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Communism

2024-03-20T04:27:03Z

Liang:

'''Communism'''<ref group="lower-alpha">From Latin ''communis'', 'common, universal'</ref> is a theoretical [[mode of production]] characterized by common ownership of the [[means of production]] and the absence of social [[Social class|classes]]. The term is also used to refer to the movement whose ultimate goal is the establishment of this mode of production.

The material [[Post-scarcity|abundance]] and resultant social relations of such a society can be summarized by the slogan: "From each according to their ability, to each according to their needs." which was popularized in [[Marx|Karl Marx]]'s 1875 ''[[Library:Critique of the Gotha Program|Critique of the Gotha Program]]''.
[[File:Hammer and Sickle and Star.svg.png|thumb|The Hammer-and-Sickle is the universal symbol of communism and a representation of solidarity between the proletariat working class and the peasantry]]
In the [[Capital, vol. I|first volume of Capital]], Marx mentions it as ''"an association of free men, working with the means of production held in common, and expending their many different forms of labour-power in full self-awareness as one single social labour force"''<ref>''See [[Library:Capital, vol. I/Commodities and money/The commodity#The fetishism of the commodity and its secret|note]] in Capital, vol. I – The fetishism of the commodity and its secret''</ref>

== Etymology ==
Before Marx, the term communism was used by many [[Utopian socialism|utopian socialists]] to describe an [[Idealism|idealist]], egalitarian society.

Its modern usage is almost always traced back to Karl Marx's usage of the term where he introduced the concept of [[scientific socialism]] alongside [[Friedrich Engels]]. The theory of scientific socialism described communism not as an idealistic, perfect society but rather as a stage of development taking place after a long, political process of [[class struggle]]. Marx, however, used the terms [[socialism]] and communism interchangeably and he drew no distinction between the two.

[[Vladimir Lenin|Lenin]] was the first person to give distinct meanings to the terms socialism and communism. The socialism/communism of Marx was now known simply as communism, and Marx's "transitional phase" was to be known as socialism.

== Characteristics of Communism ==
[[File:Karl Marx-min.png|thumb|Karl Marx]]
[[File:Friedrich Engels (1820–1895), 1864-min.png|thumb|Friedrich Engels]]

=== Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels ===
In their seminal and most [[Manifesto of the Communist Party|well-known work]], Marx and Engels laid the basic principles of communism in which all future revolutionaries build their principles upon. For one, they acknowledged and made clear that communism, as an ideology had always existed since the rise of the bourgeoisie and the proletariat. They wrote in the famous opening: <blockquote>A spectre is haunting Europe—the spectre of Communism<ref>{{Citation|author=Karl Marx & Friedrich Engels|year=1848|title=Manifesto of the Communist Party|title-url=https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1848/communist-manifesto/index.htm|section=Preamble|quote=A spectre is haunting Europe—the spectre of Communism}}</ref> </blockquote>To begin with, what we recognise as communism stems from the existence of [[class struggle]]<ref>{{Citation|author=Karl Marx & Friedrich Engels|year=1848|title=Manifesto of the Communist Party|title-url=https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1848/communist-manifesto/index.htm|chapter=Bourgeois and Proletarians|chapter-url=https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1848/communist-manifesto/ch01.htm#007|quote=The history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles}}</ref>. Marx and Engels, through [[Historical materialism|historical]] and [[Dialectical Materialism|dialectical]] materialism, write that throughout history, there has always been a class struggle within known society between what we know as the ruling class and the ruled class. In the manifesto, they have given the following examples:

* Freeman and slave
* Patrician and plebeian
* Lord and serf
* Guild-master and journeymen
* Oppressor and oppressed

Even though all communists hold the bourgeoisie to be antagonistic towards the proletariat, and thus considered to be an adversary, Marx and Engels made it clear that the rise of the [[Bourgeoisie]] stemmed from their own [[Bourgeois revolution|revolutionary]] tendencies in overthrowing the feudal classes<ref>{{Citation|author=Karl Marx & Friedrich Engels|year=1848|title=Manifesto of the Communist Party|title-url=https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1848/communist-manifesto/index.htm|chapter=Bourgeois and Proletarians|chapter-url=https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1848/communist-manifesto/ch01.htm#007|quote=The bourgeoisie, historically, has played a most revolutionary part.}}</ref> which in turn, led to the creation of the current contradictions between themselves and the proletariat, or what we know as, the working class.

Communists do not claim to be the first and only parties that advocate and fight for the working class. What Marx and Engels specified in regards to communists are that they recognise the struggles of the working class regardless of nationality<ref>{{Citation|author=Karl Marx & Friedrich Engels|year=1848|title=Manifesto of the Communist Party|title-url=https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1848/communist-manifesto/index.htm|chapter=Proletarians and Communists|chapter-url=https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1848/communist-manifesto/ch02.htm|quote=The Communists are distinguished from the other working-class parties by this only: 1. In the national struggles of the proletarians of the different countries, they point out and bring to the front the common interests of the entire proletariat, independently of all nationality.

2. In the various stages of development which the struggle of the working class against the bourgeoisie has to pass through, they always and everywhere represent the interests of the movement as a whole.}}</ref>. Marx and Engels then proceeded to emphasise was the need of a revolutionary party that would safeguard and fight for the Proletariat. Marx and Engels were resolute that the Communists are the most advanced parties for the proletariat due to their ultimate goals of:

# Forming the proletariat into a revolutionary class
# Overthrowing the supremacy of the bourgeoisie
# Allowing the proletariat into conquest of political power

A common misconception that right-wingers and even some sections of the left have in regard to another aim of communism is the abolition of property. Marx and Engels have already made exceedingly clear in the manifesto that while Communists openly intend to do away with property, they are only interested in doing away with private property which belonged exclusively to the bourgeoisie<ref>{{Citation|author=Karl Marx & Friedrich Engels|year=1848|title=Manifesto of the Communist Party|title-url=https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1848/communist-manifesto/index.htm|chapter=Proletarians and Communists|chapter-url=https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1848/communist-manifesto/ch02.htm|quote=We Communists have been reproached with the desire of abolishing the right of personally acquiring property as the fruit of a man’s own labour, which property is alleged to be the groundwork of all personal freedom, activity and independence.

Hard-won, self-acquired, self-earned property! Do you mean the property of petty artisan and of the small peasant, a form of property that preceded the bourgeois form? There is no need to abolish that; the development of industry has to a great extent already destroyed it, and is still destroying it daily.

Or do you mean the modern bourgeois private property?

But does wage-labour create any property for the labourer? Not a bit. It creates capital, i.e., that kind of property which exploits wage-labour, and which cannot increase except upon condition of begetting a new supply of wage-labour for fresh exploitation. Property, in its present form, is based on the antagonism of capital and wage labour. Let us examine both sides of this antagonism.

To be a capitalist, is to have not only a purely personal, but a social status in production. Capital is a collective product, and only by the united action of many members, nay, in the last resort, only by the united action of all members of society, can it be set in motion.

Capital is therefore not only personal; it is a social power.

When, therefore, capital is converted into common property, into the property of all members of society, personal property is not thereby transformed into social property. It is only the social character of the property that is changed. It loses its class character}}</ref>.

==Place in historical materialism==
In Marx's theory of historical materialism, communism represents the final mode of production. Each mode of production is defined by its [[relations of production]]: the class dynamics, the methods of [[exploitation]], the systems of exchange, the level of development of the [[means of production]], etc. [[Capitalism]] is defined by the relationship between the [[bourgeoisie]] and the [[proletariat]], commonly referred to as a "[[dictatorship of the bourgeoisie]]". Socialism is defined by the same relations, but instead it exhibits a "[[dictatorship of the proletariat]]". Socialism still has class dynamics and exploitation, but the proletariat is the class on top.<ref>Mao Zedong (July 1964) [https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/mao/works/1964/phnycom.htm On Khrushchov's Phoney Communism and Its Historical Lessons for the World]</ref>

In the [[Communist Manifesto]], Marx and Engels described the evolution of society through the material changes as epochs of history. The relationships between opposing ranks such as patricians, knights, plebeians, slaves, merchants, feudal lords and vassals serve as forces of class antagonism. The current stage or epoch after the demise of [[feudalism]] at the hands of capitalism only created new classes and forms of oppression, this time between the [[bourgeoisie]] and the [[proletariat]].

Communism has no classes, and therefore no class dynamics. It has no exploitation, and therefore no methods of exploitation. While communism is never meant to be the "end of history", it is certainly the final mode of production as all contradictions of modes of productions have been wiped out.<ref name=":0" />

== Material conditions ==
A communist economy relies on widespread electrification and [[automation]] and the mechanization all labour.<ref name=":02">{{Citation|author=Economics Institute of the Academy of Sciences of the U.S.S.R|year=1954|title=Political Economy|chapter=The Gradual Transition from Socialism to Communism|chapter-url=https://www.marxists.org/subject/economy/authors/pe/pe-ch40.htm|section=|page=|pdf=https://revolutionarydemocracy.org/archive/PoliticalEconomy.pdf|city=London|publisher=Lawrence & Wishart|mia=https://www.marxists.org/subject/economy/authors/pe/index.htm}}</ref>

==Implementation==
The implementation of communism became an extremely debated issue after the success of various communist movements. Almost all communist political theory concerns [[Dialectical materialism|dialectical]] and [[historical materialism]], socialist transformation and socialist development.

Engels provided some theory about the transition from socialism to communism (now known as the withering away of the state) in ''[[Anti-Dühring (1878)|Anti-Dühring]]'':
{{quote|The proletariat seizes political power and turns the means of production in the first instance into state property. But, in doing this, it abolishes itself as proletariat, abolishes all class distinctions and class antagonisms, abolishes also the state as state. [...] As soon as there is no longer any social class to be held in subjection; as soon as class rule, and the individual struggle for existence based upon our present anarchy in production, with the collisions and excesses arising from these, are removed, nothing more remains to be repressed, and a special repressive force, a state, is no longer necessary. [...] The state is not "abolished". It dies out.<ref name=":0">Friedrich Engels (1877) [https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1877/anti-duhring/ch24.htm Anti-Dühring, Part III, Chapter II]</ref>|[[Friedrich Engels]]|[[Anti-Dühring (1878)]]}}
[[Joseph Stalin|Stalin]] discusses the topic in his work, ''[[Economic problems of socialism in the USSR]]'':
{{quote|It is necessary, first of all, to shorten the working day at least to six, and subsequently to five hours. This is needed in order that the members of society might have the necessary free time to receive an all-round education. It is necessary, further, to introduce universal compulsory polytechnical education, which is required in order that the members of society might be able freely to choose their occupations and not be tied to some one occupation all their lives. It is likewise necessary that housing conditions should be radically improved, and that real wages of workers and employees should be at least doubled, if not more, both by means of direct increases of wages and salaries, and, more especially, by further systematic reductions of prices for consumer goods. These are the basic conditions required to pave the way for the transition to communism.<ref>Joseph Stalin (1951) [https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/stalin/works/1951/economic-problems/ch13.htm Economic Problems of the USSR, Chapter XIII]</ref>|[[Joseph Stalin]]|[[Economic problems of socialism in the USSR]]
}}

==Communism as an ideology==
Communism is sometimes described as a political theory: Marxists have Marxism, Darwinists have Darwinism, and Communists have Communism. This term is usually used by [[Liberalism|liberals]], although some communists have used the term communism this way. To have a better understanding of it, Engels stated that:

{{Quote|Communism is the doctrine of the conditions of the liberation of the proletariat.|[[Friedrich Engels]]|[[The principles of communism]]|1847}}

==Communism as a movement==
According to Marx, communism can be defined as the "the real movement which abolishes the present state of things." The communist movement differs from other workers' movements due to its [[Proletarian internationalism|internationalism]] and because it represents the entire working class.<ref>{{Citation|author=[[Karl Marx]], [[Friedrich Engels]]|year=1848|title=Communist Manifesto|mia=https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1847/11/prin-com.htm|chapter=Proletarians and Communists|chapter-url=https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1848/communist-manifesto/ch02.htm}}</ref>

Communism has also been defined as a movement for the re-humanization and liberation of the exploited and [[Oppression|oppressed]] masses that restores equal rights to all [[Gender|genders]] and [[Nation|nationalities]].<ref name=":12">{{Citation|author=Stephen Gowans|year=2018|title=Patriots, Traitors and Empires: The Story of Korea’s Struggle for Freedom|chapter=The US Occupation|page=77|pdf=https://ipfs.io/ipfs/bafykbzaced4iiga4ngtxusr2civjxewbili5jne2sbpefbx2s3im2kphattzc?filename=Stephen%20Gowans%20-%20Patriots%2C%20Traitors%20and%20Empires_%20The%20Story%20of%20Korea%E2%80%99s%20Struggle%20for%20Freedom-Baraka%20Books%20%282018%29.pdf|city=Montreal|publisher=Baraka Books|isbn=9781771861427|lg=https://libgen.rs/book/index.php?md5=8435F6FF91279531705764823FDC2A7F}}</ref>

== See also ==
[[Quotes:Communism]]

==References==

[[Category:Modes of production]]

<references />

=== Notes ===
<references group="lower-alpha" />

Communism

2024-03-19T05:40:07Z

Liang:

'''Communism'''<ref group="lower-alpha">From Latin ''communis'', 'common, universal'</ref> is a theoretical [[mode of production]] characterized by common ownership of the [[means of production]] and the absence of social [[Social class|classes]]. The term is also used to refer to the movement whose ultimate goal is the establishment of this mode of production.

The material [[Post-scarcity|abundance]] and resultant social relations of such a society can be summarized by the slogan: "From each according to their ability, to each according to their needs." which was popularized in [[Marx|Karl Marx]]'s 1875 ''[[Library:Critique of the Gotha Program|Critique of the Gotha Program]]''.
[[File:Hammer and Sickle and Star.svg.png|thumb|The Hammer-and-Sickle is the universal symbol of communism and a representation of solidarity between the proletariat working class and the peasantry]]
In the [[Capital, vol. I|first volume of Capital]], Marx mentions it as ''"an association of free men, working with the means of production held in common, and expending their many different forms of labour-power in full self-awareness as one single social labour force"''<ref>''See [[Library:Capital, vol. I/Commodities and money/The commodity#The fetishism of the commodity and its secret|note]] in Capital, vol. I – The fetishism of the commodity and its secret''</ref>

== Etymology ==
Before Marx, the term communism was used by many [[Utopian socialism|utopian socialists]] to describe an [[Idealism|idealist]], egalitarian society.

Its modern usage is almost always traced back to Karl Marx's usage of the term where he introduced the concept of [[scientific socialism]] alongside [[Friedrich Engels]]. The theory of scientific socialism described communism not as an idealistic, perfect society but rather as a stage of development taking place after a long, political process of [[class struggle]]. Marx, however, used the terms [[socialism]] and communism interchangeably and he drew no distinction between the two.

[[Vladimir Lenin|Lenin]] was the first person to give distinct meanings to the terms socialism and communism. The socialism/communism of Marx was now known simply as communism, and Marx's "transitional phase" was to be known as socialism.

== Characteristics of Communism ==
[[File:Karl Marx-min.png|thumb|Karl Marx]]
[[File:Friedrich Engels (1820–1895), 1864-min.png|thumb|Friedrich Engels]]

=== Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels ===
In their seminal and most [[Manifesto of the Communist Party|well-known work]], Marx and Engels laid the basic principles of communism in which all future revolutionaries build their principles upon. For one, they acknowledged and made clear that communism, as an ideology had always existed since the rise of the bourgeoisie and the proletariat. They wrote in the famous opening: <blockquote>A spectre is haunting Europe—the spectre of Communism </blockquote>To begin with, what we recognise as communism stems from the existence of [[class struggle]]. Marx and Engels, through [[Historical materialism|historical]] and [[Dialectical Materialism|dialectical]] materialism, write that throughout history, there has always been a class struggle within known society between what we know as the ruling class and the ruled class. In the manifesto, they have given the following examples:

* Freeman and slave
* Patrician and plebeian
* Lord and serf
* Guild-master and journeymen
* Oppressor and oppressed

Even though all communists hold the bourgeoisie to be antagonistic towards the proletariat, and thus considered to be an adversary, Marx and Engels made it clear that the rise of the [[Bourgeoisie]] stemmed from their own [[Bourgeois revolution|revolutionary]] tendencies in overthrowing the feudal classes which in turn, led to the creation of the current contradictions between themselves and the proletariat, or what we know as, the working class.

Communists do not claim to be the first and only parties that advocate and fight for the working class. What Marx and Engels specified in regards to communists are that they recognise the struggles of the working class regardless of nationality. Marx and Engels then proceeded to emphasise was the need of a revolutionary party that would safeguard and fight for the Proletariat. Marx and Engels were resolute that the Communists are the most advanced parties for the proletariat due to their ultimate goals of:

# Forming the proletariat into a revolutionary class
# Overthrowing the supremacy of the bourgeoisie
# Allowing the proletariat into conquest of political power

A common misconception that right-wingers and even some sections of the left have in regard to another aim of communism is the abolition of property. Marx and Engels have already made exceedingly clear in the manifesto that while Communists openly intend to do away with property, they are only interested in doing away with private property which belonged exclusively to the bourgeoisie.

==Place in historical materialism==
In Marx's theory of historical materialism, communism represents the final mode of production. Each mode of production is defined by its [[relations of production]]: the class dynamics, the methods of [[exploitation]], the systems of exchange, the level of development of the [[means of production]], etc. [[Capitalism]] is defined by the relationship between the [[bourgeoisie]] and the [[proletariat]], commonly referred to as a "[[dictatorship of the bourgeoisie]]". Socialism is defined by the same relations, but instead it exhibits a "[[dictatorship of the proletariat]]". Socialism still has class dynamics and exploitation, but the proletariat is the class on top.<ref>Mao Zedong (July 1964) [https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/mao/works/1964/phnycom.htm On Khrushchov's Phoney Communism and Its Historical Lessons for the World]</ref>

In the [[Communist Manifesto]], Marx and Engels described the evolution of society through the material changes as epochs of history. The relationships between opposing ranks such as patricians, knights, plebeians, slaves, merchants, feudal lords and vassals serve as forces of class antagonism. The current stage or epoch after the demise of [[feudalism]] at the hands of capitalism only created new classes and forms of oppression, this time between the [[bourgeoisie]] and the [[proletariat]].

Communism has no classes, and therefore no class dynamics. It has no exploitation, and therefore no methods of exploitation. While communism is never meant to be the "end of history", it is certainly the final mode of production as all contradictions of modes of productions have been wiped out.<ref name=":0" />

== Material conditions ==
A communist economy relies on widespread electrification and [[automation]] and the mechanization all labour.<ref name=":02">{{Citation|author=Economics Institute of the Academy of Sciences of the U.S.S.R|year=1954|title=Political Economy|chapter=The Gradual Transition from Socialism to Communism|chapter-url=https://www.marxists.org/subject/economy/authors/pe/pe-ch40.htm|section=|page=|pdf=https://revolutionarydemocracy.org/archive/PoliticalEconomy.pdf|city=London|publisher=Lawrence & Wishart|mia=https://www.marxists.org/subject/economy/authors/pe/index.htm}}</ref>

==Implementation==
The implementation of communism became an extremely debated issue after the success of various communist movements. Almost all communist political theory concerns [[Dialectical materialism|dialectical]] and [[historical materialism]], socialist transformation and socialist development.

Engels provided some theory about the transition from socialism to communism (now known as the withering away of the state) in ''[[Anti-Dühring (1878)|Anti-Dühring]]'':
{{quote|The proletariat seizes political power and turns the means of production in the first instance into state property. But, in doing this, it abolishes itself as proletariat, abolishes all class distinctions and class antagonisms, abolishes also the state as state. [...] As soon as there is no longer any social class to be held in subjection; as soon as class rule, and the individual struggle for existence based upon our present anarchy in production, with the collisions and excesses arising from these, are removed, nothing more remains to be repressed, and a special repressive force, a state, is no longer necessary. [...] The state is not "abolished". It dies out.<ref name=":0">Friedrich Engels (1877) [https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1877/anti-duhring/ch24.htm Anti-Dühring, Part III, Chapter II]</ref>|[[Friedrich Engels]]|[[Anti-Dühring (1878)]]}}
[[Joseph Stalin|Stalin]] discusses the topic in his work, ''[[Economic problems of socialism in the USSR]]'':
{{quote|It is necessary, first of all, to shorten the working day at least to six, and subsequently to five hours. This is needed in order that the members of society might have the necessary free time to receive an all-round education. It is necessary, further, to introduce universal compulsory polytechnical education, which is required in order that the members of society might be able freely to choose their occupations and not be tied to some one occupation all their lives. It is likewise necessary that housing conditions should be radically improved, and that real wages of workers and employees should be at least doubled, if not more, both by means of direct increases of wages and salaries, and, more especially, by further systematic reductions of prices for consumer goods. These are the basic conditions required to pave the way for the transition to communism.<ref>Joseph Stalin (1951) [https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/stalin/works/1951/economic-problems/ch13.htm Economic Problems of the USSR, Chapter XIII]</ref>|[[Joseph Stalin]]|[[Economic problems of socialism in the USSR]]
}}

==Communism as an ideology==
Communism is sometimes described as a political theory: Marxists have Marxism, Darwinists have Darwinism, and Communists have Communism. This term is usually used by [[Liberalism|liberals]], although some communists have used the term communism this way. To have a better understanding of it, Engels stated that:

{{Quote|Communism is the doctrine of the conditions of the liberation of the proletariat.|[[Friedrich Engels]]|[[The principles of communism]]|1847}}

==Communism as a movement==
According to Marx, communism can be defined as the "the real movement which abolishes the present state of things." The communist movement differs from other workers' movements due to its [[Proletarian internationalism|internationalism]] and because it represents the entire working class.<ref>{{Citation|author=[[Karl Marx]], [[Friedrich Engels]]|year=1848|title=Communist Manifesto|mia=https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1847/11/prin-com.htm|chapter=Proletarians and Communists|chapter-url=https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1848/communist-manifesto/ch02.htm}}</ref>

Communism has also been defined as a movement for the re-humanization and liberation of the exploited and [[Oppression|oppressed]] masses that restores equal rights to all [[Gender|genders]] and [[Nation|nationalities]].<ref name=":12">{{Citation|author=Stephen Gowans|year=2018|title=Patriots, Traitors and Empires: The Story of Korea’s Struggle for Freedom|chapter=The US Occupation|page=77|pdf=https://ipfs.io/ipfs/bafykbzaced4iiga4ngtxusr2civjxewbili5jne2sbpefbx2s3im2kphattzc?filename=Stephen%20Gowans%20-%20Patriots%2C%20Traitors%20and%20Empires_%20The%20Story%20of%20Korea%E2%80%99s%20Struggle%20for%20Freedom-Baraka%20Books%20%282018%29.pdf|city=Montreal|publisher=Baraka Books|isbn=9781771861427|lg=https://libgen.rs/book/index.php?md5=8435F6FF91279531705764823FDC2A7F}}</ref>

== See also ==
[[Quotes:Communism]]

==References==

[[Category:Modes of production]]

<references />

=== Notes ===
<references group="lower-alpha" />

Communism

2024-03-18T04:50:20Z

Liang:

Communism

2024-03-18T04:41:48Z

Liang:

File:Friedrich Engels (1820–1895), 1864-min.png

2024-03-18T04:41:09Z

Liang:

Friedrich Engels

File:Karl Marx-min.png

2024-03-18T04:40:26Z

Liang:

Karl Marx

Communism

2024-03-18T04:15:26Z

Liang:

File:Hammer and Sickle and Star.svg.png

2024-03-18T04:14:05Z

Liang:

Hammer and sickle with the red star

Xinjiang Vocational Education and Training Centers

2024-03-16T12:30:41Z

Liang:

The '''Xinjiang''' '''Vocational Education and Training Centers''' are facilities operated by the [[Xinjiang|Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region]] government in [[People's Republic of China|China]]. These facilities were built in response to a series of terrorist attacks by an insurgency of Islamist separatists, referred to as the Xinjiang Conflict.<ref>{{Web citation|newspaper=CGTN|title=Fighting Terrorism in Xinjiang|date=2019-12-05|url=https://news.cgtn.com/news/2019-12-05/Fighting-terrorism-in-Xinjiang-MaNLLDtnfq/index.html|retrieved=2023-07-23}}</ref> China accuses the [[United States of America|United States]] of having supported these terrorists, similar to how the [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]] cultivated extremist proxies in [[Operation Cyclone]] which later evolved into Al Qaeda<ref>{{Web citation|author=Catherine Wong|newspaper=South China Morning Post|title=US-China ties: Washington funded terrorists in Xinjiang, Beijing says|date=2021-04-14|url=https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3129545/us-china-ties-washington-funded-terrorists-xinjiang-beijing|retrieved=2023-07-23}}</ref> (see the terrorism section in the XUAR page).

While the West carries out its so-called "war on terror" with bombs, China has taken a different approach; by investing in vocational and educational facilities, the Chinese government seeks to offer a more stable and prosperous life to would-be recruits into such extremist organizations. Following a critical assessment by the Office of the UN High Commissioner on Human Rights (OHCHR) released on August 31, 2022<ref>{{Web citation|newspaper=Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights|title=OHCHR Assessment of human rights concerns in the
Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, People’s Republic of China|date=2022-08-31|url=https://www.ohchr.org/sites/default/files/documents/countries/2022-08-31/22-08-31-final-assesment.pdf|retrieved=2023-07-23}}</ref>, the People's Republic of China released a report accusing the assessment of misrepresenting China's laws and policies.<ref>{{Web citation|author=Permanent Mission of the People's Republic of China to the United Nations Office at Geneva and other international organizations in Switzerland|newspaper=Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights|title=Fight Against Terrorism and Extremism in Xinjiang: Truth and Facts|date=2022-09-31|url=https://www.ohchr.org/sites/default/files/documents/countries/2022-08-31/ANNEX_A.pdf|retrieved=2023-07-23}}</ref> The report documented the numerous terror attacks in Xinjiang and coming out of Xinjiang and laid out the policies of the VETCs so as to stress the soundness of their adherence to the principles of human rights protection.

== Historical and material context of the Autonomous Region ==
[[File:Xinjiang.svg.png|thumb]]
It is important to take note that Xinjiang has been an inseparable part of China since that time, and the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region was established in 1955 under the PRC. The vast areas both north and south of the Tianshan Mountains, called the Western Regions in ancient times, were in close contact with the Central Plains as early as the pre-Qin period (c. 2100-221 BC). With the establishment of the unified feudal dynasties Qin (221-206 BC) and Han (206 BC-AD 220), multi-ethnic unification has been the norm in China’s historical development. In 60 BC, the government of the Western Han Dynasty established the Western Regions Frontier Command in Xinjiang, officially making Xinjiang a part of Chinese territory<ref name=":0">{{Web citation|author=China’s State Council Information Office|title=The Fight Against Terrorism and Extremism and Human Rights Protection in Xinjiang|url=https://english.www.gov.cn/archive/white_paper/2019/03/18/content_281476567813306.htm}}</ref>

=== The Emergence of the Autonomous Region ===

==== Ancient History ====
The region in which we currently know as Xinjiang became part of the [[Han dynasty (202 BCE–220 CE)|Han dynasty]] in 60 BCE. Since then, the region has been populated by Han Chinese since this time.

==== The Republic of China ====
After the [[Nicholas II|Tsar]] tried to conscript Kazakh and Kyrgyz people into the First World War in 1916, they attacked Russian settlers and then fled into Xinjiang.<ref>{{Citation|author=Vijay Prashad|year=2017|title=Red Star Over the Third World|chapter=Soviet Asia|city=New Delhi|publisher=LeftWord Books}}</ref>

== Demographics ==

=== The Uyghur People ===
Xinjiang has been a multi-ethnic region since ancient times. Down the ages, ethnic groups of various kinds have lived in the region and communicated with each other. By the end of the 19th century, 13 ethnic groups – the Uygur, Han, Kazak, Mongolian, Hui, Kirgiz, Manchu, Xibe, Tajik, Daur, Uzbek, Tatar, and Russian – had settled in Xinjiang, with the Uyghurs having the largest population.<ref name=":0" />

The Uyghur ethnic group came into being through a long process of migration and ethnic integration though they are not descendants of the Turks, instead, they are the descendants of the nomadic Dingling (丁零) tribe [[Mongolia]]. In 552 CE a clan of the emerging Dingling tribe established a Turkic Khanate in the Dunggar Basin in northern Xinjiang. In 744, the Uygur Alliance led by Guli Pei Luo, with the cooperation of the army of the [[Tang dynasty (618–907)|Tang Dynasty]], overthrew the Turkic Khanate and established the Mobei Uyghur Khanate. Historically as a way to resist oppression and slavery by the Turks, the Ouigour people united with some of the Tiele tribes to form the Ouigour tribal alliance.<ref name=":0" />

After the Uyghur Khanate suffered a major defeat in 840, some of them moved inland to live among the Han people, while the rest of the surviving Uyghurs were divided into three sub-groups. One of which moved to the Turpan Basin and the modern Jimsar region, where they founded the Gaochang Uygur Kingdom. Another moved to the Hexi Corridor, where they merged with local ethnic groups to become what was later known as the Yugu people. The third sub-group moved to the west of Pamir, scattered in areas from Central Asia to Kashgar, and joined the Karluk and Yagma peoples in founding the Karahan Kingdom. There they merged with the Han people in the Turpan Basin and the Yanqi, Qiuci, Yutian, Shule, and other peoples in the Tarim Basin to form the main body of the modern Uygur group.<ref name=":0" />

== Rise of religious terrorism ==

==== The historical multireligious nature of Xinjiang ====
In primitive society, the residents of Xinjiang once followed a primitive religion from which Shamanism evolved. Later, a succession of religions popular in the East and the West were introduced into Xinjiang via the Silk Road, the first of which was Zoroastrianism.<ref name=":0" />

Around the first century BC, Buddhism was introduced into Xinjiang and gradually became the major religion, coexisting with many other religions. From the 4th to the 10th century, Buddhism reached its peak, while in the same period Zoroastrianism proliferated throughout Xinjiang, particularly in the Turpan area. Around the fifth century, Taoism was introduced into Xinjiang, becoming prevalent mainly in Turpan and Hami. It spread to most parts of Xinjiang and experienced a revival during the Qing Dynasty.<ref name=":0" />

In the sixth century, Manichaeism and Nestorianism were introduced into Xinjiang. From the 10th to the 14th century, Nestorianism flourished as the Uyghur and some other peoples converted to it in many parts of Xinjiang. In the late ninth and early 10th century, Islam was introduced into southern Xinjiang, changing the religious profile of Xinjiang again. After the Karahan Khanate accepted Islam, in the mid-10th century it launched a religious war against the Buddhist Kingdom of Yutian, and the war lasted for more than 40 years. In the early 11th century, the Karahan Khanate conquered Yutian and imposed Islam in that region. Thereafter, Islam dominated southern Xinjiang while Buddhism dominated northern Xinjiang. In the mid-14th century, the rulers of the Eastern Chagatai Khanate spread Islam to the northern edge of the Tarim Basin, the Turpan Basin and Hami by war and compulsion. By the early 16th century many religions coexisted in Xinjiang, with Islam being the predominant religion. Beginning in the 18th century, Protestantism, Catholicism, and the Eastern Orthodox Church were introduced into Xinjiang. Islam has ever since been the principal religion in Xinjiang, coexisting with a number of other religions.<ref name=":0" />

==== Modern Religious Extremism and the East Turkestan Movement ====
At the turn of the 20th century, separatists and religious extremists both in and outside China, inherited the so-called theories of “Pan-Turkism” and “Pan-Islamism” which were created by former colonialists, spread the word that Uyghurs were the only “masters” of Xinjiang, that the ethnic cultures of Xinjiang were not of Chinese culture, and that Islam was the only religion practiced by ethnic groups of Xinjiang. They incited all ethnic groups speaking Turki and believing in Islam to join together in creating the theocratic state of so-called “East Turkistan”. They denied the history that China was jointly built by all its ethnic groups, and clamored for “opposition to all ethnic groups other than Turks” and for the “annihilation of pagans”.<ref name=":0" />

From the early 20th century onto the late 1940s, these ideas were pushed forward by “East Turkistan” forces who wanted to create their own state in Xinjiang. In 1915, the separatist Maswud returned to Ili, opened a school and publicly preached separatism to the students. On November 12, 1933, Mohammad Imin founded the so-called “East Turkistan Islamic Republic”, but the farce ended in less than three months due to strong opposition from the people of all ethnic groups in Xinjiang.<ref name=":0" />

On November 12, 1944, another group of separatists led by Elihan Torae founded the so-called “Republic of East Turkistan”, which soon collapsed a year later. Afterwards, a series of separatist organizations and individuals continued their subversive and separatist activities under the banner of “East Turkistan” in a vain attempt to establish their own state.<ref name=":0" />

The “East Turkistan” forces, however, have not resigned themselves to defeat. With the support of international anti-China forces, the “East Turkistan” forces have resorted to all means, both fair or foul, to organize, plan and carry out acts of separatism and sabotage. In the early 1950s the separatists instigated many riots in Xinjiang, calling on Uyghurs to “unite under the moon-and-star banner to create a republic of Islam”. In the 1960s there were the riots in Ili and Tacheng on the China-Russia border, the riot of the “East Turkistan People’s Revolutionary Party”, and the armed rebellion of the Gang of Ahongnof in southern Xinjiang. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, religious extremism had made further inroads into Xinjiang. It soon blended with terrorism to stir up social unrest in the region, seriously undermining local stability and security.<ref name=":0" />

Since the 1990s, especially after the September 11 attacks in the US, the “East Turkistan” forces inside and outside China have stepped up their collaboration as terrorism and extremism spread around the globe, trying desperately to establish “East Turkistan” through struggle. In the name of ethnicity and religion, they deceitfully used people’s ethnic identity and religious belief to instigate religious fanaticism, spread religious extremism, and incite the common people to join in violent and terrorist activities. They brainwashed people with these beliefs, abetting them to “die for their belief in order to enter heaven”. Some of the most susceptible followers, no longer possessed of any self-control, became extremists and terrorists who heartlessly slaughtered innocent people.<ref name=":0" />

For a long time separatists have tied extremism to religion, to religious believers, and to society as a whole. They tell people not to obey anyone but Allah and incite them to resist government management. They abuse those who do not follow the path of extremism as pagans, traitors and scum, urging their followers to verbally assault, reject, and isolate non-believers, Party members and officials, and patriotic religious individuals. They deny and reject all forms of secular culture, preaching a life without TV, radio and newspaper, forbidding people to weep at funerals or laugh at weddings, imposing bans on singing and dancing, and forcing women to wear heavily-veiled black long gowns. They over-generalize the “Halal” concept, stamping food, medicine, cosmetics, clothing, etc. with the Halal symbol. They turn a blind eye to the diverse and splendid cultures of Xinjiang created by all its ethnic groups, trying to sever the ties between the Chinese culture and the ethnic cultures of Xinjiang.<ref name=":0" />

Nowadays, these groups generally operate under the name of ETIM, or [[East Turkestan Islamist Movement]] or the East Turkistan Party, which is affiliated with ETIM.<ref name=":0" />

In 1990, the [[East Turkestan Islamic Movement]] organized its first terrorist attack in Baren Township. The ETIM was designated as a terrorist organization by the [[United Nations|UN]] in 2002 and by the Chinese government in 2003. In July 2009, Islamic extremists caused riots in Ürümqi, killing almost 200 people and injuring over 1,000. In May 2014 in Ürümqi, they drove cars into a crowded marketplace and threw explosives at buildings, killing 39 and injuring 94. In July 2014, Imam [[Juma Tahir]] was assassinated after calling for peace and stability in Xinjiang.

