Misplaced Pages

#437562

36-464: A communist revolution is a proletarian revolution inspired by the ideas of Marxism that aims to replace capitalism with communism . Depending on the type of government, the term socialism can be used to indicate an intermediate stage between capitalism and communism and may be the goal of the revolution, especially in Marxist–Leninist views. The idea that a proletarian revolution is needed

72-461: A coup d'état or putsch along the lines of Blanquism . Revolutionary socialists, particularly Trotskyists, argue that the Bolsheviks only seized power as the expression of the mass of workers and peasants, whose desires are brought into being by an organised force—the revolutionary party. Marxists such as Trotskyists argue that Lenin did not advocate seizing power until he felt that the majority of

108-567: A Workers International states, "[w]e campaign for new workers' parties and for them to adopt a socialist programme. At the same time, the CWI builds support for the ideas of revolutionary socialism". In "The Case for Revolutionary Socialism", Alex Callinicos from the Socialist Workers Party in Britain argues in favour of it. Revolutionary socialist discourse has long debated the question of how

144-536: A communist revolution is not necessarily a proletarian revolution. Some Marxists, such as Rosa Luxemburg , disagree with the idea of a vanguard as put forth by Lenin, especially left communists . Another line of criticisms insist that the entire working class—or at least a large part of it—must be deeply involved and equally committed to the socialist or communist cause in order for a proletarian revolution to be successful. To this end, they seek to build massive communist parties with very large memberships. The following

180-419: A driving force for revolution, other oppressed classes would also act as drivers. Finally, there are socialist anarchists and libertarian socialists . Their view is that the revolution must be a bottom-up social revolution which seeks to transform all aspects of society and the individuals which make up the society (see Asturian Revolution and Revolutionary Catalonia ). The anarchist view also holds that

216-434: A proletarian revolution must be led by a vanguard of " professional revolutionaries ", men and women who are fully dedicated to the communist cause and who form the nucleus of the communist revolutionary movement. This vanguard is meant to provide leadership and organization to the working class before and during the revolution, which aims to prevent the government from successfully ending it. Vladimir Lenin believed that it

252-542: A proletarian revolution to occur. Marxists believe proletarian revolutions can and will likely happen in all capitalist countries, related to the concept of world revolution . The objective of a proletarian revolution, according to Marxists, is to transform the bourgeois state into a workers' state . A traditional Marxist belief was that a proletarian revolution could only occur in a country where capitalism had fully developed, though this changed with Russian Revolution . The Leninist branch of Marxism argues that

288-694: A proposal by Trotsky to avoid an immediate split with the Second International. Though initially opposed to it, Lenin voted for Trotsky's resolution to avoid a split among anti-war socialists. In December 1915 and March 1916, eighteen Social Democratic representatives, the Haase - Ledebour Group, voted against war credits and were expelled from the Social Democratic Party. Liebknecht wrote Revolutionary Socialism in Germany in 1916, arguing that this group

324-510: Is a social revolution in which the working class attempts to overthrow the bourgeoisie and change the previous political system. Proletarian revolutions are generally advocated by socialists , communists and anarchists . The concept of a revolutionary proletariat was first put forward by the French revolutionary socialist and radical Auguste Blanqui . The Paris Commune , contemporary to Blanqui and Karl Marx , being viewed by some as

360-462: Is a cornerstone of Marxism ; Marxists believe that the workers of the world must unite and free themselves from capitalist oppression to create a world run by and for the working class . Thus, in the Marxist view, proletarian revolutions need to happen in countries all over the world . Karl Marx saw revolution as a necessity for communism, where the revolution would be based on class struggle led by

396-1091: Is a list of successful and unsuccessful communist revolutions and coups throughout history. Among the lesser-known revolutions, a number of borderline revolutions have been included which may or may not have been communist revolutions. The nature of unsuccessful revolutions is particularly contentious since one can only speculate as to the kinds of policies that would have been implemented by the revolutionaries had they achieved victory. Soviet Republics: [REDACTED] UGT [REDACTED] Union of India (1948–1951) [REDACTED] Lao Issara (1945–1949) [REDACTED] Pathet Lao (1949–1954) [REDACTED] Khmer Issarak [REDACTED]   North Vietnam MAP-ML (1978–1979) [REDACTED]   Panama (1978–1979) [REDACTED] MKP-HKO-PHG [REDACTED] Militarized Communist Party of Peru [REDACTED] Red Mantaro Base Committee [REDACTED] Túpac Amaru Revolutionary Movement (1982–1997) Proletarian revolution A proletarian revolution or proletariat revolution

