Communist political thought and theory are diverse but share several core elements. The dominant forms of communism are based on
Marxism or
Leninism but non-Marxist versions of communism also exist, such as
anarcho-communism and
Christian communism, which remain partly influenced by Marxist theories, such as
libertarian Marxism and
humanist Marxism in particular. Common elements include being theoretical rather than ideological, identifying political parties not by ideology but by class and economic interest, and identifying with the proletariat. According to communists, the proletariat can avoid mass unemployment only if capitalism is overthrown; in the short run, state-oriented communists favor
state ownership of the
commanding heights of the economy as a means to defend the proletariat from capitalist pressure. Some communists are distinguished by other Marxists in seeing peasants and smallholders of property as possible allies in their goal of shortening the abolition of capitalism. For Leninist communism, such goals, including short-term proletarian interests to improve their political and material conditions, can only be achieved through
vanguardism, an elitist form of
socialism from above that relies on theoretical analysis to identify proletarian interests rather than consulting the proletarians themselves, as is advocated by
libertarian communists. When they engage in elections, Leninist communists' main task is that of educating voters in what are deemed their true interests rather than in response to the expression of interest by voters themselves. When they have gained control of the state, Leninist communists' main task was preventing other political parties from deceiving the proletariat, such as by running their own independent candidates. This vanguardist approach comes from their commitments to
democratic centralism in which communists can only be cadres, i.e. members of the party who are full-time professional revolutionaries, as was conceived by
Vladimir Lenin.
Marxist communism (left) and
Friedrich Engels (right) in Shanghai Marxism is a method of
socioeconomic analysis that uses a
materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as
historical materialism, to understand
social class relations and
social conflict and a
dialectical perspective to view
social transformation. It originates from the works of 19th-century German philosophers
Karl Marx and
Friedrich Engels. As Marxism has developed over time into various branches and
schools of thought, no single, definitive
Marxist theory exists. Marxism considers itself to be the embodiment of
scientific socialism but does not model an ideal society based on the design of
intellectuals, whereby communism is seen as a
state of affairs to be established based on any intelligent design; rather, it is a non-
idealist attempt at the understanding of material history and society, whereby communism is the expression of a real movement, with parameters that are derived from actual life. According to Marxist theory, class conflict arises in capitalist societies due to contradictions between the material interests of the oppressed and exploited
proletariata class of wage laborers employed to produce goods and servicesand the
bourgeoisiethe
ruling class that owns the
means of production and extracts its wealth through appropriation of the
surplus product produced by the proletariat in the form of
profit. This class struggle that is commonly expressed as the revolt of a society's
productive forces against its
relations of production, results in a period of short-term crises as the bourgeoisie struggle to manage the intensifying
alienation of labor experienced by the proletariat, albeit with varying degrees of
class consciousness. In periods of deep crisis, the resistance of the oppressed can culminate in a
proletarian revolution which, if victorious, leads to the establishment of the
socialist mode of production based on
social ownership of the means of production, "
To each according to his contribution", and
production for use. As the productive forces continued to advance, the
communist society, i.e. a classless, stateless, humane society based on
common ownership, follows the maxim "
From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs." While it originates from the works of Marx and Engels, Marxism has developed into many different branches and schools of thought, with the result that there is now no single definitive Marxist theory. Different Marxian schools place a greater emphasis on certain aspects of
classical Marxism while rejecting or modifying other aspects. Many schools of thought have sought to combine Marxian concepts and non-Marxian concepts, which has then led to contradictory conclusions. There is a movement toward the recognition that historical materialism and
dialectical materialism remain the fundamental aspects of all
Marxist schools of thought. Marxism–Leninism and its offshoots are the most well-known of these and have been a driving force in
international relations during most of the 20th century. Classical Marxism is the economic, philosophical, and sociological theories expounded by Marx and Engels as contrasted with later developments in Marxism, especially Leninism and Marxism–Leninism.
Orthodox Marxism is the body of Marxist thought that emerged after the death of Marx and which became the official philosophy of the socialist movement as represented in the
Second International until World War I in 1914. Orthodox Marxism aims to simplify, codify, and systematize Marxist method and theory by clarifying the perceived ambiguities and contradictions of classical Marxism. The philosophy of orthodox Marxism includes the understanding that material development (advances in technology in the
productive forces) is the primary agent of change in the structure of society and of human social relations and that social systems and their relations (e.g.
feudalism,
capitalism, and so on) become contradictory and inefficient as the productive forces develop, which results in some form of social revolution arising in response to the mounting contradictions. This revolutionary change is the vehicle for fundamental society-wide changes and ultimately leads to the emergence of new
economic systems. As a term,
orthodox Marxism represents the methods of historical materialism and of dialectical materialism, and not the normative aspects inherent to classical Marxism, without implying dogmatic adherence to the results of Marx's investigations.
