From the Bulletin of the "International Center for the Formation of Modern Communist Doctrine"
No. 2, September 1997.

ABC of Marxism

"LENINISM is the development of Marxism, Marxism in the new conditions of the class struggle of the proletariat, Marxism of the era of imperialism and proletarian revolution, Marxism in the era of the construction of socialism and the step-by-step transition to communist society. The main thing in MARXISM-LENINISM is the teaching on the dictatorship of the proletariat, the conditions for its achievement, consolidation and development. V.I. Lenin elaborated the teaching on the party of the new type, of the Soviet socialist state. V.I. Lenin discovered the law of uneven development of capitalism in the era of imperialism. He showed the possibility of the construction of socialism in one country. J.V. Stalin (1879-1953) developed in a creative manner the Marxist-Leninist teachings in new historical conditions and he enriched revolutionary theory with several new theses." (From "Dictionary of Foreign Words, Moscow, 1955.) "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." (J.V. Stalin, Problems of Leninism, Foreign Languages Press, Peking, 1976, p. 3.)

"The fundamental question of Leninism, its point of departure, is ... the question of the dictatorship of the proletariat" (ibid., p. 52).

STALINISM is the development of Leninism in the same way as Leninism is the development of Marxism. Stalin developed Lenin's teachings (on the most essential, the main questions):

I. On the REVOLUTION:

1) He developed and concretized Lenin's teaching on the possibility of the construction of socialism in one or several countries: a) He examined this question from the point of view of the liquidation of internal and external contradictions, from the point of view of the possibility of the construction of socialism in the USSR and from the point of view of the victory of socialism, i.e. from the point of view of the creation of the basis for the prevention of the restoration of capitalism. b) He examined this problem from the point of view of the creation of its political economic bases.

2) He concretized the discovery of Lenin of the law of the uneven economic and political development of capitalist countries in the era of imperialism.

3) He showed that the relatively balanced character of the development of the state in the era of imperialism does not abolish, but on the contrary, reinforces the action of the law of uneven development of capitalist countries in the era of imperialism.

4) He developed and concretized the Leninist teaching on the general crisis of capitalism.

5) He concretized the Leninist teaching on the international character of the Great October Socialist Revolution.

II. On the PARTY:

1) He formulated the law of development of the Marxist-Leninist parties: "the overcoming of the contradictions within the party by means of struggle is a law of development of our party...;"

2) He pointed to the sources of contradictions within the Marxist-Leninist party;

3) He pointed to the possibility of the violation of the correct relation between the party and the class;

4). He pointed out that democracy within the party does not have an absolute character;

5) He indicated what the essence of democracy within the party consists of: "the essence of democracy reduces itself... to the question of the creative and active participation of the members of the party in the party's leadership";

6) He indicated what the basis of party life consists of: "the basis of party life is not determined by those organizational forms which it adopts or may adopt at a given time, but by the internal and external policies of the party."

III. On the DICTATORSHIP OF THE PROLETARIAT.

1) He pointed to the three aspects of the dictatorship of the proletariat;

2) He concretized the Leninist teaching on the dictatorship of the proletariat as a special form of class alliance of the working class and the peasantry and showed why the peasantry can be involved in the construction of socialism.

IV. On the CLASS STRUGGLE:

1) He pointed out that the relation between the proletariat and the peasantry is a form of class struggle and showed on which fronts this class struggle lies;

2) He showed that the class struggle in the epoch of the construction of socialism has two fronts: against the internal enemies and against the external enemies, mainly the world bourgeoisie.

3) He showed that given the existence of classes, development cannot be smooth, peaceful and harmonious;

4) He showed that the liquidation of classes, the construction of the classless society can only take place by means of a bitter class struggle and not by means of the establishment of class peace.

V. On the PATHS and METHODS for the CONSTRUCTION of SOCIALISM in the USSR:

1) He concretized the possibility of industrialization by means that were new in principle and never before seen in the history of humankind: through internal means and resources, unlike imperialist states which developed by plundering other nations, through loans, etc. ...

2) He concretized the Leninist plan for the socialist reorganization of the countryside, elaborated the paths and the forms for the transformation of the individual, scattered peasant economy into large-scale, collective, social production;

3) He concretized the Leninist teaching on the superiority of large-scale production in agriculture over petty production.

VI. On the NATIONAL QUESTION:

1) He gave the definition of a nation;

2) He elaborated the teaching on culture being national in form, socialist in content.

3) He elaborated the teaching on socialist nations and bourgeois nations.

4) He indicated the path for the dying off of nations and national languages.

VII. On CAPITALIST and SOCIALIST MODES of PRODUCTION:

1) He formulated the basic law of capitalism and the basic law of socialism.

2) He showed the role and place of commodity production under the conditions of socialism;

3) He determined the action of the law of value under the conditions of socialism;

4) He showed the superiority of socialist economy over capitalist economy.

VIII. On the CONSTRUCTION of CLASSLESS, i.e. COMMUNIST SOCIETY:

1) He determined the possibility of the construction of communism in one country under the conditions of capitalist encirclement with the preservation of the state under these conditions;

2) He indicated the path for the transition to communism;

3) He pointed out the necessity of liquidating substantial differences between town and countryside, between intellectual and manual labor.

STALINISM is Marxism-Leninism in the era of the general crisis of imperialism, proletarian revolution and the construction of socialism. To be more exact, Stalinism is the theory and tactics of the proletarian revolution and the construction of socialism in general, the theory and tactics of the dictatorship of the proletariat in particular.

MARXISM-LENINISM-STALINISM is the only banner of struggle for the victory of communism in the whole world.

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