SECTION 10

#1732847883438

432-721: Is another revolutionary socialist tradition. Emerging from the Communist International but critical of the post-1924 Soviet Union , the Trotskyist tradition in Western Europe and elsewhere uses the term "revolutionary socialism". In 1932, the first issue of the first Canadian Trotskyist newspaper, The Vanguard , published an editorial entitled "Revolutionary Socialism vs Reformism". Today, many Trotskyist groups advocate revolutionary socialism instead of reformism and consider themselves revolutionary socialists. The Committee for

468-480: Is contrasted with reformist socialism , especially the reformist wing of social democracy and other evolutionary approaches to socialism. Revolutionary socialism is opposed to social movements that seek to gradually ameliorate capitalism's economic and social problems through political reform. In The Communist Manifesto , Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels wrote: The proletariat, the lowest stratum of our present society, cannot stir, cannot raise itself up, without

504-734: Is inevitable but not predetermined. Revolutionary socialism encompasses multiple political and social movements that may define "revolution" differently from one another. These include movements based on orthodox Marxist theory such as De Leonism , impossibilism and Luxemburgism , as well as movements based on Leninism and the theory of vanguardist -led revolution such as the Stalinism , Maoism , Marxism–Leninism and Trotskyism . Revolutionary socialism also includes other Marxist , Marxist-inspired and non-Marxist movements such as those found in democratic socialism , revolutionary syndicalism , anarchism and social democracy . Revolutionary socialism

540-415: The lumpenproletariat as the driver of the proletarian revolution. Through Marx and Friedrich Engels ' work they write that if the proletariat does not make up a majority, it must at least occupy an important position among the popular mass to achieve a proletarian revolution. Some later Marxists , such as Georgi Plekhanov , emphasized the need for a majority of the population to be proletarianized for

576-618: The Blanquist view emphasised the overthrow by force of the ruling elite in government by an active minority of revolutionaries, who then proceeded to implement socialist change, disregarding the state of readiness of society as a whole and the mass of the population in particular for revolutionary change. In 1875, the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) published a somewhat reformist Gotha Program , which Marx attacked in Critique of

612-509: The Gotha Program , where he reiterated the need for the dictatorship of the proletariat . The reformist viewpoint was introduced into Marxist thought by Eduard Bernstein , one of the leaders of the SPD. From 1896 to 1898, Bernstein published a series of articles entitled "Probleme des Sozialismus" ("Problems of Socialism"). These articles led to a debate on revisionism in the SPD and can be seen as

648-450: The Leninist idea of a vanguard and insist that the entire working class—or at least a large part of it—must be deeply involved and equally committed to the socialist or communist cause for a proletarian revolution to be successful. To this end, they seek to build mass working class movements with a very large membership. The Situationists ' view is that as well as the standard proletariat being

684-569: The Reichstag voted for the government's war budget, while the French and Belgian socialists publicly supported and joined their governments. The Zimmerwald Conference in September 1915, attended by Lenin and Leon Trotsky , saw the beginning of the end of the uneasy coexistence of revolutionary socialists and reformist socialists in the parties of the Second International . The conference adopted

720-670: The Third International) was founded following the October Revolution . This International became widely identified with communism but also defined itself in terms of revolutionary socialism. However, in 1938 Trotskyists formed the Fourth International because they thought that the Third International turned to Marxism–Leninism —this latter International became identified with revolutionary socialism. Luxemburgism

756-474: The conquest of political power as a theory of Blanquist violence, has the misfortune of labeling as a Blanquist error that which has always been the pivot and the motive force of human history. From the first appearance of class societies, having class struggle as the essential content of their history, the conquest of political power has been the aim of all rising classes. Here is the starting point and end of every historic period. [...] In modern times, we see it in

SECTION 20

#1732847883438

792-468: The entire system of wage slavery must also do away with the power of one class to oppress another . That is, it is not any more a mere change of rulers, of government, not a political revolution, but one that seeks to alter the whole character of society. That would be a social revolution." Revolutionary socialist Revolutionary socialists believe such a state of affairs is a precondition for establishing socialism and orthodox Marxists believe it

828-427: The first attempt at a proletarian revolution. Marx wrote of the class conscious proletariat being the active agent of revolution, which distinguished him from Blanqui who viewed a selective revolutionary conspiracy among all the lower classes as being the driving force of a proletarian revolution. This was also in contrast to the views of the communist William Weitling and the anarchist Mikhail Bakunin who viewed