Marxist concepts Class conflict and historical materialism At the root of Marxism is historical materialism, the
materialist conception of history which holds that the key characteristic of economic systems through history has been the
mode of production and that the change between modes of production has been triggered by class struggle. According to this analysis, the
Industrial Revolution ushered the world into the new
capitalist mode of production. Before capitalism, certain
working classes had ownership of instruments used in production; however, because machinery was much more efficient, this property became worthless and the mass majority of workers could only survive by selling their labor to make use of someone else's machinery, and making someone else profit. Accordingly, capitalism divided the world between two major classes, namely that of the
proletariat and the
bourgeoisie. These classes are directly antagonistic as the latter possesses
private ownership of the
means of production, earning profit via the
surplus value generated by the proletariat, who have no ownership of the means of production and therefore no option but to sell its labor to the bourgeoisie. According to the materialist conception of history, it is through the furtherance of its own material interests that the rising bourgeoisie within
feudalism captured power and abolished, of all relations of private property, only the feudal privilege, thereby taking the feudal
ruling class out of existence. This was another key element behind the consolidation of capitalism as the new mode of production, the final expression of class and property relations that has led to a massive expansion of production. It is only in capitalism that private property in itself can be abolished. Similarly, the proletariat would capture political power, abolish bourgeois property through the
common ownership of the means of production, therefore abolishing the bourgeoisie, ultimately abolishing the proletariat itself and ushering the world into
communism as a new mode of production. In between capitalism and communism, there is the
dictatorship of the proletariat; it is the defeat of the
bourgeois state but not yet of the capitalist mode of production, and at the same time the only element which places into the realm of possibility moving on from this mode of production. This
dictatorship, based on the
Paris Commune's model, is to be the most democratic state where the whole of the public authority is elected and recallable under the basis of
universal suffrage.
Critique of political economy Critique of
political economy is a form of
social critique that rejects the various social categories and structures that constitute the mainstream discourse concerning the forms and modalities of resource allocation and income distribution in the economy. Communists, such as Marx and Engels, are described as prominent critics of political economy. Critics of economy commonly view what is most commonly referred to as the economy as being bundles of
metaphysical concepts, as well as societal and normative practices, rather than being the result of any self-evident or proclaimed economic laws. Into the 21st century, there are multiple critiques of political economy; what they have in common is the critique of what critics of political economy tend to view as
dogma, i.e. claims of the economy as a necessary and transhistorical societal category.
Marxian economics Marxian economics and its proponents view capitalism as economically unsustainable and incapable of improving the living standards of the population due to its need to compensate for
falling rates of profit by cutting employee's wages, social benefits, and pursuing military aggression. The
communist mode of production would succeed capitalism as humanity's new mode of production through workers'
revolution. According to Marxian
crisis theory, communism is not an inevitability but an economic necessity.
Socialization versus nationalization An important concept in Marxism is socialization, i.e.
social ownership, versus
nationalization. Nationalization is
state ownership of property whereas socialization is control and management of property by society. Marxism considers the latter as its goal and considers nationalization a tactical issue, as state ownership is still in the realm of the
capitalist mode of production. In the words of Friedrich Engels, "the transformation ... into State-ownership does not do away with the capitalistic nature of the productive forces. ... State-ownership of the productive forces is not the solution of the conflict, but concealed within it are the technical conditions that form the elements of that solution." This has led Marxist groups and tendencies critical of the
Soviet model to label states based on nationalization, such as the Soviet Union, as
state capitalist, a view that is also shared by several scholars. Leninist revolutionary leadership is based upon
The Communist Manifesto (1848), identifying the
Communist party as "the most advanced and resolute section of the working class parties of every country; that section which pushes forward all others." As the vanguard party, the
Bolsheviks viewed history through the theoretical framework of
dialectical materialism, which sanctioned political commitment to the successful overthrow of capitalism, and then to instituting
socialism; and as the revolutionary national government, to realize the socio-economic transition by all means.
Marxism–Leninism statue in Kolkata, West Bengal, India
Marxism–Leninism is a political ideology developed by
Joseph Stalin. According to its proponents, it is based on Marxism and Leninism. It describes the specific political ideology which Stalin implemented in the
Communist Party of the Soviet Union and in a global scale in the
Comintern. There is no definite agreement between historians about whether Stalin actually followed the principles of Marx and Lenin. It also contains aspects which according to some are deviations from Marxism such as
socialism in one country. Marxism–Leninism was the official ideology of 20th-century
Communist parties (including
Trotskyist), and was developed after the death of Lenin; its three principles were
dialectical materialism, the
leading role of the Communist party through
democratic centralism, and a
planned economy with
industrialization and
agricultural collectivization.