Similar to [[Operation Cyclone]], where the [[United States of America|USA]] supported Islamic fundamentalism to destabilize the [[Democratic Republic of Afghanistan|socialist government]] of [[Afghanistan]], the US has supported Islamic fundamentalist separatists in the Xinjiang region of China. During the 1990s, the [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]] transported Uyghur terrorists from Xinjiang to Afghanistan to be trained in guerilla warfare by the [[Mujahideen]], following a plan of action developed by [[Bernard Lewis]], a specialist at Oxford University, who proposed the creation of an “Arc of Crisis” made up of Muslims manipulated to extend US influence and overthrow Communist (Soviet) rule in Middle Eastern nations. Graham Fuller, former Deputy Director of the CIA's National Council of Intelligence<ref>{{Citation|author=Paul L. Williams|year=2015|title=Operation Gladio: The Unholy Alliance Between the Vatican, the CIA, and the Mafia|page=271|publisher=Prometheus Books}}</ref>, said in 1999:<blockquote>The policy of guiding the evolution of Islam and of helping them [radicalized Muslims] against our adversaries worked marvelously well in Afghanistan against the Red Army. The same doctrines can still be used to destabilize what remains of Russian power, and especially to counter the Chinese influence in Central Asia</blockquote>And FBI Whistleblower Sibel Edmonds said in 2010:<blockquote>…without the Cold War excuse our foreign policymakers had a real hard time justifying our joint operations and terrorism schemes in the resource-rich ex Soviet states with these same groups, so they made sure they kept their policies unwritten and unspoken, and considering their grip on the mainstream media, largely unreported. Now what would your response be if I were to say on the record, and, if required, under oath: ‘''Between 1996 and 2002, we, the United States, planned, financed, and helped execute every major terrorist incident by Chechen rebels (and the Mujahideen) against Russia. Between 1996 and 2002, we, the United States, planned, financed, and helped execute every single uprising and terror related scheme in Xinjiang (aka East Turkistan and Uyghurstan)''<ref>{{Web citation|author=Sibel Edmonds|newspaper=Boiling Frogs Post|title=Friends-Enemies-Both? Our Foreign Policy Riddle|date=2010-10-03|url=https://sibel104.rssing.com/chan-18066673/article1.html|archive-url=https://archive.is/cbBsA}}</ref></blockquote>China's response to this upsurge of terrorism and separatism has been to [[Xinjiang Vocational Education and Training Centers|construct re-education camps]] ([[Xinjiang Vocational Education and Training Centers]]) which have been decried by the Western press in an effort to accuse China of running "concentration camps" and "death camps". Western countries have signed a letter criticizing China, while a counter-letter was signed by countries in the Muslim World as well as progressive states such as [[Republic of Cuba|Cuba]] and [[Bolivia]] (under the socialist government of [[Evo Morales]], prior to the US-backed coup).<ref>{{Web citation|newspaper=Qiao Collective|title=Xinjiang: A Report and Resource Compilation|date=2021-09-21|url=https://www.qiaocollective.com/education/xinjiang|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220620004209/https://www.qiaocollective.com/education/xinjiang}}</ref> <ref>{{Web citation|author=Shane Quinn|newspaper=Orinoco Tribune|title=Beijing’s Decades-Long Policies in Xinjiang, CIA Interference, Funding of Separatist and Terrorist Groups|date=2020-08-26|url=https://orinocotribune.com/beijings-decades-long-policies-in-xinjiang-cia-interference-funding-of-separatist-and-terrorist-groups/}}</ref>

==== Examples of terrorist attacks ====
Terrorist groups under the general term of East Turkestan Party have committed more than 30 acts between 1990 and 2016, which include killing ordinary people, assassinating religious leaders, endangering public safety (acts that did not have human victims or were foiled before they could be carried out), attacking government organs and planning riots.<ref name=":0" />

Other notable examples include, but are not limited to:On February 5, 1992, while the whole of China was celebrating the Spring Festival, a terrorist group planted bombs on a No. 52 and a No. 30 bus in Urumqi, blowing up the 2 buses, killing 3 people and injuring 23 others.<ref name=":0" />

* On February 5, 1992 during the Spring Festival celebrations, a terrorist group planted bombs on a No. 52 and a No. 30 bus in Urumqi, blowing up the 2 buses, killing 3 people and injuring 23 others.
* On March 22, 1996, two masked terrorists broke into the house of Akemusidike Aji, vice president of the Islamic Association of Xinhe County, Aksu Prefecture, and assistant imam of a mosque, and shot him dead.
* On July 5, 2009, the “East Turkistan” forces inside and outside China engineered a riot in Urumqi which shocked the whole world. Thousands of terrorists attacked civilians, government organs, public security and police officers, residential houses, stores and public transportation facilities, causing 197 deaths and injuries to over 1,700, smashing and burning down 331 stores and 1,325 vehicles, and damaging many public facilities.
* On July 30, 2011, two terrorists hijacked a truck at the junction of a food street in Kashgar City, stabbed the driver to death, drove the truck into the crowd, and then attacked the public with their knives. In this incident, 8 were killed and 27 injured. The next day, knife-wielding terrorists randomly attacked pedestrians on Xiangxie Street, Renmin West Road, killing 6 and injuring 15.
* On February 28, 2012, nine knife-wielding terrorists attacked civilians on Xingfu Road, Yecheng County, Kashgar Prefecture, resulting in 15 deaths and 20 injuries.
* On March 1, 2014, eight knife-wielding Xinjiang terrorists attacked passengers at the Kunming Railway Station Square and the ticket lobby, leaving 31 dead and 141 injured.
* On May 22, 2014, five terrorists drove two SUVs through the fence of the morning fair of North Park Road of Saybagh District, Urumqi, into the crowd, and then detonated a bomb, claiming the life of 39 and leaving 94 injured.
* On September 18, 2015, terrorists attacked a coal mine in Baicheng County, Aksu Prefecture, causing 16 deaths and 18 injuries
* On December 28, 2016, four terrorists drove into the courtyard of Moyu County government, Hotan Prefecture, detonated a homemade explosive device, and attacked government staff, leaving 2 dead and 3 injured.<ref name=":0" />

== International Reactions ==
International reaction to the economic and cultural developments in the Xinjiang region have been mostly represented through the eyes of the imperial core. Their claims keep growing in scale and the goal is simply to destabilise the CPC, and open up China for their domestic markets under their own terms. It should also be noted Xinjiang is a very important geographical area for the [[Belt and Road Initiative]] and contains tons of oil in the Tarim Basin. 100 additional million tons were discovered in 2020.<ref>{{Web citation|newspaper=Global Times|title=China discovers 100 million ton oilfield in northwestern Xinjiang|url=https://www.globaltimes.cn/content/1185102.shtml}}</ref>

=== The United States ===
The [[United States of America]] and their imperialist allies understand that Xinjiang is a very important target in order to destabilise China, as destabilising China would allow them to install [[Social class|comprador]] heads of state, which would force open China's markets, much like what we have seen after the [[Opium wars]].

In 2018, Col. Lawrence Wilkerson of the US Army explained in a speech at the Ron Paul Institute that the USA has a military presence in Afghanistan so that they can keep troops close to China, and that if they wanted to destabilise China, they would go through Xinjiang, harnessing and stoking the separatist sentiment present there.<ref>{{YouTube citation|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=91wz5syVNZs&t=1260s|channel=RonPaulLibertyReport|title='What Is The Empire's Strategy?' - Col Lawrence Wilkerson Speech At RPI Media & War Conferenc}}</ref>

In October 2020, then-Secretary of State [[Mike Pompeo]] removed the designation of ETIM as a terrorist group.<ref>{{Web citation|author=State Department|newspaper=Federal Register|title=In the Matter of the Designation of the Eastern Turkistan Islamic Movement Also Known as ETIM as a “Terrorist Organization” Pursuant to Section 212(a)(3)(B)(vi)(II) of the Immigration and Nationality Act, as Amended|date=2020-05-11|url=https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2020/11/05/2020-24620/in-the-matter-of-the-designation-of-the-eastern-turkistan-islamic-movement-also-known-as-etim-as-a}}</ref> It should be noted that for 10 years prior to that decision, the USA had been drone striking people they designated as ETIM fighters in Pakistan and thus begs the question: who was the USA bombing for a decade if ETIM did not exist for more than 10 years, as Pompeo alleged without evidence?

Mike Pompeo's ferocious slander against China and the people of Xinjiang gave rise to a movement from Uyghurs living in Xinjiang showing what their actual life is like in Xinjiang, and telling Mr. Pompeo to stop spreading slander.<ref>{{YouTube citation|url=https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLkbOIKUddMBtp0_xEFqn4zey48kkgJq5w|title=Citizens of Xinjiang Speak}}</ref>

=== Boycott of Xinjiang cotton industry ===
After claims of forced labour were advanced without evidence, many international companies (including, for example, H&M), decided not to use Xinjiang cotton in their products. This had the effect of weakening Xinjiang's economy, as producers were not able to sell their stock. In retaliation, Chinese people started boycotting these companies, and H&M closed down most locations in China.

== Use in propaganda warfare ==
As part of the West's [[New Cold War]] against China, many Western media outlets have accused China of "operating concentration camps" in the Xinjiang region. These allegations have been debunked on non-Western media outlets, as well as the sparse alternative media outlets within the West.<ref>{{Web citation|newspaper=CGTN|title=China: Xinjiang's reality check debunks rumors and lies|date=2021-02-06|url=https://news.cgtn.com/news/2021-02-06/China-Xinjiang-s-reality-check-debunks-rumors-and-lies-XEGmYJFpCw/index.html|retrieved=2023-07-23}}</ref> This is a clear example of information warfare.<ref>{{Web citation|author=Roderic Day|newspaper=Red Sails|title=The Xinjiang Atrocity Propaganda Blitz|date=2021-03-22|url=https://redsails.org/the-xinjiang-atrocity-propaganda-blitz/|retrieved=2023-07-23}}</ref>

=== Genocide Allegations ===
The so-called Uyghur genocide is an [[Imperialism|imperialist]] myth propagated by the [[Government of the United States of America|U.S. government]] since 2017. It claims that the [[People's Republic of China|Chinese]] government is committing [[genocide]] against the Uyghur people of the [[Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region|Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region]]. However, the Uyghur population has been steadily increasing and grew by more than 25% between 2010 and 2018 even though the total population of Xinjiang only rose by 13.99%. The Uyghur population is growing faster than Han Chinese (2%) or other ethnic minorities (22.14%). Chinese protections of [[Islam]] have been reputed to be contested by some citizens as suggesting preferential treatment, refuting the claim that the China's policies are anti-Islam<ref>{{Web citation|newspaper=Business Standard|title=Use of anti-Islam words to defame Muslims banned on Chinese social media|date=2019-09-21|url=https://www.business-standard.com/article/international/use-of-anti-islam-words-to-defame-muslims-banned-on-chinese-social-media-117092100457_1.html}}</ref>.

China has roughly 54 other ethnic groups which have been relatively unscathed, including other Muslim-majority ethnic groups such as the Hui ethnic group, which is larger than the Uyghur population. In 2019, almost 1,000 diplomats and journalists from many countries as well as the [[United Nations|UN]], [[European Union|EU]], [[Arab League]], [[African Union]], and [[Organisation of Islamic Cooperation]] visited Xinjiang and found no evidence of genocide. In response to the [[Donald Trump|Trump]] administration Secretary of State [[Mike Pompeo]]'s claims of genocide in Xinjiang, people from all walks of life in the region submitted at least 450 written responses and 345 videos condemning the comments as untrue and harmful.<ref>{{Web citation|newspaper=Qiao Collective|title=Xinjiang Responds|url=https://www.qiaocollective.com/xinjiang-responds}}</ref>

==== Adrian Zenz ====
[[Adrian Zenz]] is a fundamentalist Christian and self-proclaimed "independent researcher" connected to the [[Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation]] who does not understand a word of Chinese and bases his research on documents published by the CPC to claim that China is incarcerating 1 million Uyghurs in concentration camps. His research has been shown to be shoddy or completely wrong -- including, for example, a time where he claimed 87% of all new IUD procedures in China (temporary sterilisation tool) were done in Xinjiang, whereas the source he used (official CPC statistics) showed a number of 8.7%, a staggering difference by a factor of 10.

He had also claimed that Xinjiang is forcibly sterilizing Uyghur women with IUDs. In fact, only 328,475 of China's total 3,774,318 IUDs were in Xinjiang.<ref>{{Web citation|newspaper=CGTN|title=Fact Check: Lies on Xinjiang-related issues vs. the truth|date=2021-02-06|url=https://news.cgtn.com/news/2021-02-06/Fact-Check-Lies-on-Xinjiang-related-issues-vs-the-truth-XEFuvz6b84/index.html}}</ref> In September 2018, he said there were about 1,060,000 Uyghurs in [[Xinjiang Vocational Education and Training Centers|re-education camps]]. It is important to note that this number is based on anonymous interviews consiting of only eight people. In his initial report for the ~1M estimate, [[Radio Free Asia]] is cited four times, and the estimate is only mentioned on (pp. 21-2). Zenz finds this number by roughly extrapolating a “leaked” report by Newsweek Japan (affiliated with Newsweek Inc.). This report came from “Istekral TV”, which frequently platforms the terrorist organization ETIM—the report was never confirmed.

On May 4, 2022, the BBC posted [https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/resources/idt-8df450b3-5d6d-4ed8-bdcc-bd99137eadc3 an article] detailing what they termed the "Xinjiang Police Files", a collection of documents and other resources which purportedly proved accusations of maltreatment against Uyghurs. The documents were allegedly provided by an anonymous source to Adrian Zenz, who then gave them to the BBC. The documents in fact showed many Uyghurs working at the centers and that the centers had some Han Chinese detainees. Many articles used images of guns as a scare tactic without noting that these were images of security drills and that the magazines were empty. The articles associated with the files whitewashed the crimes of genuine ETIM members who had been a party in bombings such as Yusup Ismayil (with text placed over an image of Yusup reading "many have been detained just for ordinary, outward signs of their Islamic faith or for visiting countries with majority Muslim populations", with no citation for this claim)<ref>{{Web citation|author=Yin Sura|newspaper=Mango Press|title=The Xinjiang Police Files are Actually Boring: Zenz's Reality Warping|date=2022-06-12|url=https://archive.is/jeCII#selection-631.0-631.69}}</ref>. The Xinjiang Police Files "key documents" file metadata showed that Adrian Zenz and [[Ilshat Kobor]] (of the [[Uyghur American Association]]) had modified them, with metadata information being removed soon after release. The XPF website also posted demographic data, of which the number of male and female detainees added up to over the stated total in the same data.

==== Zamira Dawut ====
[[British Broadcasting Corporation|BBC]] claimed that Zamira Dawut was sterilized at a vocational center. Her brother, Abduhelil, said she had never been to a vocational center. Zamira said her father was arrested multiple times and then died of unknown causes. In reality, he was never arrested or even investigated and died of heart disease on 2019 October 12.

==== ''The New York Times'' ====
On 2019 November 16, ''[[The New York Times]]'' reported on supposed leaked documents on Xinjiang. State media was quick to assert that these documents were not authentic, calling them "fabricated." Grammatical errors indicated that the documents were fake and likely translated from English to Chinese, with users further noting that the "leaked" docs did not correspond to the formatting standards of Chinese government documents (GB/T9704).

== Debunking the Lies ==

A [[United Nations|UN]] Resolution of global south nations<ref>https://undocs.org/pdf?symbol=en/A/HRC/41/G/17</ref><blockquote>We express our firm opposition to relevant countries’ practice of politicizing human rights issues, by naming and shaming, and publicly exerting pressures on other countries. We commend China’s remarkable achievements in the field of human rights by adhering to the people-centered development philosophy and protecting and promoting human rights through development. We also appreciate China’s contributions to the international human rights cause.</blockquote>[[World Bank]] Investigation of Xinjiang<ref>{{Web citation|newspaper=World Bank|title=World Bank Statement on Review of Project in Xinjiang, China|date=2019-11-11|url=https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/statement/2019/11/11/world-bank-statement-on-review-of-project-in-xinjiang-china|retrieved=2023-07-23}}</ref><blockquote>When allegations are made, the World Bank takes them seriously and reviews them thoroughly. In line with standard practice, immediately after receiving a series of serious allegations in August 2019 in connection with the Xinjiang Technical and Vocational Education and Training Project, the Bank launched a fact-finding review, and World Bank senior managers traveled to Xinjiang to gather information directly...

The team conducted a thorough review of project documents, engaged in discussions with project staff, and visited schools directly financed by the project, as well as their partner schools that were the subject of allegations. The review did not substantiate the allegations.</blockquote>[[Organization of Islamic Cooperation]] praises Chinese handling of Xinjiang<ref>{{Web citation|newspaper=The Forty- Six Session of the Council of Foreign Ministers, (Session: 50 Years Of Islamic Cooperation: Roadmap For Prosperity And Development)|title=RESOLUTIONS ON MUSLIM COMMUNITIES AND MUSLIM MINORITIES IN THE NON-OIC MEMBER STATES|date=2019-03-1-2|url=https://www.oic-oci.org/docdown/?docID=4447&refID=1250|retrieved=2023-07-23}}</ref><ref>http://www.inp.net.pk/china-lauds-oics-resolution-on-xinjiang/</ref><blockquote>Welcomes the outcomes of the visit conducted by the General Secretariat's delegation upon invitation from the People's Republic of China; commends the efforts of the People's Republic of China in providing care to its Muslim citizens; and looks forward to further cooperation between the OIC and the People's Republic of China.</blockquote>[[Egypt|Egyptian]] media delegates visit Xinjiang<ref>{{Web citation|newspaper=The News|title=Egyptian media delegates provide a detailed insight of the situation in Xinjiang|date=2019-02-11|url=https://www.thenews.com.pk/latest/430738-egyptian-media-delegates-provide-a-detailed-insight-of-the-situation-in-xinjiang|retrieved=2023-07-23}}</ref><blockquote>The recently published report also brings forth some interesting facts related to the religious freedom as opposed to the western propaganda. The report provides a strong testimonial by the visiting delegates who clearly state, “the in houses of worship such as the Id Kah Mosque in Kashgar, modern facilities abound, providing water, electricity and air conditioning. Local clerics told the visitors that their religious activities had been very well protected”. "The conditions here are very good," said Abdelhalim Elwerdany, of Egypt's Al-Gomhuria newspaper. "I could feel that local Muslims fully enjoy religious freedom."</blockquote>
[[File:A HRC 41 G 11 and 17-min.png|thumb|UN Human Rights Council resolutions 41/G/11 (blue) criticizing China and 41/G/17 (red) supporting China.]]
In 2019 July, the 41st session of the UN Human Rights Council met and voted on two opposing letters regarding Xinjiang. 50 countries voted in favor of China's policies and 22 voted against.
[[File:A C3 74 SR37-min.png|thumb|UN General Assembly resolution SR.37]]
On 2019 October 29, at the 74th session of the UN General Assembly, 24 countries and the EU criticized China and 57 countries supported China

=== International Visits to Xinjiang ===

==== Diplomats ====
In 2018 December, diplomats from [[Islamic Republic of Afghanistan (2004–2021)|Afghanistan]], [[Republic of India|India]], [[Republic of Indonesia|Indonesia]], [[Republic of Kazakhstan|Kazakhstan]], [[State of Kuwait|Kuwait]], [[Kyrgyz Republic|Kyrgyzstan]], [[Malaysia]], [[Islamic Republic of Pakistan|Pakistan]], [[Republic of Tajikistan|Tajikistan]], [[Kingdom of Thailand|Thailand]], and [[Republic of Uzbekistan|Uzbekistan]] visited Xinjiang and had full access to vocational training centers. They found no evidence of [[Slavery|forced labor]] or cultural or religious oppression.

On 2019 January 29, an EU delegation visited. On February 25, about 200 representatives of 50 political parties from almost 30 countries visited Ürümqi. On February 28, diplomats from [[People's Democratic Republic of Algeria|Algeria]], [[Republic of the Union of Myanmar|Burma]], [[Hellenic Republic|Greece]], [[Hungary]], [[Kingdom of Morocco|Morocco]], [[Socialist Republic of Vietnam|Vietnam]], and the Arab League visited. China offered to let the EU visit again in March, but it declined. On March 27, the [[Republic of Albania|Albanian]] and [[Republic of Serbia|Serbian]] ambassadors to China ([[Selim Belortaja]] and [[Milan Bačević]]) visited. On June 15, Under Secretary-General of the United Nations Counter-Terrorism Office Vladimir Voronkov visited Xinjiang. Between June 18 and 21, diplomats from Algeria, [[Burkina Faso]], the [[Democratic Republic of the Congo|DR Congo]], [[Lao People's Democratic Republic|Laos]], Malaysia, [[Federal Republic of Nigeria|Nigeria]], Serbia, [[Federal Republic of Somalia|Somalia]], Tajikistan, [[Togolese Republic|Togo]], and the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation visited. On August 19, diplomats from [[Kingdom of Bahrain|Bahrain]], [[Kingdom of Cambodia|Cambodia]], [[Lao People's Democratic Republic|Laos]], [[Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal|Nepal]], [[Federal Republic of Nigeria|Nigeria]], the [[Republic of the Philippines|Philippines]], and [[Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka|Sri Lanka]] visited. In September, diplomats from the African Union and 16 African countries, including [[Republic of Burundi|Burundi]], [[Republic of Djibouti|Djibouti]], [[Lesotho]], [[Republic of the Sudan|Sudan]], [[Republic of Uganda|Uganda]], and [[Republic of Zimbabwe|Zimbabwe]] visited. In November, [[Fahri Hamzah]], former Deputy Speaker of the [[Republic of Indonesia|Indonesian]] House of Representatives, visited Xinjiang. On November 11, the [[The World Bank|World Bank]] visited Xinjiang and found no abnormalities in the vocational centers.

==== Media ====
On 2019 January 6, [[Reuters]] visited Xinjiang. Starting on January 9, 12 media representatives from Afghanistan, [[People's Republic of Bangladesh|Bangladesh]], [[Arab Republic of Egypt|Egypt]], Sri Lanka, and [[Republic of Türkiye|Turkey]] visited. Another media delegation from Egypt visited on January 29. On February 22, 11 journalists from Indonesia and Malaysia visited. On 2019 May 7, [[National Public Radio|NPR]] released its report on a visit to a vocational center. On 2019 June 18, [[British Broadcasting Corporation|BBC]] visited a vocational center. Starting on July 14, journalists from 24 countries, including [[Republic of India|India]], [[Islamic Republic of Iran|Iran]], [[Italian Republic|Italy]], [[Japan]], Pakistan, [[Russian Federation|Russia]], [[Kingdom of Saudi Arabia|Saudi Arabia]], Thailand, Turkey, the [[United States of America|USA]], and Uzbekistan visited Xinjiang. On August 17, a media group from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India, Japan, Kazakhstan, Pakistan, [[State of Qatar|Qatar]], Russia, Turkey, and the [[United Arab Emirates|UAE]] visited. On August 29, [[ABC News]] visited a vocational center. On October 10, 2021, as Xinjiang was slowly opening for tourism, the [[Associated Press]] traveled to Xinjiang in order to investigate the measures taken by the government. They concluded that the genocidal policies had existed at some point but had been done away with before the opening measures, although the article still critiqued certain things they felt stifled Uyghur culture. A response was posted afterwards by ''The New Atlas'' which bemoaned several of the article's pretensions.<ref>{{YouTube citation|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=78s7yP2BdF0|channel=The New Atlas|title=AP News Confirms NO Uyghur Genocide in Xinjiang China}}</ref>

== Criticism ==
Although information about the education and training centers are distorted by Western propaganda, the legal basis behind these centers are too broad and can be exploited to follow the political interests of Chinese leaders contrary to the interests of the people in the region. The "Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region Regulation on De-extremification", adopted in 2017 considers that extremism includes "rejecting or refusing public goods and services such as radio and television", "wearing, or compelling others to wear, burqas with face coverings, or to bear symbols of extremification", without clearly denoting what these symbols are, and "spreading religious fanaticism through irregular beards or name selection".<ref>{{News citation|newspaper=China Law Translate|title=Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region Regulation on De-extremification|date=2017-03-30|url=https://www.chinalawtranslate.com/en/xinjiang-uyghur-autonomous-region-regulation-on-de-extremification/}}</ref>

== References ==
<references />
[[Category:Xinjiang Region]]
[[Category:People's Republic of China]]

File:A C3 74 SR37-min.png

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UN General Assembly resolution SR.37

File:A HRC 41 G 11 and 17-min.png

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UN Human Rights Council resolutions 41/G/11 (blue) criticizing China and 41/G/17 (red) supporting China.

Xinjiang Vocational Education and Training Centers

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The '''Xinjiang''' '''Vocational Education and Training Centers''' are facilities operated by the [[Xinjiang|Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region]] government in [[People's Republic of China|China]]. These facilities were built in response to a series of terrorist attacks by an insurgency of Islamist separatists, referred to as the Xinjiang Conflict.<ref>{{Web citation|newspaper=CGTN|title=Fighting Terrorism in Xinjiang|date=2019-12-05|url=https://news.cgtn.com/news/2019-12-05/Fighting-terrorism-in-Xinjiang-MaNLLDtnfq/index.html|retrieved=2023-07-23}}</ref> China accuses the [[United States of America|United States]] of having supported these terrorists, similar to how the [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]] cultivated extremist proxies in [[Operation Cyclone]] which later evolved into Al Qaeda<ref>{{Web citation|author=Catherine Wong|newspaper=South China Morning Post|title=US-China ties: Washington funded terrorists in Xinjiang, Beijing says|date=2021-04-14|url=https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3129545/us-china-ties-washington-funded-terrorists-xinjiang-beijing|retrieved=2023-07-23}}</ref> (see the terrorism section in the XUAR page).

While the West carries out its so-called "war on terror" with bombs, China has taken a different approach; by investing in vocational and educational facilities, the Chinese government seeks to offer a more stable and prosperous life to would-be recruits into such extremist organizations. Following a critical assessment by the Office of the UN High Commissioner on Human Rights (OHCHR) released on August 31, 2022<ref>{{Web citation|newspaper=Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights|title=OHCHR Assessment of human rights concerns in the
Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, People’s Republic of China|date=2022-08-31|url=https://www.ohchr.org/sites/default/files/documents/countries/2022-08-31/22-08-31-final-assesment.pdf|retrieved=2023-07-23}}</ref>, the People's Republic of China released a report accusing the assessment of misrepresenting China's laws and policies.<ref>{{Web citation|author=Permanent Mission of the People's Republic of China to the United Nations Office at Geneva and other international organizations in Switzerland|newspaper=Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights|title=Fight Against Terrorism and Extremism in Xinjiang: Truth and Facts|date=2022-09-31|url=https://www.ohchr.org/sites/default/files/documents/countries/2022-08-31/ANNEX_A.pdf|retrieved=2023-07-23}}</ref> The report documented the numerous terror attacks in Xinjiang and coming out of Xinjiang and laid out the policies of the VETCs so as to stress the soundness of their adherence to the principles of human rights protection.

== Historical and material context of the Autonomous Region ==
[[File:Xinjiang.svg.png|thumb]]
It is important to take note that Xinjiang has been an inseparable part of China since that time, and the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region was established in 1955 under the PRC. The vast areas both north and south of the Tianshan Mountains, called the Western Regions in ancient times, were in close contact with the Central Plains as early as the pre-Qin period (c. 2100-221 BC). With the establishment of the unified feudal dynasties Qin (221-206 BC) and Han (206 BC-AD 220), multi-ethnic unification has been the norm in China’s historical development. In 60 BC, the government of the Western Han Dynasty established the Western Regions Frontier Command in Xinjiang, officially making Xinjiang a part of Chinese territory<ref name=":0">{{Web citation|author=China’s State Council Information Office|title=The Fight Against Terrorism and Extremism and Human Rights Protection in Xinjiang|url=https://english.www.gov.cn/archive/white_paper/2019/03/18/content_281476567813306.htm}}</ref>

=== The Emergence of the Autonomous Region ===

==== Ancient History ====
The region in which we currently know as Xinjiang became part of the [[Han dynasty (202 BCE–220 CE)|Han dynasty]] in 60 BCE. Since then, the region has been populated by Han Chinese since this time.

==== The Republic of China ====
After the [[Nicholas II|Tsar]] tried to conscript Kazakh and Kyrgyz people into the First World War in 1916, they attacked Russian settlers and then fled into Xinjiang.<ref>{{Citation|author=Vijay Prashad|year=2017|title=Red Star Over the Third World|chapter=Soviet Asia|city=New Delhi|publisher=LeftWord Books}}</ref>

== Demographics ==

=== The Uyghur People ===
Xinjiang has been a multi-ethnic region since ancient times. Down the ages, ethnic groups of various kinds have lived in the region and communicated with each other. By the end of the 19th century, 13 ethnic groups – the Uygur, Han, Kazak, Mongolian, Hui, Kirgiz, Manchu, Xibe, Tajik, Daur, Uzbek, Tatar, and Russian – had settled in Xinjiang, with the Uyghurs having the largest population.<ref name=":0" />

The Uyghur ethnic group came into being through a long process of migration and ethnic integration though they are not descendants of the Turks, instead, they are the descendants of the nomadic Dingling (丁零) tribe [[Mongolia]]. In 552 CE a clan of the emerging Dingling tribe established a Turkic Khanate in the Dunggar Basin in northern Xinjiang. In 744, the Uygur Alliance led by Guli Pei Luo, with the cooperation of the army of the [[Tang dynasty (618–907)|Tang Dynasty]], overthrew the Turkic Khanate and established the Mobei Uyghur Khanate. Historically as a way to resist oppression and slavery by the Turks, the Ouigour people united with some of the Tiele tribes to form the Ouigour tribal alliance.<ref name=":0" />

After the Uyghur Khanate suffered a major defeat in 840, some of them moved inland to live among the Han people, while the rest of the surviving Uyghurs were divided into three sub-groups. One of which moved to the Turpan Basin and the modern Jimsar region, where they founded the Gaochang Uygur Kingdom. Another moved to the Hexi Corridor, where they merged with local ethnic groups to become what was later known as the Yugu people. The third sub-group moved to the west of Pamir, scattered in areas from Central Asia to Kashgar, and joined the Karluk and Yagma peoples in founding the Karahan Kingdom. There they merged with the Han people in the Turpan Basin and the Yanqi, Qiuci, Yutian, Shule, and other peoples in the Tarim Basin to form the main body of the modern Uygur group.<ref name=":0" />

== Rise of religious terrorism ==

==== The historical multireligious nature of Xinjiang ====
In primitive society, the residents of Xinjiang once followed a primitive religion from which Shamanism evolved. Later, a succession of religions popular in the East and the West were introduced into Xinjiang via the Silk Road, the first of which was Zoroastrianism.<ref name=":0" />

Around the first century BC, Buddhism was introduced into Xinjiang and gradually became the major religion, coexisting with many other religions. From the 4th to the 10th century, Buddhism reached its peak, while in the same period Zoroastrianism proliferated throughout Xinjiang, particularly in the Turpan area. Around the fifth century, Taoism was introduced into Xinjiang, becoming prevalent mainly in Turpan and Hami. It spread to most parts of Xinjiang and experienced a revival during the Qing Dynasty.<ref name=":0" />

In the sixth century, Manichaeism and Nestorianism were introduced into Xinjiang. From the 10th to the 14th century, Nestorianism flourished as the Uyghur and some other peoples converted to it in many parts of Xinjiang. In the late ninth and early 10th century, Islam was introduced into southern Xinjiang, changing the religious profile of Xinjiang again. After the Karahan Khanate accepted Islam, in the mid-10th century it launched a religious war against the Buddhist Kingdom of Yutian, and the war lasted for more than 40 years. In the early 11th century, the Karahan Khanate conquered Yutian and imposed Islam in that region. Thereafter, Islam dominated southern Xinjiang while Buddhism dominated northern Xinjiang. In the mid-14th century, the rulers of the Eastern Chagatai Khanate spread Islam to the northern edge of the Tarim Basin, the Turpan Basin and Hami by war and compulsion. By the early 16th century many religions coexisted in Xinjiang, with Islam being the predominant religion. Beginning in the 18th century, Protestantism, Catholicism, and the Eastern Orthodox Church were introduced into Xinjiang. Islam has ever since been the principal religion in Xinjiang, coexisting with a number of other religions.<ref name=":0" />

==== Modern Religious Extremism and the East Turkestan Movement ====
At the turn of the 20th century, separatists and religious extremists both in and outside China, inherited the so-called theories of “Pan-Turkism” and “Pan-Islamism” which were created by former colonialists, spread the word that Uyghurs were the only “masters” of Xinjiang, that the ethnic cultures of Xinjiang were not of Chinese culture, and that Islam was the only religion practiced by ethnic groups of Xinjiang. They incited all ethnic groups speaking Turki and believing in Islam to join together in creating the theocratic state of so-called “East Turkistan”. They denied the history that China was jointly built by all its ethnic groups, and clamored for “opposition to all ethnic groups other than Turks” and for the “annihilation of pagans”.<ref name=":0" />

From the early 20th century onto the late 1940s, these ideas were pushed forward by “East Turkistan” forces who wanted to create their own state in Xinjiang. In 1915, the separatist Maswud returned to Ili, opened a school and publicly preached separatism to the students. On November 12, 1933, Mohammad Imin founded the so-called “East Turkistan Islamic Republic”, but the farce ended in less than three months due to strong opposition from the people of all ethnic groups in Xinjiang.<ref name=":0" />

On November 12, 1944, another group of separatists led by Elihan Torae founded the so-called “Republic of East Turkistan”, which soon collapsed a year later. Afterwards, a series of separatist organizations and individuals continued their subversive and separatist activities under the banner of “East Turkistan” in a vain attempt to establish their own state.<ref name=":0" />

The “East Turkistan” forces, however, have not resigned themselves to defeat. With the support of international anti-China forces, the “East Turkistan” forces have resorted to all means, both fair or foul, to organize, plan and carry out acts of separatism and sabotage. In the early 1950s the separatists instigated many riots in Xinjiang, calling on Uyghurs to “unite under the moon-and-star banner to create a republic of Islam”. In the 1960s there were the riots in Ili and Tacheng on the China-Russia border, the riot of the “East Turkistan People’s Revolutionary Party”, and the armed rebellion of the Gang of Ahongnof in southern Xinjiang. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, religious extremism had made further inroads into Xinjiang. It soon blended with terrorism to stir up social unrest in the region, seriously undermining local stability and security.<ref name=":0" />

Since the 1990s, especially after the September 11 attacks in the US, the “East Turkistan” forces inside and outside China have stepped up their collaboration as terrorism and extremism spread around the globe, trying desperately to establish “East Turkistan” through struggle. In the name of ethnicity and religion, they deceitfully used people’s ethnic identity and religious belief to instigate religious fanaticism, spread religious extremism, and incite the common people to join in violent and terrorist activities. They brainwashed people with these beliefs, abetting them to “die for their belief in order to enter heaven”. Some of the most susceptible followers, no longer possessed of any self-control, became extremists and terrorists who heartlessly slaughtered innocent people.<ref name=":0" />

For a long time separatists have tied extremism to religion, to religious believers, and to society as a whole. They tell people not to obey anyone but Allah and incite them to resist government management. They abuse those who do not follow the path of extremism as pagans, traitors and scum, urging their followers to verbally assault, reject, and isolate non-believers, Party members and officials, and patriotic religious individuals. They deny and reject all forms of secular culture, preaching a life without TV, radio and newspaper, forbidding people to weep at funerals or laugh at weddings, imposing bans on singing and dancing, and forcing women to wear heavily-veiled black long gowns. They over-generalize the “Halal” concept, stamping food, medicine, cosmetics, clothing, etc. with the Halal symbol. They turn a blind eye to the diverse and splendid cultures of Xinjiang created by all its ethnic groups, trying to sever the ties between the Chinese culture and the ethnic cultures of Xinjiang.<ref name=":0" />

Nowadays, these groups generally operate under the name of ETIM, or [[East Turkestan Islamist Movement]] or the East Turkistan Party, which is affiliated with ETIM.<ref name=":0" />

In 1990, the [[East Turkestan Islamic Movement]] organized its first terrorist attack in Baren Township. The ETIM was designated as a terrorist organization by the [[United Nations|UN]] in 2002 and by the Chinese government in 2003. In July 2009, Islamic extremists caused riots in Ürümqi, killing almost 200 people and injuring over 1,000. In May 2014 in Ürümqi, they drove cars into a crowded marketplace and threw explosives at buildings, killing 39 and injuring 94. In July 2014, Imam [[Juma Tahir]] was assassinated after calling for peace and stability in Xinjiang.