864-425: The forcible overthrow of all existing social conditions. Let the ruling classes tremble at a Communistic revolution. Twenty-four years after The Communist Manifesto , first published in 1848, Marx and Engels admitted that in developed countries, "labour may attain its goal by peaceful means". Marxist scholar Adam Schaff argued that Marx, Engels, and Lenin had expressed such views "on many occasions". By contrast,

900-814: The orders of the Military Revolutionary Committee under the leadership of Trotsky in October, also termed the Revolutionary Military Committee in Lenin's collected works. Trotsky mobilized the Military Revolutionary Committee to seize power on the advent of the Second All-Russian Congress of Soviets of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies , which began on 25 October 1917. The Communist International (also known as

936-423: The organised proletariat to overthrow capitalism and the bourgeoisie , followed by the establishment of a dictatorship of the proletariat . Leninism argues that a communist revolution must be led by a vanguard of "professional revolutionaries", men and women who are fully dedicated to the communist cause and who can then form the nucleus of the revolutionary movement . Thus meaning that under Lenin's framework

972-490: The origins of a reformist trend within Marxism. In 1900, Rosa Luxemburg wrote Social Reform or Revolution? , a polemic against Bernstein's position. The work of reforms, Luxemburg argued, could only be carried on "in the framework of the social form created by the last revolution". In order to advance society to socialism from the capitalist 'social form', a social revolution will be necessary: Bernstein, thundering against

1008-421: The point where that war breaks out into open revolution, and where the violent overthrow of the bourgeoisie lays the foundation for the sway of the proletariat. [...] The Communists fight for the attainment of the immediate aims, for the enforcement of the momentary interests of the working class; [...] The Communists disdain to conceal their views and aims. They openly declare that their ends can be attained only by

1044-626: The population, represented in the soviets , demanded revolutionary change and no longer supported the reformist government of Alexander Kerensky established in the earlier revolution of February 1917. In the Lessons of October , Leon Trotsky wrote: Lenin, after the experience of the reconnoiter, withdrew the slogan of the immediate overthrow of the Provisional Government. But he did not withdraw it for any set period of time, for so many weeks or months, but strictly in dependence upon how quickly

1080-409: The proletarian revolution must abolish all aspects of the state, and that a "workers' state" should not be formed. Alexander Berkman said "there are revolutions and revolutions. Some revolutions change only the governmental form by putting a new set of rulers in place of the old. These are political revolutions , and as such they often meet with little resistance. But a revolution that aims to abolish

1116-532: The revolt of the masses against the conciliationists would grow. For these Marxists, the fact that the Bolsheviks won a majority (in alliance with the Left Socialist-Revolutionaries ) in the second all-Russian congress of Soviets—democratically elected bodies—which convened at the time of the October revolution, shows that they had the popular support of the masses of workers, peasants and soldiers,

Communist revolution - Misplaced Pages Continue

1152-458: The struggle of the bourgeoisie against feudalism. In 1902, Vladimir Lenin attacked Bernstein's position in his What Is to Be Done? When Bernstein first put forward his ideas, the majority of the SPD rejected them. The 1899 congress of the SPD reaffirmed the Erfurt Program , as did the 1901 congress. The 1903 congress denounced "revisionist efforts". On 4 August 1914, the SPD members of

1188-525: The vast majority of Russian society. In his pamphlet Lessons of October , first published in 1924, Trotsky argued that military power lay in the hands of the Bolsheviks before the October Revolution was carried out, but this power was not used against the government until the Bolsheviks gained mass support. The mass of soldiers began to be led by the Bolshevik party after July 1917 and followed only

1224-464: The whole superincumbent strata of official society being sprung into the air. Though not in substance, yet in form, the struggle of the proletariat with the bourgeoisie is at first a national struggle. The proletariat of each country must, of course, first of all settle matters with its own bourgeoisie. In depicting the most general phases of the development of the proletariat, we traced the more or less veiled civil war, raging within existing society, up to

1260-618: Was imperative to arm the working class to secure their leverage over the bourgeoisie. Lenin's words were printed in an article in German on the nature of pacifism and said "In every class society, whether based on slavery, serfdom, or, as at present, on wage-labour, the oppressor class is always armed." It was under such conditions that the first successful proletarian revolution, the Russian Revolution , occurred. Other Marxists, such as Luxemburgists and left communists , disagree with

1296-407: Was not a revolutionary socialist group despite their refusal to vote for war credits, further defining in his view what was meant by a revolutionary socialist. Many revolutionary socialists argue that the Russian Revolution led by Vladimir Lenin follows the revolutionary socialist model of a revolutionary movement guided by a vanguard party . By contrast, the October Revolution is portrayed as

#437562