Marxism–Leninism is misleading because Marx and Lenin never sanctioned or supported the creation of an
-ism after them, and is revealing because, being popularized after Lenin's death by Stalin, it contained those three doctrinal and institutionalized principles that became a model for later Soviet-type regimes; its global influence, having at its height covered at least one-third of the world's population, has made
Marxist–Leninist a convenient label for the
Communist bloc as a dynamic ideological order. During the Cold War, Marxism–Leninism was the ideology of the most clearly visible communist movement and is the most prominent ideology associated with communism.
Social fascism was a theory supported by the Comintern and affiliated
Communist parties during the early 1930s, which held that
social democracy was a variant of
fascism because it stood in the way of a
dictatorship of the proletariat, in addition to a supposedly shared
corporatist economic model. At the time, leaders of the Comintern, such as Stalin and
Rajani Palme Dutt, stated that
capitalist society had entered the
Third Period in which a
proletariat revolution was imminent but could be prevented by social democrats and other
fascist forces. The term
social fascist was used pejoratively to describe social-democratic parties, anti-Comintern and progressive socialist parties and dissenters within Comintern affiliates throughout the
interwar period. The social fascism theory was advocated vociferously by the
Communist Party of Germany, which was largely controlled and funded by the Soviet leadership from 1928. Within Marxism–Leninism,
anti-revisionism is a position which emerged in the 1950s in opposition to the reforms and
Khrushchev Thaw of Soviet leader
Nikita Khrushchev. Where Khrushchev pursued an interpretation that differed from Stalin, the anti-revisionists within the international communist movement remained dedicated to Stalin's ideological legacy and criticized the Soviet Union under Khrushchev and his successors as
state capitalist and
social imperialist due to its hopes of achieving peace with the United States. The term
Stalinism is also used to describe these positions but is often not used by its supporters who opine that Stalin practiced
orthodox Marxism and Leninism. Because different political trends trace the historical roots of revisionism to different eras and leaders, there is significant disagreement today as to what constitutes anti-revisionism. Modern groups which describe themselves as anti-revisionist fall into several categories. Some uphold the works of Stalin and Mao Zedong and some the works of Stalin while rejecting Mao and universally tend to oppose
Trotskyism. Others reject both Stalin and Mao, tracing their ideological roots back to Marx and Lenin. In addition, other groups uphold various less-well-known historical leaders such as
Enver Hoxha, who also broke with Mao during the
Sino-Albanian split.
Social imperialism was a term used by Mao to criticize the Soviet Union post-Stalin. Mao stated that the Soviet Union had itself become an
imperialist power while maintaining a socialist
façade. Hoxha agreed with Mao in this analysis, before later using the expression to also condemn Mao's
Three Worlds Theory.
Stalinism Stalinism represents Stalin's style of governance as opposed to Marxism–Leninism, the
socioeconomic system and
political ideology implemented by Stalin in the Soviet Union, and later adapted by other states based on the
ideological Soviet model, such as
central planning,
nationalization, and
one-party state, along with
public ownership of the
means of production, accelerated
industrialization, pro-active development of society's
productive forces (research and development), and nationalized
natural resources. Marxism–Leninism remained after
de-Stalinization whereas Stalinism did not. In the last letters before his death, Lenin warned against the danger of Stalin's personality and urged the Soviet government to replace him. Until the
death of Joseph Stalin in 1953, the Soviet Communist party referred to its own ideology as
Marxism–Leninism–Stalinism. Marxism–Leninism has been criticized by other communist and Marxist tendencies, which state that Marxist–Leninist states did not establish socialism but rather
state capitalism. According to Engels, state property by itself is private property of capitalist nature, Whether the proletariat was actually in control of the Marxist–Leninist states is a matter of debate between Marxism–Leninism and other communist tendencies. To these tendencies, Marxism–Leninism is neither Marxism nor Leninism nor the union of both but rather an artificial term created to justify Stalin's ideological distortion, forced into the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and the Comintern. In the Soviet Union, this struggle against Marxism–Leninism was represented by
Trotskyism, which describes itself as a Marxist and Leninist tendency.