Similar to [[Operation Cyclone]], where the [[United States of America|USA]] supported Islamic fundamentalism to destabilize the [[Democratic Republic of Afghanistan|socialist government]] of [[Afghanistan]], the US has supported Islamic fundamentalist separatists in the Xinjiang region of China. During the 1990s, the [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]] transported Uyghur terrorists from Xinjiang to Afghanistan to be trained in guerilla warfare by the [[Mujahideen]], following a plan of action developed by [[Bernard Lewis]], a specialist at Oxford University, who proposed the creation of an “Arc of Crisis” made up of Muslims manipulated to extend US influence and overthrow Communist (Soviet) rule in Middle Eastern nations. Graham Fuller, former Deputy Director of the CIA's National Council of Intelligence<ref>{{Citation|author=Paul L. Williams|year=2015|title=Operation Gladio: The Unholy Alliance Between the Vatican, the CIA, and the Mafia|page=271|publisher=Prometheus Books}}</ref>, said in 1999:<blockquote>The policy of guiding the evolution of Islam and of helping them [radicalized Muslims] against our adversaries worked marvelously well in Afghanistan against the Red Army. The same doctrines can still be used to destabilize what remains of Russian power, and especially to counter the Chinese influence in Central Asia</blockquote>And FBI Whistleblower Sibel Edmonds said in 2010:<blockquote>…without the Cold War excuse our foreign policymakers had a real hard time justifying our joint operations and terrorism schemes in the resource-rich ex Soviet states with these same groups, so they made sure they kept their policies unwritten and unspoken, and considering their grip on the mainstream media, largely unreported. Now what would your response be if I were to say on the record, and, if required, under oath: ‘''Between 1996 and 2002, we, the United States, planned, financed, and helped execute every major terrorist incident by Chechen rebels (and the Mujahideen) against Russia. Between 1996 and 2002, we, the United States, planned, financed, and helped execute every single uprising and terror related scheme in Xinjiang (aka East Turkistan and Uyghurstan)''<ref>{{Web citation|author=Sibel Edmonds|newspaper=Boiling Frogs Post|title=Friends-Enemies-Both? Our Foreign Policy Riddle|date=2010-10-03|url=https://sibel104.rssing.com/chan-18066673/article1.html|archive-url=https://archive.is/cbBsA}}</ref></blockquote>China's response to this upsurge of terrorism and separatism has been to [[Xinjiang Vocational Education and Training Centers|construct re-education camps]] ([[Xinjiang Vocational Education and Training Centers]]) which have been decried by the Western press in an effort to accuse China of running "concentration camps" and "death camps". Western countries have signed a letter criticizing China, while a counter-letter was signed by countries in the Muslim World as well as progressive states such as [[Republic of Cuba|Cuba]] and [[Bolivia]] (under the socialist government of [[Evo Morales]], prior to the US-backed coup).<ref>{{Web citation|newspaper=Qiao Collective|title=Xinjiang: A Report and Resource Compilation|date=2021-09-21|url=https://www.qiaocollective.com/education/xinjiang|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220620004209/https://www.qiaocollective.com/education/xinjiang}}</ref> <ref>{{Web citation|author=Shane Quinn|newspaper=Orinoco Tribune|title=Beijing’s Decades-Long Policies in Xinjiang, CIA Interference, Funding of Separatist and Terrorist Groups|date=2020-08-26|url=https://orinocotribune.com/beijings-decades-long-policies-in-xinjiang-cia-interference-funding-of-separatist-and-terrorist-groups/}}</ref>

==== Examples of terrorist attacks ====
Terrorist groups under the general term of East Turkestan Party have committed more than 30 acts between 1990 and 2016, which include killing ordinary people, assassinating religious leaders, endangering public safety (acts that did not have human victims or were foiled before they could be carried out), attacking government organs and planning riots.<ref name=":0" />

Other notable examples include, but are not limited to:On February 5, 1992, while the whole of China was celebrating the Spring Festival, a terrorist group planted bombs on a No. 52 and a No. 30 bus in Urumqi, blowing up the 2 buses, killing 3 people and injuring 23 others.<ref name=":0" />

* On February 5, 1992 during the Spring Festival celebrations, a terrorist group planted bombs on a No. 52 and a No. 30 bus in Urumqi, blowing up the 2 buses, killing 3 people and injuring 23 others.
* On March 22, 1996, two masked terrorists broke into the house of Akemusidike Aji, vice president of the Islamic Association of Xinhe County, Aksu Prefecture, and assistant imam of a mosque, and shot him dead.
* On July 5, 2009, the “East Turkistan” forces inside and outside China engineered a riot in Urumqi which shocked the whole world. Thousands of terrorists attacked civilians, government organs, public security and police officers, residential houses, stores and public transportation facilities, causing 197 deaths and injuries to over 1,700, smashing and burning down 331 stores and 1,325 vehicles, and damaging many public facilities.
* On July 30, 2011, two terrorists hijacked a truck at the junction of a food street in Kashgar City, stabbed the driver to death, drove the truck into the crowd, and then attacked the public with their knives. In this incident, 8 were killed and 27 injured. The next day, knife-wielding terrorists randomly attacked pedestrians on Xiangxie Street, Renmin West Road, killing 6 and injuring 15.
* On February 28, 2012, nine knife-wielding terrorists attacked civilians on Xingfu Road, Yecheng County, Kashgar Prefecture, resulting in 15 deaths and 20 injuries.
* On March 1, 2014, eight knife-wielding Xinjiang terrorists attacked passengers at the Kunming Railway Station Square and the ticket lobby, leaving 31 dead and 141 injured.
* On May 22, 2014, five terrorists drove two SUVs through the fence of the morning fair of North Park Road of Saybagh District, Urumqi, into the crowd, and then detonated a bomb, claiming the life of 39 and leaving 94 injured.
* On September 18, 2015, terrorists attacked a coal mine in Baicheng County, Aksu Prefecture, causing 16 deaths and 18 injuries
* On December 28, 2016, four terrorists drove into the courtyard of Moyu County government, Hotan Prefecture, detonated a homemade explosive device, and attacked government staff, leaving 2 dead and 3 injured.<ref name=":0" />

== International Reactions ==
International reaction to the economic and cultural developments in the Xinjiang region have been mostly represented through the eyes of the imperial core. Their claims keep growing in scale and the goal is simply to destabilise the CPC, and open up China for their domestic markets under their own terms. It should also be noted Xinjiang is a very important geographical area for the [[Belt and Road Initiative]] and contains tons of oil in the Tarim Basin. 100 additional million tons were discovered in 2020.<ref>{{Web citation|newspaper=Global Times|title=China discovers 100 million ton oilfield in northwestern Xinjiang|url=https://www.globaltimes.cn/content/1185102.shtml}}</ref>

=== The United States ===
The [[United States of America]] and their imperialist allies understand that Xinjiang is a very important target in order to destabilise China, as destabilising China would allow them to install [[Social class|comprador]] heads of state, which would force open China's markets, much like what we have seen after the [[Opium wars]].

In 2018, Col. Lawrence Wilkerson of the US Army explained in a speech at the Ron Paul Institute that the USA has a military presence in Afghanistan so that they can keep troops close to China, and that if they wanted to destabilise China, they would go through Xinjiang, harnessing and stoking the separatist sentiment present there.<ref>{{YouTube citation|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=91wz5syVNZs&t=1260s|channel=RonPaulLibertyReport|title='What Is The Empire's Strategy?' - Col Lawrence Wilkerson Speech At RPI Media & War Conferenc}}</ref>

In October 2020, then-Secretary of State [[Mike Pompeo]] removed the designation of ETIM as a terrorist group.<ref>{{Web citation|author=State Department|newspaper=Federal Register|title=In the Matter of the Designation of the Eastern Turkistan Islamic Movement Also Known as ETIM as a “Terrorist Organization” Pursuant to Section 212(a)(3)(B)(vi)(II) of the Immigration and Nationality Act, as Amended|date=2020-05-11|url=https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2020/11/05/2020-24620/in-the-matter-of-the-designation-of-the-eastern-turkistan-islamic-movement-also-known-as-etim-as-a}}</ref> It should be noted that for 10 years prior to that decision, the USA had been drone striking people they designated as ETIM fighters in Pakistan and thus begs the question: who was the USA bombing for a decade if ETIM did not exist for more than 10 years, as Pompeo alleged without evidence?

Mike Pompeo's ferocious slander against China and the people of Xinjiang gave rise to a movement from Uyghurs living in Xinjiang showing what their actual life is like in Xinjiang, and telling Mr. Pompeo to stop spreading slander.<ref>{{YouTube citation|url=https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLkbOIKUddMBtp0_xEFqn4zey48kkgJq5w|title=Citizens of Xinjiang Speak}}</ref>

=== Adrian Zenz ===
[[Adrian Zenz]] is a fundamentalist Christian and self-proclaimed "independent researcher" who does not understand a word of Chinese and bases his research on documents published by the CPC to claim that China is incarcerating 1 million Uyghurs in concentration camps. His research has been shown to be shoddy or completely wrong -- including, for example, a time where he claimed 87% of all new IUD procedures in China (temporary sterilisation tool) were done in Xinjiang, whereas the source he used (official CPC statistics) showed a number of 8.7%, a staggering difference by a factor of 10.

=== Boycott of Xinjiang cotton industry ===
After claims of forced labour were advanced without evidence, many international companies (including, for example, H&M), decided not to use Xinjiang cotton in their products. This had the effect of weakening Xinjiang's economy, as producers were not able to sell their stock. In retaliation, Chinese people started boycotting these companies, and H&M closed down most locations in China.

== Use in propaganda warfare ==
As part of the West's [[New Cold War]] against China, many Western media outlets have accused China of "operating concentration camps" in the Xinjiang region. These allegations have been debunked on non-Western media outlets, as well as the sparse alternative media outlets within the West.<ref>{{Web citation|newspaper=CGTN|title=China: Xinjiang's reality check debunks rumors and lies|date=2021-02-06|url=https://news.cgtn.com/news/2021-02-06/China-Xinjiang-s-reality-check-debunks-rumors-and-lies-XEGmYJFpCw/index.html|retrieved=2023-07-23}}</ref> This is a clear example of information warfare.<ref>{{Web citation|author=Roderic Day|newspaper=Red Sails|title=The Xinjiang Atrocity Propaganda Blitz|date=2021-03-22|url=https://redsails.org/the-xinjiang-atrocity-propaganda-blitz/|retrieved=2023-07-23}}</ref>

=== Debunking the Lies ===
A [[United Nations|UN]] Resolution of global south nations<ref>https://undocs.org/pdf?symbol=en/A/HRC/41/G/17</ref><blockquote>We express our firm opposition to relevant countries’ practice of politicizing human rights issues, by naming and shaming, and publicly exerting pressures on other countries. We commend China’s remarkable achievements in the field of human rights by adhering to the people-centered development philosophy and protecting and promoting human rights through development. We also appreciate China’s contributions to the international human rights cause.</blockquote>[[World Bank]] Investigation of Xinjiang<ref>{{Web citation|newspaper=World Bank|title=World Bank Statement on Review of Project in Xinjiang, China|date=2019-11-11|url=https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/statement/2019/11/11/world-bank-statement-on-review-of-project-in-xinjiang-china|retrieved=2023-07-23}}</ref><blockquote>When allegations are made, the World Bank takes them seriously and reviews them thoroughly. In line with standard practice, immediately after receiving a series of serious allegations in August 2019 in connection with the Xinjiang Technical and Vocational Education and Training Project, the Bank launched a fact-finding review, and World Bank senior managers traveled to Xinjiang to gather information directly...

The team conducted a thorough review of project documents, engaged in discussions with project staff, and visited schools directly financed by the project, as well as their partner schools that were the subject of allegations. The review did not substantiate the allegations.</blockquote>[[Organization of Islamic Cooperation]] praises Chinese handling of Xinjiang<ref>{{Web citation|newspaper=The Forty- Six Session of the Council of Foreign Ministers, (Session: 50 Years Of Islamic Cooperation: Roadmap For Prosperity And Development)|title=RESOLUTIONS ON MUSLIM COMMUNITIES AND MUSLIM MINORITIES IN THE NON-OIC MEMBER STATES|date=2019-03-1-2|url=https://www.oic-oci.org/docdown/?docID=4447&refID=1250|retrieved=2023-07-23}}</ref><ref>http://www.inp.net.pk/china-lauds-oics-resolution-on-xinjiang/</ref><blockquote>Welcomes the outcomes of the visit conducted by the General Secretariat's delegation upon invitation from the People's Republic of China; commends the efforts of the People's Republic of China in providing care to its Muslim citizens; and looks forward to further cooperation between the OIC and the People's Republic of China.</blockquote>[[Egypt|Egyptian]] media delegates visit Xinjiang<ref>{{Web citation|newspaper=The News|title=Egyptian media delegates provide a detailed insight of the situation in Xinjiang|date=2019-02-11|url=https://www.thenews.com.pk/latest/430738-egyptian-media-delegates-provide-a-detailed-insight-of-the-situation-in-xinjiang|retrieved=2023-07-23}}</ref><blockquote>The recently published report also brings forth some interesting facts related to the religious freedom as opposed to the western propaganda. The report provides a strong testimonial by the visiting delegates who clearly state, “the in houses of worship such as the Id Kah Mosque in Kashgar, modern facilities abound, providing water, electricity and air conditioning. Local clerics told the visitors that their religious activities had been very well protected”. "The conditions here are very good," said Abdelhalim Elwerdany, of Egypt's Al-Gomhuria newspaper. "I could feel that local Muslims fully enjoy religious freedom."</blockquote>
== Criticism ==
Although information about the education and training centers are distorted by Western propaganda, the legal basis behind these centers are too broad and can be exploited to follow the political interests of Chinese leaders contrary to the interests of the people in the region. The "Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region Regulation on De-extremification", adopted in 2017 considers that extremism includes "rejecting or refusing public goods and services such as radio and television", "wearing, or compelling others to wear, burqas with face coverings, or to bear symbols of extremification", without clearly denoting what these symbols are, and "spreading religious fanaticism through irregular beards or name selection".<ref>{{News citation|newspaper=China Law Translate|title=Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region Regulation on De-extremification|date=2017-03-30|url=https://www.chinalawtranslate.com/en/xinjiang-uyghur-autonomous-region-regulation-on-de-extremification/}}</ref>

== References ==
<references />
[[Category:Xinjiang Region]]
[[Category:People's Republic of China]]

File:Xinjiang.svg.png

2024-03-16T12:08:13Z

Liang:

Map of Xinjiang

Xinjiang Vocational Education and Training Centers

2024-02-26T04:02:35Z

Liang:

Xinjiang Vocational Education and Training Centers

2024-02-26T03:41:42Z

Liang:

Trotskyism

2023-12-09T05:05:41Z

Liang:

[[File:Trotskyite symbol.png|right|[[Hammer and sickle]] with the number 4 for the [[Fourth International]]]]
'''Trotskyism''' originated from [[Trotsky]]'s opposition against [[Joseph Stalin|Stalin]] in the theoretical struggle towards a scientific interpretation of [[Leninism]] for the case of world revolution. In contrast to [[Marxism–Leninism]], it emphasizes the abolition of bureaucratic [[dictatorship]]. It also advocates for a militant [[Proletarian revolution|workers' revolution]], unlike [[social democracy]], and rejects the alliance between the [[proletariat]] and the [[peasantry]].

Trotsky and his followers joined the [[bourgeoisie]] and their henchmen, the [[Mensheviks]], in a campaign to convince the workers, peasants and communists that socialism was impossible in the [[Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (1922–1991)|Soviet Union]]. They tried to undermine the confidence of the working people using an argument opposed to Lenin’s standpoint. The only conclusion is that Trotskyism played a [[Counterrevolution|counterrevolutionary]] role, hiding behind pseudo-left rhetoric. Promoting defeatism was the essential role of Trotskyism in regard to the Soviet Union.

== Permanent revolution ==
Trotsky occupied a middle position between the [[Bolsheviks]] and [[Mensheviks]] but in essence was closer to the Mensheviks.

He agreed with the Bolsheviks that the [[liberal]] [[Bourgeoisie|bourgeois]] would have nothing to do with the coming revolution. At the same time he agreed with the Mensheviks that the peasantry could not be a dependable ally.

Tsarism, according to Trotsky could be replaced by a workers government. On no account could it be replaced by a joint dictatorship of the working class and the peasantry. And on coming to power it would be the function of the Workers government to attack private property, including the peasant holdings. By its attack on private property by the Workers government would alienate and arouse the hostility and resistance (thanks to Trotsky) of the majority of the population.

The resistance of the peasantry would endanger the workers government. But on the other hand the workers government would stimulate the working class of the industrially advanced European countries to wage ruthless struggle against their own bourgeoisie, seize state power and establish socialism.

In return, Western Europe would now come to the aid of the Russian workers government in [[Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (1917–1991)|Russia]] to crush by force the resistance of the peasantry. This is permanent revolution.<blockquote>“In the absence of direct State support on the part of the European proletariat, the Russian working class will not be able to keep itself in power and to transform its temporary rule into a stable socialist dictatorship. No doubt as to the truth of this is possible.”</blockquote>''Trotsky, Our Revolution 1906, Pg. 278.''<blockquote>“A steady rise of socialist economy in Russia will not be possible until after the victory of the proletariat in the leading countries of Europe.”</blockquote>''Trotsky, (“Collected Works,” Vol. 3, Part I, Pgs.92-93.)''<blockquote>What this would mean in practice is Permanent Counter-Revolution. By the negation of the peasantry as a revolutionary role that the peasantry could play (and did play) it would mean depriving the Russian working class of a dependable ally and turning the peasantry into a tool of the liberal bourgeois. There would have been no revolution in Russia had this line followed and Lenin was to reject it for a second time in 1915 in the following:

To bring clarity into the alignment of classes in the impending revolution is the main task of a revolutionary party. This task is being shirked by the Organising Committee, which within Russia remains a faithful ally to Nashe Dyelo, and abroad utters meaningless “Left” phrases. This task is being wrongly tackled in Nashe Slovo by Trotsky, who is repeating his “original” 1905 theory and refuses to give some thought to the reason why, in the course of ten years, life has been bypassing this splendid theory.

From the Bolsheviks Trotsky’s original theory has borrowed their call for a decisive proletarian revolutionary struggle and for the conquest of political power by the proletariat, while from the Mensheviks it has borrowed “repudiation” of the peasantry’s role. The peasantry, he asserts, are divided into strata, have become differentiated; their potential revolutionary role has dwindled more and more; in Russia a “national” revolution is impossible; “we are living in the era of imperialism,” says Trotsky, and “imperialism does not contra pose the bourgeois nation to the old regime, but the proletariat to the bourgeois nation.”

Here we have an amusing example of playing with the word “imperialism”. If, in Russia, the proletariat already stands contra posed to the “bourgeois nation”, then Russia is facing a socialist revolution (!), and the slogan “Confiscate the landed estates” (repeated by Trotsky in 1915, following the January Conference of 1912), is incorrect; in that case we must speak, not of a “revolutionary workers’” government, but of a “workers’ socialist” government! The length Trotsky’s muddled thinking goes to is evident from his phrase that by their resoluteness the proletariat will attract the “non-proletarian [!] popular masses” as well (No. 217)! Trotsky has not realised that if the proletariat induce the non-proletarian masses to confiscate the landed estates and overthrow the monarchy, then that will be the consummation of the “national bourgeois revolution” in Russia; it will be a revolutionary-democratic dictatorship of the proletariat and the peasantry!

A whole decade—the great decade of 1905-15—has shown the existence of two and only two class lines in the Russian revolution. The differentiation of the peasantry has enhanced the class struggle within them; it has aroused very many hitherto politically dormant elements. It has drawn the rural proletariat closer to the urban proletariat (the Bolsheviks have insisted ever since 1906 that the former should be separately organised, and they included this demand in the resolution of the Menshevik congress in Stockholm). However, the antagonism between the peasantry, on the one hand, and the Markovs, Romanovs and Khvostovs, on the other, has become stronger and more acute. This is such an obvious truth that not even the thousands of phrases in scores of Trotsky’s Paris articles will “refute” it. Trotsky is in fact helping the liberal-labour politicians in Russia, who by “repudiation” of the role of the peasantry understand a refusal to raise up the peasants for the revolution!</blockquote>-Lenin, Two Lines On The Revolution

Stalin, in his work to

It took only two years to prove Lenin's correctness

In conclusion, Trotskyism:

* Rejects the peasantry as a revolutionary force
* Rejects stages in the development of the revolution (Which amounted in practice skipping the first stage of the revolution: the majority of the Russian people, particularly the peasantry, against the Tsar. But only the working class who constituted a tiny minority at the time against the Tsar and the “bourgeois nation” including the peasantry)

It is noted that the [[Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (1922–1991)|Soviets]] did eventually wage a war against the nascent bourgeois elements in the peasantry which did seriously de-stabilise the Soviet government. But this was done in the early 1930s when a lot of the peasantry had been drawn into the cities and into the proletariat. Not as immediate fact against the “bourgeois nation” in 1917 which would’ve seen the peasantry side with the White guardists
==Ideological differences between Marxism-Leninism and Trotskyism==
Ever since Lenin died in 1924, Trotskyism has challenged Marxism-Leninism for the ideological leadership of the international communist movement. J.V. Stalin, 1879-1953, was able to meet and saw off this challenge, to the extent that Trotskyism became a marginal, exterior tendency in relation to the communist movement. However, the attacks on Stalin by the [[Nikita Khrushchev|Khrushchevite]] leadership in the Soviet Union, and the consequent rise of revisionism in some of the most influential parties of the communist movement, served to breathe new life into the project inspired by Trotsky.

This creed, Trotskyism, gained a substantial intellectual following in all the main imperialist countries due to its attacks on what they and the bourgeoisie call ‘Stalinism’. In attacking Stalin, and in fact, every country of socialist orientation, and regarding themselves as representing authentic Marxism, the activities of these pseudo-left sectarians promoted the propaganda interest of the imperialist bourgeoisie. However, the claims of Trotskyism rest not only on attacking Stalin and the countries of socialist orientation. These claims rest also on convincing certain intellectuals that Trotskyism is the continuation of Leninism. This is why it may be considered useful for us to present a synoptic exposition of the main ideological differences between Marxism-Leninism and Trotskyism as a guide for those who seek to examine this matter more deeply.<ref>{{News citation|journalist=EspressoStalinist|title=A Brief Guide to the Ideological Differences Between Marxism-Leninism and Trotskyism|url=https://espressostalinist.com/marxism-leninism-versus-revisionism/a-brief-guide-to-the-ideological-differences-between-marxism-leninism-and-trotskyism/|retrieved=29-03-2022}}</ref>
===Russian Revolution===
Trotskyites argue that the [[Russian revolution of 1917|October revolution of 1917]] was the realisation of Trotsky’s theory of Permanent Revolution. The Marxist-Leninist position is that the revolution was made possible by the peculiar circumstances created by the 1914-1918 war and that without these conditions the transition to the socialist revolution would not have been possible.
=== Labour policy ===
Following the revolution and civil war, Trotskyites argued for the militarisation of the trade unions, that is a policy of coercion towards the unions. Marxist-Leninists around Lenin, including Stalin, opposed the Trotskyite militarisation policy, arguing instead that emphasis must be placed on persuasion rather than coercion. This led to a serious factional dispute in the communist party between the Marxist-Leninists and the Trotskyites between 1920-1921. Lenin himself regarded Trotsky’s policy on the trade unions as representing a ‘reactionary movement’.(See: Lenin: Collected Works, Vol.32)
===World revolutionary process in regard to socialism===
For Marxist-Leninists, socialism in one or several countries is a stage in the world revolution. Trotskyites argued that the policy of building socialism in one country was opposed to Marxism. The Marxist-Leninists argued building socialism in one country was an integral part of world revolution and, in fact would serve this process, in aiding the development of the latter. Since Trotsky did not raise the issue with Lenin, Marxist-Leninists can only assume that Trotsky’s real motives were of a factional nature. Or, with Lenin out of the way, following his death in 1924, Trotsky sought to impose his Permanent Revolution theory on the party.
===Industrialisation policy===
The Trotskyites sought to impose an industrialisation and [[Collectivization|collectivisation]] policy on the communist party at a time when the party and the dictatorship of the proletariat were in a weak position. Marxist-Leninists around Stalin wanted to wait until the party and the state had gathered enough strength to oversee such a policy. This meant defending the mixed economy of the [[NEP]] period until the party had strengthened itself in the working class and in the countryside.
===Fighting bureaucracy===
Trotskyites argue that after the death of Lenin a “Stalinist bureaucracy” emerged in the Soviet Union. This bureaucracy would undermine the revolution and to forestall this a political revolution would be necessary to remove the bureaucracy from power. Marxist-Leninists argue that the Soviet bureaucracy was more anti-Stalinist than ‘Stalinist’, a fact underlined by the frequent purges directed against it. In addition, Marxist-Leninists rejected the Trotskyite theory of a counterrevolutionary bureaucracy as completely one-sided, and argued that what was needed was not a political revolution to overthrow a supposedly counterrevolutionary bureaucracy, but rather there was a need to expose and purge the counterrevolutionary elements from the bureaucracy. The Trotskyite talk about a ‘political’ revolution to overthrow bureauracy represented a break from Marxism to [[anarchism]].
===Peaceful coexistence===
Soon after coming to power the Bolshevik communists, led by Lenin pursued a policy of peaceful coexistence with the capitalist states. The thinking behind this was to force the capitalist States, particularly the imperialists States, to live in peace with socialism, as far as foreign relations were concerned. This was not only based on the recognition that combined the imperialists States were by far stronger than the Socialist State, it was also because socialism, unlike capitalism, is not a warlike system. It is capitalism which needs war to increase profits for the monopolists, not socialism. While it is true that, on the one hand, the Khrushchevite revisionists distorted the communist policy of peaceful coexistence, it is also true, on the other hand, that the Trotskyites, and other pseudo-leftists rejected Lenin’s policy, wanting the socialist countries to act like capitalists and embroil the world into war.
==="Counterrevolution" in the Soviet Union===
Trotskyites claim that the counterrevolution in the Soviet Union was the work of a supposedly “Stalinist bureaucracy”. Such a claim made no sense because not only was there no entity which could be called the “Stalinist bureaucracy”, but the Stalinists, i.e., supporters of Stalin, had been purged by the Khrushchevites in the 1950s. Marxist-Leninists maintain that the Soviet counterrevolution was led by the [[Revisionism|revisionists]] who had come to power after Stalin’s death. This counterrevolution was begun by Khrushchev and completed by [[Mikhail Gorbachev|Gorbachev]]. Trotsky believed that, despite the supposed bureaucratization of the USSR, an internal restoration of capitalism was impossible.

Trotskyists often claim that Stalin purged all of the Old Bolsheviks even though many of Stalin's supporters ([[Lazar Kaganovich|Kaganovich]], [[Sergei Kirov|Kirov]], [[Vyacheslav Molotov|Molotov]], [[Andrei Zhdanov|Zhdanov]], etc.) were Old Bolsheviks. [[Karl Kautsky|Kautsky]] and [[Julius Martov|Martov]] were also very influential Marxist theorists who later became [[Revisionism|revisionists]].<ref name=":0223">{{Citation|author=Ludo Martens|year=1996|title=Another View of Stalin|chapter=The Great Purge|isbn=9782872620814|publisher=Editions EPO|pdf=https://gateway.ipfs.io/ipfs/bafykbzaceab64vxtxpqt2cdl4zsrsftmedqidn4foq74gr25qkd35z5nwogdi?filename=Ludo%20Martens%20-%20Another%20View%20of%20Stalin-Editions%20EPO%20%281996%29.pdf|page=121–122}}</ref>
===Communist history===
Trotskyites blame the defeat of revolutions in Germany, France and Spain on Stalin’s leadership of the [[Communist International (1919–1943)|Communist International]]. Marxist-Leninists have long argued that Stalin was in a minority in the Comintern. Therefore, the defeats experienced by the communist movement cannot simply be dumped at Stalin’s door. Only a concrete analysis, based on Marxism-Leninism, can throw light on how individual defeats came about.
===Revisionism===
One of the slanders aimed at Stalin by the open and concealed Trotskyites is that he led the international communist movement into the camp of revisionism. However, neither now or in the past, have they been able to provide any documentary evidence to support these claims based on Marxism-Leninism. The truth is, that any study of the writings of Stalin shows, without any shadow of doubt that he remained a committed Marxist-Leninist all his life.
===Evaluation of Stalin===
Trotskyites argue that Stalin betrayed the 1917 socialist revolution. However, in 1936, stunned by the gains that the Soviet Union had made under Stalin’s leadership, Trotsky had to pretend that the USSR's achievements had nothing to do with Stalin. Marxist-Leninists argue that Stalin was a defender of the socialist revolution in the most inauspicious of circumstances. Furthermore, in his time Stalin successfully defended the socialist orientation of the Soviet Union against revisionists and other two-faced elements posing as communists in the party and State. When these concealed enemies of socialism were found out they were unfailingly purged by Stalin.

== The "Uniqueness" of Permanent Revolution ==
There are several points that ought to be noted in regards to Permanent Revolution. The first is that the idea or notion of Permanent Revolution is not unique to Trotskyism. Marx, in his [[Address to the Communist League]] in 1850 has stated that the following:<blockquote>''While the democratic petit bourgeois wish to bring the revolution to a conclusion as quickly as possible, and with the achievement, at most, of the above demands, it is our interest and our task to make the revolution permanent, until all more or less possessing classes have been forced out of their position of dominance, until the proletariat has conquered state power, and the association of proletarians, not only in one country but in all the dominant countries of the world, has advanced so far that competition among the proletarians of these countries has ceased and that at least the decisive productive forces are concentrated in the hands of the proletarians''<ref>{{Citation|author=Karl Marx|year=1850|title=Address of the Central Committee to the Communist League|title-url=https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1847/communist-league/1850-ad1.htm|quote=While the democratic petty bourgeois want to bring the revolution to an end as quickly as possible, achieving at most the aims already mentioned, it is our interest and our task to make the revolution permanent until all the more or less propertied classes have been driven from their ruling positions, until the proletariat has conquered state power and until the association of the proletarians has progressed sufficiently far – not only in one country but in all the leading countries of the world – that competition between the proletarians of these countries ceases and at least the decisive forces of production are concentrated in the hands of the workers.}}</ref></blockquote>This, however does not necessarily mean that the Permanent Revolution followed by Trotskyites is justified. Stalin, in his work [[Foundations of Leninism]] has noted that Marx' message on Permanent Revolution was distorted by the Trotskyites, making it "unfit for practical uses". What he meant by this was that not only that Trotskyites underestimate the role of the peasantry, they also misunderstood Marx' message that after attaining state power, the proletariat ought to dispose one section of the bourgeoisie one after another, this would then kindle the fire of revolution in every country. It was often assumed that achieving victory in one country was impossible without the support and actions of the proletariats in advanced countries, yet the [[Russian revolution of 1917|victory of the Bolsheviks over the Russian Republic in 1917]], leading to the establishment of the first Socialist state in history has proven this wrong.

== Influence ==
Trotskyism has had very little impact on the [[Third World]] except in [[Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka|Sri Lanka]], [[Bolivia]], and [[Argentine Republic|Argentina]] due to its opposition to [[Anti-colonialism|anti-colonial]] [[nationalism]] and the [[Non-Aligned Movement]].<ref name=":02">{{Citation|author=[[Vijay Prashad]]|year=2017|title=Red Star over the Third World|chapter=Enemy of Imperialism|page=81|pdf=https://cloudflare-ipfs.com/ipfs/bafykbzacecu7gb2ei65us6ip3r2ugcgkblneqcftbm456mb6bzvprkbqk55qm?filename=Vijay%20Prashad%20-%20Red%20Star%20Over%20the%20Third%20World-LeftWord%20Books%20%282018%29.pdf|city=New Delhi|publisher=LeftWord Books}}</ref>

== See also ==

* [[Left-communism]]
* [[Fourth International]]
* [[Luxemburgism]]
* [[Posadism]]

== References ==
<references />
[[Category:Trotskyism]]
[[Category:Left communism]]
[[Category:Left-wing ideologies]]
[[Category:Communist ideologies]]

Trotskyism

2023-12-09T05:03:41Z

Liang: Adding a new heading

[[File:Trotskyite symbol.png|right|[[Hammer and sickle]] with the number 4 for the [[Fourth International]]]]
'''Trotskyism''' originated from [[Trotsky]]'s opposition against [[Joseph Stalin|Stalin]] in the theoretical struggle towards a scientific interpretation of [[Leninism]] for the case of world revolution. In contrast to [[Marxism–Leninism]], it emphasizes the abolition of bureaucratic [[dictatorship]]. It also advocates for a militant [[Proletarian revolution|workers' revolution]], unlike [[social democracy]], and rejects the alliance between the [[proletariat]] and the [[peasantry]].

Trotsky and his followers joined the [[bourgeoisie]] and their henchmen, the [[Mensheviks]], in a campaign to convince the workers, peasants and communists that socialism was impossible in the [[Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (1922–1991)|Soviet Union]]. They tried to undermine the confidence of the working people using an argument opposed to Lenin’s standpoint. The only conclusion is that Trotskyism played a [[Counterrevolution|counterrevolutionary]] role, hiding behind pseudo-left rhetoric. Promoting defeatism was the essential role of Trotskyism in regard to the Soviet Union.

== Permanent revolution ==
Trotsky occupied a middle position between the [[Bolsheviks]] and [[Mensheviks]] but in essence was closer to the Mensheviks.

He agreed with the Bolsheviks that the [[liberal]] [[Bourgeoisie|bourgeois]] would have nothing to do with the coming revolution. At the same time he agreed with the Mensheviks that the peasantry could not be a dependable ally.

Tsarism, according to Trotsky could be replaced by a workers government. On no account could it be replaced by a joint dictatorship of the working class and the peasantry. And on coming to power it would be the function of the Workers government to attack private property, including the peasant holdings. By its attack on private property by the Workers government would alienate and arouse the hostility and resistance (thanks to Trotsky) of the majority of the population.

