{Refbegin}}
|publisher=[[Mises Institute|Ludwig von Mises Institute]]
{{columns-list|2|<!-- column start -->
|place=Auburn
* {{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}}
|year=2007
* {{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]
|url=http://mises.org/document/996/Karl-Marx-and-the-Close-of-His-System
* {{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]
|isbn=978-1-61016-008-7
 
|oclc=
}}<!-- split column end -->
}}
{{Refend}}
* {{Cite book
* {{cite book
|last=Mises|first=Ludwig von|authorlink=Ludwig von Mises
|author=[[Shlomo Avineri|Avineri, Shlomo]]
|title=Marxism Unmasked: From Delusion to Destruction
|year=1968
|publisher=[[Foundation for Economic Education]]
|title=The Social and Political Thought of Karl Marx
|place=Irvington-on-Hudson, New York
|publisher=Cambridge University Press}}
|year=2006
*{{cite book
|url=http://mises.org/document/4035/Marxism-Unmasked-From-Delusion-to-Destruction
|author=[[Ralf Dahrendorf|Dahrendorf, Ralf]]
|isbn=1-57246-210-8
|title=Class and Class Conflict in Industrial Society
|oclc=173434322
|year=1959}} Stanford: Stanford University Press.
}}
*[[Jon Elster]], ''An Introduction to Karl Marx''. Cambridge, England, 1986.
* {{cite encyclopedia
*Michael Evans, ''Karl Marx''. London, 1975.
|last=Prychitko|first=David L.|authorlink=
* {{cite book
|editor-last=Henderson|editor-first=David R.|editor-link=Wikipedia:David R. Henderson
|author=[[Leszek Kołakowski|Kołakowski, Leszek]]
|title=Marxism
|title=Main Currents of Marxism
|url=http://www.econlib.org/library/Enc/Marxism.html
|year=1976
|encyclopedia=[[Wikipedia:The Concise Encyclopedia of Economics|The Concise Encyclopedia of Economics]]
|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
|year=2007
|location=Basingstoke
|publisher=[[Wikipedia:Liberty Fund|Liberty Fund]]
|publisher=Palgrave Macmillan}}
|location=Indianapolis, Indiana
 
|isbn=978-0-86597-665-8
==External links==
|oclc=123350134
===General resources===
|pages=337-340
*[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]]
==External Links==
[[Category:Marxism| ]]
* {{wplink}}
[[Category:Criticism of religion]]
* [http://www.marxists.org/ Marxists Internet Archive]
[[Category:Philosophical movements]]
* {{md|4542|The Critics of Marxism|[[Ludwig von Mises]]|Wednesday, September 01, 2010}}
[[Category:Philosophical traditions]]
[[Category:Theories of history]]
[[Category:Karl Marx]]
[[Category:Sociological paradigms]]
[[Category:Communism]]
[[Category:Socialism]]
[[Category:Social theories]]
[[Category:Materialism]]


{{Link GA|eo}}
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Latest revision as of 20:51, 29 July 2013

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. 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 a materialist interpretation of history. Taking the idea that social change occurs because of the struggle between different 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 take control of government, and then implement reforms to benefit their class, namely the confiscation of private property which is then 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,[1] media studies,[2] political science, theater, history, sociological theory, cultural studies, education, economics, geography, literary criticism, aesthetics, critical psychology, and philosophy.[3]

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.[citation needed]

Criticisms

Critics of Marxism constantly point to a number of problems within Marxism itself. One major concern is the use of force within such a society. A Marxist society encourages the use of force against those who are considered to be a part of the bourgeoisie class. It is worth noting that the bourgeoisie class is never fully defined within Marx's work. It is simply those who own the means of production. In Marxism, the force of government would be used against this class of people. This could easily include the bread baker who sells his goods for profit to the CEO of a major corporation. The force of government would not discern between the two and simply punish both based on ill-defined class.

Another problem within Marxism is the lack of motivation to produce. In such a society, the means of production would be owned by the government for the most part if not completely. There is staggering amounts of evidence that if individuals are not allowed to own private property, said individuals will not be motivated to innovate or perform. There simply is no incentive. The state has no reason to innovate simply because it has the ability to tax and use force to acquire what it needs.

A major concern among critics of Marxism is the road to achieving such a state of government. Most cases where socialistic ideologies are formed, they have been brought about by violence and chaos. These ideologies often encourage the use of a revolution to bring about change in the form of violence. If this change happens on a more peaceful term such as a democracy, the violence will still be present as individuals resist the authority of government to maintain there sovereign rights.[citation needed]

References

  1. ↑ 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).
    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)
  2. ↑ S. L. Becker (1984) “Marxist Approaches to Media Studies: The British Experience”, Critical Studies in Mass Communication, 1(1): pp. 66–80.
  3. ↑ See Manuel Alvarado, Robin Gutch, and Tana Wollen (1987) Learning the Media: Introduction to Media Teaching, Palgrave Macmillan.

Bibliography

External Links

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