Leninism
Revolutionary vanguard theory
Leninism is the political theory and practice developed by Vladimir Lenin, the leader of the 1917 Russian Revolution.
It adapts Marxism to argue that a disciplined vanguard party of professional revolutionaries must lead the working class to overthrow capitalism, rather than waiting for revolution to emerge spontaneously.
Leninism emphasizes centralized party organization, revolutionary seizure of state power, and the establishment of a socialist state as a transition to communism.
The split between democratic socialists and Leninists shaped 20th-century leftist politics.
Class-based revolutionary philosophy
- proletariatLaborers lacking capital ownership
- bourgeoisieCapitalist ownership class
- class struggleConflict between economic groups
- means of productionTools and facilities for manufacturing
surplus value · exploitation · alienation · false consciousness · Das Kapital · Communist Manifesto · Engels · ideology
Lenin's revolutionary party
- October RevolutionSoviet founding coup
- USSRFormer communist superpower
- collectivizationForced communal ownership transfer
- Red ArmySoviet ground forces
Kremlin · Pravda · Khrushchev · Stalinism · Warsaw Pact · Iron Curtain · Cold War · Soviet Bloc
Private profit-based economy
- anarchismPhilosophy rejecting state authority
- fascismUltranationalist dictatorial political system
- liberalismPhilosophy valuing reform, tolerance
- social democracyReformed capitalism with welfare state
reformism · revisionism · Maoism · Trotskyism · imperialism · colonialism
Group primacy doctrine
- state planningGovernment-directed economic coordination
- centralizationUnifying control in one place
- nationalizationGovernment acquisition of industry
- planned economyCentralized resource allocation system
redistribution · public sector · egalitarianism · cooperative · state capitalism · command economy · socialization
Violent uprising against authority
- uprisingOrganized resistance to power
- coupAbrupt seizure of power
- radicalRoot-indicating symbol
- massesBulk or populace
class warfare · armed struggle · seizure of power · counter-revolution · workers' councils · general strike · barricades
Legislators following leadership's position
Marxism
Class-based revolutionary philosophy
- proletariatLaborers lacking capital ownership
- bourgeoisieCapitalist ownership class
- class struggleConflict between economic groups
means of production · surplus value · exploitation · alienation · false consciousness · Das Kapital · Communist Manifesto · Engels · ideology · capital
Bolsheviks
Lenin's revolutionary party
- October RevolutionSoviet founding coup
- USSRFormer communist superpower
- collectivizationForced communal ownership transfer
Red Army · Kremlin · Pravda · Khrushchev · Stalinism · Warsaw Pact · Iron Curtain · Cold War · Soviet Bloc · Comintern
capitalism
Private profit-based economy
- anarchismPhilosophy rejecting state authority
- fascismUltranationalist dictatorial political system
- liberalismPhilosophy valuing reform, tolerance
social democracy · reformism · revisionism · Maoism · Trotskyism · imperialism · colonialism
collectivism
Group primacy doctrine
- state planningGovernment-directed economic coordination
- centralizationUnifying control in one place
- nationalizationGovernment acquisition of industry
planned economy · redistribution · public sector · egalitarianism · cooperative · state capitalism · command economy · socialization
insurrection
Violent uprising against authority
masses · class warfare · armed struggle · seizure of power · counter-revolution · workers' councils · general strike · barricades
party discipline
Legislators following leadership's position
- communismMarx, Marxism, proletariat, Engels, Stalinism
- political ideologiesconservatism, conservative, anarchism, liberalism, liberal
- political theoryanarchism, authoritarianism, conservatism, democracy, fascism
- Russian HistorySoviet Union, tsars, Tsarist Russia, Romanov, czars
- socialismMarxism, communism, proletariat, bourgeoisie, communal ownership
- Soviet communismStalin, Bolsheviks, Stalinism, Soviet Union, Bolshevism
Leninismcapitalism
Private profit-based economy
neoliberalism · Austrian economics · Reaganomics · Thatcherism · classical liberalism
Leninismreformism
Gradual political change doctrine
gradualism · social democracy · democratic socialism · trade unionism · revisionism
Leninismanarchism
Philosophy rejecting state authority
decentralism · grassroots democracy · participatory democracy