The resistance of the peasantry would endanger the workers government. But on the other hand the workers government would stimulate the working class of the industrially advanced European countries to wage ruthless struggle against their own bourgeoisie, seize state power and establish socialism.

In return, Western Europe would now come to the aid of the Russian workers government in [[Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (1917–1991)|Russia]] to crush by force the resistance of the peasantry. This is permanent revolution.<blockquote>“In the absence of direct State support on the part of the European proletariat, the Russian working class will not be able to keep itself in power and to transform its temporary rule into a stable socialist dictatorship. No doubt as to the truth of this is possible.”</blockquote>''Trotsky, Our Revolution 1906, Pg. 278.''<blockquote>“A steady rise of socialist economy in Russia will not be possible until after the victory of the proletariat in the leading countries of Europe.”</blockquote>''Trotsky, (“Collected Works,” Vol. 3, Part I, Pgs.92-93.)''<blockquote>What this would mean in practice is Permanent Counter-Revolution. By the negation of the peasantry as a revolutionary role that the peasantry could play (and did play) it would mean depriving the Russian working class of a dependable ally and turning the peasantry into a tool of the liberal bourgeois. There would have been no revolution in Russia had this line followed and Lenin was to reject it for a second time in 1915 in the following:

To bring clarity into the alignment of classes in the impending revolution is the main task of a revolutionary party. This task is being shirked by the Organising Committee, which within Russia remains a faithful ally to Nashe Dyelo, and abroad utters meaningless “Left” phrases. This task is being wrongly tackled in Nashe Slovo by Trotsky, who is repeating his “original” 1905 theory and refuses to give some thought to the reason why, in the course of ten years, life has been bypassing this splendid theory.

From the Bolsheviks Trotsky’s original theory has borrowed their call for a decisive proletarian revolutionary struggle and for the conquest of political power by the proletariat, while from the Mensheviks it has borrowed “repudiation” of the peasantry’s role. The peasantry, he asserts, are divided into strata, have become differentiated; their potential revolutionary role has dwindled more and more; in Russia a “national” revolution is impossible; “we are living in the era of imperialism,” says Trotsky, and “imperialism does not contra pose the bourgeois nation to the old regime, but the proletariat to the bourgeois nation.”

Here we have an amusing example of playing with the word “imperialism”. If, in Russia, the proletariat already stands contra posed to the “bourgeois nation”, then Russia is facing a socialist revolution (!), and the slogan “Confiscate the landed estates” (repeated by Trotsky in 1915, following the January Conference of 1912), is incorrect; in that case we must speak, not of a “revolutionary workers’” government, but of a “workers’ socialist” government! The length Trotsky’s muddled thinking goes to is evident from his phrase that by their resoluteness the proletariat will attract the “non-proletarian [!] popular masses” as well (No. 217)! Trotsky has not realised that if the proletariat induce the non-proletarian masses to confiscate the landed estates and overthrow the monarchy, then that will be the consummation of the “national bourgeois revolution” in Russia; it will be a revolutionary-democratic dictatorship of the proletariat and the peasantry!

A whole decade—the great decade of 1905-15—has shown the existence of two and only two class lines in the Russian revolution. The differentiation of the peasantry has enhanced the class struggle within them; it has aroused very many hitherto politically dormant elements. It has drawn the rural proletariat closer to the urban proletariat (the Bolsheviks have insisted ever since 1906 that the former should be separately organised, and they included this demand in the resolution of the Menshevik congress in Stockholm). However, the antagonism between the peasantry, on the one hand, and the Markovs, Romanovs and Khvostovs, on the other, has become stronger and more acute. This is such an obvious truth that not even the thousands of phrases in scores of Trotsky’s Paris articles will “refute” it. Trotsky is in fact helping the liberal-labour politicians in Russia, who by “repudiation” of the role of the peasantry understand a refusal to raise up the peasants for the revolution!</blockquote>-Lenin, Two Lines On The Revolution

Stalin, in his work to

It took only two years to prove Lenin's correctness

In conclusion, Trotskyism:

* Rejects the peasantry as a revolutionary force
* Rejects stages in the development of the revolution (Which amounted in practice skipping the first stage of the revolution: the majority of the Russian people, particularly the peasantry, against the Tsar. But only the working class who constituted a tiny minority at the time against the Tsar and the “bourgeois nation” including the peasantry)

It is noted that the [[Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (1922–1991)|Soviets]] did eventually wage a war against the nascent bourgeois elements in the peasantry which did seriously de-stabilise the Soviet government. But this was done in the early 1930s when a lot of the peasantry had been drawn into the cities and into the proletariat. Not as immediate fact against the “bourgeois nation” in 1917 which would’ve seen the peasantry side with the White guardists
==Ideological differences between Marxism-Leninism and Trotskyism==
Ever since Lenin died in 1924, Trotskyism has challenged Marxism-Leninism for the ideological leadership of the international communist movement. J.V. Stalin, 1879-1953, was able to meet and saw off this challenge, to the extent that Trotskyism became a marginal, exterior tendency in relation to the communist movement. However, the attacks on Stalin by the [[Nikita Khrushchev|Khrushchevite]] leadership in the Soviet Union, and the consequent rise of revisionism in some of the most influential parties of the communist movement, served to breathe new life into the project inspired by Trotsky.

This creed, Trotskyism, gained a substantial intellectual following in all the main imperialist countries due to its attacks on what they and the bourgeoisie call ‘Stalinism’. In attacking Stalin, and in fact, every country of socialist orientation, and regarding themselves as representing authentic Marxism, the activities of these pseudo-left sectarians promoted the propaganda interest of the imperialist bourgeoisie. However, the claims of Trotskyism rest not only on attacking Stalin and the countries of socialist orientation. These claims rest also on convincing certain intellectuals that Trotskyism is the continuation of Leninism. This is why it may be considered useful for us to present a synoptic exposition of the main ideological differences between Marxism-Leninism and Trotskyism as a guide for those who seek to examine this matter more deeply.<ref>{{News citation|journalist=EspressoStalinist|title=A Brief Guide to the Ideological Differences Between Marxism-Leninism and Trotskyism|url=https://espressostalinist.com/marxism-leninism-versus-revisionism/a-brief-guide-to-the-ideological-differences-between-marxism-leninism-and-trotskyism/|retrieved=29-03-2022}}</ref>
===Russian Revolution===
Trotskyites argue that the [[Russian revolution of 1917|October revolution of 1917]] was the realisation of Trotsky’s theory of Permanent Revolution. The Marxist-Leninist position is that the revolution was made possible by the peculiar circumstances created by the 1914-1918 war and that without these conditions the transition to the socialist revolution would not have been possible.
=== Labour policy ===
Following the revolution and civil war, Trotskyites argued for the militarisation of the trade unions, that is a policy of coercion towards the unions. Marxist-Leninists around Lenin, including Stalin, opposed the Trotskyite militarisation policy, arguing instead that emphasis must be placed on persuasion rather than coercion. This led to a serious factional dispute in the communist party between the Marxist-Leninists and the Trotskyites between 1920-1921. Lenin himself regarded Trotsky’s policy on the trade unions as representing a ‘reactionary movement’.(See: Lenin: Collected Works, Vol.32)
===World revolutionary process in regard to socialism===
For Marxist-Leninists, socialism in one or several countries is a stage in the world revolution. Trotskyites argued that the policy of building socialism in one country was opposed to Marxism. The Marxist-Leninists argued building socialism in one country was an integral part of world revolution and, in fact would serve this process, in aiding the development of the latter. Since Trotsky did not raise the issue with Lenin, Marxist-Leninists can only assume that Trotsky’s real motives were of a factional nature. Or, with Lenin out of the way, following his death in 1924, Trotsky sought to impose his Permanent Revolution theory on the party.
===Industrialisation policy===
The Trotskyites sought to impose an industrialisation and [[Collectivization|collectivisation]] policy on the communist party at a time when the party and the dictatorship of the proletariat were in a weak position. Marxist-Leninists around Stalin wanted to wait until the party and the state had gathered enough strength to oversee such a policy. This meant defending the mixed economy of the [[NEP]] period until the party had strengthened itself in the working class and in the countryside.
===Fighting bureaucracy===
Trotskyites argue that after the death of Lenin a “Stalinist bureaucracy” emerged in the Soviet Union. This bureaucracy would undermine the revolution and to forestall this a political revolution would be necessary to remove the bureaucracy from power. Marxist-Leninists argue that the Soviet bureaucracy was more anti-Stalinist than ‘Stalinist’, a fact underlined by the frequent purges directed against it. In addition, Marxist-Leninists rejected the Trotskyite theory of a counterrevolutionary bureaucracy as completely one-sided, and argued that what was needed was not a political revolution to overthrow a supposedly counterrevolutionary bureaucracy, but rather there was a need to expose and purge the counterrevolutionary elements from the bureaucracy. The Trotskyite talk about a ‘political’ revolution to overthrow bureauracy represented a break from Marxism to [[anarchism]].
===Peaceful coexistence===
Soon after coming to power the Bolshevik communists, led by Lenin pursued a policy of peaceful coexistence with the capitalist states. The thinking behind this was to force the capitalist States, particularly the imperialists States, to live in peace with socialism, as far as foreign relations were concerned. This was not only based on the recognition that combined the imperialists States were by far stronger than the Socialist State, it was also because socialism, unlike capitalism, is not a warlike system. It is capitalism which needs war to increase profits for the monopolists, not socialism. While it is true that, on the one hand, the Khrushchevite revisionists distorted the communist policy of peaceful coexistence, it is also true, on the other hand, that the Trotskyites, and other pseudo-leftists rejected Lenin’s policy, wanting the socialist countries to act like capitalists and embroil the world into war.
==="Counterrevolution" in the Soviet Union===
Trotskyites claim that the counterrevolution in the Soviet Union was the work of a supposedly “Stalinist bureaucracy”. Such a claim made no sense because not only was there no entity which could be called the “Stalinist bureaucracy”, but the Stalinists, i.e., supporters of Stalin, had been purged by the Khrushchevites in the 1950s. Marxist-Leninists maintain that the Soviet counterrevolution was led by the [[Revisionism|revisionists]] who had come to power after Stalin’s death. This counterrevolution was begun by Khrushchev and completed by [[Mikhail Gorbachev|Gorbachev]]. Trotsky believed that, despite the supposed bureaucratization of the USSR, an internal restoration of capitalism was impossible.

Trotskyists often claim that Stalin purged all of the Old Bolsheviks even though many of Stalin's supporters ([[Lazar Kaganovich|Kaganovich]], [[Sergei Kirov|Kirov]], [[Vyacheslav Molotov|Molotov]], [[Andrei Zhdanov|Zhdanov]], etc.) were Old Bolsheviks. [[Karl Kautsky|Kautsky]] and [[Julius Martov|Martov]] were also very influential Marxist theorists who later became [[Revisionism|revisionists]].<ref name=":0223">{{Citation|author=Ludo Martens|year=1996|title=Another View of Stalin|chapter=The Great Purge|isbn=9782872620814|publisher=Editions EPO|pdf=https://gateway.ipfs.io/ipfs/bafykbzaceab64vxtxpqt2cdl4zsrsftmedqidn4foq74gr25qkd35z5nwogdi?filename=Ludo%20Martens%20-%20Another%20View%20of%20Stalin-Editions%20EPO%20%281996%29.pdf|page=121–122}}</ref>
===Communist history===
Trotskyites blame the defeat of revolutions in Germany, France and Spain on Stalin’s leadership of the [[Communist International (1919–1943)|Communist International]]. Marxist-Leninists have long argued that Stalin was in a minority in the Comintern. Therefore, the defeats experienced by the communist movement cannot simply be dumped at Stalin’s door. Only a concrete analysis, based on Marxism-Leninism, can throw light on how individual defeats came about.
===Revisionism===
One of the slanders aimed at Stalin by the open and concealed Trotskyites is that he led the international communist movement into the camp of revisionism. However, neither now or in the past, have they been able to provide any documentary evidence to support these claims based on Marxism-Leninism. The truth is, that any study of the writings of Stalin shows, without any shadow of doubt that he remained a committed Marxist-Leninist all his life.
===Evaluation of Stalin===
Trotskyites argue that Stalin betrayed the 1917 socialist revolution. However, in 1936, stunned by the gains that the Soviet Union had made under Stalin’s leadership, Trotsky had to pretend that the USSR's achievements had nothing to do with Stalin. Marxist-Leninists argue that Stalin was a defender of the socialist revolution in the most inauspicious of circumstances. Furthermore, in his time Stalin successfully defended the socialist orientation of the Soviet Union against revisionists and other two-faced elements posing as communists in the party and State. When these concealed enemies of socialism were found out they were unfailingly purged by Stalin.

== The "Uniqueness" of Permanent Revolution ==
There are several points that ought to be noted in regards to Permanent Revolution. The first is that the idea or notion of Permanent Revolution is not unique to Trotskyism. Marx, in his [[Address to the Communist League]] in 1850 has stated that the following:<blockquote>''While the democratic petit bourgeois wish to bring the revolution to a conclusion as quickly as possible, and with the achievement, at most, of the above demands, it is our interest and our task to make the revolution permanent, until all more or less possessing classes have been forced out of their position of dominance, until the proletariat has conquered state power, and the association of proletarians, not only in one country but in all the dominant countries of the world, has advanced so far that competition among the proletarians of these countries has ceased and that at least the decisive productive forces are concentrated in the hands of the proletarians''<ref>{{Citation|author=Karl Marx|year=1850|title=Address of the Central Committee to the Communist League|title-url=https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1847/communist-league/1850-ad1.htm|quote=While the democratic petty bourgeois want to bring the revolution to an end as quickly as possible, achieving at most the aims already mentioned, it is our interest and our task to make the revolution permanent until all the more or less propertied classes have been driven from their ruling positions, until the proletariat has conquered state power and until the association of the proletarians has progressed sufficiently far – not only in one country but in all the leading countries of the world – that competition between the proletarians of these countries ceases and at least the decisive forces of production are concentrated in the hands of the workers.}}</ref></blockquote>This, however does not necessarily mean that the Permanent Evolution followed by Trotskyites is justified. Stalin, in his work [[Foundations of Leninism]] has noted that Marx' message on Permanent Revolution was distorted by the Trotskyites, making it "unfit for practical uses". What he meant by this was that not only that Trotskyites underestimate the role of the peasantry, they also misunderstood Marx' message that after attaining state power, the proletariat ought to dispose one section of the bourgeoisie one after another, this would then kindle the fire of revolution in every country. It was often assumed that achieving victory in one country was impossible without the support and actions of the proletariats in advanced countries, yet the [[Russian revolution of 1917|victory of the Bolsheviks over the Russian Republic in 1917]], leading to the establishment of the first Socialist state in history has proven this wrong.

== Influence ==
Trotskyism has had very little impact on the [[Third World]] except in [[Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka|Sri Lanka]], [[Bolivia]], and [[Argentine Republic|Argentina]] due to its opposition to [[Anti-colonialism|anti-colonial]] [[nationalism]] and the [[Non-Aligned Movement]].<ref name=":02">{{Citation|author=[[Vijay Prashad]]|year=2017|title=Red Star over the Third World|chapter=Enemy of Imperialism|page=81|pdf=https://cloudflare-ipfs.com/ipfs/bafykbzacecu7gb2ei65us6ip3r2ugcgkblneqcftbm456mb6bzvprkbqk55qm?filename=Vijay%20Prashad%20-%20Red%20Star%20Over%20the%20Third%20World-LeftWord%20Books%20%282018%29.pdf|city=New Delhi|publisher=LeftWord Books}}</ref>

== See also ==

* [[Left-communism]]
* [[Fourth International]]
* [[Luxemburgism]]
* [[Posadism]]

== References ==
<references />
[[Category:Trotskyism]]
[[Category:Left communism]]
[[Category:Left-wing ideologies]]
[[Category:Communist ideologies]]

Leninism

2023-12-09T04:50:44Z

Liang:

[[File:Vladimir Lenin.jpg|thumb|Vladimir Lenin, who was the namesake of Leninism developed his advancement of Marxism in accordance with the material conditions of the 20th century]]
'''Leninism''' is the term used to describe the theoretical and practical methods advanced by [[Vladimir Lenin]] and the [[Bolsheviks]] in the subject of organization, agitation and propaganda, [[revolution]] and maintenance of the [[dictatorship of the proletariat]]. As Lenin during his lifetime never advocated for his theories to become a legitimate extension of Marxism, the task to synthesise Leninism as a current of political thought was accomplished in 1924 by [[Joseph Stalin]] in his work ''The foundations of Leninism''.<ref>{{Citation|author=[[Joseph Stalin]]|year=1924|title=Foundations of Leninism|chapter=|section=|page=|quote=|pdf=|city=|publisher=|isbn=|doi=|lg=|mia=https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/stalin/works/1924/foundations-leninism/index.htm|title-url=|chapter-url=|trans-title=|trans-lang=}}</ref> It was later taught as a coherent unity with [[Marxism]] under the term [[Marxism–Leninism|Marxism-Leninism]].

== Definition ==
Stalin, being one of Lenin's staunchest defenders and advocates, has defined Leninism to be an advancement of Marxism from that of under [[Karl Marx|Marx]] and [[Friedrich Engels|Engels]] into the era of [[imperialism]] in the 20th century. It is the theory and tactics of the proletarian revolution in general, and the theory and tactics of the proletarian. What places Leninism as an advancement is that Marxism in the 19th century was pursued in the pre-revolutionary period when imperialism was not yet fully developed. Leninism was pursued in the 20th century when imperialism was already developed.<ref>{{Citation|author=Joseph Stalin|year=1924|title=The Foundations of Leninism|title-url=https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/stalin/works/1924/foundations-leninism/index.htm|chapter=Introduction|chapter-url=https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/stalin/works/1924/foundations-leninism/introduction.htm|quote=Leninism is Marxism of the era of imperialism and the proletarian revolution. To be more exact, Leninism is the theory and tactics of the proletarian revolution in general, the theory and tactics of the dictatorship of the proletariat in particular. Marx and Engels pursued their activities in the pre-revolutionary period, (we have the proletarian revolution in mind), when developed imperialism did not yet exist, in the period of the proletarians’ preparation for revolution, in the period when the proletarian revolution was not yet an immediate practical inevitability. But Lenin, the disciple of Marx and Engels, pursued his activities in the period of developed imperialism, in the period of the unfolding proletarian revolution, when the proletarian revolution had already triumphed in one country, had smashed bourgeois democracy and had ushered in the era of proletarian democracy, the era of the Soviets.}}</ref>

== Historical Development ==
Despite the origins of Leninism being rooted in the Russian Empire, the tactics and theories developed by Lenin were meant not only for Russia, but for the borders beyond. Stalin traced the material conditions of Leninism to explain why Russia was the birthplace of Leninism<ref>{{Citation|author=Joseph Stalin|year=1923|title=Foundations of Leninism|title-url=https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/stalin/works/1924/foundations-leninism/index.htm|chapter=The Historical Roots of Leninism|chapter-url=https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/stalin/works/1924/foundations-leninism/ch01.htm}}</ref>.

# '''Exploitation''' - Tsarist Russia before the revolution was already perpetrated with all manners of barbaric and inhuman oppression, be it from the capitalists, colonials and militarists. The omnipotence of capital and the despotism of Tsarism led to aggressive Russian nationalism in regards to the exploitation of non-Russian peoples and lands such as Turkey, Persian and China. Stalin equated this to be the total concentration of the worst of imperialism.
# '''Western Imperialism''' - The interests of Tsarism and imperialism are interwoven for Tsarist Russia was a base for outside powers and was a major reserve for Western imperialism. It gave them entry to foreign capital which led to the control of the national economy such as the fuel and metallurgical industries over to them. Russia at the time was both a watchdog for imperialism in the east as well as an agent of imperialism by squeezing out of the population hundreds of millions by way of interest on loans obtained in Paris and London, Berlin and Brussels. Not only that, Russia was a willing participant of the Entente in the [[First World War]] which saw the deaths of approximately 14,000,000 Russians at the frontline safeguarding the profits of British and French capitalists.
# '''Contradiction''' - Stalin states that the contradictions of imperialism were revealed the most plainly in Russia, not only in its repulsive and intolerable characteristics or that Western Imperialism was present in Russia, but that only Russia possessed a real force which was capable of resolving the contradictions in the most revolutionary way, the proletariat with the revolutionary peasantry as its ally.

== Principles of Leninism ==

=== Self-Criticism ===
The ability for a vanguard party to engage in [[self-criticism]], that is to identify the the mistakes and rectification of that particular mistake is one of the key principles of Leninism. In his book, Lenin identified the biggest weakness of progressive parties during the wake of imperialism. In criticising the parties of the [[Second International]], he states that the earnest attitude to seriously consider their own actions towards the working people and learning from it represents the true mark of a serious vanguard party.<ref>{{Citation|author=Vladimir Lenin|year=1920|title=“Left-Wing” Communism: an Infantile Disorder|title-url=https://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1920/lwc/index.htm|chapter=Should We Participate in Bourgeois Parliaments?|chapter-url=https://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1920/lwc/ch07.htm|quote=A political party’s attitude towards its own mistakes is one of the most important and surest ways of judging how earnest the party is and how it fulfils in practice its obligations towards its class and the working people. Frankly acknowledging a mistake, ascertaining the reasons for it, analysing the conditions that have led up to it, and thrashing out the means of its rectification—that is the hallmark of a serious party; that is how it should perform its duties, and how it should educate and train its class, and then the masses.}}</ref> The reasoning behind this stems from the responsibility of a vanguard party to truly represent the spirit and demands of the proletariat. The vanguard party bears the responsibility to not only fight for the masses but to also guide the masses. As such, without a proper criticism of the party's own mistakes, it will not be able to engage in such responsibility.

=== Value of Theory ===
In view of the ever changing material conditions of society and the world, it becomes easy and convenient to assume that there is no other way to carry the momentum of the working class forward than through practice. While it is true that practice and actions respond to the material conditions, Leninism (and by extent, [[Marxism–Leninism|Marxism-Leninism]]) views that theory is a fundamentally powerful and indispensable tool for the [[Proletariat|working-class]] if it can be linked with revolutionary practice. Lenin writes this well-known line:<blockquote>''Without a revolutionary theory there can be no revolutionary movement''<ref>{{Citation|author=Vladimir Lenin|year=1902|title=What is to be done?|title-url=https://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1901/witbd/index.htm|chapter=Dogmatism and "Freedom of Criticism"|chapter-url=https://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1901/witbd/i.htm}}</ref></blockquote>The Leninist focus on the importance of theory comes with the belief that as the material conditions of the world evolve, the role of correct theory will not only help guide the masses in understanding the functions and workings of the world but also direct them through practice in the correct direction in the present time and towards the future.

=== The Conditions for a Proletarian Revolution ===
Imperialism, forming the bedrock for the development of Leninism, lays at the front of Lenin's theory. It changes the preconception that a proletarian revolution would only be satisfied in individual capitalist countries, separate from one another. But with the advent of Imperialism as a world system, Leninism eliminates the notion that a proletarian revolution would necessarily begin in a country where it is most developed or having the largest number of proletarians.

Instead, Leninists proclaims that the revolution will begin where the imperialist link is the weakest, this would include countries where capitalism has not fully developed. We have seen this in socialist revolutions such as the [[Russian revolution of 1917|1917 Russian Revolution]] and the [[Chinese revolution|Chinese Revolution]]. This is the proof that socialist revolutions would no longer be confined to only successful and economically developed capitalist nations.

Stalin summarised three points to Lenin's thesis on the Proletarian Revolution:

# The dominance of finance capital in advanced capitalist countries and export of capital among others is a fundamental element on the parasitic nature of monopolist capitalism. This in effect further admonishes the conditions of the working class, leading to them seeking proletarian revolution as their "only salvation."
# The transformation of capital from a national system to a world system by exporting capital to colonies and other dependent countries, thus increasing their sphere of influence. One thing to be noted here is that this transformation and oppression of the majority of the world population benefits only the handful of so-called advanced countries which continues to exploit vast colonies. This would then eventually create a need for the oppressed peoples and colonies to wage their own struggles for liberation from imperialism.
# War could never be eliminated under imperialism and that a coalition of the proletariat revolutions from both the West and the East to create a united world against the agents of imperialism would be inevitable.

== Against the principles of Permanent Revolution ==
Stalin remained to this day as one of the staunchest defenders of Lenin's contributions to Marxist theory. However, in opposition to Stalin and Lenin's contribution stood [[Leon Trotsky]] and his adherence of [[Trotskyism]].

==See Also==
[[Leninism:Quotes]]

== References ==
<references />
[[Category:Leninism]]

Leninism

2023-11-15T05:23:07Z

Liang: Adding Conditions for a proletarian revolution

[[File:Vladimir Lenin.jpg|thumb|Vladimir Lenin, who was the namesake of Leninism developed his advancement of Marxism in accordance with the material conditions of the 20th century]]
'''Leninism''' is the term used to describe the theoretical and practical methods advanced by [[Vladimir Lenin]] and the [[Bolsheviks]] in the subject of organization, agitation and propaganda, [[revolution]] and maintenance of the [[dictatorship of the proletariat]]. As Lenin during his lifetime never advocated for his theories to become a legitimate extension of Marxism, the task to synthesise Leninism as a current of political thought was accomplished in 1924 by [[Joseph Stalin]] in his work ''The foundations of Leninism''.<ref>{{Citation|author=[[Joseph Stalin]]|year=1924|title=Foundations of Leninism|chapter=|section=|page=|quote=|pdf=|city=|publisher=|isbn=|doi=|lg=|mia=https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/stalin/works/1924/foundations-leninism/index.htm|title-url=|chapter-url=|trans-title=|trans-lang=}}</ref> It was later taught as a coherent unity with [[Marxism]] under the term [[Marxism–Leninism|Marxism-Leninism]].

== Definition ==
Stalin, being one of Lenin's staunchest defenders and advocates, has defined Leninism to be an advancement of Marxism from that of under [[Karl Marx|Marx]] and [[Friedrich Engels|Engels]] into the era of [[imperialism]] in the 20th century. It is the theory and tactics of the proletarian revolution in general, and the theory and tactics of the proletarian. What places Leninism as an advancement is that Marxism in the 19th century was pursued in the pre-revolutionary period when imperialism was not yet fully developed. Leninism was pursued in the 20th century when imperialism was already developed.<ref>{{Citation|author=Joseph Stalin|year=1924|title=The Foundations of Leninism|title-url=https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/stalin/works/1924/foundations-leninism/index.htm|chapter=Introduction|chapter-url=https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/stalin/works/1924/foundations-leninism/introduction.htm|quote=Leninism is Marxism of the era of imperialism and the proletarian revolution. To be more exact, Leninism is the theory and tactics of the proletarian revolution in general, the theory and tactics of the dictatorship of the proletariat in particular. Marx and Engels pursued their activities in the pre-revolutionary period, (we have the proletarian revolution in mind), when developed imperialism did not yet exist, in the period of the proletarians’ preparation for revolution, in the period when the proletarian revolution was not yet an immediate practical inevitability. But Lenin, the disciple of Marx and Engels, pursued his activities in the period of developed imperialism, in the period of the unfolding proletarian revolution, when the proletarian revolution had already triumphed in one country, had smashed bourgeois democracy and had ushered in the era of proletarian democracy, the era of the Soviets.}}</ref>

== Historical Development ==
Despite the origins of Leninism being rooted in the Russian Empire, the tactics and theories developed by Lenin were meant not only for Russia, but for the borders beyond. Stalin traced the material conditions of Leninism to explain why Russia was the birthplace of Leninism<ref>{{Citation|author=Joseph Stalin|year=1923|title=Foundations of Leninism|title-url=https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/stalin/works/1924/foundations-leninism/index.htm|chapter=The Historical Roots of Leninism|chapter-url=https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/stalin/works/1924/foundations-leninism/ch01.htm}}</ref>.

# '''Exploitation''' - Tsarist Russia before the revolution was already perpetrated with all manners of barbaric and inhuman oppression, be it from the capitalists, colonials and militarists. The omnipotence of capital and the despotism of Tsarism led to aggressive Russian nationalism in regards to the exploitation of non-Russian peoples and lands such as Turkey, Persian and China. Stalin equated this to be the total concentration of the worst of imperialism.
# '''Western Imperialism''' - The interests of Tsarism and imperialism are interwoven for Tsarist Russia was a base for outside powers and was a major reserve for Western imperialism. It gave them entry to foreign capital which led to the control of the national economy such as the fuel and metallurgical industries over to them. Russia at the time was both a watchdog for imperialism in the east as well as an agent of imperialism by squeezing out of the population hundreds of millions by way of interest on loans obtained in Paris and London, Berlin and Brussels. Not only that, Russia was a willing participant of the Entente in the [[First World War]] which saw the deaths of approximately 14,000,000 Russians at the frontline safeguarding the profits of British and French capitalists.
# '''Contradiction''' - Stalin states that the contradictions of imperialism were revealed the most plainly in Russia, not only in its repulsive and intolerable characteristics or that Western Imperialism was present in Russia, but that only Russia possessed a real force which was capable of resolving the contradictions in the most revolutionary way, the proletariat with the revolutionary peasantry as its ally.

== Principles of Leninism ==

=== Self-Criticism ===
The ability for a vanguard party to engage in [[self-criticism]], that is to identify the the mistakes and rectification of that particular mistake is one of the key principles of Leninism. In his book, Lenin identified the biggest weakness of progressive parties during the wake of imperialism. In criticising the parties of the [[Second International]], he states that the earnest attitude to seriously consider their own actions towards the working people and learning from it represents the true mark of a serious vanguard party.<ref>{{Citation|author=Vladimir Lenin|year=1920|title=“Left-Wing” Communism: an Infantile Disorder|title-url=https://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1920/lwc/index.htm|chapter=Should We Participate in Bourgeois Parliaments?|chapter-url=https://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1920/lwc/ch07.htm|quote=A political party’s attitude towards its own mistakes is one of the most important and surest ways of judging how earnest the party is and how it fulfils in practice its obligations towards its class and the working people. Frankly acknowledging a mistake, ascertaining the reasons for it, analysing the conditions that have led up to it, and thrashing out the means of its rectification—that is the hallmark of a serious party; that is how it should perform its duties, and how it should educate and train its class, and then the masses.}}</ref> The reasoning behind this stems from the responsibility of a vanguard party to truly represent the spirit and demands of the proletariat. The vanguard party bears the responsibility to not only fight for the masses but to also guide the masses. As such, without a proper criticism of the party's own mistakes, it will not be able to engage in such responsibility.

=== Value of Theory ===
In view of the ever changing material conditions of society and the world, it becomes easy and convenient to assume that there is no other way to carry the momentum of the working class forward than through practice. While it is true that practice and actions respond to the material conditions, Leninism (and by extent, [[Marxism–Leninism|Marxism-Leninism]]) views that theory is a fundamentally powerful and indispensable tool for the [[Proletariat|working-class]] if it can be linked with revolutionary practice. Lenin writes this well-known line:<blockquote>''Without a revolutionary theory there can be no revolutionary movement''<ref>{{Citation|author=Vladimir Lenin|year=1902|title=What is to be done?|title-url=https://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1901/witbd/index.htm|chapter=Dogmatism and "Freedom of Criticism"|chapter-url=https://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1901/witbd/i.htm}}</ref></blockquote>The Leninist focus on the importance of theory comes with the belief that as the material conditions of the world evolve, the role of correct theory will not only help guide the masses in understanding the functions and workings of the world but also direct them through practice in the correct direction in the present time and towards the future.

=== The Conditions for a Proletarian Revolution ===
Imperialism, forming the bedrock for the development of Leninism, lays at the front of Lenin's theory. It changes the preconception that a proletarian revolution would only be satisfied in individual capitalist countries, separate from one another. But with the advent of Imperialism as a world system, Leninism eliminates the notion that a proletarian revolution would necessarily begin in a country where it is most developed or having the largest number of proletarians.

Instead, Leninists proclaims that the revolution will begin where the imperialist link is the weakest, this would include countries where capitalism has not fully developed. We have seen this in socialist revolutions such as the [[Russian revolution of 1917|1917 Russian Revolution]] and the [[Chinese revolution|Chinese Revolution]]. This is the proof that socialist revolutions would no longer be confined to only successful and economically developed capitalist nations.

Stalin summarised three points to Lenin's thesis on the Proletarian Revolution:

# The dominance of finance capital in advanced capitalist countries and export of capital among others is a fundamental element on the parasitic nature of monopolist capitalism. This in effect further admonishes the conditions of the working class, leading to them seeking proletarian revolution as their "only salvation."
# The transformation of capital from a national system to a world system by exporting capital to colonies and other dependent countries, thus increasing their sphere of influence. One thing to be noted here is that this transformation and oppression of the majority of the world population benefits only the handful of so-called advanced countries which continues to exploit vast colonies. This would then eventually create a need for the oppressed peoples and colonies to wage their own struggles for liberation from imperialism.
# War could never be eliminated under imperialism and that a coalition of the proletariat revolutions from both the West and the East to create a united world against the agents of imperialism would be inevitable.

==See Also==
[[Leninism:Quotes]]

== References ==
<references />
[[Category:Leninism]]

Leninism

2023-11-15T04:11:39Z

Liang: Added a bit on description

[[File:Vladimir Lenin.jpg|thumb|Vladimir Lenin, who was the namesake of Leninism developed his advancement of Marxism in accordance with the material conditions of the 20th century]]
'''Leninism''' is the term used to describe the theoretical and practical methods advanced by [[Vladimir Lenin]] and the [[Bolsheviks]] in the subject of organization, agitation and propaganda, [[revolution]] and maintenance of the [[dictatorship of the proletariat]]. As Lenin during his lifetime never advocated for his theories to become a legitimate extension of Marxism, the task to synthesise Leninism as a current of political thought was accomplished in 1924 by [[Joseph Stalin]] in his work ''The foundations of Leninism''.<ref>{{Citation|author=[[Joseph Stalin]]|year=1924|title=Foundations of Leninism|chapter=|section=|page=|quote=|pdf=|city=|publisher=|isbn=|doi=|lg=|mia=https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/stalin/works/1924/foundations-leninism/index.htm|title-url=|chapter-url=|trans-title=|trans-lang=}}</ref> It was later taught as a coherent unity with [[Marxism]] under the term [[Marxism–Leninism|Marxism-Leninism]].

== Definition ==
Stalin, being one of Lenin's staunchest defenders and advocates, has defined Leninism to be an advancement of Marxism from that of under [[Karl Marx|Marx]] and [[Friedrich Engels|Engels]] into the era of [[imperialism]] in the 20th century. It is the theory and tactics of the proletarian revolution in general, and the theory and tactics of the proletarian. What places Leninism as an advancement is that Marxism in the 19th century was pursued in the pre-revolutionary period when imperialism was not yet fully developed. Leninism was pursued in the 20th century when imperialism was already developed.<ref>{{Citation|author=Joseph Stalin|year=1924|title=The Foundations of Leninism|title-url=https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/stalin/works/1924/foundations-leninism/index.htm|chapter=Introduction|chapter-url=https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/stalin/works/1924/foundations-leninism/introduction.htm|quote=Leninism is Marxism of the era of imperialism and the proletarian revolution. To be more exact, Leninism is the theory and tactics of the proletarian revolution in general, the theory and tactics of the dictatorship of the proletariat in particular. Marx and Engels pursued their activities in the pre-revolutionary period, (we have the proletarian revolution in mind), when developed imperialism did not yet exist, in the period of the proletarians’ preparation for revolution, in the period when the proletarian revolution was not yet an immediate practical inevitability. But Lenin, the disciple of Marx and Engels, pursued his activities in the period of developed imperialism, in the period of the unfolding proletarian revolution, when the proletarian revolution had already triumphed in one country, had smashed bourgeois democracy and had ushered in the era of proletarian democracy, the era of the Soviets.}}</ref>

== Historical Development ==
Despite the origins of Leninism being rooted in the Russian Empire, the tactics and theories developed by Lenin were meant not only for Russia, but for the borders beyond. Stalin traced the material conditions of Leninism to explain why Russia was the birthplace of Leninism<ref>{{Citation|author=Joseph Stalin|year=1923|title=Foundations of Leninism|title-url=https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/stalin/works/1924/foundations-leninism/index.htm|chapter=The Historical Roots of Leninism|chapter-url=https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/stalin/works/1924/foundations-leninism/ch01.htm}}</ref>.