Trotskyism in Mexico City showing
Leon Trotsky,
Friedrich Engels, and
Karl Marx Trotskyism, developed by
Leon Trotsky in opposition to
Stalinism, is a Marxist and Leninist tendency that supports the theory of
permanent revolution and
world revolution rather than the
two-stage theory and Stalin's
socialism in one country. It supported another communist revolution in the
Soviet Union and
proletarian internationalism. Rather than representing the
dictatorship of the proletariat, Trotsky claimed that the Soviet Union had become a
degenerated workers' state under the leadership of Stalin in which class relations had re-emerged in a new form. Trotsky's politics differed sharply from those of Stalin and Mao, most importantly in declaring the need for an international proletarian revolutionrather than socialism in one countryand support for a true dictatorship of the proletariat based on democratic principles. Struggling against Stalin for power in the Soviet Union, Trotsky and his supporters organized into the
Left Opposition, the platform of which became known as Trotskyism. In particular, Trotsky advocated for a
decentralised form of
economic planning, mass soviet
democratization, elected representation of Soviet
socialist parties, the tactic of a
united front against far-right parties,
cultural autonomy for artistic movements, voluntary
collectivisation, a
transitional program and socialist
internationalism. Trotsky had the support of many party
intellectuals but this was overshadowed by the huge apparatus which included the GPU and the party cadres who were at the disposal of Stalin. Stalin eventually succeeded in gaining control of the Soviet regime and Trotskyist attempts to remove Stalin from power resulted in Trotsky's exile from the Soviet Union in 1929. While in exile, Trotsky continued his campaign against Stalin, founding in 1938 the
Fourth International, a Trotskyist rival to the Comintern. In August 1940, Trotsky was assassinated in
Mexico City on Stalin's orders. Trotskyist currents include
orthodox Trotskyism,
third camp,
Posadism, and
Pabloism. The economic platform of a
planned economy combined with an authentic
worker's democracy as originally advocated by Trotsky has constituted the programme of the Fourth International and the modern Trotskyist movement.
Maoism monument in ShenyangMaoism is the theory derived from the teachings of the Chinese political leader
Mao Zedong. Developed from the 1950s until the
Deng Xiaoping's
reform and opening up in the 1970s, it was widely applied as the guiding political and military ideology of the Communist Party of China and as the theory guiding
revolutionary movements around the world. A key difference between Maoism and other forms of Marxism–Leninism is that
peasants should be the bulwark of the revolutionary energy which is led by the working class. Three common Maoist values are revolutionary
populism, being practical, and
dialectics. The synthesis of Marxism–Leninism–Maoism, which builds upon the two individual theories as the Chinese adaption of Marxism–Leninism, did not occur during the life of Mao. After
de-Stalinization, Marxism–Leninism was kept in the
Soviet Union, while certain
anti-revisionist tendencies like
Hoxhaism and Maoism stated that such had deviated from its original concept. Different policies were applied in Albania and China, which became more distanced from the Soviet Union. From the 1960s, groups who called themselves
Maoists, or those who upheld Maoism, were not unified around a common understanding of Maoism, instead having their own particular interpretations of the political, philosophical, economical, and military works of Mao. Its adherents claim that as a unified, coherent higher stage of Marxism, it was not consolidated until the 1980s, first being formalized by the
Shining Path in 1982. Through the experience of the
people's war waged by the party, the Shining Path were able to posit Maoism as the newest development of Marxism.
Eurocommunism , the secretary of the
Italian Communist Party and main proponent of EurocommunismEurocommunism was a
revisionist trend in the 1970s and 1980s within various Western European communist parties, claiming to develop a theory and practice of
social transformation more relevant to their region. Especially prominent within the
French Communist Party,
Italian Communist Party, and
Communist Party of Spain, Communists of this nature sought to undermine the influence of the
Soviet Union and its
All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) during the
Cold War. Eurocommunists tended to have a larger attachment to liberty and democracy than their Marxist–Leninist counterparts.
Enrico Berlinguer, general secretary of Italy's major Communist party, was widely considered the father of Eurocommunism.
