> >When I get home, I'll check with my Dictionary of Marxist Thought to
>>see what it says.
>>
> >Doug
>
>From Dictionary of Marxist Thought, edit. Thomas Bottomore, etc 1991
>edition, p. 311:
>
>Leninism
>(excerpt)
Here's the full entry. It's scanned, so apologies for any stray errors remaining.
Important elements that our resident Leninists didn't feature in their definitions are: the centrality of The Party (singular, with a capital P - i.e., not the importance of organization or parties, but the importance of a single vanguard organization - is that what Lou Paulsen means by following the lead of 1917?), and the view of the metropolitan working class as bought off, and the Third World proletariat as the leading force of revolution (which is problematic for political activists in the U.S. to embrace too tightly). I'd also take exception to the view of imperialism, which is at odds with the actual behavior of cross-border investment; richer countries are the major targets, not poorer ones, and among the poorer ones, the main investment destinations are a relative handful of middle-income countries. I think the model - which is shared by lots of antiglobo activists - assigns too much of a share of value production to the poorer countries.
Doug
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LENINISM
Marxist-Leninists conceive 'Leninism' to be the development of the scientific understanding of society propounded by Marx and Engels. As such it is a science of the laws of development of nature and society, which elucidates the causal relationships between man and society and the advance to the classless society of communism. The major components of Marxism-Leninism are dialectical and historical materialism as a method of analysis, political economy as the study of the class relationships to the means of production and the level of productive forces, and the theory of scientific communism (the structure and process of communist societies). More narrowly defined, Leninism is that tendency within Marxist thought which accepts the major theoretical contributions of Lenin to revolutionary Marxism. Specifically, it is an approach to the seizure of power for and by the proletariat and the building of socialist society, which legitimates revolutionary action by the Party on behalf of the working class. It may be distinguished from BOLSHEVISM which is the political practice or political movement based on Leninism.
Leninists see Marxism as a revolutionary class PRAXIS which is concerned above all with the conquest of power, and they stress the role of the communist party as a weapon of struggle. The party is composed of class conscious Marxists and is centrally organized on the principle of democratic centralism. The danger of trade unionism as a basis for a socialist party is that its focus is too narrow and is predicated on the improvement of economic conditions, not on revolutionary activity. Rather than relying on the spontaneous development of consciousness in the working class, Leninists see the party as a catalyst bringing revolutionary theory and political organization to the exploited masses. 'Without a revolutionary theory ... there can be no revolutionary movement For Marxist-Leninists, the seizure of power is the result of revolutionary struggle and initially the dictatorship of the proletariat is established under the hegemony of the party. Leninists reject the notion that the capitalist state can be taken over and made to serve the interests of the proletariat, or that socialism can be achieved through evolutionary means.
Leninists regard capitalism as an international and imperialist phenomenon. The laws of accumulation in the advanced capitalist countries lead to crises of overproduction of commodities and capital, and to a tendency for the rate of profit to fall; the search for profits leads to the export of capital and to a temporary stabilization of the capitalist world. Imperialism entails the division of the world between the dominant advanced industrial nations and the colonial societies which are forced into the world system, and it led to military conflict between these nations in world war 1. This in turn produced a destabilization of the world capitalist system, and created favourable conditions for revolution. Lenin opposed the policies of the Second International which justified the social democratic movement's participation in national wars. Imperialism aIso led to uneven development and a shift in he focus of revolutionary socialist upheaval to the East; and for Lenin Russia was the paradigmatic case. The 'weakest link' of capitalism is located in the 'underdeveloped' or semi-colonial areas where the indigenous bourgeoisie is weak but there is enough industrialization to create a class conscious proletariat. On the other hand, the metropolitan bourgeoisie is able, by virtue of he excess profit obtained from colonial tribute, to placate temporarily part of its own working class. The idea of socialist revolution in 'underdeveloped' countries leads to the inclusion of the peasantry as an agent of evolutionary change. According to Lenin and Mao Tse-tung the peasantry first becomes an important social force in the, bourgeois evolution, and then the poor and middle peasantry become a major support of the working class in the creation of a socialist order. After the socialist revolution in the East, however, the contradictions of capitalism in the metropolitan countries become greater and lead to world revolution. Only on a world scale can socialist revolution be consummated.
Compared with classical Marxism, Leninism gives a greater role to revolutionary 'toilers' (workers and peasants) rather than to the revolutionary proletariat as such, to the ,underdeveloped' or semi-colonial countries rather than the advanced capitalist countries; and it emphasizes the leading role of the party rather than the spontaneous activity of the working class (see PARTY). Rosa Luxemburg was a principled opponent of Leninism on this issue, stressing the importance of spontaneous class consciousness.
The success of the Bolsheviks in the Russian Revolution has led many Leninists to identify Leninism with the practice of the Soviet state, as 'representing' the dictatorship of the proletariat on a world scale. This view is particularly associated with Stalin and his supporters, who argued that the interest of the world proletariat was identical with that of the Soviet Union. After Lenin's death, and during the ascendancy of Stalin, Leninism became an ideology of legitimation used by the rulers of the Soviet Union and their supporters in the world communist movement. Stalin described Leninism as 'Marxism in the era of imperialism and of the proletarian revolution. . . . Leninism is the theory and tactics of the dictatorship of the proletariat in particular' (Foundations of Leninism). Leninism in this sense became a doctrine which involved the subordination of the world communist parties to the interests of the USSR. Opposition to Stalin and to the hegemony of the Soviet Party over the world communist movement (see COMMUNISM) led to claims by other Marxists to be the true inheritors of Lenin's revolutionary praxis, the most important groups being the followers of Trotsky and Mao Tse-tung. Both groups are Leninist in the sense that they advocate the leading role of the party, the primacy of revolutionary political action, support for the October Revolution and for Lenin's methodological approach. A third, more revisionist group is to be found among the adherents of EUROCOMMUNISM who argue that Lenin's policies were specific to the Russia his time. For them the essential feature of Leninism is its approach to such issues as political leadership and the concrete analysis a capitalism. On this view, a more open and democratic, less centralized communist party is relevant to Western conditions, and different class and political alliances are required if the communist party is to achieve power in the context of parliamentary democracy. While holding to the belief in class struggle these thinkers see greater political advantage from participation in, and utilization of, the capitalist state apparatus, which is regarded as a necessary element in defending and extending workers' rights under capitalism. In particular, they see the idea of the dictatorship of the proletariat as a specific application of Leninism rather than its substance, and consider such an aim no longer apposite to the struggle of the European proletariat. DSL [David Lane]
Reading
Corrigan, P., Ramsay, H. R. and Sayers, D. 1978: Socialist Construction and Marxist Theory: Bolshevism and its Critique.
Carrillo, S. 1977: 'Eurocommunism' and the State. ,Harding, N. 1977 and 1981: Lenin's Political Tbought.
Knei-Paz, B. 1978: The Social and Political Thought of Leon Trotsky.
Lane, D. 1981: Leninism: A Sociological Interpretation.
Lenin, V.I. 1902 (1961): 'What is to be Done'?
- 1916 (1964): 'Imperialism, the Highest Stage of Capitalism'.
- 1917 (1969): 'The State and Revolution'.
Luxemburg, R. 1961: 'Leninism or Marxism'. In The Russian Revolution and Marxism or Leninism. Meyer, A. G. 1957: Leninism.
Stalin, J. B. 1934 (1973): 'Foundations of Leninism'; 'Problems of Leninism'. In B. Franklin ed. The Essential Stalin.