# '''Exploitation''' - Tsarist Russia before the revolution was already perpetrated with all manners of barbaric and inhuman oppression, be it from the capitalists, colonials and militarists. The omnipotence of capital and the despotism of Tsarism led to aggressive Russian nationalism in regards to the exploitation of non-Russian peoples and lands such as Turkey, Persian and China. Stalin equated this to be the total concentration of the worst of imperialism.
# '''Western Imperialism''' - The interests of Tsarism and imperialism are interwoven for Tsarist Russia was a base for outside powers and was a major reserve for Western imperialism. It gave them entry to foreign capital which led to the control of the national economy such as the fuel and metallurgical industries over to them. Russia at the time was both a watchdog for imperialism in the east as well as an agent of imperialism by squeezing out of the population hundreds of millions by way of interest on loans obtained in Paris and London, Berlin and Brussels. Not only that, Russia was a willing participant of the Entente in the [[First World War]] which saw the deaths of approximately 14,000,000 Russians at the frontline safeguarding the profits of British and French capitalists.
# '''Contradiction''' - Stalin states that the contradictions of imperialism were revealed the most plainly in Russia, not only in its repulsive and intolerable characteristics or that Western Imperialism was present in Russia, but that only Russia possessed a real force which was capable of resolving the contradictions in the most revolutionary way, the proletariat with the revolutionary peasantry as its ally.

== Principles of Leninism ==

=== Self-Criticism ===
The ability for a vanguard party to engage in [[self-criticism]], that is to identify the the mistakes and rectification of that particular mistake is one of the key principles of Leninism. In his book, Lenin identified the biggest weakness of progressive parties during the wake of imperialism. In criticising the parties of the [[Second International]], he states that the earnest attitude to seriously consider their own actions towards the working people and learning from it represents the true mark of a serious vanguard party.<ref>{{Citation|author=Vladimir Lenin|year=1920|title=“Left-Wing” Communism: an Infantile Disorder|title-url=https://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1920/lwc/index.htm|chapter=Should We Participate in Bourgeois Parliaments?|chapter-url=https://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1920/lwc/ch07.htm|quote=A political party’s attitude towards its own mistakes is one of the most important and surest ways of judging how earnest the party is and how it fulfils in practice its obligations towards its class and the working people. Frankly acknowledging a mistake, ascertaining the reasons for it, analysing the conditions that have led up to it, and thrashing out the means of its rectification—that is the hallmark of a serious party; that is how it should perform its duties, and how it should educate and train its class, and then the masses.}}</ref> The reasoning behind this stems from the responsibility of a vanguard party to truly represent the spirit and demands of the proletariat. The vanguard party bears the responsibility to not only fight for the masses but to also guide the masses. As such, without a proper criticism of the party's own mistakes, it will not be able to engage in such responsibility.

=== Value of Theory ===
In view of the ever changing material conditions of society and the world, it becomes easy and convenient to assume that there is no other way to carry the momentum of the working class forward than through practice. While it is true that practice and actions respond to the material conditions, Leninism (and by extent, [[Marxism–Leninism|Marxism-Leninism]]) views that theory is a fundamentally powerful and indispensable tool for the [[Proletariat|working-class]] if it can be linked with revolutionary practice. Lenin writes this well-known line:<blockquote>''Without a revolutionary theory there can be no revolutionary movement''<ref>{{Citation|author=Vladimir Lenin|year=1902|title=What is to be done?|title-url=https://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1901/witbd/index.htm|chapter=Dogmatism and "Freedom of Criticism"|chapter-url=https://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1901/witbd/i.htm}}</ref></blockquote>The Leninist focus on the importance of theory comes with the belief that as the material conditions of the world evolve, the role of correct theory will not only help guide the masses in understanding the functions and workings of the world but also direct them through practice in the correct direction in the present time and towards the future.

==See Also==
[[Leninism:Quotes]]

== References ==
<references />
[[Category:Leninism]]

Leninism

2023-11-07T03:04:20Z

Liang:

[[File:Vladimir Lenin.jpg|thumb|Vladimir Lenin, who was the namesake of Leninism developed his advancement of Marxism in accordance with the material conditions of the 20th century]]
'''Leninism''' is the term used to describe the theoretical and practical methods advanced by [[Vladimir Lenin]] and the [[Bolsheviks]] in the subject of organization, agitation and propaganda, [[revolution]] and maintenance of the [[dictatorship of the proletariat]]. It was advocated as a current of political thought in 1924 by [[Joseph Stalin]] in his work ''The foundations of Leninism''.<ref>{{Citation|author=[[Joseph Stalin]]|year=1924|title=Foundations of Leninism|chapter=|section=|page=|quote=|pdf=|city=|publisher=|isbn=|doi=|lg=|mia=https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/stalin/works/1924/foundations-leninism/index.htm|title-url=|chapter-url=|trans-title=|trans-lang=}}</ref> It was later taught as a coherent unity with [[Marxism]] under the term [[Marxism–Leninism|Marxism-Leninism]].

== Definition ==
Stalin, being one of Lenin's staunchest defenders and advocates, has defined Leninism to be an advancement of Marxism from that of under [[Karl Marx|Marx]] and [[Friedrich Engels|Engels]] into the era of [[imperialism]] in the 20th century. It is the theory and tactics of the proletarian revolution in general, and the theory and tactics of the proletarian. What places Leninism as an advancement is that Marxism in the 19th century was pursued in the pre-revolutionary period when imperialism was not yet fully developed. Leninism was pursued in the 20th century when imperialism was already developed.<ref>{{Citation|author=Joseph Stalin|year=1924|title=The Foundations of Leninism|title-url=https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/stalin/works/1924/foundations-leninism/index.htm|chapter=Introduction|chapter-url=https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/stalin/works/1924/foundations-leninism/introduction.htm|quote=Leninism is Marxism of the era of imperialism and the proletarian revolution. To be more exact, Leninism is the theory and tactics of the proletarian revolution in general, the theory and tactics of the dictatorship of the proletariat in particular. Marx and Engels pursued their activities in the pre-revolutionary period, (we have the proletarian revolution in mind), when developed imperialism did not yet exist, in the period of the proletarians’ preparation for revolution, in the period when the proletarian revolution was not yet an immediate practical inevitability. But Lenin, the disciple of Marx and Engels, pursued his activities in the period of developed imperialism, in the period of the unfolding proletarian revolution, when the proletarian revolution had already triumphed in one country, had smashed bourgeois democracy and had ushered in the era of proletarian democracy, the era of the Soviets.}}</ref>

== Historical Development ==
Despite the origins of Leninism being rooted in the Russian Empire, the tactics and theories developed by Lenin were meant not only for Russia, but for the borders beyond. Stalin traced the material conditions of Leninism to explain why Russia was the birthplace of Leninism<ref>{{Citation|author=Joseph Stalin|year=1923|title=Foundations of Leninism|title-url=https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/stalin/works/1924/foundations-leninism/index.htm|chapter=The Historical Roots of Leninism|chapter-url=https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/stalin/works/1924/foundations-leninism/ch01.htm}}</ref>.

# '''Exploitation''' - Tsarist Russia before the revolution was already perpetrated with all manners of barbaric and inhuman oppression, be it from the capitalists, colonials and militarists. The omnipotence of capital and the despotism of Tsarism led to aggressive Russian nationalism in regards to the exploitation of non-Russian peoples and lands such as Turkey, Persian and China. Stalin equated this to be the total concentration of the worst of imperialism.
# '''Western Imperialism''' - The interests of Tsarism and imperialism are interwoven for Tsarist Russia was a base for outside powers and was a major reserve for Western imperialism. It gave them entry to foreign capital which led to the control of the national economy such as the fuel and metallurgical industries over to them. Russia at the time was both a watchdog for imperialism in the east as well as an agent of imperialism by squeezing out of the population hundreds of millions by way of interest on loans obtained in Paris and London, Berlin and Brussels. Not only that, Russia was a willing participant of the Entente in the [[First World War]] which saw the deaths of approximately 14,000,000 Russians at the frontline safeguarding the profits of British and French capitalists.
# '''Contradiction''' - Stalin states that the contradictions of imperialism were revealed the most plainly in Russia, not only in its repulsive and intolerable characteristics or that Western Imperialism was present in Russia, but that only Russia possessed a real force which was capable of resolving the contradictions in the most revolutionary way, the proletariat with the revolutionary peasantry as its ally.

== Principles of Leninism ==

=== Self-Criticism ===
The ability for a vanguard party to engage in [[self-criticism]], that is to identify the the mistakes and rectification of that particular mistake is one of the key principles of Leninism. In his book, Lenin identified the biggest weakness of progressive parties during the wake of imperialism. In criticising the parties of the [[Second International]], he states that the earnest attitude to seriously consider their own actions towards the working people and learning from it represents the true mark of a serious vanguard party.<ref>{{Citation|author=Vladimir Lenin|year=1920|title=“Left-Wing” Communism: an Infantile Disorder|title-url=https://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1920/lwc/index.htm|chapter=Should We Participate in Bourgeois Parliaments?|chapter-url=https://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1920/lwc/ch07.htm|quote=A political party’s attitude towards its own mistakes is one of the most important and surest ways of judging how earnest the party is and how it fulfils in practice its obligations towards its class and the working people. Frankly acknowledging a mistake, ascertaining the reasons for it, analysing the conditions that have led up to it, and thrashing out the means of its rectification—that is the hallmark of a serious party; that is how it should perform its duties, and how it should educate and train its class, and then the masses.}}</ref> The reasoning behind this stems from the responsibility of a vanguard party to truly represent the spirit and demands of the proletariat. The vanguard party bears the responsibility to not only fight for the masses but to also guide the masses. As such, without a proper criticism of the party's own mistakes, it will not be able to engage in such responsibility.

=== Value of Theory ===
In view of the ever changing material conditions of society and the world, it becomes easy and convenient to assume that there is no other way to carry the momentum of the working class forward than through practice. While it is true that practice and actions respond to the material conditions, Leninism (and by extent, [[Marxism–Leninism|Marxism-Leninism]]) views that theory is a fundamentally powerful and indispensable tool for the [[Proletariat|working-class]] if it can be linked with revolutionary practice. Lenin writes this well-known line:<blockquote>''Without a revolutionary theory there can be no revolutionary movement''<ref>{{Citation|author=Vladimir Lenin|year=1902|title=What is to be done?|title-url=https://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1901/witbd/index.htm|chapter=Dogmatism and "Freedom of Criticism"|chapter-url=https://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1901/witbd/i.htm}}</ref></blockquote>The Leninist focus on the importance of theory comes with the belief that as the material conditions of the world evolve, the role of correct theory will not only help guide the masses in understanding the functions and workings of the world but also direct them through practice in the correct direction in the present time and towards the future.

==See Also==
[[Leninism:Quotes]]

== References ==
<references />
[[Category:Leninism]]

Leninism

2023-11-07T03:03:29Z

Liang: Added "value of theory" subparagraph

[[File:Vladimir Lenin.jpg|thumb|Vladimir Lenin, who was the namesake of Leninism developed his advancement of Marxism in accordance with the material conditions of the 20th century]]
'''Leninism''' is the term used to describe the theoretical and practical methods advanced by [[Vladimir Lenin]] and the [[Bolsheviks]] in the subject of organization, agitation and propaganda, [[revolution]] and maintenance of the [[dictatorship of the proletariat]]. It was advocated as a current of political thought in 1924 by [[Joseph Stalin]] in his work ''The foundations of Leninism''.<ref>{{Citation|author=[[Joseph Stalin]]|year=1924|title=Foundations of Leninism|chapter=|section=|page=|quote=|pdf=|city=|publisher=|isbn=|doi=|lg=|mia=https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/stalin/works/1924/foundations-leninism/index.htm|title-url=|chapter-url=|trans-title=|trans-lang=}}</ref> It was later taught as a coherent unity with [[Marxism]] under the term [[Marxism–Leninism|Marxism-Leninism]].

== Definition ==
Stalin, being one of Lenin's staunchest defenders and advocates, has defined Leninism to be an advancement of Marxism from that of under [[Karl Marx|Marx]] and [[Friedrich Engels|Engels]] into the era of [[imperialism]] in the 20th century. It is the theory and tactics of the proletarian revolution in general, and the theory and tactics of the proletarian. What places Leninism as an advancement is that Marxism in the 19th century was pursued in the pre-revolutionary period when imperialism was not yet fully developed. Leninism was pursued in the 20th century when imperialism was already developed.<ref>{{Citation|author=Joseph Stalin|year=1924|title=The Foundations of Leninism|title-url=https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/stalin/works/1924/foundations-leninism/index.htm|chapter=Introduction|chapter-url=https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/stalin/works/1924/foundations-leninism/introduction.htm|quote=Leninism is Marxism of the era of imperialism and the proletarian revolution. To be more exact, Leninism is the theory and tactics of the proletarian revolution in general, the theory and tactics of the dictatorship of the proletariat in particular. Marx and Engels pursued their activities in the pre-revolutionary period, (we have the proletarian revolution in mind), when developed imperialism did not yet exist, in the period of the proletarians’ preparation for revolution, in the period when the proletarian revolution was not yet an immediate practical inevitability. But Lenin, the disciple of Marx and Engels, pursued his activities in the period of developed imperialism, in the period of the unfolding proletarian revolution, when the proletarian revolution had already triumphed in one country, had smashed bourgeois democracy and had ushered in the era of proletarian democracy, the era of the Soviets.}}</ref>

== Historical Development ==
Despite the origins of Leninism being rooted in the Russian Empire, the tactics and theories developed by Lenin were meant not only for Russia, but for the borders beyond. Stalin traced the material conditions of Leninism to explain why Russia was the birthplace of Leninism<ref>{{Citation|author=Joseph Stalin|year=1923|title=Foundations of Leninism|title-url=https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/stalin/works/1924/foundations-leninism/index.htm|chapter=The Historical Roots of Leninism|chapter-url=https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/stalin/works/1924/foundations-leninism/ch01.htm}}</ref>.

# '''Exploitation''' - Tsarist Russia before the revolution was already perpetrated with all manners of barbaric and inhuman oppression, be it from the capitalists, colonials and militarists. The omnipotence of capital and the despotism of Tsarism led to aggressive Russian nationalism in regards to the exploitation of non-Russian peoples and lands such as Turkey, Persian and China. Stalin equated this to be the total concentration of the worst of imperialism.
# '''Western Imperialism''' - The interests of Tsarism and imperialism are interwoven for Tsarist Russia was a base for outside powers and was a major reserve for Western imperialism. It gave them entry to foreign capital which led to the control of the national economy such as the fuel and metallurgical industries over to them. Russia at the time was both a watchdog for imperialism in the east as well as an agent of imperialism by squeezing out of the population hundreds of millions by way of interest on loans obtained in Paris and London, Berlin and Brussels. Not only that, Russia was a willing participant of the Entente in the [[First World War]] which saw the deaths of approximately 14,000,000 Russians at the frontline safeguarding the profits of British and French capitalists.
# '''Contradiction''' - Stalin states that the contradictions of imperialism were revealed the most plainly in Russia, not only in its repulsive and intolerable characteristics or that Western Imperialism was present in Russia, but that only Russia possessed a real force which was capable of resolving the contradictions in the most revolutionary way, the proletariat with the revolutionary peasantry as its ally.

== Principles of Leninism ==

=== Self-Criticism ===
The ability for a vanguard party to engage in [[self-criticism]], that is to identify the the mistakes and rectification of that particular mistake is one of the key principles of Leninism. In his book, Lenin identified the biggest weakness of progressive parties during the wake of imperialism. In criticising the parties of the [[Second International]], he states that the earnest attitude to seriously consider their own actions towards the working people and learning from it represents the true mark of a serious vanguard party.<ref>{{Citation|author=Vladimir Lenin|year=1920|title=“Left-Wing” Communism: an Infantile Disorder|title-url=https://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1920/lwc/index.htm|chapter=Should We Participate in Bourgeois Parliaments?|chapter-url=https://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1920/lwc/ch07.htm|quote=A political party’s attitude towards its own mistakes is one of the most important and surest ways of judging how earnest the party is and how it fulfils in practice its obligations towards its class and the working people. Frankly acknowledging a mistake, ascertaining the reasons for it, analysing the conditions that have led up to it, and thrashing out the means of its rectification—that is the hallmark of a serious party; that is how it should perform its duties, and how it should educate and train its class, and then the masses.}}</ref> The reasoning behind this stems from the responsibility of a vanguard party to truly represent the spirit and demands of the proletariat. The vanguard party bears the responsibility to not only fight for the masses but to also guide the masses. As such, without a proper criticism of the party's own mistakes, it will not be able to engage in such responsibility.

=== Value of Theory ===
In view of the ever changing material conditions of society and the world, it becomes easy and convenient to assume that there is no other way to carry the momentum of the working class forward than through practice. While it is true that practice and actions respond to the material conditions, Leninism (and by extent, [[Marxism–Leninism|Marxism-Leninism]]) views that theory is a fundamentally powerful and indispensable tool for the [[Proletariat|working-class]] if it can be linked with revolutionary practice. Lenin writes this well-known line:

''Without a revolutionary theory there can be no revolutionary movement''<ref>{{Citation|author=Vladimir Lenin|year=1902|title=What is to be done?|title-url=https://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1901/witbd/index.htm|chapter=Dogmatism and "Freedom of Criticism"|chapter-url=https://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1901/witbd/i.htm}}</ref>

The Leninist focus on the importance of theory comes with the belief that as the material conditions of the world evolve, the role of correct theory will not only help guide the masses in understanding the functions and workings of the world but also direct them through practice in the correct direction in the present time and towards the future.

==See Also==
[[Leninism:Quotes]]

== References ==
<references />
[[Category:Leninism]]

Leninism

2023-11-06T05:36:17Z

Liang: Added a subheading for self-criticism

Second International

2023-11-04T04:58:46Z

Liang: Added on the political positions (will continue paragraph 3 another time)

The '''Second International''' was an international [[Marxism|Marxist]] organization that existed from 1889 to 1914. It was mostly based in [[Europe]] and [[North America]] but gave support to [[Anti-colonialism|anticolonial]] movements in the [[Global North and South|Global South]]. The International collapsed in 1914 when it broke into groups supporting different sides of the [[First World War]].<ref name=":0">{{News citation|author=Mike Taber|newspaper=[[Monthly Review]]|title=The Second International’s Conflicted Legacy|date=2022-06-28|url=https://mronline.org/2022/06/28/the-second-internationals-conflicted-legacy/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220629034908/https://mronline.org/2022/06/28/the-second-internationals-conflicted-legacy/|archive-date=2022-06-29|retrieved=2022-06-29}}</ref>

== Political positions ==
At its first congress in 1889, the Second International stated that [[socialism]] cannot occur without a [[proletarian revolution]]. It advocated for the eight-hour work day, state-sponsored insurance and pensions, public education, and women's suffrage. The International prioritized the [[proletariat]] and did not make alliances with the [[Peasantry|peasants]] or [[petty bourgeoisie]].<ref name=":0" />

The opinions of contemporary figures that were oppose to the positions of the Second International such as [[Vladimir Lenin|Lenin]] and [[Joseph Stalin|Stalin]] viewed them as referencing Marx and Engels' writings but usurping its revolutionary meanings. They labeled the Second Internationalists as "opportunists" where instead of advocating for the smashing of the bourgeois machinery by revolution, the Second International sought to "kill capitalism by legal means" and advocating a position that were in line with parliamentary diplomacy and scheming.<ref>{{Citation|author=Joseph Stalin|year=1924|title=Foundations of Leninism|title-url=https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/stalin/works/1924/foundations-leninism/index.htm|chapter=Method|chapter-url=https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/stalin/works/1924/foundations-leninism/ch02.htm|quote=This was the period of the relatively peaceful development of capitalism, the pre-war period, so to speak, when the catastrophic contradictions of imperialism had not yet became so glaringly evident, when workers' economic strikes and trade unions were developing more or less "normally," when election campaigns and parliamentary groups yielded "dizzying" successes, when legal forms of struggle were lauded to the skies, and when it was thought that capitalism would be "killed" by legal means-in short, when the parties of the Second International were living in clover and had no inclination to think seriously about revolution, about the dictatorship of the proletariat, about the revolutionary education of the masses.}}</ref>

Stalin listed three essential dogmas of the Second International that were hindering the efforts of the proletariat movement:

# They assert that '''the proletariat cannot assume power unless it constitutes a majority in the country'''. Lenin replied to this assertion by stating that should there be a moment in history such as a war where the proletariat could rally around the working masses, the proletariat must take advantage of a favourable international and national situation to seize power and hasten the piercing of capital.
# That '''the proletariat cannot retain power if it lacks an adequate number of trained cultural and administrative cadres capable of organising the administration of the country''', further asserting that '''the cadres would first have to be trained under capitalist conditions before taking power'''. Lenin then turned the assertion on its head by assuming that the proletariat first take power, create the favourable conditions for the development of the proletariat, before proceeding to raise the cultural level of the labouring masses and to train numerous cadres of leaders and administrators from among the workers. Stalin further adds that the experience of the Russian revolutionaries has smashed this assertion.
# That proletariat cannot accept the method of the political general strike because it is unsound in theory and dangerous in practice as it may disturb the normal course of economic life. In referencing Engels in their reply, Leninists countered by saying that Engels was not opposed to every kind of general strike, only the ones advocated by Anarchists instead of the ones advocated by the proletariat.

One of the biggest issues stemming from the Second International is what seems to be a myriad of slogans and resolutions that results in a lack of practical experience. In his political pamphlet, Left-Wing Communism, Lenin states that:<blockquote>Their (Bolsheviks) creation is facilitated by a correct revolutionary theory, which, in its turn, is not a dogma, but assumes final shape only in close connection with the practical activity of a truly mass and truly revolutionary movement.<ref>{{Citation|author=Vladimir Lenin|year=1920|title="Left-Wing" Communism: An Infantile Disorder|title-url=https://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1920/lwc/index.htm|chapter=An Essential Condition of the Bolsheviks’ Success|chapter-url=https://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1920/lwc/ch02.htm}}</ref></blockquote>

== Factions ==
During the First World War, the Second International split into three factions: social-chauvinists who supported the war such as [[Georgi Plekhanov|Plekhanov]] and [[Philipp Scheidemann|Scheidemann]], [[Proletarian revolution|internationalist]] [[Anti-imperialism|anti-imperialists]] including [[Vladimir Lenin|Lenin]], [[Rosa Luxemburg|Luxemburg]], and [[Karl Liebknecht|Liebknecht]], and [[Opportunism|opportunist]] centrists such as [[Karl Kautsky|Kautsky]] who varied between the two sides.<ref>{{Citation|author=[[Vladimir Lenin]]|year=1917|title=The Tasks of the Proletariat in Our Revolution|chapter=The Situation within the Socialist International|chapter-url=https://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1917/tasks/ch10.htm|mia=https://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1917/tasks/index.htm}}</ref>

== See also ==

* [[Communist International (1919–1943)]]

== References ==
<references />
[[Category:Socialism]]
[[Category:Marxism]]

Leninism

2023-10-30T08:23:40Z

Liang: Added a brief description of the historical development of leninism

Leninism

2023-10-30T07:41:00Z

Liang: Added a new heading to start

Leninism

2023-10-30T07:24:53Z

Liang: Added a photo of Lenin

File:Vladimir Lenin.jpg

2023-10-30T07:21:35Z

Liang:

Vladimir Lenin, who was the namesake of Leninism developed his advancement of Marxism in accordance with the material conditions of the 20th century

Leninism

2023-10-25T02:38:27Z

Liang: Adding Stalin's definition of Leninism

'''Leninism''' is the term used to describe the theoretical and practical methods advanced by [[Vladimir Lenin]] and the [[Bolsheviks]] in the subject of organization, agitation and propaganda, [[revolution]] and maintenance of the [[dictatorship of the proletariat]]. It was advocated as a current of political thought in 1924 by [[Joseph Stalin]] in his work ''The foundations of Leninism''.<ref>{{Citation|author=[[Joseph Stalin]]|year=1924|title=Foundations of Leninism|chapter=|section=|page=|quote=|pdf=|city=|publisher=|isbn=|doi=|lg=|mia=https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/stalin/works/1924/foundations-leninism/index.htm|title-url=|chapter-url=|trans-title=|trans-lang=}}</ref> It was later taught as a coherent unity with [[Marxism]] under the term [[Marxism–Leninism|Marxism-Leninism]].

== Definition ==
Stalin, being one of Lenin's staunchest defenders and advocates, has defined Leninism to be an advancement of Marxism from that of under [[Karl Marx|Marx]] and [[Friedrich Engels|Engels]] into the era of [[imperialism]] in the 20th century. It is the theory and tactics of the proletarian revolution in general, and the theory and tactics of the proletarian. What places Leninism as an advancement is that Marxism in the 19th century was pursued in the pre-revolutionary period when imperialism was not yet fully developed. Leninism was pursued in the 20th century when imperialism was already developed.<ref>{{Citation|author=Joseph Stalin|year=1924|title=The Foundations of Leninism|title-url=https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/stalin/works/1924/foundations-leninism/index.htm|chapter=Introduction|chapter-url=https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/stalin/works/1924/foundations-leninism/introduction.htm|quote=Leninism is Marxism of the era of imperialism and the proletarian revolution. To be more exact, Leninism is the theory and tactics of the proletarian revolution in general, the theory and tactics of the dictatorship of the proletariat in particular. Marx and Engels pursued their activities in the pre-revolutionary period, (we have the proletarian revolution in mind), when developed imperialism did not yet exist, in the period of the proletarians’ preparation for revolution, in the period when the proletarian revolution was not yet an immediate practical inevitability. But Lenin, the disciple of Marx and Engels, pursued his activities in the period of developed imperialism, in the period of the unfolding proletarian revolution, when the proletarian revolution had already triumphed in one country, had smashed bourgeois democracy and had ushered in the era of proletarian democracy, the era of the Soviets.}}</ref>

==See Also==
[[Leninism:Quotes]]

== References ==
<references />
[[Category:Leninism]]

Socialism

2023-10-18T08:35:21Z

Liang: Adding a quote

'''Socialism''' is a [[mode of production]]<ref>https://www.marxists.org/subject/economy/authors/pe/pe-ch23.htm</ref> and transitional phase<ref>https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1875/gotha/</ref> between two other [[Mode of production|modes of production]], [[capitalism]] and [[communism]], characterized by [[Proletariat|workers]]' ownership of the [[means of production]], achieved through the expropriation of the [[bourgeoisie]] by a [[dictatorship of the proletariat]]. Socialist economies are based on central [[Planned economy|economic planning]], absence of the profit-motive and [[collectivization]].

The [[Scientific socialism|scientific socialist]] definition of the term, as used by [[Marxism–Leninism|Marxist–Leninists]], refers to a particular stage of historical development -- specifically the transitional state between the capitalist and communist modes of production (for this reason, it is also known as "the lower stage of communism", although it is generally considered distinct enough from communism to constitute its own separate mode of production).<ref>https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/stalin/works/1951/economic-problems/ch02.htm</ref> However, the term "socialism" is often misused in broader left-wing discourse to denote public works, [[Social democracy|welfare programmes]] and/or [[State capitalism|small-scale forms of economic planning]] practiced by capitalist countries.

Among the first successful experiments in the scientific development of socialist economics was the [[Soviet Union]] in the late 1920s, when the the means of production were brought under social ownership, namely the land and [[Agriculture|agricultural]] economy was brought under the ownership of the state and expropriated from private landowners called [[Kulak|kulaks]].

Socialism can be summarized by the motto ''"From each according to their ability, to each according to their work."''

== Means of production ==

=== Industry ===
Socialist industry is highly concentrated and technically advanced and based on public ownership. Heavy industry is the basis of a socialist economy. Economic concentration is planned to benefit the entire population.<ref name=":0">{{Citation|author=Economics Institute of the Academy of Sciences of the U.S.S.R|year=1954|title=Political Economy|chapter=The Material Production Basis of Socialism|page=|pdf=https://revolutionarydemocracy.org/archive/PoliticalEconomy.pdf|city=London|publisher=Lawrence & Wishart|chapter-url=https://www.marxists.org/subject/economy/authors/pe/pe-ch27.htm|mia=https://www.marxists.org/subject/economy/authors/pe/index.htm|section=}}</ref>

=== Agriculture ===
Socialist agriculture organizes the scattered [[Peasantry|peasant]] economy into large-scale collective and state farms. It is highly mechanized and uses machinery such as tractors and grain harvesters.<ref name=":0" />

== Contradictions ==
As socialism is a way of organizing society that lies somewhere between capitalism and communism, it naturally retains properties of both systems. This is due to the [[Materialism|material]] reality of the world and, in short, that one cannot simply erase the past (capitalism and all that it built and led to) but must work with it when going through revolution. For example, the people that comprised the bourgeoisie in capitalism will still be alive and here in socialism, they are not going anywhere and the revolutionary state must decide what to do with them. The same goes for factories that were built under a capitalist framework (leading for example to highly specialised towns that were known for producing only steel and are now very poor due to the mass closing down of steel plants that happened in the [[Global North and South|Global North]]) : these are things that the revolutionary socialist state will inherit and have to work with.

Communism can be succinctly described as the complete abolishment of [[private property]], which is specifically the [[means of production]] or, in other words, the tools, machines, resources and locations used to produce economically and socially relevant products. In ''[[Principles of communism]],'' [[Friedrich Engels]] describes the conditions for the birth and the abolishment of [[private property]]. The abolition of private property is only possible under the condition that it becomes necessary to develop the productive forces of society.<ref>{{Citation|author=[[Friedrich Engels]]|year=1847|title=[[Library:Principles of communism|Principles of communism]]|chapter=[[Library:Principles of communism#Was_not_the_abolition_of_private_property_possible_at_an_earlier_time?|Was not the abolition of private property possible at an earlier time?]]|quote=<b>Was not the abolition of private property possible at an earlier time?</b>
No. Every change in the social order, every revolution in property relations, is the necessary consequence of the creation of new forces of production which no longer fit into the old property relations.
Private property has not always existed.
When, towards the end of the Middle Ages, there arose a new mode of production which could not be carried on under the then existing feudal and guild forms of property, this manufacture, which had outgrown the old property relations, created a new property form, private property. And for manufacture and the earliest stage of development of big industry, private property was the only possible property form; the social order based on it was the only possible social order.
[...]
Now, however, the development of big industry has ushered in a new period. Capital and the forces of production have been expanded to an unprecedented extent, and the means are at hand to multiply them without limit in the near future. Moreover, the forces of production have been concentrated in the hands of a few bourgeois, while the great mass of the people are more and more falling into the proletariat, their situation becoming more wretched and intolerable in proportion to the increase of wealth of the bourgeoisie. And finally, these mighty and easily extended forces of production have so far outgrown private property and the bourgeoisie, that they threaten at any moment to unleash the most violent disturbances of the social order. Now, under these conditions, the abolition of private property has become not only possible but absolutely necessary.}}</ref>

[[Personal property]], items that are relevant to private usage, exists in socialism and communism.

In [[China]], for example, the financial system, energy, oil, insurance, education and aerospace sectors are all under strong government control, with state-owned enterprises directing the majority of these sectors' resources and manpower in accordance with China's various [[Five-year plans of China|5-year plans]]. Through the guidance of China's [[Communist Party of China|vanguard party]], China is steadily socializing its bourgeois elements.

At the same time, there are large privately-owned, capitalist enterprises, such as in the real estate industry. These are kept on a tight leash, preventing them from being able to turn their economic power into political power. Thus we see the characteristics of both. These two contradictory halves ebb and flow with the aggregate effect being a country whose socialist economy has grown 2-3 times faster than the capitalist [[USA]] for the past 30 years.

=== Socialism as the First Phase of Communism ===
<blockquote>But the scientific difference between Socialism and Communism is clear. What is usually called Socialism was termed by Marx the "first" or lower phase of communist society. </blockquote>[[Vladimir Lenin]] in [[The State & Revolution]] develops Marx's analysis in [[Critique of the Gotha Program]] of not only in how a socialist society would function but he also attacks the misconception that under socialism, workers will receive the full extent of his or her labour. In Lenin's analysis and interpretation, he maintains that Marxists are not utopians who would assume that wealth inequality would vanish overnight in a socialist society. He makes it clear that as a socialist society is: <blockquote>A society which has just emerged into the light of day out of the womb of capitalism and which, in every respect, bears the birthmarks of the old society<ref>{{Citation|author=Vladimir Lenin|year=1917|title=The State & Revolution|title-url=https://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1917/staterev/index.htm|chapter=Chapter V - The Economic Basis of the Withering Away of the State|chapter-url=https://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1917/staterev/ch05.htm|section=The First Phase of Communist Society}}</ref></blockquote>As such, socialism is marked as the first phase of communism. In this phase, the differences and injustice in wealth will still exist but makes it clear what ''will'' disappear is the ability for one person to exploit another due to their inability to seize the [[means of production]] by the conversion of private property into common property. This in turn is directly related to abolishing of bourgeois right to private property. However, it does not mean that "bourgeois rights" disappear as a whole. On the contrary, in this first stage, the bourgeoisie continue to receive certain rights related to the capacity of regulator (determining factor) in the distribution of products and the allotment of labour among the members of society.

This stage, although admitted by Lenin and Marx to be a "defect", Lenin's reiteration that Marxists are not utopians justifies this stage:<blockquote>...if we are not to indulge in utopianism, we must not think that having overthrown capitalism people will at once learn to work for society without any standard of right; and indeed the abolition of capitalism does not immediately create the economic premises for such a change, and indeed the abolition of capitalism does not immediately create the economic premises for such a change.</blockquote>From Lenin's quote, it is clear that contradictions will continue to occur but the curtailing of bourgeois rights in relation to their ability to own the means of production for the time being until the material conditions will set the higher stage of communism.

== Library works ==

* [[Library:Socialism: utopian and scientific|Socialism: utopian and scientific]] by [[Engels|Friedrich Engels]]

== External Links ==
''please use these external links to improve this page''

* [[wikipedia:Socialism|Wikipedia]] ([[Wikipedia|about]])
* [https://leftypedia.org/wiki/Socialism Leftypedia] ([[Leftypedia|about]])
* EcuRed ([https://www.ecured.cu/Socialismo Spanish], [https://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=es&tl=en&u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ecured.cu%2FSocialismo English auto translated]) ([[EcuRed|about]])

[[Category:Modes of production]]
[[pt:Socialismo]]
[[fr:Socialisme]]

Socialism

2023-10-17T07:05:08Z

Liang: Adding First Phase of Communism

'''Socialism''' is a [[mode of production]]<ref>https://www.marxists.org/subject/economy/authors/pe/pe-ch23.htm</ref> and transitional phase<ref>https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1875/gotha/</ref> between two other [[Mode of production|modes of production]], [[capitalism]] and [[communism]], characterized by [[Proletariat|workers]]' ownership of the [[means of production]], achieved through the expropriation of the [[bourgeoisie]] by a [[dictatorship of the proletariat]]. Socialist economies are based on central [[Planned economy|economic planning]], absence of the profit-motive and [[collectivization]].

