Marxism-Leninism

For the vision of the Marxism by Lénine, to see Leninism

The term Marxism-Leninism - invented after the death of Lénine - is used by political groups to indicate their own ideology. This ideology was that of the leaders of the the USSR (of the middle of the years 1920 until the years 1960), to start with Stalin. He is asserted by various groups Stalinien S, in particular Maoists.

A problematic concept

The term should in theory indicate the heritage of Lénine and the adaptation and interpretation that this one made concepts of Karl Marx, even the position that Lénine could have taken if he had been confronted with posterior situations with his death, on the basis of a Exégèse of its thought. Actually, the term was initiated by the propaganda of the the USSR under domination Stalinien.

It is that the thought of Lénine is called upon to defend of the very contrasted ideas, according to whether they refer:

  • with the writings of Lénine;
  • with the policies that this one led to the Russian report heading as from 1917 and until its disease in 1922;
  • with the official interpretations diffused by the party whose Lénine was the chief (in Russia) and by the Komintern, body whose Stalin took control quickly.

The Marxism-Leninism was the official doctrines of the the USSR. It is thus a synonym of Stalinisme; its precise contents changed according to the needs for Stalin, then other Heads of States asserting itself of this current (in particular Mao Zedong). It is thus about an ambiguous term which was permanently subjected to reinterpretations according to the political requirements of those which used it, with the double objective to sit their legitimacy on the heritage of “large old” and to fustigate their adversaries.

A more minority current of Leninists, already at the time, makes its own interpretation of works of Lénine by rejecting the Stalinist interpretation, which they consider erroneous, reactionary and anticommunist: they are in particular the currents of the Trotskisme and the Bordiguisme. These currents do not assert “Marxism-Leninism”.

Communist not-Leninists (Communism of councils, Luxembourgisme, Communism-workman, autonomous Marxism, libertarian Communism…) reject the “Marxism-Leninism”, and use quasi exclusively the term Stalinisme.

History

Of 1924 with 1953, under Stalin, the Marxism-Leninism dominates the whole of the Communist parties joined together in the Komintern (IIIe Internationale) until 1943, then the Kominform starting from 1947. The death of Stalin in 1953 and the denunciation of its crimes in 1956 does not change anything with the official doctrines the the USSR and countries Europe the East: the Marxism-Leninism is consolidated, Stalin carrying the defects of the system like a Scapegoat.

This meaning of the term will be taken again starting from the Années 1960 in China: the Maoïsme will be integrated into the Marxism-Leninism.

Since the Years 1970, certain groups Maoists officially broke with the Stalinisme while continuing to claim Marxism-Leninism: the Political organization) (transformation of the Union of the Communists of France Marxist-Leninist) and the communist Organization Marxist-Leninist Sees proletarian.

These groups evolved to a new form of Maoism: the Spontanéisme. With died of Mao Zedong in 1976, the Popular republic of China and the Albania gave up the Marxism-Leninism. Many a Guérilla S Maoists continues since to claim Marxism-Leninism-Maoism: with the Peru (luminous Path of Abimaël Guzman) and with the Nepal in particular. In France, the Marxism-Leninism-Maoism continues to be represented by the Communist party Marxist-Leninist-Maoist. In Quebec, the Left Marxist-Leninist Quebec (PMLQ), and his/her Canadian big brother, the Parti Marxist-Leninist Canada promote this populist ideology.

Analyzes

The Idéologie invented by Stalin aimed only to justify its dictatorship while referring formally to the theories and the practices of Lénine at the time of its exercise of the capacity in Russia.

For the Communists opposed to Stalin (majority today), the term of “Marxism-Leninism” camouflages the “Stalinisme” which they make responsible for a policy criminal and very far away from the ideal of a proletarian capacity , considering that contrary Stalinism is marked by the dictatorship of Heads of States like Stalin or Mao, the exploitation and the oppression of the masses by a bureaucracy of State within the framework of a certainly planned economy but nevertheless capitalist.

Quotations

The " Marxism-léninisme" is an untrue phrase created by Stalin after the death of Lénine (1924) to camouflage its monstrous intrigues: it is actually synonymous with Stalinism, true antithesis of the Marxism and caricatures even léninisme.

Boris Souvarine

See too

Zh-min-nan: Marx-Lenin-chú-gī

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