Libertarian Marxist communism as a champion of socialist democracy who famously stated, "Freedom is always and exclusively freedom for the one who thinks differently." Libertarian Marxism is a broad range of economic and political philosophies that emphasize the
anti-authoritarian aspects of
Marxism. Early currents of libertarian Marxism, known as
left communism, emerged in opposition to Marxism–Leninism and its derivatives such as
Stalinism and
Maoism, as well as
Trotskyism. Libertarian Marxism is also critical of
reformist positions such as those held by
social democrats. Libertarian Marxist currents often draw from Marx and Engels' later works, specifically the
Grundrisse and
The Civil War in France, emphasizing the Marxist belief in the ability of the
working class to forge its own destiny without the need for a revolutionary party or
state to mediate or aid its liberation. Along with
anarchism, libertarian Marxism is one of the main derivatives of
libertarian socialism. Aside from left communism, libertarian Marxism includes such currents as
autonomism,
communization,
council communism,
De Leonism, the
Johnson–Forest Tendency,
Lettrism,
Luxemburgism,
Situationism,
Socialisme ou Barbarie,
Solidarity, the
World Socialist Movement, and
workerism, as well as parts of
Freudo-Marxism, and the
New Left. Libertarian Marxism has often had a strong influence on both
post-left and
social anarchists. Notable theorists of libertarian Marxism have included
Anton Pannekoek,
Raya Dunayevskaya,
Cornelius Castoriadis,
Maurice Brinton,
Daniel Guérin, and
Yanis Varoufakis, the latter of whom claims that Marx himself was a libertarian Marxist.
Council communism Council communism is a movement that originated from Germany and the Netherlands in the 1920s, whose primary organization was the
Communist Workers' Party of Germany. It continues today as a theoretical and activist position within both
libertarian Marxism and
libertarian socialism. The core principle of council communism is that the government and the economy should be managed by
workers' councils, which are composed of
delegates elected at workplaces and
recallable at any moment. Council communists oppose the perceived authoritarian and undemocratic nature of
central planning and of
state socialism, labelled
state capitalism, and the idea of a revolutionary party, since council communists believe that a revolution led by a party would necessarily produce a
party dictatorship. Council communists support a workers' democracy, produced through a federation of workers' councils. In contrast to those of
social democracy and
Leninist communism, the central argument of council communism is that democratic workers' councils arising in the factories and municipalities are the natural forms of working-class organizations and governmental power. This view is opposed to both the
reformist and the Leninist communist ideologies, which respectively stress parliamentary and
institutional government by applying
social reforms on the one hand, and
vanguard parties and
participative democratic centralism on the other.
Left communism Left communism is the range of communist viewpoints held by the communist left, which criticizes the political ideas and practices espoused, particularly following the series of revolutions that brought
World War I to an end by
Bolsheviks and
social democrats. Left communists assert positions which they regard as more authentically
Marxist and
proletarian than the views of Marxism–Leninism espoused by the
Communist International after its
first congress (March 1919) and during its
second congress (July–August 1920). Left communists represent a range of political movements distinct from
Marxist–Leninists, whom they largely view as merely the left wing of
capital, from
anarcho-communists, some of whom they consider to be
internationalist socialists, and from various other revolutionary socialist tendencies, such as
De Leonists, whom they tend to see as being internationalist socialists only in limited instances.
Bordigism is a Leninist left-communist current named after
Amadeo Bordiga, who has been described as being "more Leninist than Lenin", and considered himself to be a Leninist.
Other types of communism Anarcho-communism , main theorist of
anarcho-communism Anarcho-communism is a
libertarian theory of
anarchism and communism which advocates the abolition of the
state,
private property, and
capitalism in favor of
common ownership of the
means of production;
direct democracy; and a
horizontal network of
voluntary associations and
workers' councils with production and consumption based on the guiding principle, "
From each according to his ability, to each according to his need". Anarcho-communism differs from Marxism in that it rejects its view about the need for a
state socialism phase prior to establishing communism.
Peter Kropotkin, the main theorist of anarcho-communism, stated that a revolutionary society should "transform itself immediately into a communist society", that it should go immediately into what Marx had regarded as the "more advanced, completed, phase of communism". In this way, it tries to avoid the reappearance of class divisions and the need for a state to be in control. Some forms of anarcho-communism, such as
insurrectionary anarchism, are
egoist and strongly influenced by radical
individualism, believing that anarchist communism does not require a
communitarian nature at all. Most anarcho-communists view anarchist communism as a way of reconciling the opposition between the individual and society.
Christian communism Christian communism is a theological and political theory based upon the view that the teachings of
Jesus Christ compel
Christians to support
religious communism as the ideal
social system. Although there is no universal agreement on the exact dates when communistic ideas and practices in Christianity began, many Christian communists state that evidence from the
Bible suggests that the first Christians, including the
Apostles in the New Testament, established their own small communist society in the years following Jesus' death and resurrection. Many advocates of Christian communism state that it was taught by Jesus and practiced by the apostles themselves, an argument that historians and others, including anthropologist Roman A. Montero, scholars like
Ernest Renan, and theologians like
Charles Ellicott and
Donald Guthrie, generally agree with. Christian communism enjoys some support in Russia. Russian musician
Yegor Letov was an outspoken Christian communist, and in a 1995 interview he was quoted as saying: "Communism is the
Kingdom of God on Earth." == Analysis ==