The [[Scientific socialism|scientific socialist]] definition of the term, as used by [[Marxism–Leninism|Marxist–Leninists]], refers to a particular stage of historical development -- specifically the transitional state between the capitalist and communist modes of production (for this reason, it is also known as "the lower stage of communism", although it is generally considered distinct enough from communism to constitute its own separate mode of production).<ref>https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/stalin/works/1951/economic-problems/ch02.htm</ref> However, the term "socialism" is often misused in broader left-wing discourse to denote public works, [[Social democracy|welfare programmes]] and/or [[State capitalism|small-scale forms of economic planning]] practiced by capitalist countries.

Among the first successful experiments in the scientific development of socialist economics was the [[Soviet Union]] in the late 1920s, when the the means of production were brought under social ownership, namely the land and [[Agriculture|agricultural]] economy was brought under the ownership of the state and expropriated from private landowners called [[Kulak|kulaks]].

Socialism can be summarized by the motto ''"From each according to their ability, to each according to their work."''

== Means of production ==

=== Industry ===
Socialist industry is highly concentrated and technically advanced and based on public ownership. Heavy industry is the basis of a socialist economy. Economic concentration is planned to benefit the entire population.<ref name=":0">{{Citation|author=Economics Institute of the Academy of Sciences of the U.S.S.R|year=1954|title=Political Economy|chapter=The Material Production Basis of Socialism|page=|pdf=https://revolutionarydemocracy.org/archive/PoliticalEconomy.pdf|city=London|publisher=Lawrence & Wishart|chapter-url=https://www.marxists.org/subject/economy/authors/pe/pe-ch27.htm|mia=https://www.marxists.org/subject/economy/authors/pe/index.htm|section=}}</ref>

=== Agriculture ===
Socialist agriculture organizes the scattered [[Peasantry|peasant]] economy into large-scale collective and state farms. It is highly mechanized and uses machinery such as tractors and grain harvesters.<ref name=":0" />

== Contradictions ==
As socialism is a way of organizing society that lies somewhere between capitalism and communism, it naturally retains properties of both systems. This is due to the [[Materialism|material]] reality of the world and, in short, that one cannot simply erase the past (capitalism and all that it built and led to) but must work with it when going through revolution. For example, the people that comprised the bourgeoisie in capitalism will still be alive and here in socialism, they are not going anywhere and the revolutionary state must decide what to do with them. The same goes for factories that were built under a capitalist framework (leading for example to highly specialised towns that were known for producing only steel and are now very poor due to the mass closing down of steel plants that happened in the [[Global North and South|Global North]]) : these are things that the revolutionary socialist state will inherit and have to work with.

Communism can be succinctly described as the complete abolishment of [[private property]], which is specifically the [[means of production]] or, in other words, the tools, machines, resources and locations used to produce economically and socially relevant products. In ''[[Principles of communism]],'' [[Friedrich Engels]] describes the conditions for the birth and the abolishment of [[private property]]. The abolition of private property is only possible under the condition that it becomes necessary to develop the productive forces of society.<ref>{{Citation|author=[[Friedrich Engels]]|year=1847|title=[[Library:Principles of communism|Principles of communism]]|chapter=[[Library:Principles of communism#Was_not_the_abolition_of_private_property_possible_at_an_earlier_time?|Was not the abolition of private property possible at an earlier time?]]|quote=<b>Was not the abolition of private property possible at an earlier time?</b>
No. Every change in the social order, every revolution in property relations, is the necessary consequence of the creation of new forces of production which no longer fit into the old property relations.
Private property has not always existed.
When, towards the end of the Middle Ages, there arose a new mode of production which could not be carried on under the then existing feudal and guild forms of property, this manufacture, which had outgrown the old property relations, created a new property form, private property. And for manufacture and the earliest stage of development of big industry, private property was the only possible property form; the social order based on it was the only possible social order.
[...]
Now, however, the development of big industry has ushered in a new period. Capital and the forces of production have been expanded to an unprecedented extent, and the means are at hand to multiply them without limit in the near future. Moreover, the forces of production have been concentrated in the hands of a few bourgeois, while the great mass of the people are more and more falling into the proletariat, their situation becoming more wretched and intolerable in proportion to the increase of wealth of the bourgeoisie. And finally, these mighty and easily extended forces of production have so far outgrown private property and the bourgeoisie, that they threaten at any moment to unleash the most violent disturbances of the social order. Now, under these conditions, the abolition of private property has become not only possible but absolutely necessary.}}</ref>

[[Personal property]], items that are relevant to private usage, exists in socialism and communism.

In [[China]], for example, the financial system, energy, oil, insurance, education and aerospace sectors are all under strong government control, with state-owned enterprises directing the majority of these sectors' resources and manpower in accordance with China's various [[Five-year plans of China|5-year plans]]. Through the guidance of China's [[Communist Party of China|vanguard party]], China is steadily socializing its bourgeois elements.

At the same time, there are large privately-owned, capitalist enterprises, such as in the real estate industry. These are kept on a tight leash, preventing them from being able to turn their economic power into political power. Thus we see the characteristics of both. These two contradictory halves ebb and flow with the aggregate effect being a country whose socialist economy has grown 2-3 times faster than the capitalist [[USA]] for the past 30 years.

=== Socialism as the First Phase of Communism ===
[[Vladimir Lenin]] in [[The State & Revolution]] develops Marx's analysis in [[Critique of the Gotha Program]] of not only in how a socialist society would function but he also attacks the misconception that under socialism, workers will receive the full extent of his or her labour. In Lenin's analysis and interpretation, he maintains that Marxists are not utopians who would assume that wealth inequality would vanish overnight in a socialist society. He makes it clear that as a socialist society is: <blockquote>A society which has just emerged into the light of day out of the womb of capitalism and which, in every respect, bears the birthmarks of the old society<ref>{{Citation|author=Vladimir Lenin|year=1917|title=The State & Revolution|title-url=https://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1917/staterev/index.htm|chapter=Chapter V - The Economic Basis of the Withering Away of the State|chapter-url=https://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1917/staterev/ch05.htm|section=The First Phase of Communist Society}}</ref></blockquote>As such, socialism is marked as the first phase of communism. In this phase, the differences and injustice in wealth will still exist but makes it clear what ''will'' disappear is the ability for one person to exploit another due to their inability to seize the [[means of production]] by the conversion of private property into common property. This in turn is directly related to abolishing of bourgeois right to private property. However, it does not mean that "bourgeois rights" disappear as a whole. On the contrary, in this first stage, the bourgeoisie continue to receive certain rights related to the capacity of regulator (determining factor) in the distribution of products and the allotment of labour among the members of society.

This stage, although admitted by Lenin and Marx to be a "defect", Lenin's reiteration that Marxists are not utopians justifies this stage:<blockquote>...if we are not to indulge in utopianism, we must not think that having overthrown capitalism people will at once learn to work for society without any standard of right; and indeed the abolition of capitalism does not immediately create the economic premises for such a change, and indeed the abolition of capitalism does not immediately create the economic premises for such a change.</blockquote>From Lenin's quote, it is clear that contradictions will continue to occur but the curtailing of bourgeois rights in relation to their ability to own the means of production for the time being until the material conditions will set the higher stage of communism.

== Library works ==

* [[Library:Socialism: utopian and scientific|Socialism: utopian and scientific]] by [[Engels|Friedrich Engels]]

== External Links ==
''please use these external links to improve this page''

* [[wikipedia:Socialism|Wikipedia]] ([[Wikipedia|about]])
* [https://leftypedia.org/wiki/Socialism Leftypedia] ([[Leftypedia|about]])
* EcuRed ([https://www.ecured.cu/Socialismo Spanish], [https://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=es&tl=en&u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ecured.cu%2FSocialismo English auto translated]) ([[EcuRed|about]])

[[Category:Modes of production]]
[[pt:Socialismo]]
[[fr:Socialisme]]

Democracy

2023-10-16T04:07:42Z

Liang: Adding Lenin's analysis on the withering of democracy

[[File:Mao voting.png|thumb|360x360px|[[Mao Zedong|Mao]] voting in the 1954 election in [[People's Republic of China|China]]]]
'''Democracy''', as of common consensus, as a concept, was formally conceived by the [[Ancient Greece|ancient Greeks]]. The word “democracy” comes from two Greek words being: people (''demos''), and rule (''kratos''). By popular definition, democracy is a method of rule wherein the populace have common power, as in the people have an active role within the steering and guidance of the [[state]]. Contrary to common conception, “democracy” is not a system within itself, but a basis upon which political organizations and structures are formed. Democracy became the method of rule within Athens, a part of the [[Base and superstructure|superstructure]], so to speak, however within the bounds of the [[Base and superstructure|material base]]. In [[Slavery|slave societies]], the only people eligible to participate were so-called “free men”, which did not include women, children, and [[Slavery|slaves]], who made up the majority of the population.

{{quote|'''Freedom in [[capitalist]] society always remains about the same as it was in ancient Greek republics: Freedom for slave owners.'''|[[Vladimir Lenin|Vladimir Ilyich Lenin]]}}

== Interpretations ==
Democracy in modernity has been split into many categories and has been countlessly interpreted and, at times, vulgarized by [[Bourgeoisie|bourgeois]] thinkers. It may be noted that “democracy”, in all of its forms, are indeed a progressive force comparatively to the political systems proceeding it. Even the simplest [[Bourgeois democracy|liberal democracy]] serving the interests of the [[ruling class]], is still superior to a direct dictatorship by class interests.

== Bourgeois democracy ==
[[File:Democracy poll.png|thumb|A majority of [[People's Republic of China|Chinese]] and [[Republic of India|Indian]] people believe their countries are more democratic than the [[Imperial core|West]] in addition to a large minority from [[Republic of Turkey|Turkey]] and [[Russian Federation|Russia]].]]
In practice, bourgeois democracies, or capitalist democracies, are a form of the [[dictatorship of the bourgeoisie]]. Capitalists and [[Landlord|landlords]] control 90% of newspapers and meeting halls and prevent workers from controlling the state through [[Private property|bourgeois property]] laws.<ref>{{Citation|author=[[Vladimir Lenin]]|year=1918|title=“Democracy” and Dictatorship|mia=https://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1918/dec/23.htm}}</ref>

[[Deng Xiaoping]] argued that bourgeois democracy was,

'...no more than a system of multiparty elections, separation of judicial, executive and legislative powers, and a bicameral legislature.'

He argued that rather than having a bourgeois democracy in China, there was a people's democracy.<ref>{{Citation|author=Xi Jinping|year=2022|title=The Governance of China|chapter-url=https://en.qstheory.cn/2023-07/21/c_904217.htm|section=Whole-Process People's Democracy: The Most Extensive, Genuine and Effective Socialist Democracy|city=Beijing|publisher=Foreign Language Press Co. Ltd|isbn=978-7-119-13094-1|volume=IV|trans-title=习近平谈治国理政}}</ref>

Lenin in Chapter 5 of [[Library:The state and revolution|State and Revolution]] declares, <blockquote>Democracy for an insignificant minority, democracy for the rich--that is the democracy of capitalist society. If we look more closely into the machinery of capitalist democracy, we see everywhere, in the “petty”--supposedly petty--details of the suffrage (residential qualifications, exclusion of women, etc.), in the technique of the representative institutions, in the actual obstacles to the right of assembly (public buildings are not for “paupers”!), in the purely capitalist organization of the daily press, etc., etc.,--we see restriction after restriction upon democracy. These restrictions, exceptions, exclusions, obstacles for the poor seem slight, especially in the eyes of one who has never known want himself and has never been in close contact with the oppressed classes in their mass life (and nine out of 10, if not 99 out of 100, bourgeois publicists and politicians come under this category); but in their sum total these restrictions exclude and squeeze out the poor from politics, from active participation in democracy.</blockquote>This minority rule of the tiny unelected group, the capitalist class in politics mirrors the daily work life of workers throughout the world. Why is the workplace decisions of what to produce, where to produce and how to produce are left to the undemocratic and short-sighted profit-seeking of capitalists? The individual enterprise is the smallest cell of capitalist democracies. With capitalists organizing together along class lines to run the political system made up of all these workplaces. Democracy for the 1%.

In essential terms, what Lenin declares remains that democracy, especially in a republic may seem to be complete from the outside, but if the true nature and origins of the said republic (or if need be, a modern day constitutional monarchy) remains [[Capitalism|capitalist]], the laws of democracy will always be set against the majority, which is the [[Proletariat|working class]] and only benefiting the [[Bourgeoisie|minority]] and the absolutely rich. This in itself is already detrimental to the political participation of the working class as due to the conditions of the capitalist exploitations in wages, the working class would be far more concerned about their material existence (poverty and survival) that they “they cannot be bothered with democracy” and “they cannot be bothered with politics”, hindering them from democratic participation.

== Proletarian Democracy ==

=== Vladimir Lenin ===

In keeping with the [[Marxism|Marxist]] understanding of democracy, Lenin declares that true democracy for the majority cannot be realised without first [[Dictatorship of the proletariat|organising them into the ruling class]]. Once this has occurred, there will be an expansion of democracy as it will finally be a democracy for the poor and for the people, and not for the moneybags. Lenin makes it exceedingly clear as well that there is an absolute need for the proletariat to heavily impose restrictions on the rights of the oppressors, that is to say, the rights of the exploiters, oppressors and capitalists must be curtailed. Lenin justifies by stating that in transitioning from a capitalist society into a communist society, it is necessary to suppress them in order to free humanity from [[wage slavery]], and that any resistance from them must be crushed by force.<blockquote>Democracy for the vast majority of people, and suppression by force, i.e. exclusion from democracy of the exploiters and oppressors of the people—this is the change democracy undergoes during the transition from capitalism to Communism.<ref>{{Citation|author=Vladimir Lenin|year=1917|title=The State & Revolution|title-url=https://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1917/staterev/index.htm|chapter=Chapter V - The Economic Basis of the Withering Away of the State|chapter-url=https://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1917/staterev/ch05.htm}}</ref></blockquote>Lenin remains resolute in his understanding of what constitutes democracy. The necessity of the proletariat as the ruling class and the suppression of the bourgeoisie are necessary for the pathway towards the [[Withering away of the state|withering of the state]]. Once the capitalists and any resistance they may put up be crushed and when there is no more distinction towards [[Social class|class]], true democracy can be realised. After that, only can democracy as well start to wither away.<blockquote>Communism alone is capable of giving really complete democracy, and the more complete it is the more quickly will it become unnecessary and wither away of itself.</blockquote>

== See also ==
* [[Democratic centralism]]
* [[Centralism]]

== References ==
[[Category:Political terminology]]
<references />
[[Category:Political economy]]

Democracy

2023-10-16T03:13:53Z

Liang: Adding a Proletarian Democracy Heading

[[File:Mao voting.png|thumb|360x360px|[[Mao Zedong|Mao]] voting in the 1954 election in [[People's Republic of China|China]]]]
'''Democracy''', as of common consensus, as a concept, was formally conceived by the [[Ancient Greece|ancient Greeks]]. The word “democracy” comes from two Greek words being: people (''demos''), and rule (''kratos''). By popular definition, democracy is a method of rule wherein the populace have common power, as in the people have an active role within the steering and guidance of the [[state]]. Contrary to common conception, “democracy” is not a system within itself, but a basis upon which political organizations and structures are formed. Democracy became the method of rule within Athens, a part of the [[Base and superstructure|superstructure]], so to speak, however within the bounds of the [[Base and superstructure|material base]]. In [[Slavery|slave societies]], the only people eligible to participate were so-called “free men”, which did not include women, children, and [[Slavery|slaves]], who made up the majority of the population.

{{quote|'''Freedom in [[capitalist]] society always remains about the same as it was in ancient Greek republics: Freedom for slave owners.'''|[[Vladimir Lenin|Vladimir Ilyich Lenin]]}}

== Interpretations ==
Democracy in modernity has been split into many categories and has been countlessly interpreted and, at times, vulgarized by [[Bourgeoisie|bourgeois]] thinkers. It may be noted that “democracy”, in all of its forms, are indeed a progressive force comparatively to the political systems proceeding it. Even the simplest [[Bourgeois democracy|liberal democracy]] serving the interests of the [[ruling class]], is still superior to a direct dictatorship by class interests.

== Bourgeois democracy ==
[[File:Democracy poll.png|thumb|A majority of [[People's Republic of China|Chinese]] and [[Republic of India|Indian]] people believe their countries are more democratic than the [[Imperial core|West]] in addition to a large minority from [[Republic of Turkey|Turkey]] and [[Russian Federation|Russia]].]]
In practice, bourgeois democracies, or capitalist democracies, are a form of the [[dictatorship of the bourgeoisie]]. Capitalists and [[Landlord|landlords]] control 90% of newspapers and meeting halls and prevent workers from controlling the state through [[Private property|bourgeois property]] laws.<ref>{{Citation|author=[[Vladimir Lenin]]|year=1918|title=“Democracy” and Dictatorship|mia=https://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1918/dec/23.htm}}</ref>

[[Deng Xiaoping]] argued that bourgeois democracy was,

'...no more than a system of multiparty elections, separation of judicial, executive and legislative powers, and a bicameral legislature.'

He argued that rather than having a bourgeois democracy in China, there was a people's democracy.<ref>{{Citation|author=Xi Jinping|year=2022|title=The Governance of China|chapter-url=https://en.qstheory.cn/2023-07/21/c_904217.htm|section=Whole-Process People's Democracy: The Most Extensive, Genuine and Effective Socialist Democracy|city=Beijing|publisher=Foreign Language Press Co. Ltd|isbn=978-7-119-13094-1|volume=IV|trans-title=习近平谈治国理政}}</ref>

Lenin in Chapter 5 of [[Library:The state and revolution|State and Revolution]] declares, <blockquote>Democracy for an insignificant minority, democracy for the rich--that is the democracy of capitalist society. If we look more closely into the machinery of capitalist democracy, we see everywhere, in the “petty”--supposedly petty--details of the suffrage (residential qualifications, exclusion of women, etc.), in the technique of the representative institutions, in the actual obstacles to the right of assembly (public buildings are not for “paupers”!), in the purely capitalist organization of the daily press, etc., etc.,--we see restriction after restriction upon democracy. These restrictions, exceptions, exclusions, obstacles for the poor seem slight, especially in the eyes of one who has never known want himself and has never been in close contact with the oppressed classes in their mass life (and nine out of 10, if not 99 out of 100, bourgeois publicists and politicians come under this category); but in their sum total these restrictions exclude and squeeze out the poor from politics, from active participation in democracy.</blockquote>This minority rule of the tiny unelected group, the capitalist class in politics mirrors the daily work life of workers throughout the world. Why is the workplace decisions of what to produce, where to produce and how to produce are left to the undemocratic and short-sighted profit-seeking of capitalists? The individual enterprise is the smallest cell of capitalist democracies. With capitalists organizing together along class lines to run the political system made up of all these workplaces. Democracy for the 1%.

In essential terms, what Lenin declares remains that democracy, especially in a republic may seem to be complete from the outside, but if the true nature and origins of the said republic (or if need be, a modern day constitutional monarchy) remains [[Capitalism|capitalist]], the laws of democracy will always be set against the majority, which is the [[Proletariat|working class]] and only benefiting the [[Bourgeoisie|minority]] and the absolutely rich. This in itself is already detrimental to the political participation of the working class as due to the conditions of the capitalist exploitations in wages, the working class would be far more concerned about their material existence (poverty and survival) that they “they cannot be bothered with democracy” and “they cannot be bothered with politics”, hindering them from democratic participation.

== Proletarian Democracy ==

=== Vladimir Lenin ===
In keeping with the [[Marxism|Marxist]] understanding of democracy, Lenin declares that true democracy for the majority cannot be realised without first [[Dictatorship of the proletariat|organising them into the ruling class]]. Once this has occurred, there will be an expansion of democracy as it will finally be a democracy for the poor and for the people, and not for the moneybags. Lenin makes it exceedingly clear as well that there is an absolute need for the proletariat to heavily impose restrictions on the rights of the oppressors, that is to say, the rights of the exploiters, oppressors and capitalists must be curtailed. Lenin justifies by stating that in transitioning from a capitalist society into a communist society, it is necessary to suppress them in order to free humanity from [[wage slavery]], and that any resistance from them must be crushed by force.<blockquote>Democracy for the vast majority of people, and suppression by force, i.e. exclusion from democracy of the exploiters and oppressors of the people—this is the change democracy undergoes during the transition from capitalism to Communism.<ref>{{Citation|author=Vladimir Lenin|year=1917|title=The State & Revolution|title-url=https://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1917/staterev/index.htm|chapter=Chapter V - The Economic Basis of the Withering Away of the State|chapter-url=https://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1917/staterev/ch05.htm}}</ref></blockquote>

== See also ==
* [[Democratic centralism]]
* [[Centralism]]

== References ==
[[Category:Political terminology]]
<references />
[[Category:Political economy]]

Democracy

2023-10-16T00:09:40Z

Liang: Adding Lenin's explanation on bourgeois democracy

[[File:Mao voting.png|thumb|360x360px|[[Mao Zedong|Mao]] voting in the 1954 election in [[People's Republic of China|China]]]]
'''Democracy''', as of common consensus, as a concept, was formally conceived by the [[Ancient Greece|ancient Greeks]]. The word “democracy” comes from two Greek words being: people (''demos''), and rule (''kratos''). By popular definition, democracy is a method of rule wherein the populace have common power, as in the people have an active role within the steering and guidance of the [[state]]. Contrary to common conception, “democracy” is not a system within itself, but a basis upon which political organizations and structures are formed. Democracy became the method of rule within Athens, a part of the [[Base and superstructure|superstructure]], so to speak, however within the bounds of the [[Base and superstructure|material base]]. In [[Slavery|slave societies]], the only people eligible to participate were so-called “free men”, which did not include women, children, and [[Slavery|slaves]], who made up the majority of the population.

{{quote|'''Freedom in [[capitalist]] society always remains about the same as it was in ancient Greek republics: Freedom for slave owners.'''|[[Vladimir Lenin|Vladimir Ilyich Lenin]]}}

== Interpretations ==
Democracy in modernity has been split into many categories and has been countlessly interpreted and, at times, vulgarized by [[Bourgeoisie|bourgeois]] thinkers. It may be noted that “democracy”, in all of its forms, are indeed a progressive force comparatively to the political systems proceeding it. Even the simplest [[Bourgeois democracy|liberal democracy]] serving the interests of the [[ruling class]], is still superior to a direct dictatorship by class interests.

== Bourgeois democracy ==
[[File:Democracy poll.png|thumb|A majority of [[People's Republic of China|Chinese]] and [[Republic of India|Indian]] people believe their countries are more democratic than the [[Imperial core|West]] in addition to a large minority from [[Republic of Turkey|Turkey]] and [[Russian Federation|Russia]].]]
In practice, bourgeois democracies, or capitalist democracies, are a form of the [[dictatorship of the bourgeoisie]]. Capitalists and [[Landlord|landlords]] control 90% of newspapers and meeting halls and prevent workers from controlling the state through [[Private property|bourgeois property]] laws.<ref>{{Citation|author=[[Vladimir Lenin]]|year=1918|title=“Democracy” and Dictatorship|mia=https://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1918/dec/23.htm}}</ref>

[[Deng Xiaoping]] argued that bourgeois democracy was,

'...no more than a system of multiparty elections, separation of judicial, executive and legislative powers, and a bicameral legislature.'

He argued that rather than having a bourgeois democracy in China, there was a people's democracy.<ref>{{Citation|author=Xi Jinping|year=2022|title=The Governance of China|chapter-url=https://en.qstheory.cn/2023-07/21/c_904217.htm|section=Whole-Process People's Democracy: The Most Extensive, Genuine and Effective Socialist Democracy|city=Beijing|publisher=Foreign Language Press Co. Ltd|isbn=978-7-119-13094-1|volume=IV|trans-title=习近平谈治国理政}}</ref>

Lenin in Chapter 5 of [[Library:The state and revolution|State and Revolution]] declares,

''Democracy for an insignificant minority, democracy for the rich--that is the democracy of capitalist society. If we look more closely into the machinery of capitalist democracy, we see everywhere, in the “petty”--supposedly petty--details of the suffrage (residential qualifications, exclusion of women, etc.), in the technique of the representative institutions, in the actual obstacles to the right of assembly (public buildings are not for “paupers”!), in the purely capitalist organization of the daily press, etc., etc.,--we see restriction after restriction upon democracy. These restrictions, exceptions, exclusions, obstacles for the poor seem slight, especially in the eyes of one who has never known want himself and has never been in close contact with the oppressed classes in their mass life (and nine out of 10, if not 99 out of 100, bourgeois publicists and politicians come under this category); but in their sum total these restrictions exclude and squeeze out the poor from politics, from active participation in democracy.''

''This minority rule of the tiny unelected group, the capitalist class in politics mirrors the daily work life of workers throughout the world. Why is the workplace decisions of what to produce, where to produce and how to produce are left to the undemocratic and short-sighted profit-seeking of capitalists? The individual enterprise is the smallest cell of capitalist democracies. With capitalists organizing together along class lines to run the political system made up of all these workplaces. Democracy for the 1%.''

In essential terms, what Lenin declares remains that democracy, especially in a republic may seem to be complete from the outside, but if the true nature and origins of the said republic (or if need be, a modern day constitutional monarchy) remains [[Capitalism|capitalist]], the laws of democracy will always be set against the majority, which is the [[Proletariat|working class]] and only benefiting the [[Bourgeoisie|minority]] and the absolutely rich. This in itself is already detrimental to the political participation of the working class as due to the conditions of the capitalist exploitations in wages, the working class would be far more concerned about their material existence (poverty and survival) that they “they cannot be bothered with democracy” and “they cannot be bothered with politics”, hindering them from democratic participation.

== See also ==
* [[Democratic centralism]]
* [[Centralism]]

== References ==
[[Category:Political terminology]]
<references />
[[Category:Political economy]]

Anarchism

2023-10-11T02:29:26Z

Liang: Adding to Lenin's distinction between Marxists and anarchists

[[File:Anarchism.png|thumb|A circled A, a common anarchist symbol]]
'''Anarchism''' is political philosophy which is skeptical of authority and rejects coercive hierarchies, including the very existence of a [[state]]. While Marxists also advocate for a stateless society (a communist society), Marxists tend to criticize anarchism as [[Utopianism|utopian]] and unscientific for rejecting the transitionary phase of the [[dictatorship of the proletariat]]. The philosophical basis of anarchism is [[individualism]], [[subjectivism]] and [[voluntarism]], which can be categorized as [[Petty-bourgeoisie|petty-bourgeois]] deviations from proletarian struggle.<ref name=":0">Rosental, M.; e Iudin, P. (1973): ''Diccionario filosófico'' (p. 13). Buenos Aires: Universo, 1973.</ref> Anarchism is apart of the broader trend of [[libertarian socialism]].
==Origin==
The advent of anarchism is tied to the names of Schmidt ([[Max Stirner|Stirner]]), [[Pierre-Joseph Proudhon|Proudhon]] and [[Mikhail Bakunin|Bakunin]], whose utopian theories were subjected to criticism in the works of [[Marx]] and [[Engels]]. In the nineteenth century, anarchism spread through France, Italy and Spain.<ref name=":0" />
=== Variations of anarchism ===

==== Collectivist Anarchism ====
*[[Anarcho-communism]]
*[[Anarcho-syndicalism]]
*[[Mutualism]]

==== Individualist Anarchism ====

* [[Anarcho-capitalism]]**
* [[Egoism]]
*[[Market Anarchism]]
* [[National Anarchism]]

==== Post-classical and Modern Anarchism ====

* [[Anarcha-feminism]]
*[[Anarcho-pacifism]]
* [[Anarcho-primitivism]]
* [[Anarcho-transhumanism]]
* [[Post-leftism]]*
* [[Post-anarchism]]*
*[[Queer Anarchism]]

<nowiki>*</nowiki> Post-Leftism and Post-Anarchism reject political philosophy all-together as a reactionary force; but they practically advocate for anarchism.

<nowiki>**</nowiki> Contrary to its name, Anarcho-capitalism is based in [[Right-libertarianism|right-libertarian]] principles and has nothing to do with Anarchism. The leading theoretician and founder of anarcho-capitalism, Murray Rothbard, denied any identification with anarchism.<ref>{{Web citation
| author = Murray N. Rothbard
| newspaper = Mises Institute
| title = Are Libertarians "Anarchists"?
| date = July 4th, 2022
| url = https://mises.org/library/are-libertarians-anarchists
| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20230310021514/https://mises.org/library/are-libertarians-anarchists
| quote = We must therefore turn to history for enlightenment; here we find that none of the proclaimed anarchist groups correspond to the libertarian position, that even the best of them have unrealistic and socialistic elements in their doctrines. Furthermore, we find that all of the current anarchists are irrational collectivists, and therefore at opposite poles from our position. We must therefore conclude that we are not anarchists, and that those who call us anarchists are not on firm etymological ground, and are being completely unhistorical.}}</ref>

==Characteristics==
Anarchism does not go beyond general phrases against exploitation, it does not understand what the causes of exploitation are, nor the [[class struggle]] as a creative force for the realization of [[socialism]]. The anarchist denial of political struggle contributes objectively to the subordination of the [[Proletariat|working class]] to [[Bourgeoisie|bourgeois]] politics.

The most essential thing in the struggle against anarchism lies in the problem of how the [[revolution]] should proceed in relation to the [[State]] and in the problem of the State in general. Anarchists advocate for the immediate annihilation of the State. They do not recognize that it is possible to take advantage of the bourgeois State to prepare the proletariat for the revolution.

After 1917, anarchism in Russia became a [[counter-revolutionary]] tendency. Historically, Anarchism saw brief surges in popularity in [[Catalonia]], the [[Ukrainian Free Territory|Free Territory]] in [[Ukraine]] and in the Korean Peninsula. Today, it enjoys a certain influence in the United States and Europe.<ref name=":0" />

==Distinctions between Marxists and Anarchists==
The essential distinctions in the criteria of Marxists and anarchists were reduced by [[Lenin]] to three fundamental points:

*In that the first, whose end is the complete withering away of the State, acknowledge that this end can only be achieved after the socialist revolution has abolished classes as a result of the establishment of [[socialism]]. The latter, on the other hand, want to completely destroy the State overnight, without understanding the conditions in which this destruction can take place.
*The first acknowledge the need for the [[proletariat]], after conquering political power, to totally destroy the former State machine, replacing it with a new one. The latter advocate the destruction of the state machine and have an absolutely confused idea of what the proletariat must replace the machine with and how it will exercise revolutionary power. Anarchists reject even the use of state power by the revolutionary proletariat, their revolutionary dictatorship.
* The first demand that the proletariat prepare for revolution by taking advantage of the modern State, while anarchists reject it.<ref>Rumiántsev, A. (1981): ''Comunismo científico'' (diccionario), p. 14-17. Moscú: Progreso, 1981.</ref>
In the [[State & Revolution]], it has been clearly laid further when Marx emphasised of the "revolutionary and transient form" of the state that the proletariat still needs. Instead of immediately abolishing the state as the anarchists desire, the Marxist stance remains that the proletariat still needs the state as well as the resources and methods of state power to use against the oppressor class or exploiters. The keypoint here is "temporary", for eventually, the state will eventually wither away.

==Examples of anarchist experiments ==
* [[Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone]]
*[[Ukrainian Free Territory]]
*[[Anarchist Catalonia]]
*[[Korean People's Association in Manchuria]]

== See also ==

* [[Left-wing libertarianism]]
* [[Right-wing libertarianism]]
* [[Idealism]]

== References ==
<references />
[[Category:Left-wing ideologies]]
[[Category:Utopian socialism]]

Class struggle

2023-10-10T06:51:08Z

Liang: Making clear the marxist conception of class struggle

[[File:Pyramid of Capitalist System.png|thumb|283x283px|Class struggle is depicted amongst the lower section of the depiction "[[Pyramid of Capitalist System]]" by the [[IWW]]]]
'''Class struggle''' refers to the opposition and struggle between opposing [[social class]]es. It is the manifestation their opposing fundamental interests and is the basic means of resolving the contradiction between an existing class structure and the developing [[forces of production]] and [[relations of production]].

The essence of class conflict is the opposition between the economic status and material interests of different classes. All class struggles occur on the basis of opposing and conflicting material interests, that is, economic interests, and are ultimately centered around material interests.

In a class society, the class struggle first takes place between the two basic classes in each social form, such as the struggle between the peasantry and the landlord class in [[feudalism|feudal]] society, and the struggle between the [[proletariat]] and the [[bourgeoisie]] in capitalist society.

Though it is a common misconception, the doctrine of class struggle is not an original [[Marxist]] idea. [[Vladimir Lenin]] in the [[State & Revolution]] made it clear that class struggle has existed before [[Karl Marx|Marx]]. What makes class struggle inherently Marxist is when the extension of this recognition is made to the [[dictatorship of the proletariat]].
[[Category:Marxist terminology]]

Withering away of the state

2023-10-07T11:37:23Z

Liang: Further distinction to what happens to a bourgeois state

The '''withering away of the state''' is a concept in [[Marxism]] that after a certain stage in the development of [[socialism]] (under the [[dictatorship of the proletariat]]), all state administration will cease to exist. Unlike [[anarchist]]s, who wish to abolish the state overnight, Marxists realize that the state cannot be "abolished", but merely that it will "wither away" when certain material conditions are met. According to [[Engels]]:
<blockquote>"The [[proletariat]] seizes state power, and then transforms the [[means of production]] into state property. But in doing this, it puts an end to itself as the proletariat, it puts an end to all class differences and class antagonisms, it puts an end also to the state as the state. Former society, moving in class antagonisms, had need of the state, that is, an organisation of the exploiting class at each period for the maintenance of its external conditions of production; therefore, in particular, for the forcible holding down of the exploited class in the conditions of oppression (slavery, bondage or serfdom, wage-labour) determined by the existing mode of production. The state was the official representative of society as a whole, its embodiment in a visible corporate body; but it was this only in so far as it was the state of that class which itself in its epoch, represented society as a whole: in ancient times, the state of the slave-owning citizens; in the Middle Ages, of the feudal nobility; in our epoch, of the bourgeoisie. When ultimately it becomes really representative of society as a whole, it makes itself superfluous. As soon as there is no longer any class of society to be held in subjection; as soon as, along with class domination and the struggle for individual existence based on the former [[anarchy of production]], the collisions and excesses arising from these have also been abolished, there is nothing more to be repressed, and a special repressive force, a state, is no longer necessary. The first act in which the state really comes forward as the representative of society as a whole—the seizure of the means of production in the name of society—is at the same time its last independent act as a state. The interference of a state power in social relations becomes superfluous in one sphere after another, and then becomes dormant of itself. Government over persons is replaced by the administration of things and the direction of the processes of production. The state is not "abolished," it withers away. It is from this standpoint that we must appraise the phrase "people's free state"—both its justification at times for agitational purposes, and its ultimate scientific inadequacy—and also the demand of the so-called Anarchists that the state should be abolished overnight."</blockquote>In making the distinction between the condition of the state at the hands of the proletariat, [[Vladimir Lenin|Lenin]] emphasized that when Engels spoke of the state, what is to be abolished is actually the Bourgeois state during the course of a proletarian revolution and the withering of the state refers to the proletarian state after the revolution.
[[Category: Marxist terminology]]

State

2023-10-06T11:50:56Z

Liang: Making reference to Lenin's interpretation of Engels' withering away of the state

In [[Marxism]], the '''state apparatus''', more commonly known as simply the '''state''', is a system by which the [[ruling class]] maintains and perpetuates its dominance within the [[social formation]]. It functions by subjugating the other class(es) within [[class society]],<ref>{{Citation|author=[[Friedrich Engels]]|year=1891|title=Introduction to Karl Marx's "Civil war in France"|quote=And people think they have taken quite an extraordinary bold step forward when they have rid themselves of belief in hereditary monarchy and swear by the democratic republic. In reality, however, '''the state is nothing but a machine for the oppression of one class by another,''' and indeed in the democratic republic no less than in the monarchy; and at best an evil inherited by the proletariat after its victorious struggle for class supremacy, whose worst sides the proletariat, just like the Commune, cannot avoid having to lop off at the earliest possible moment, until such time as a new generation, reared in new and free social conditions, will be able to throw the entire lumber of the state on the scrap-heap.|mia=https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1871/civil-war-france/postscript.htm}}</ref><ref>{{Citation|author=[[Vladimir Lenin]]|year=1918|title=[[Library:The_state_and_revolution|The state and revolution]]|chapter=Class society and the state|section=[[Library:The_state_and_revolution#The_state:_a_product_of_the_irreconcilability_of_class_antagonisms|The state: a product of the irreconcilability of class antagonisms]]|quote=This expresses with perfect clarity the basic idea of Marxism with regard to the historical role and the meaning of the state. The state is a product and a manifestation of the irreconcilability of class antagonisms. The state arises where, when and insofar as class antagonism objectively cannot be reconciled. And, conversely, the existence of the state proves that the class antagonisms are irreconcilable.}}</ref> and reproducing ruling class [[ideology]].<ref>The ideology of the ruling class does not become the ruling ideology by the grace of God, nor even by virtue of the seizure of State power alone. It is by the installation of the [[Ideological state apparatus|ISAs]] in which this ideology is realized and realizes itself that it becomes the ruling ideology. But this installation is not achieved all by itself; on the contrary, it is the stake in a very bitter and continuous class struggle: first against the former ruling classes and their positions in the old and new ISAs, then against the exploited class.

[[Louis Althusser]], [[Library:Ideology and Ideological State Apparatuses|Ideology and Ideological State Apparatuses]], "Ideology has no History"</ref>

[[Vulgar economics|Bourgeois economists]], [[Fascism|fascists]], and [[Reformism|reformists]] falsely claim that the state is "above" [[class society]] and independent of class interests. For instance, [[liberal]] [[Social democracy|social democrats]] define capitalist state-owned enterprises as [[Socialism|socialist]] because they view them as independent institutions that have their own class character separate from the class-neutral state, rather than mere arms of a state with inherent class character.'''<ref name=":0">{{Citation|year=1954|title=Political Economy|chapter=Economic Doctrines of the Capitalist Epoch|chapter-url=https://www.marxists.org/subject/economy/authors/pe/pe-ch22.htm|section=|mia=https://www.marxists.org/subject/economy/authors/pe/index.htm}}</ref>'''

== Definition ==
The existence of the state apparatus is a product of [[class struggle]]; the systems we now call "the state" (although for much of antiquity and medieval times, they were not called that), naturally emerged because the [[means of production]] became sufficiently advanced for classes to emerge. As a result, complex [[class society]] necessitated tools and methods by which the ruling classes could protect their interests (i.e. the perpetuation of the existing [[relations of production]]).

In other words, the state is an oppressive system arising as a consequence of the same [[material conditions]] that caused the beginning of [[class society]]. By asserting its dictatorship, the ruling class temporarily "reconciliates" the contradictions of class struggle by enforcing its interests and violently repressing the other classes. However, if material conditions and [[productive forces]] within a society develop sufficiently, this state of affairs will become untenable; resulting in [[revolution]]-- whereby a new class takes control of the state, and creates new apparatuses to serve its interests.

=== Repressive and ideological state apparatuses ===
The modern state apparatus is a complex system of interrelated forces that each serve the purpose of perpetuating the current class society. It can be roughly subdivided into the [[Repressive state apparatus|repressive state apparatuses]]-- direct apparatuses which carry a threat of explicit violence, such as police, military, the judicial and prison systems-- and the [[Ideological state apparatus|ideological state apparatuses]], which are more subtle cultural and ideological forces that reproduce [[ruling class]] ideology, such as the education system, mass media, the arts, and so on. Taken together, all these systems are responsible for reproducing the [[relations of production]].

=== Withering away of the state ===
The state apparatus can never truly "solve" class struggle, as the only solution to class struggle is the abolition of class society. However, individual contradictions can be resolved, if material conditions develop; specific repressive and ideological apparatuses can be dissolved when the material reality no longer necessitates their existence. However, the future state of affairs where class society has been ''completely'' "solved", and the state no longer has any material basis for its existence, is what Marxists call [[communism]]; a stateless society.

As such, in the process of building communism, as more and more fundamental contradictions are resolved, more and more aspects of the state apparatus will cease to have a material basis for their existence, until the state is no longer a state in any meaningful sense of the word. That process is what Marxists term "'''the withering away of the state'''".

Lenin, in making constant references to Engels in the State & Revolution made it succinct to make a distinction: What is "abolished" is the bourgeois state during the course of a proletariat revolution and what "withers away" is in fact the proletarian state.

== Stateless societies ==
There still exist stateless societies in the modern day, in the form of tribes in some parts of the world. In these societies, there is no concept of [[private property]] or [[personal property]]; the means of production are shared between all members, and the surplus value from the resulting production is mostly shared equally between all. This stateless, classless, and moneyless form of organization is known to Marxists as [[primitive communism]].

The Namal people of Vanuatu, for example, craft their hunting weapons for the benefit of the collective, which the men and children will use as a group for their daily hunts in the surrounding forest. The resulting catch from the hunt is then cooked in the village and shared equally according to everyone's needs.

== Dictatorship of the bourgeoisie ==
{{Main article|Dictatorship of the bourgeoisie}}As [[capitalism]] develops from [[feudalism]], a [[bourgeois revolution]] may bring the [[bourgeoisie]] to power. Through the militant replacement of the feudal nobility in favor of the capitalists as the ruling class of society, a [[dictatorship of the bourgeoisie]] will be constructed. Such a bourgeois dictatorship will often rest upon [[Ideology|ideological]] concepts like "natural rights", "popular consent", and other idealistic notions in order to maintain their power, and make their plutocracy (the rule of the rich) look like a democracy (the rule of the [[Proletariat|majority]]). However, as capitalism begins to develop, it will, overtime, result in the economy being ruled by fewer-and-fewer hands, and subjecting the [[proletariat]] to increasingly [[Exploitation|exploitative]] conditions.

Commonly, when a bourgeois dictatorship is nearing its end due to the growing power of the [[Communist party|worker movements]], the ruling class will resort to extreme measures to maintain their wealth and power. One such expression of bourgeois extremism is [[fascism]], which includes the total consolidation of capital into the hands of the few, and forceful obliteration of any resistance from the proletariat using the repressive state apparatuses.

== Dictatorship of the proletariat ==
{{Main article|Dictatorship of the proletariat}}When capitalism reaches its breaking point, a [[proletarian revolution]] will happen. This leads to the [[dictatorship of the proletariat]], where the proletariat as a class (and not as individuals necessarily) control the state so as to oppress the bourgeoisie, much like the bourgeoisie has been oppressing the proletariat for centuries.

== References ==
<references />
[[Category:Political terminology]]
[[Category:Marxist terminology]]

Communism

2023-03-16T08:10:32Z

Liang: Writing the evolution of class antagonism as was in the communist manifesto

'''Communism'''<ref group="lower-alpha">From Latin ''communis'', 'common, universal'</ref> is a society characterized by the absence of [[Class society|social classes]], the [[state]], [[money]], and [[commodity]] production, ultimately solving the main contradictions of [[capitalism]]. Communism also ends [[Contradiction|contradictions]] between town and city and between mental and physical [[labour]]. It is the highest and most progressive stage of social development.<ref name=":02">{{Citation|author=Economics Institute of the Academy of Sciences of the U.S.S.R|year=1954|title=Political Economy|chapter=The Gradual Transition from Socialism to Communism|page=|pdf=https://revolutionarydemocracy.org/archive/PoliticalEconomy.pdf|city=London|publisher=Lawrence & Wishart|chapter-url=https://www.marxists.org/subject/economy/authors/pe/pe-ch40.htm|mia=https://www.marxists.org/subject/economy/authors/pe/index.htm|section=}}</ref> The term is also used to refer to the movement whose ultimate goal is to achieve this society.

The material [[Post-scarcity|abundance]] and resultant social relations of such a society can be summarized by the slogan: "From each according to their ability, to each according to their needs." which was popularized in [[Marx|Karl Marx]]'s 1875 ''[[Library:Critique of the Gotha Program|Critique of the Gotha Program]]''.

In the [[Capital, vol. I|first volume of Capital]], Marx mentions it as ''"an association of free men, working with the means of production held in common, and expending their many different forms of labour-power in full self-awareness as one single social labour force"''<ref>''See [[Library:Capital, vol. I#cite ref-2|note]] in Capital, vol. I – The fetishism of the commodity and its secret''</ref>

== Etymology ==
Before Marx, the term communism was used by many [[Utopian socialism|utopian socialists]] to describe an [[Idealism|idealist]], egalitarian society.

Its modern usage is almost always traced back to Karl Marx's usage of the term where he introduced the concept of [[scientific socialism]] alongside [[Friedrich Engels]]. The theory of scientific socialism described communism not as an idealistic, perfect society but rather as a stage of development taking place after a long, political process of [[class struggle]]. Marx, however, used the terms [[socialism]] and communism interchangeably and he drew no distinction between the two.

[[Vladimir Lenin|Lenin]] was the first person to give distinct meanings to the terms socialism and communism. The socialism/communism of Marx was now known simply as communism, and Marx's "transitional phase" was to be known as socialism.

==Place in historical materialism==
In Marx's theory of historical materialism, communism represents the final mode of production. Each mode of production is defined by its [[relations of production]]: the class dynamics, the methods of [[exploitation]], the systems of exchange, the level of development of the [[means of production]], etc. [[Capitalism]] is defined by the relationship between the [[bourgeoisie]] and the [[proletariat]], commonly referred to as a "[[dictatorship of the bourgeoisie]]". Socialism is defined by the same relations, but instead it exhibits a "[[dictatorship of the proletariat]]". Socialism still has class dynamics and exploitation, but the proletariat is the class on top.<ref>Mao Zedong (July 1964) [https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/mao/works/1964/phnycom.htm On Khrushchov's Phoney Communism and Its Historical Lessons for the World]</ref>

In the [[Communist Manifesto]], Marx and Engels described the evolution of society through the material changes as epochs of history. The relationships between opposing ranks such as patricians, knights, plebeians, slaves, merchants, feudal lords and vassals serve as forces of class antagonism. The current stage or epoch after the demise of feudalism at the hands of capitalism only created new classes and forms of oppression, this time between the [[Bourgeoisie]] and the [[Proletariat]].

Communism has no classes, and therefore no class dynamics. It has no exploitation, and therefore no methods of exploitation. While communism is never meant to be the "end of history", it is certainly the final mode of production as all contradictions of modes of productions have been wiped out.<ref name=":0" />

== Material conditions ==
A communist economy relies on widespread electrification and [[automation]] and the mechanization all labour.<ref name=":02" />

==Implementation==
The implementation of communism became an extremely debated issue after the success of various communist movements. Almost all communist political theory concerns [[Dialectical materialism|dialectical]] and [[historical materialism]], socialist transformation and socialist development.

Engels provided some theory about the transition from socialism to communism (now known as the withering away of the state) in ''[[Anti-Dühring (1878)|Anti-Dühring]]'':
{{quote|The proletariat seizes political power and turns the means of production in the first instance into state property. But, in doing this, it abolishes itself as proletariat, abolishes all class distinctions and class antagonisms, abolishes also the state as state. [...] As soon as there is no longer any social class to be held in subjection; as soon as class rule, and the individual struggle for existence based upon our present anarchy in production, with the collisions and excesses arising from these, are removed, nothing more remains to be repressed, and a special repressive force, a state, is no longer necessary. [...] The state is not "abolished". It dies out.<ref name=":0">Friedrich Engels (1877) [https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1877/anti-duhring/ch24.htm Anti-Dühring, Part III, Chapter II]</ref>|[[Friedrich Engels]]|[[Anti-Dühring (1878)]]}}
[[Joseph Stalin|Stalin]] discusses the topic in his work, ''[[Economic problems of socialism in the USSR]]'':
{{quote|It is necessary, first of all, to shorten the working day at least to six, and subsequently to five hours. This is needed in order that the members of society might have the necessary free time to receive an all-round education. It is necessary, further, to introduce universal compulsory polytechnical education, which is required in order that the members of society might be able freely to choose their occupations and not be tied to some one occupation all their lives. It is likewise necessary that housing conditions should be radically improved, and that real wages of workers and employees should be at least doubled, if not more, both by means of direct increases of wages and salaries, and, more especially, by further systematic reductions of prices for consumer goods. These are the basic conditions required to pave the way for the transition to communism.<ref>Joseph Stalin (1951) [https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/stalin/works/1951/economic-problems/ch13.htm Economic Problems of the USSR, Chapter XIII]</ref>|[[Joseph Stalin]]|[[Economic problems of socialism in the USSR]]
}}

==Communism as an ideology==
Communism is sometimes described as a political theory: Marxists have Marxism, Darwinists have Darwinism, and Communists have Communism. This term is usually used by [[Liberalism|liberals]], although some communists have used the term communism this way. To have a better understanding of it, Engels have stated that

{{Quote|Question 1: What is Communism

Communism is the doctrine of the conditions of the liberation of the proletariat.|[[Friedrich Engels]]|[[The principles of communism]]|1847}}

==Communism as a movement==
According to Marx, communism can be defined as the "the real movement which abolishes the present state of things."

Communism has also been defined as a movement for the re-humanization and liberation of the exploited and [[Oppression|oppressed]] masses that restores equal rights to all [[Gender|genders]] and [[Nation|nationalities]].<ref name=":12">{{Citation|author=Stephen Gowans|year=2018|title=Patriots, Traitors and Empires: The Story of Korea’s Struggle for Freedom|chapter=The US Occupation|page=77|pdf=https://ipfs.io/ipfs/bafykbzaced4iiga4ngtxusr2civjxewbili5jne2sbpefbx2s3im2kphattzc?filename=Stephen%20Gowans%20-%20Patriots%2C%20Traitors%20and%20Empires_%20The%20Story%20of%20Korea%E2%80%99s%20Struggle%20for%20Freedom-Baraka%20Books%20%282018%29.pdf|city=Montreal|publisher=Baraka Books|isbn=9781771861427|lg=https://libgen.rs/book/index.php?md5=8435F6FF91279531705764823FDC2A7F}}</ref>

==References==

[[Category:Modes of production]]

<references />

=== Notes ===
<references group="lower-alpha" />

Imperialism

2023-03-08T03:46:09Z

Liang: Adding a section from Chapter 1 of Imperialism

'''Imperialism''' is the highest stage of the [[capitalist]] [[mode of production]], in which monopolies and cartels become the prevalent economic force of society.<ref name=":0">{{Citation|title=Imperialism, the highest stage of capitalism|chapter=Chapter 1: Concentration of production and monopolies|mia=https://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1916/imp-hsc/index.htm|author=[[Vladimir Lenin]]|quote=Thus, the principal stages in the history of monopolies are the following: (1) 1860-70, the highest stage, the apex of development of free competition; monopoly is in the barely discernible, embryonic stage. (2) After the crisis of 1873, a lengthy period of development of cartels; but they are still the exception. They are not yet durable. They are still a transitory phenomenon. (3) The boom at the end of the nineteenth century and the crisis of 1900-03. Cartels become one of the foundations of the whole of economic life. Capitalism has been transformed into imperialism.}}</ref>

Beginning with the first paragraph of his pamphlet, [[Vladimir Lenin]] has written that rapid growth of industry and concentration of production in in growing enterprises represent the key characteristic of capitalism. <ref name=":0" />

In [[Vladimir Lenin]]'s further analysis of imperialism, this economic stage is defined by five basic features:
* The presence of [[Monopoly|monopolies]] which play a decisive role in economic life.
* The merging of bank [[capital]] with industrial capital into finance capital controlled by a [[Dictatorship of the bourgeoisie|financial oligarchy]].
* The export of capital as distinguished from the simple export of [[Commodity|commodities]].
* The formation of international monopolist capitalist associations ([[Cartel|cartels]]).
* The territorial division of the whole world among the biggest capitalist powers.<ref>{{Citation|author=[[Vladimir Lenin]]|mia=https://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1916/imp-hsc/index.htm|title=Imperialism, the highest stage of capitalism|chapter=Chapter 7: Imperialism as a special stage of capitalism|quote=But very brief definitions, although convenient, for they sum up the main points, are nevertheless inadequate, since we have to deduce from them some especially important features of the phenomenon that has to be defined. And so, without forgetting the conditional and relative value of all definitions in general, which can never embrace all the concatenations of a phenomenon in its full development, we must give a definition of imperialism that will include the following five of its basic features:

(1) the concentration of production and capital has developed to such a high stage that it has created monopolies which play a decisive role in economic life; (2) the merging of bank capital with industrial capital, and the creation, on the basis of this “finance capital”, of a financial oligarchy; (3) the export of capital as distinguished from the export of commodities acquires exceptional importance; (4) the formation of international monopolist capitalist associations which share the world among themselves, and (5) the territorial division of the whole world among the biggest capitalist powers is completed. Imperialism is capitalism at that stage of development at which the dominance of monopolies and finance capital is established; in which the export of capital has acquired pronounced importance; in which the division of the world among the international trusts has begun, in which the division of all territories of the globe among the biggest capitalist powers has been completed.}}</ref> This expansion to Marx's analysis of capitalist development was one of Lenin's most important theoretical contributions to [[political economy]].

The development of imperialism in the global economy also reinforces a dialectical relationship between core-periphery countries, mainly [[dependency]] and subordination of [[Underdevelopment|underdeveloped countries]] to imperialist economies.
== Theoretical basis ==
Marx posited, according to his [[three laws of motion]], that as capitalist economies matured, they would inevitably be driven into a crisis which would result in internal class revolt and the establishment of a [[dictatorship of the proletariat]] (and eventually [[socialism]]). However, according to Lenin's observations, the development of ''imperialism'' allowed capitalism to postpone this crisis through the acquisition of colonies, which served as a new outlets for capital investment and a new source of labour power to exploit.

This scramble for the expansion of capitalist empires drove the various imperialist powers into a competition with one another over the size of their imperialist spheres of influence and access to resources and labour markets, which led to destructive inter-imperialist conflicts such as the [[First World War]]. Imperialism thus stretches the inherent contradictions of capitalism to ever more extreme limits, leading [[J.V. Stalin]] to deem Leninism the "Marxism of the era of imperialism".

Imperialism as a stage of development in capitalism means that it will always develop in any sufficiently advanced capitalist mode of production. As markets become saturated within the boundaries of the individual nation (due to an influx of producers), capital must be exported elsewhere, and the main function of banks is to help with that (see [[finance capitalism]]).

Countries must eventually turn to imperialism for two main reasons:
#Capitalism requires constant consumption, which translates into constant growth (and GDP growth). Without GDP growth, capitalism stagnates and a recession occurs. However, since it is impossible to expect infinite growth with finite available resources and as markets become saturated, the bourgeoisie must seek new opportunities.
#The bourgeoisie is also in constant internal competition, and as such there is a very rational reason for a capitalist to emerge victorious over the competition; accessing untapped markets and cheaper labour will give them an edge over the competition.
However, imperialized countries will not be allowed to develop past the most primitive stage of capitalism, preventing them from developing their own imperialism. In these countries, we may see the emergence of two distinct subsections of the bourgeoisie. Firstly, a "comprador" class, i.e. the section of the national bourgeoisie which is allied with, and dependent upon, foreign imperialist investment; and second the "national" bourgeoisie, whose class interests are, at least temporarily, aligned with the exploited working class: to achieve [[national liberation]] (so that they can become exploiters without being exploited, upon which point their tentative alignment with the national proletariat will end).

=== Engels ===
[[Engels|Friedrich Engels]] alluded to imperialism in ''[[Library:The principles of communism|The principles of communism]]'':

{{Quote|In this way, all semi-barbarian countries, which had hitherto been more or less strangers to historical development, and whose industry had been based on manufacture, were violently forced out of their isolation. They bought the cheaper commodities of the English and allowed their own manufacturing workers to be ruined. Countries which had known no progress for thousands of years – for example, India – were thoroughly revolutionized, and even China is now on the way to a revolution.

We have come to the point where a new machine invented in England deprives millions of Chinese workers of their livelihood within a year’s time.

In this way, big industry has brought all the people of the Earth into contact with each other, has merged all local markets into one world market, has spread civilization and progress everywhere and has thus ensured that whatever happens in civilized countries will have repercussions in all other countries.|Engels|Principles of communism {{Refn|Engels. [[Library:The principles of communism|''The principles of communism'']]: [[Library:The principles of communism#What were the immediate consequences of the industrial revolution and of the division of society into bourgeoisie and proletariat?|''What were the immediate consequences of the industrial revolution and of the division of society into bourgeoisie and proletariat?'']]|name=|group=note}}}}
At the time of his writing, imperialism was not yet a word in common use (not until the 1870s) however, policies of imperialism were already happening around the world -- especially at hands of the British Empire in Africa.

Given that imperialism is, (according to Lenin) the highest stage of capitalism, one tendency of imperialism is to export the class conflict of a nation to foreign lands. Thus, the British nation, in order to solve its problem of unemployment and food scarcity along a capitalist basis (without socialism; redistribution of wealth and power to the commoners through social ownership) it had to find new lands to settle the unemployed.

{{Quote|"In order to save the forty million inhabitants of the United Kingdom from a bloody civil war, our colonial statesmen must acquire new lands for settling the surplus population of this country, to provide new markets. ... The Empire, as I have always said, is a bread and butter question."|[[Cecil Rhodes]], British imperialist, as quoted in [[Lenin]]'s [[Library:Imperialism, the highest stage of capitalism|Imperialism: The Highest Stage of Capitalism]]}}

=== Parenti ===
[[Michael Parenti]] described several examples of imperialism in [[Library:Against Empire|Against Empire]].
{{Quote|Imperialism has been the most powerful force in world history over the last four or five centuries, carving up whole continents while oppressing indigenous peoples and obliterating entire civilizations. Yet, it is seldom accorded any serious attention by our academics, media commentators, and political leaders. When not ignored outright, the subject of imperialism has been sanitized, so that empires become "commonwealths," and colonies become "territories" or "dominions" (or, as in the case of Puerto Rico, "commonwealths" too). Imperialist military interventions become matters of "national defense," "national security," and maintaining "stability" in one or another region. In this book I want to look at imperialism for what it really is.

By "imperialism" I mean the process whereby the dominant politico-economic interests of one nation expropriate for their own enrichment the land, labor, raw materials, and markets of another people.
The earliest victims of Western European imperialism were other Europeans. Some 800 years ago, Ireland became the first colony of what later became known as the British empire. A part of Ireland still remains under British occupation. Other early Caucasian victims included the Eastern Europeans. The people Charlemagne worked to death in his mines in the early part of the ninth century were Slavs. So frequent and prolonged was the enslavement of Eastern Europeans that "Slav" became synonymous with servitude. Indeed, the word "slave" derives from "Slav." Eastern Europe was an early source of capital accumulation, having become wholly dependent upon Western manufactures by the seventeenth century.

A particularly pernicious example of intra-European imperialism was the Nazi aggression during World War II, which gave the German business cartels and the Nazi state an opportunity to plunder the resources and exploit the labor of occupied Europe, including the slave labor of concentration camps.

The preponderant thrust of the European, North American, and Japanese imperial powers has been directed against Africa, Asia, and Latin America. By the nineteenth century, they saw the Third World as not only a source of raw materials and slaves but a market for manufactured goods. By the twentieth century, the industrial nations were exporting not only goods but capital, in the form of machinery, technology, investments, and loans. To say that we have entered the stage of capital export and investment is not to imply that the plunder of natural resources has ceased. If anything, the despoliation has accelerated.

Of the various notions about imperialism circulating today in the United States, the dominant view is that it does not exist. Imperialism is not recognized as a legitimate concept, certainly not in regard to the United States. One may speak of "Soviet imperialism" or "nineteenth-century British imperialism" but not of U.S. imperialism. A graduate student in political science at most universities in this country would not be granted the opportunity to research U.S. imperialism, on the grounds that such an undertaking would not be scholarly. While many people throughout the world charge the United States with being an imperialist power, in this country persons who talk of U.S. imperialism are usually judged to be mouthing ideological blather.

Imperialism is older than capitalism. The Persian, Macedonian, Roman, and Mongol empires all existed centuries before the Rothschilds and Rockefellers. Emperors and conquistadors were interested mostly in plunder and tribute, gold and glory. Capitalist imperialism differs from these earlier forms in the way it systematically accumulates capital through the organized exploitation of labor and the penetration of overseas markets. Capitalist imperialism invests in other countries, transforming and dominating their economies, cultures, and political life, integrating their financial and productive structures into an international system of capital accumulation.
A central imperative of capitalism is expansion. Investors will not put their money into business ventures unless they can extract more than they invest. Increased earnings come only with a growth in the enterprise. The capitalist ceaselessly searches for ways of making more money in order to make still more money. One must always invest to realize profits, gathering as much strength as possible in the face of competing forces and unpredictable markets.

Given its expansionist nature, capitalism has little inclination to stay home. Almost 150 years ago, Marx and Engels described a bourgeoisie that "chases over the whole surface of the globe. It must nestle everywhere, settle everywhere, establish connections everywhere. . . . It creates a world after its own image." The expansionists destroy whole societies. Self-sufficient peoples are forcibly transformed into disfranchised wage workers. Indigenous communities and folk cultures are replaced by mass-market, mass-media, consumer societies. Cooperative lands are supplanted by agribusiness factory farms, villages by desolate shanty towns, autonomous regions by centralized autocracies.|Michael Parenti|Against Empire. City Lights Books.|1995, p. 5-6}}

== Contemporary times==

===Imperial core===
Today, imperialism is still very much alive as Lenin described. The [[International Monetary Fund]] (IMF) and [[World Bank]] for example were institutions created for the benefit of the imperial core (the richest and oldest capitalist economies, grossly encompassing North America and Western Europe) so as to perpetually keep former colonised countries in debt that they can not repay. The IMF is known to demand specific [[free market]] policies put into place so as to facilitate movement of capital from the imperial core towards these ex-colonies, also known as the [[Global South]]. On top of having many strings attached, the IMF is allowed to seize projects when loans cannot be paid back, and they often can't due to very harsh payment plans (usually very high interest rates over a 7-year period).

This "soft" imperialism is not the only form of imperialism happening, and we can look at the [[US Invasion of Iraq]] in 2003 for a "harder" form of imperialism. In this case, the entire country of Iraq as well as the surrounding region was destabilized, which allowed U.S. oil companies to eliminate competition and seize these wells for themselves.

=== Soviet "imperialism"===
During the [[Cold War]], a rivalry between the world's two global powers at the time (the USA and the [[Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (1922–1991)|Soviet Union]]), the CIA's [[Congress for Cultural Freedom]] cultivated a milieu of anti-Soviet leftists to advance the geopolitical line of the US. One accusation that was leveled against the Soviet union was that it was yet another imperialist state, based on the conflicts which happened between the [[Sino-Soviet split|Soviet Union and China]]. USSR did not practice imperialism in the [[Leninism|Leninist]] sense — it did not export capital and was not under control of a financial oligarchy.

===Chinese "imperialism" ===
In modern times, some accuse China of being imperialist, mainly in Africa. These people again use the liberal definition of imperialism and can be ignored in much the same way.

With its [[Belt and Road Initiative]], China does not practice the same harsh policies as the [[IMF]] (namely, forcing austerity upon loan recipients) and that is why they are being favored by more and more countries, leading to a disinformation campaign by the imperial core to help drive popular support from the B&R and back towards the IMF. Famously, Chinese loans pay for infrastructure (needed for development), are often forgiven <ref>{{Web citation|url=https://www.scmp.com/news/world/africa/article/3089492/china-forgive-interest-free-loans-africa-are-coming-due-xi|title=China to forgive interest-free loans to Africa that are coming due, Xi Jinping says|author=Jevans Nyablage|date=2020-06-18T03:43|newspaper=[[South China Morning Post]]}}</ref>, and there are no policies required to getting such a loan.

=== Russian "imperialism" ===
In certain circles, there have been attempts to paint the [[2022 Russo-Ukrainian conflict|Russo-Ukrainian conflict]] as a war between two imperialist countries, the United States and [[Russian Federation|Russia]]. Similarly to the above Chinese example, this is incorrect.

What global finance capital monopolists does Russia have that control the world market or supply chains? You will be waiting forever for an answer because there isn’t one. Russia having Gazprom and an extraction industry doesn’t mean they are imperialist. The essence of imperialism is monopolistic on a global scale, which is precisely why Russia is not imperialist, not whether they have capital generally. A perfect example of monopolies that share the world amongst themselves is the West, specifically the United States in their control of WEF, IMF, World Bank, UN Security council etc. Which allows the western powers to enforce this dominance through jingoistic foreign policy, embargoes, and keeping other countries from developing.
Russia, nor China has anywhere close to this level of global power through finance capital.
== Imperialist military ==
Imperialism is enforced by military power -- especially, since the early 20th century, by U.S. military power. One indication of this is the large number of military bases that the U.S. maintains in foriegn countries and the large number of U.S. troops stationed around the world.

===U.S. military personnel in Europe===
At the end of 2021, the United States had 74,000 military personnel stationed in Europe in long-term positions (according to the U.S. Congressional Research Service).<ref>{{Web citation|newspaper=Reuters|date=2022-01-24|url=https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/where-nato-forces-are-deployed-2022-01-24|title=Factbox: Where NATO forces are deployed|access-date=2022-03}}</ref> Not all are combat-ready troops. The numbers of these U.S. personnel in some particular countries is as follows:

* Germany, 36,000
* Italy, 12,000
* Britain, 9,000
* Spain, 3,000
* Turkey, 1,600

Besides these personnel, the U.S. rotates 4,500 troops through Poland.<ref>Reuters 2022, ''op. cit.''</ref>

==Notes==
<references group="note"/>
==References ==
<references />
[[Category:Marxist terminology]]
[[Category:Marxist theory]]
[[Category:Marxism]]
[[Category:Leninism]]
[[Category:Capitalism]]

Anti-capitalism

2023-03-01T03:06:01Z

Liang: Describing that anti-capitalism can exist in forms other than communism or marxism

'''Anti-capitalism''' is a political ideology and movement encompassing a variety of attitudes and ideas that oppose [[capitalism]]. In this sense, anti-capitalists are those who wish to replace capitalism with another type of economic system, usually some form of [[socialism]]. This should not be confused for [[social democracy]] that superficially espouses 'anti-capitalism' but advocates for less 'extreme' capitalism by use of a [[welfare state]].

Anti-capitalism can emerge in a variety of movements that are not [[Communism|communist]] or [[Marxism|Marxist]] in general but other movements like [[anarchism]]. The only common strand they have is their tendency to oppose capital and the effects of such a system.

== External Links ==
{{External links|Wikipedia=Anti-capitalism|Leftypedia=Anti-capitalism|EcuRed=Anti-capitalismo}}

Proletariat

2023-02-27T04:48:03Z

Liang: Adding that the proletariat does not own any capital

The '''proletariat''' is the [[social class]] of [[Wage slavery|wage-earners]], those members of a society whose only possession of significant economic value is their [[labour power]] (their capacity to work) and owning no capital of their own nor the means of production. A member of such a class is a '''proletarian'''.

[[Marxism]] considers the proletariat to be oppressed by [[capitalism]], forced to accept meager wages in return for operating the [[means of production]], which belong to the class of business owners, the [[bourgeoisie]]. Marx claimed that this oppression gives the proletariat [[Workers of the world, unite!|common economic and political interests]] that transcend national boundaries, impelling them to unite and [[Dictatorship of the proletariat|take over power]] from the capitalist class, and eventually to create a [[Communism|communist]] society free from class distinctions.

In ''[[The Principles of Communism]]'', [[Friedrich Engels]] explains that the proletariat is "that class in society which lives entirely from the sale of its [[labour]] and does not draw profit from any kind of [[capital]]." Their "sole existence depends on the demand for labor," and therefore the bourgeoisie subjects them to competition amongst their fellow workers.<ref>{{Web citation|author=Friedrich Engels|newspaper=Marxists Internet Archive|title=The Principles of Communism|date=1847|url=https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1847/11/prin-com.htm|retrieved=11-22-2022}}</ref>

The interests of the proletarian are in conflict with those of the bourgeois.

== See also ==

* [[Precariat]]
*[[Useless class]]

==External Links==
''please use these external links to improve this page''
*[[wikipedia:Proletariat|Wikipedia]] ([[Wikipedia|about]])
*[https://leftypedia.org/wiki/Proletariat Leftypedia] ([[Leftypedia|about]])
*EcuRed ([https://www.ecured.cu/Proletariado Spanish], [https://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=es&tl=en&u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ecured.cu%2FProletariado English auto translated]) ([[EcuRed|about]])

[[fr:Prolétariat]]
[[Category:Marxist terminology]]
[[Category:Social class]]
[[Category:Working class]]
[[Category:Proletariat]]

Communism

2023-02-27T04:06:39Z

Liang: /* Communism as an ideology */

'''Communism'''<ref group="lower-alpha">From Latin ''communis'', 'common, universal'</ref> is a society characterized by the absence of [[Class society|social classes]], the [[state]], [[money]], and [[commodity]] production, ultimately solving the main contradictions of [[capitalism]]. Communism also ends [[Contradiction|contradictions]] between town and city and between mental and physical [[labour]]. It is the highest and most progressive stage of social development.<ref name=":02">{{Citation|author=Economics Institute of the Academy of Sciences of the U.S.S.R|year=1954|title=Political Economy|chapter=The Gradual Transition from Socialism to Communism|page=|pdf=https://revolutionarydemocracy.org/archive/PoliticalEconomy.pdf|city=London|publisher=Lawrence & Wishart|chapter-url=https://www.marxists.org/subject/economy/authors/pe/pe-ch40.htm|mia=https://www.marxists.org/subject/economy/authors/pe/index.htm|section=}}</ref> The term is also used to refer to the movement whose ultimate goal is to achieve this society.

The material [[Post-scarcity|abundance]] and resultant social relations of such a society can be summarized by the slogan: "From each according to their ability, to each according to their needs." which was popularized in [[Marx|Karl Marx]]'s 1875 ''[[Library:Critique of the Gotha Program|Critique of the Gotha Program]]''.

In the [[Capital, vol. I|first volume of Capital]], Marx mentions it as ''"an association of free men, working with the means of production held in common, and expending their many different forms of labour-power in full self-awareness as one single social labour force"''<ref>''See [[Library:Capital, vol. I#cite ref-2|note]] in Capital, vol. I – The fetishism of the commodity and its secret''</ref>

== Etymology ==
Before Marx, the term communism was used by many [[Utopian socialism|utopian socialists]] to describe an [[Idealism|idealist]], egalitarian society.

Its modern usage is almost always traced back to Karl Marx's usage of the term where he introduced the concept of [[scientific socialism]] alongside [[Friedrich Engels]]. The theory of scientific socialism described communism not as an idealistic, perfect society but rather as a stage of development taking place after a long, political process of [[class struggle]]. Marx, however, used the terms [[socialism]] and communism interchangeably and he drew no distinction between the two.

[[Vladimir Lenin|Lenin]] was the first person to give distinct meanings to the terms socialism and communism. The socialism/communism of Marx was now known simply as communism, and Marx's "transitional phase" was to be known as socialism.

==Place in historical materialism==
In Marx's theory of historical materialism, communism represents the final mode of production. Each mode of production is defined by its [[relations of production]]: the class dynamics, the methods of [[exploitation]], the systems of exchange, the level of development of the [[means of production]], etc. [[Capitalism]] is defined by the relationship between the [[bourgeoisie]] and the [[proletariat]], commonly referred to as a "[[dictatorship of the bourgeoisie]]". Socialism is defined by the same relations, but instead it exhibits a "[[dictatorship of the proletariat]]". Socialism still has class dynamics and exploitation, but the proletariat is the class on top.<ref>Mao Zedong (July 1964) [https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/mao/works/1964/phnycom.htm On Khrushchov's Phoney Communism and Its Historical Lessons for the World]</ref>

Communism has no classes, and therefore no class dynamics. It has no exploitation, and therefore no methods of exploitation. While communism is never meant to be the "end of history", it is certainly the final mode of production as all contradictions of modes of productions have been wiped out.<ref name=":0" />

== Material conditions ==
A communist economy relies on widespread electrification and [[automation]] and the mechanization all labour.<ref name=":02" />

==Implementation==
The implementation of communism became an extremely debated issue after the success of various communist movements. Almost all communist political theory concerns [[Dialectical materialism|dialectical]] and [[historical materialism]], socialist transformation and socialist development.

Engels provided some theory about the transition from socialism to communism (now known as the withering away of the state) in ''[[Anti-Dühring (1878)|Anti-Dühring]]'':
{{quote|The proletariat seizes political power and turns the means of production in the first instance into state property. But, in doing this, it abolishes itself as proletariat, abolishes all class distinctions and class antagonisms, abolishes also the state as state. [...] As soon as there is no longer any social class to be held in subjection; as soon as class rule, and the individual struggle for existence based upon our present anarchy in production, with the collisions and excesses arising from these, are removed, nothing more remains to be repressed, and a special repressive force, a state, is no longer necessary. [...] The state is not "abolished". It dies out.<ref name=":0">Friedrich Engels (1877) [https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1877/anti-duhring/ch24.htm Anti-Dühring, Part III, Chapter II]</ref>|[[Friedrich Engels]]|[[Anti-Dühring (1878)]]}}
[[Joseph Stalin|Stalin]] discusses the topic in his work, ''[[Economic problems of socialism in the USSR]]'':
{{quote|It is necessary, first of all, to shorten the working day at least to six, and subsequently to five hours. This is needed in order that the members of society might have the necessary free time to receive an all-round education. It is necessary, further, to introduce universal compulsory polytechnical education, which is required in order that the members of society might be able freely to choose their occupations and not be tied to some one occupation all their lives. It is likewise necessary that housing conditions should be radically improved, and that real wages of workers and employees should be at least doubled, if not more, both by means of direct increases of wages and salaries, and, more especially, by further systematic reductions of prices for consumer goods. These are the basic conditions required to pave the way for the transition to communism.<ref>Joseph Stalin (1951) [https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/stalin/works/1951/economic-problems/ch13.htm Economic Problems of the USSR, Chapter XIII]</ref>|[[Joseph Stalin]]|[[Economic problems of socialism in the USSR]]
}}

==Communism as an ideology==
Communism is sometimes described as a political theory: Marxists have Marxism, Darwinists have Darwinism, and Communists have Communism. This term is usually used by [[Liberalism|liberals]], although some communists have used the term communism this way. To have a better understanding of it, Engels have stated that

{{Quote|Question 1: What is Communism

Communism is the doctrine of the conditions of the liberation of the proletariat.|[[Friedrich Engels]]|[[The principles of communism]]|1847}}

==Communism as a movement==
According to Marx, communism can be defined as the "the real movement which abolishes the present state of things."

Communism has also been defined as a movement for the re-humanization and liberation of the exploited and [[Oppression|oppressed]] masses that restores equal rights to all [[Gender|genders]] and [[Nation|nationalities]].<ref name=":12">{{Citation|author=Stephen Gowans|year=2018|title=Patriots, Traitors and Empires: The Story of Korea’s Struggle for Freedom|chapter=The US Occupation|page=77|pdf=https://ipfs.io/ipfs/bafykbzaced4iiga4ngtxusr2civjxewbili5jne2sbpefbx2s3im2kphattzc?filename=Stephen%20Gowans%20-%20Patriots%2C%20Traitors%20and%20Empires_%20The%20Story%20of%20Korea%E2%80%99s%20Struggle%20for%20Freedom-Baraka%20Books%20%282018%29.pdf|city=Montreal|publisher=Baraka Books|isbn=9781771861427|lg=https://libgen.rs/book/index.php?md5=8435F6FF91279531705764823FDC2A7F}}</ref>

==References==

[[Category:Modes of production]]

<references />

=== Notes ===
<references group="lower-alpha" />

Communism

2023-02-27T04:05:53Z

Liang: /* Communism as an ideology */

'''Communism'''<ref group="lower-alpha">From Latin ''communis'', 'common, universal'</ref> is a society characterized by the absence of [[Class society|social classes]], the [[state]], [[money]], and [[commodity]] production, ultimately solving the main contradictions of [[capitalism]]. Communism also ends [[Contradiction|contradictions]] between town and city and between mental and physical [[labour]]. It is the highest and most progressive stage of social development.<ref name=":02">{{Citation|author=Economics Institute of the Academy of Sciences of the U.S.S.R|year=1954|title=Political Economy|chapter=The Gradual Transition from Socialism to Communism|page=|pdf=https://revolutionarydemocracy.org/archive/PoliticalEconomy.pdf|city=London|publisher=Lawrence & Wishart|chapter-url=https://www.marxists.org/subject/economy/authors/pe/pe-ch40.htm|mia=https://www.marxists.org/subject/economy/authors/pe/index.htm|section=}}</ref> The term is also used to refer to the movement whose ultimate goal is to achieve this society.

The material [[Post-scarcity|abundance]] and resultant social relations of such a society can be summarized by the slogan: "From each according to their ability, to each according to their needs." which was popularized in [[Marx|Karl Marx]]'s 1875 ''[[Library:Critique of the Gotha Program|Critique of the Gotha Program]]''.

In the [[Capital, vol. I|first volume of Capital]], Marx mentions it as ''"an association of free men, working with the means of production held in common, and expending their many different forms of labour-power in full self-awareness as one single social labour force"''<ref>''See [[Library:Capital, vol. I#cite ref-2|note]] in Capital, vol. I – The fetishism of the commodity and its secret''</ref>

== Etymology ==
Before Marx, the term communism was used by many [[Utopian socialism|utopian socialists]] to describe an [[Idealism|idealist]], egalitarian society.

Its modern usage is almost always traced back to Karl Marx's usage of the term where he introduced the concept of [[scientific socialism]] alongside [[Friedrich Engels]]. The theory of scientific socialism described communism not as an idealistic, perfect society but rather as a stage of development taking place after a long, political process of [[class struggle]]. Marx, however, used the terms [[socialism]] and communism interchangeably and he drew no distinction between the two.

[[Vladimir Lenin|Lenin]] was the first person to give distinct meanings to the terms socialism and communism. The socialism/communism of Marx was now known simply as communism, and Marx's "transitional phase" was to be known as socialism.

==Place in historical materialism==
In Marx's theory of historical materialism, communism represents the final mode of production. Each mode of production is defined by its [[relations of production]]: the class dynamics, the methods of [[exploitation]], the systems of exchange, the level of development of the [[means of production]], etc. [[Capitalism]] is defined by the relationship between the [[bourgeoisie]] and the [[proletariat]], commonly referred to as a "[[dictatorship of the bourgeoisie]]". Socialism is defined by the same relations, but instead it exhibits a "[[dictatorship of the proletariat]]". Socialism still has class dynamics and exploitation, but the proletariat is the class on top.<ref>Mao Zedong (July 1964) [https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/mao/works/1964/phnycom.htm On Khrushchov's Phoney Communism and Its Historical Lessons for the World]</ref>

Communism has no classes, and therefore no class dynamics. It has no exploitation, and therefore no methods of exploitation. While communism is never meant to be the "end of history", it is certainly the final mode of production as all contradictions of modes of productions have been wiped out.<ref name=":0" />

== Material conditions ==
A communist economy relies on widespread electrification and [[automation]] and the mechanization all labour.<ref name=":02" />

==Implementation==
The implementation of communism became an extremely debated issue after the success of various communist movements. Almost all communist political theory concerns [[Dialectical materialism|dialectical]] and [[historical materialism]], socialist transformation and socialist development.

Engels provided some theory about the transition from socialism to communism (now known as the withering away of the state) in ''[[Anti-Dühring (1878)|Anti-Dühring]]'':
{{quote|The proletariat seizes political power and turns the means of production in the first instance into state property. But, in doing this, it abolishes itself as proletariat, abolishes all class distinctions and class antagonisms, abolishes also the state as state. [...] As soon as there is no longer any social class to be held in subjection; as soon as class rule, and the individual struggle for existence based upon our present anarchy in production, with the collisions and excesses arising from these, are removed, nothing more remains to be repressed, and a special repressive force, a state, is no longer necessary. [...] The state is not "abolished". It dies out.<ref name=":0">Friedrich Engels (1877) [https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1877/anti-duhring/ch24.htm Anti-Dühring, Part III, Chapter II]</ref>|[[Friedrich Engels]]|[[Anti-Dühring (1878)]]}}
[[Joseph Stalin|Stalin]] discusses the topic in his work, ''[[Economic problems of socialism in the USSR]]'':
{{quote|It is necessary, first of all, to shorten the working day at least to six, and subsequently to five hours. This is needed in order that the members of society might have the necessary free time to receive an all-round education. It is necessary, further, to introduce universal compulsory polytechnical education, which is required in order that the members of society might be able freely to choose their occupations and not be tied to some one occupation all their lives. It is likewise necessary that housing conditions should be radically improved, and that real wages of workers and employees should be at least doubled, if not more, both by means of direct increases of wages and salaries, and, more especially, by further systematic reductions of prices for consumer goods. These are the basic conditions required to pave the way for the transition to communism.<ref>Joseph Stalin (1951) [https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/stalin/works/1951/economic-problems/ch13.htm Economic Problems of the USSR, Chapter XIII]</ref>|[[Joseph Stalin]]|[[Economic problems of socialism in the USSR]]
}}

==Communism as an ideology==
Communism is sometimes described as a political theory: Marxists have Marxism, Darwinists have Darwinism, and Communists have Communism. This term is usually used by [[Liberalism|liberals]], although some communists have used the term communism this way. To have a better understanding of it, Engels have stated that

{{Quote|Question 1: What is Communism

Communism is the doctrine of the conditions of the liberation of the proletariat.|[[Friedrich Engels]]|The principles of communism|1847}}

==Communism as a movement==
According to Marx, communism can be defined as the "the real movement which abolishes the present state of things."

Communism has also been defined as a movement for the re-humanization and liberation of the exploited and [[Oppression|oppressed]] masses that restores equal rights to all [[Gender|genders]] and [[Nation|nationalities]].<ref name=":12">{{Citation|author=Stephen Gowans|year=2018|title=Patriots, Traitors and Empires: The Story of Korea’s Struggle for Freedom|chapter=The US Occupation|page=77|pdf=https://ipfs.io/ipfs/bafykbzaced4iiga4ngtxusr2civjxewbili5jne2sbpefbx2s3im2kphattzc?filename=Stephen%20Gowans%20-%20Patriots%2C%20Traitors%20and%20Empires_%20The%20Story%20of%20Korea%E2%80%99s%20Struggle%20for%20Freedom-Baraka%20Books%20%282018%29.pdf|city=Montreal|publisher=Baraka Books|isbn=9781771861427|lg=https://libgen.rs/book/index.php?md5=8435F6FF91279531705764823FDC2A7F}}</ref>

==References==

[[Category:Modes of production]]

<references />

=== Notes ===
<references group="lower-alpha" />

Communism

2023-02-27T04:04:53Z

Liang: /* Communism as an ideology */

'''Communism'''<ref group="lower-alpha">From Latin ''communis'', 'common, universal'</ref> is a society characterized by the absence of [[Class society|social classes]], the [[state]], [[money]], and [[commodity]] production, ultimately solving the main contradictions of [[capitalism]]. Communism also ends [[Contradiction|contradictions]] between town and city and between mental and physical [[labour]]. It is the highest and most progressive stage of social development.<ref name=":02">{{Citation|author=Economics Institute of the Academy of Sciences of the U.S.S.R|year=1954|title=Political Economy|chapter=The Gradual Transition from Socialism to Communism|page=|pdf=https://revolutionarydemocracy.org/archive/PoliticalEconomy.pdf|city=London|publisher=Lawrence & Wishart|chapter-url=https://www.marxists.org/subject/economy/authors/pe/pe-ch40.htm|mia=https://www.marxists.org/subject/economy/authors/pe/index.htm|section=}}</ref> The term is also used to refer to the movement whose ultimate goal is to achieve this society.

The material [[Post-scarcity|abundance]] and resultant social relations of such a society can be summarized by the slogan: "From each according to their ability, to each according to their needs." which was popularized in [[Marx|Karl Marx]]'s 1875 ''[[Library:Critique of the Gotha Program|Critique of the Gotha Program]]''.

In the [[Capital, vol. I|first volume of Capital]], Marx mentions it as ''"an association of free men, working with the means of production held in common, and expending their many different forms of labour-power in full self-awareness as one single social labour force"''<ref>''See [[Library:Capital, vol. I#cite ref-2|note]] in Capital, vol. I – The fetishism of the commodity and its secret''</ref>

== Etymology ==
Before Marx, the term communism was used by many [[Utopian socialism|utopian socialists]] to describe an [[Idealism|idealist]], egalitarian society.

Its modern usage is almost always traced back to Karl Marx's usage of the term where he introduced the concept of [[scientific socialism]] alongside [[Friedrich Engels]]. The theory of scientific socialism described communism not as an idealistic, perfect society but rather as a stage of development taking place after a long, political process of [[class struggle]]. Marx, however, used the terms [[socialism]] and communism interchangeably and he drew no distinction between the two.

[[Vladimir Lenin|Lenin]] was the first person to give distinct meanings to the terms socialism and communism. The socialism/communism of Marx was now known simply as communism, and Marx's "transitional phase" was to be known as socialism.

==Place in historical materialism==
In Marx's theory of historical materialism, communism represents the final mode of production. Each mode of production is defined by its [[relations of production]]: the class dynamics, the methods of [[exploitation]], the systems of exchange, the level of development of the [[means of production]], etc. [[Capitalism]] is defined by the relationship between the [[bourgeoisie]] and the [[proletariat]], commonly referred to as a "[[dictatorship of the bourgeoisie]]". Socialism is defined by the same relations, but instead it exhibits a "[[dictatorship of the proletariat]]". Socialism still has class dynamics and exploitation, but the proletariat is the class on top.<ref>Mao Zedong (July 1964) [https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/mao/works/1964/phnycom.htm On Khrushchov's Phoney Communism and Its Historical Lessons for the World]</ref>

Communism has no classes, and therefore no class dynamics. It has no exploitation, and therefore no methods of exploitation. While communism is never meant to be the "end of history", it is certainly the final mode of production as all contradictions of modes of productions have been wiped out.<ref name=":0" />

== Material conditions ==
A communist economy relies on widespread electrification and [[automation]] and the mechanization all labour.<ref name=":02" />

==Implementation==
The implementation of communism became an extremely debated issue after the success of various communist movements. Almost all communist political theory concerns [[Dialectical materialism|dialectical]] and [[historical materialism]], socialist transformation and socialist development.

Engels provided some theory about the transition from socialism to communism (now known as the withering away of the state) in ''[[Anti-Dühring (1878)|Anti-Dühring]]'':
{{quote|The proletariat seizes political power and turns the means of production in the first instance into state property. But, in doing this, it abolishes itself as proletariat, abolishes all class distinctions and class antagonisms, abolishes also the state as state. [...] As soon as there is no longer any social class to be held in subjection; as soon as class rule, and the individual struggle for existence based upon our present anarchy in production, with the collisions and excesses arising from these, are removed, nothing more remains to be repressed, and a special repressive force, a state, is no longer necessary. [...] The state is not "abolished". It dies out.<ref name=":0">Friedrich Engels (1877) [https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1877/anti-duhring/ch24.htm Anti-Dühring, Part III, Chapter II]</ref>|[[Friedrich Engels]]|[[Anti-Dühring (1878)]]}}
[[Joseph Stalin|Stalin]] discusses the topic in his work, ''[[Economic problems of socialism in the USSR]]'':
{{quote|It is necessary, first of all, to shorten the working day at least to six, and subsequently to five hours. This is needed in order that the members of society might have the necessary free time to receive an all-round education. It is necessary, further, to introduce universal compulsory polytechnical education, which is required in order that the members of society might be able freely to choose their occupations and not be tied to some one occupation all their lives. It is likewise necessary that housing conditions should be radically improved, and that real wages of workers and employees should be at least doubled, if not more, both by means of direct increases of wages and salaries, and, more especially, by further systematic reductions of prices for consumer goods. These are the basic conditions required to pave the way for the transition to communism.<ref>Joseph Stalin (1951) [https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/stalin/works/1951/economic-problems/ch13.htm Economic Problems of the USSR, Chapter XIII]</ref>|[[Joseph Stalin]]|[[Economic problems of socialism in the USSR]]
}}

==Communism as an ideology==
Communism is sometimes described as a political theory: Marxists have Marxism, Darwinists have Darwinism, and Communists have Communism. This term is usually used by [[Liberalism|liberals]], although some communists have used the term communism this way. To have a better understanding of it, Engels have stated that

{{Quote|Question 1: What is Communism

Communism is the doctrine of the conditions of the liberation of the proletariat.|Friedrich Engels|The principles of communism|1847}}

==Communism as a movement==
According to Marx, communism can be defined as the "the real movement which abolishes the present state of things."

Communism has also been defined as a movement for the re-humanization and liberation of the exploited and [[Oppression|oppressed]] masses that restores equal rights to all [[Gender|genders]] and [[Nation|nationalities]].<ref name=":12">{{Citation|author=Stephen Gowans|year=2018|title=Patriots, Traitors and Empires: The Story of Korea’s Struggle for Freedom|chapter=The US Occupation|page=77|pdf=https://ipfs.io/ipfs/bafykbzaced4iiga4ngtxusr2civjxewbili5jne2sbpefbx2s3im2kphattzc?filename=Stephen%20Gowans%20-%20Patriots%2C%20Traitors%20and%20Empires_%20The%20Story%20of%20Korea%E2%80%99s%20Struggle%20for%20Freedom-Baraka%20Books%20%282018%29.pdf|city=Montreal|publisher=Baraka Books|isbn=9781771861427|lg=https://libgen.rs/book/index.php?md5=8435F6FF91279531705764823FDC2A7F}}</ref>

==References==

[[Category:Modes of production]]

<references />

=== Notes ===
<references group="lower-alpha" />

ProleWiki:Library/Archive

2023-02-27T02:33:44Z

Liang: /* Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels */

{{changetitle|''Library of ProleWiki''}}
Welcome to the ''Library of Prolewiki,'' a space for the collection of texts, articles and books relating to socialism. Previously, this was only for [[Marxism–Leninism|Marxist-Leninist]] works. But because It is important to understand the history of socialism, works that are non-Marxist or adversarial to socialism are now included. Dates for each work below are provided, and each section is separated by authors.

You can find the works of all [[:Category:Library works by Marxist-Leninists|Marxist-Leninist authors here]].
{{TOC limit|3}}
== ProleWiki Selected Works ==

# ''[[Library:The three sources and three component parts of Marxism|The three sources and three component parts of Marxism]]'' (Lenin's brief outline of Marxist philosophy.)
# ''[[Library:Manifesto of the communist party|Manifesto of the communist party]]'' (Marx and Engels' analysis of class struggle and an outline communist principles.)
# ''[[Library:The principles of communism|The principles of communism]]'' (Engels' series of questions and answers on the Marxist doctrine.)
# ''[[Library:On authority|On authority]]'' (Engels' response on the rejection of authority under a socialist state.)
# ''[[Library:The state and revolution|The state and revolution]]'' (Lenin's work on the state, its role in society and the necessity of a revolutionary movement.)

==Main works==
=== Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels===
[[:Category:Library works by Karl Marx|[Marx category page]]] [[:Category:Library works by Friedrich Engels|[Engels category page]]]
{| class="wikitable sortable"
!Author
!Work
!Year
|-
|Marx
|''[[Library:Critique of Hegel's philosophy of right|Critique of Hegel's philosophy of right]]''
|1843
|-
|Marx
|[[Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts of 1844|Economic and philosophic manuscripts of 1844]]
|1844
|-
|Marx & Engels
|''[[Library:The holy family|The holy family]]''
|1845
|-
|Marx
|''[[Library:Theses on Feuerbach|Theses on Feuerbach]]''
|1845
|-
|Marx & Engels
|''[[Library:The German ideology|The German ideology]]''
|1846
|-
|Marx
|''[[Library:The poverty of philosophy|The poverty of philosophy]]''
|1847
|-
|Engels
|''[[Library:The principles of communism|The principles of communism]]''
|1847
|-
|Marx & Engels
|''[[Library:Manifesto of the communist party|Manifesto of the communist party]]''
|1848
|-
|Marx
|''[[Library:The 18th Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte|The 18th Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte]]''
|1852
|-
|Marx
|''[[Library:A contribution to the critique of political economy|A contribution to the critique of political economy]]''
|1859
|-
|Marx
|''[[Library:Value, price and profit|Value, price and profit]]''
|1865
|-
|Marx
|[[Library:Address of the International Working Men's Association to Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States of America|''Address of the International Working Men's Association to Abraham Lincoln'']]
|1865
|-
|Marx
|''[[Library:Capital, vol. I|Capital, vol I]]''
|1867
|-
|Marx
|''[[Library:The civil war in France|The civil war in France]]''
|1871
|-
|Engels
|''[[Library:On authority|On authority]]''
|1872
|-
|Marx
|''[[Library:Critique of the Gotha Program|Critique of the Gotha Program]]''
|1875
|-
|Engels
|''[[Library:Anti-Dühring|Anti-Dühring]]''
|1878
|-
|Engels
|''[[Library:Socialism: utopian and scientific|Socialism: utopian and scientific]]''
|1880
|-
|Engels
|''[[Library:The origin of the family, private property and the state|The origin of the family, private property and the state]]''
|1884
|-
|Engels
|''[[Library:Ludwig Feuerbach and the end of classical German philosophy|Ludwig Feuerbach and the end of classical German philosophy]]''
|1886
|-
|Marx & Engels
|[[Library:Marx & Engels letters|Marx & Engels letters]]
|1843–1895
|}

===Vladimir Lenin===
[[:Category:Library works by Vladimir Lenin|[Category page]]]
*''[[Library:Concerning the state budget|Concerning the state budget]]'' '''(January 15th, 1902)'''
*''[[Library:What is to be done?|What is to be done?]]'' '''(February, 1902)'''
*''[[Library:Two tactics of social-democracy in the democratic revolution|Two tactics of social-democracy in the democratic revolution]]'' '''(July, 1905)'''
*''[[Library:Materialism and empiriocriticism|Materialism and empiriocriticism]]'' '''(February, 1908)'''
*''[[Library:The three sources and three component parts of Marxism|The three sources and three component parts of Marxism]]'' '''(1913)'''
*''[[Library:Backward Europe and Advanced Asia|Backward Europe and advanced Asia]]'' '''(1913)'''
*''[[Library:Marxism and Reformism|Marxism and Reformism]]'' '''(September, 1913)'''
*[[Library:The defeat of one’s own government in the imperialist war|The defeat of one's own government in the imperialist war]] '''(1915)'''
*''[[Library:Imperialism, the highest stage of capitalism|Imperialism, the highest stage of capitalism]]'' '''(June 1916)'''
*''[[Library:The state and revolution|The state and revolution]]'' '''(August, 1917)'''
*[[Library:A letter to American workingmen|''A letter to American workingmen'']] '''(August 20th, 1918)'''
*''[[Library:The proletarian revolution and the renegade Kautsky|The proletarian revolution and the renegade Kautsky]]'' '''(November, 1918)'''
*''[[Library:"Left-wing" communism, an infantile disorder|“Left-wing” communism, an infantile disorder]]'' '''(May, 1920)'''

=== Joseph Stalin===
[[:Category:Library works by Joseph Stalin|[Category page]]]
*''[[Library:Anarchism or socialism?|Anarchism or socialism?]]'' '''(January, 1907)'''
*''[[Library:Marxism and the National Question|Marxism and the national question]]'' '''(March-May, 1913)'''
*''[[Library:The foundations of Leninism|The foundations of Leninism]]'' '''(April, 1924)'''
*''[[Library:Trotskyism or Leninism?|Trotskyism or Leninism?]]'' '''(November 19th, 1924)'''
*''[[Library:The International Character of the October Revolution|The International Character of the October Revolution]]'' '''(November 7th, 1927)'''
*''[[Library:Dialectical and historical materialism|Dialectical and historical materialism]]'' '''(September, 1938)'''
*''[[Library:History of the communist party of the Soviet Union|History of the communist party of the Soviet Union]]'' '''(October 1st, 1939)'''
*''[[Library:Marxism and problems of linguistics|Marxism and problems of linguistics]]'' '''(June 2nd, 1950)'''
* ''[[Library:Economic problems of socialism in the USSR|Economic problems of socialism in the USSR]]'' '''(September, 1952)'''

=== Mao Zedong===
[[:Category:Library works by Mao Zedong|[Category page]]]
*[[Library:Analysis of the Classes in Chinese Society|Analysis of the classes in Chinese society]] '''(March, 1926)'''
*[[Library:Oppose Book Worship|''Oppose book worship'']] '''(May, 1930)'''
*''[[Library:On guerrilla warfare|On guerrilla warfare]]'' '''(1937)'''
*[[Library:Win the Masses in Their Millions for the Anti-Japanese National United Front|''Win the masses in their millions for the anti-Japanese national united front'']] '''(May 7th, 1937)'''
*''[[Library:On practice|On practice]]'' '''(July, 1937)'''
*''[[Library:On contradiction|On contradiction]]'' '''(August, 1937)'''
*''[[Library:Combat liberalism|Combat liberalism]]'' '''(September 7th, 1937)'''

=== Ho Chi Minh===
[[:Category:Library works by Ho Chi Minh|[Category page]]]
*''[[Library:On revolutionary morality|''On revolutionary morality'']]'' '''(1958)'''

===Kim Il-sung===
[[:Category:Library works by Kim Il-Sung|[Category page]]]
*''[[Library:For the establishment of a united party of the working masses|For the establishment of a united party of the working masses]]'' '''(1946)'''
*''[[Library:On eliminating dogmatism and formalism and establishing Juche in ideological work|On eliminating dogmatism and formalism and establishing Juche in ideological work]]'' '''(1955)'''
*''[[Library:Let us further strengthen the people’s government|Let us further strengthen the people’s government]]'' '''(1977)'''
*''[[Library:Enhancing the role of the masses of the people is the guarantee for victory in the cause of independence|Enhancing the role of the masses of the people is the guarantee for victory in the cause of independence]]'' '''(1992)'''

=== Clara Zetkin ===

* [[Library:Lenin on the women’s question|''Lenin on the women’s question'']]

==Complimentary works==

=== Deng Xiaoping ===
* ''[[Library:The Principles, Tasks and Orientation for Cultural Work in the 129th Division|The Principles, Tasks and Orientation for Cultural Work in the 129th Division]]'' '''(June 16th, 1941)'''
*''[[Library:A General Account of the Struggle Against the Enemy Over the Past Five Years|A General Account of the Struggle Against the Enemy Over the Past Five Years]]'' '''(January 26th, 1943)'''
*''[[Library:Report delivered at a conference on the press in Southwest China|Report Delivered At a Conference on the Press in Southwest China]]'' '''(May 16th, 1950)'''
*''[[Library:Emancipate the mind, seek truth from facts and unite as one in looking to the future|Emancipate the mind, seek truth from facts and unite as one in looking to the future]]'' '''(December 13th, 1978)'''
*''[[Library:To Build Socialism We Must First Develop the Productive Forces|To Build Socialism We Must First Develop the Productive Forces]]'' '''(May 5th, 1980)'''
*''[[Library:Building a Socialism With a Specifically Chinese Character|Building a Socialism With a Specifically Chinese Character]]'' '''(June 30th, 1984)'''

=== Grover Furr ===
*''[[Library:Khrushchev lied|Khrushchev lied]]''

=== Kim Jong-un ===
* [[Library:Report to the 7th Congress of the Workers’ Party of Korea on the work of the Central Committee|''Report to the 7th Congress of the Workers’ Party of Korea on the work of the Central Committee'']]
*''[[Library:Fundamentals of Kimilsungism-Kimjongilism|Fundamentals of Kimilsungism-Kimjongilism]]''

=== Enver Hoxha ===
[<nowiki/>[[:Category:Library works by Enver Hoxha|Category page]]]

* ''[[Library:The Fist of the Marxist-Leninist Communists Must Also Smash Left Adventurism, the Offspring of Modern Revisionism|The Fist of the Marxist-Leninist Communists Must Also Smash Left Adventurism, the Offspring of Modern Revisionism]]'' '''(1968)'''
* ''[[Library:The Demagogy of the Soviet Revisionists Cannot Conceal their Traitorous Countenance|The Demagogy of the Soviet Revisionists Cannot Conceal their Traitorous Countenance]]'' '''(1969)'''
* ''[[Library:Theory and Practice of the Revolution|Theory and Practice of the Revolution]]'' '''(1977)'''
* [[Library:Imperialism and the Revolution|''Imperialism and the Revolution'']] '''(1979)'''
* ''[[Library:Eurocommunism is Anti-Communism|Eurocommunism is Anti-Communism]]'' '''(1980)'''
*''[[Library:With Stalin: Memoirs|With Stalin: Memoirs]]'' '''(1981)'''

=== Martin Luther King Jr. ===
* [[Library:Letter from Birmingham Jail|''Letter from Birmingham jail'']]

=== Domenico Losurdo===
* ''[[Library:Has China turned to capitalism? — Reflections on the transition from capitalism to socialism|Has China turned to capitalism? — Reflections on the transition from capitalism to socialism]]''

=== Rosa Luxemburg ===
* ''[[Library:Reform or Revolution|Reform or Revolution]]''
*''[[Library:The Accumulation of Capital|The Accumulation of Capital]]''

=== Carlos Marighella ===
* [[Library:Minimanual of the Urban Guerrilla|''Minimanual of the Urban Guerrilla'']]

=== Martin Nicolaus ===
* ''[[Library:Restoration of Capitalism in the USSR|Restoration of Capitalism in the USSR]]''

=== Michael Parenti ===

* ''[[Library:Blackshirts and Reds|Blackshirts and Reds]]'' '''(Incomplete)'''
* [[Library:Global Rollback After Communism|Global Rollback After Communism]]

=== Plekhanov ===
*''[[Library:Essays on the history of materialism|Essays on the history of materialism]]‎''
*''[[Library:Fundamental problems of marxism|Fundamental problems of marxism]]''

===Georges Politzer===
*''[[Library:Elementary principles of philosophy|Elementary principles of philosophy]]''
*''[[Library:Fundamental principles of philosophy|Fundamental principles of philosophy]]''

===Xi Jinping===
*''[[Library:The governance of China|The governance of China]]''
*[[Library:Properly Understand the Major Theoretical and Practical Issues in China's Development|Properly understand the major theoretical and practical issues in china's development]] '''(December 8th, 2021)'''

==Interviews==

===Stalin===

*''[[Library:Stalin interview with H. G. Wells|Interview with H. G. Wells]]''
*''[[Library:Stalin interview with Emil Ludwig|Interview with Emil Ludwig]]''

=== Guzmán ===

* ''[[Library:Interview with Chairman Gonzalo|Interview with Chairman Gonzalo]]''

== Non-socialist works ==

=== Aimé Césaire ===

* ''[[Library:Discourse on Colonialism|Discourse on colonialism]]'' '''(Incomplete)'''

=== Department of Strategic Services (Provisional) ===

* [[Library:Simple Sabotage Field Manual|Simple Sabotage Field Manual]]

=== Thomas Paine ===

* ''[[Library:Common Sense|Common sense]]'' '''(1776)'''

==Transcripts==

===Podcasts===

*

===Videos===

==== FOX News ====

* [[Library:Interview with r/AntiWork's Doreen Ford|Interview with r/AntiWork's Doreen Ford]]

====Michael Parenti====

*''[[Library:There Are No Poor Countries|"There Are No Poor Countries"]]''
*[[Library:US Interventionism, the Third World, and the USSR|''US Interventionism, the Third World, and the USSR'']] (the famous 'Yellow Parenti' video)

==== Yanis Varoufakis ====
*''[[Library:Is capitalism devouring democracy?|Is capitalism devouring democracy?]]''

==Documents==

=== Soviet Union ===

* ''[[Library:Constitution of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (1936)|Constitution of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (1936)]]''

=== Albania ===

* ''[[Library:Constitution of the Party of Labour of Albania|Constitution of the Party of Labour of Albania]]''
*''[[Library:Constitution of the People's Socialist Republic of Albania (1976)|Constitution of the People's Socialist Republic of Albania (1976)]]''

===Brazil===
*''[[Library:Congresses of Brazilian Communist Party|Congresses of Brazilian Communist Party]]''

===China===
*''[[Library:The constitution of the Communist Party of China|The constitution of the Communist Party of China]]''
*''[[Library:The Ten Declarations of the Maoist Communist Party of China|The Ten Declarations of the Maoist Communist Party of China]]''
*''[[Library:Chinese and Russian Joint Statement on the New Era|Chinese and Russian Joint Statement on the New Era]]''

=== India ===

* ''[[Library:China: A Modern Social-Imperialist Power|China: A Modern Social-Imperialist Power]]''

=== United States ===

* ''[[Library:Constitution of the Communist Party of the United States|Constitution of the Communist Party USA]]''
*[[Library:Program of the Party for Socialism and Liberation|''Program of the Party for Socialism and Liberation'']]
* [[Library:Founding statement of the United Workers' Party (Organizing Committee)|''Founding statement of the United Workers' Party (Organizing Committee)'']]
*''[[Library:Elections Won't Defeat Fascism, Only We Can|Elections Won’t Defeat Fascism, Only We Can]]''

== Study guides ==
Here's a category tree of our Study guides which include [[:Category:Film lists|Film lists]] and [[:Category:Reading lists|Reading lists]]<categorytree mode="pages" depth="5">Study guides</categorytree>
[[Category:Library]]

== Library Category Tree ==
<categorytree mode="pages" depth="5">Library</categorytree>