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127-403: Other terms commonly used to describe the dictatorship of the proletariat include the socialist state , proletarian state, democratic proletarian state, revolutionary dictatorship of the proletariat, and democratic dictatorship of the proletariat. In Marxist philosophy, the term dictatorship of the bourgeoisie is the antonym to the dictatorship of the proletariat. The phrase dictatorship of

254-558: A bureaucratic dictatorship which rested on a largely nationalized industry run according to a production plan and claimed that the former Stalinist states of Central and Eastern Europe were deformed workers' states based on the same relations of production as the Soviet Union. Some Trotskyists such as the Committee for a Workers' International have at times included African, Asian, and Middle Eastern socialist states when they have had

381-442: A nationalized economy as deformed workers' states. Other socialists argued that the neo-Ba'athists promoted capitalists from within the party and outside their countries. Revisionism (Marxism) In Marxist philosophy , revisionism , otherwise known as Marxist reformism , represents various ideas, principles, and theories that are based on a reform or revision of Marxism . According to their critics, this involves

508-477: A revision of Marxist thought. Bernstein stated: "The socialist movement is everything to me while what people commonly call the goal of Socialism is nothing". Following Marx, revolutionary socialists instead take the view that the working class grows stronger through its battle for reforms (such as in Marx's time, the ten-hours bill). In 1848, Marx and Engels wrote: Now and then the workers are victorious, but only for

635-814: A capitalist mode of production. The first socialist state was the Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic , established in 1917. In 1922, it merged with the Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic , the Transcaucasian Soviet Federal Socialist Republic , and the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic into a single federal union called the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR). The Soviet Union proclaimed itself

762-492: A change are known as revisionists. Eduard Bernstein , a close acquaintance of Marx and Friedrich Engels , was one of the first major revisionists, and was prominent in the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD). In the late 19th century, the term revisionism was used to describe democratic socialist writers, such as Bernstein, who sought to revise Marx's ideas about the transition to socialism and claimed that

889-417: A communist society)". The 2019 constitution retains the aim to work towards the construction of socialism. A number of countries make references to socialism in their constitutions that are not single-party states embracing Marxism–Leninism and planned economies. In most cases, these are constitutional references to the building of a socialist society and political principles that have little to no bearing on

1016-629: A democratic system. Lenin argued for the destruction of the foundations of the bourgeois state and its replacement with what David Priestland described as an "ultra-democratic" dictatorship of the proletariat based on the Paris Commune 's system. The State and Revolution (1917) explicitly discusses the practical implementation of "dictatorship of the proletariat" through means of violent revolution. Lenin denies any reformist interpretations of Marxism such as these of Eduard Bernstein and Karl Kautsky 's. Lenin especially focused on Engels' phrase of

1143-583: A form of Marxism–Leninism, combined with nationalism and idolization, deification, and mystification of the Kim family. Similarly, direct references to communism in the Lao People's Democratic Republic are not included in its founding documents , although it gives direct power to the governing ruling party, the Marxist–Leninist Lao People's Revolutionary Party . The preamble to the constitution of

1270-403: A highly organized stateless society . Libertarian communists, including anarchists , councillists , leftists , and Marxists , also reject the concept of a socialist state for being antithetical to socialism, but they believe that socialism can only be established through revolution and dissolving the existence of the state. Within the socialist movement, there is criticism towards the use of

1397-447: A more decentralized approach which puts the means of production directly into the hands of the workers rather than indirectly through state bureaucracies which they claim represent a new elite or class . This leads them to consider state socialism a form of state capitalism (an economy based on centralized management, capital accumulation and wage labor, but with the state owning the means of production) which Engels stated would be

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1524-502: A point where a revolutionary movement arises. A revolutionary movement is required (in the view of Marxists) to sweep away the capitalist state and the dictatorship of the bourgeoisie, which must be abolished and replaced with a dictatorship of the proletariat, to begin constructing a socialist society. In this view, only through revolution can a socialist state be established as written in The Communist Manifesto : In depicting

1651-402: A proletarian state is incapable of securing democracy for the entire people. Sison writes, "While dictatorship of the proletariat may sound terrifying to some and evoke images of indiscriminate acts of violence, it is a well-established principle of scientific socialism to remove the economic basis of class oppression and exploitation and to give even the members of the erstwhile exploiting classes

1778-479: A revolutionary role; that, in the words of Marx, it is the midwife of every old society pregnant with a new one, that it is the instrument with the aid of which social movement forces its way through and shatters the dead, fossilised political forms." In the 1891 postscript to The Civil War in France (1872) pamphlet, Engels stated: 'Well and good, gentlemen, do you want to know what this dictatorship looks like? Look at

1905-517: A revolutionary vanguard party acting as representatives of the proletariat and its interests. According to Lenin's April Theses , the goal of the revolution and vanguard party is not the introduction of socialism (it could only be established on a worldwide scale), but to bring production and the state under the control of the soviets of workers' deputies. Following the October Revolution in Russia,

2032-417: A scientific " administration of things" that would be concerned with directing processes of production in a socialist society, essentially ceasing to be a state. Although Marx never referred to a "socialist state", he argued that the working class would have to take control of the state apparatus and of the machinery of government in order to transition out of capitalism and to socialism. The dictatorship of

2159-413: A significant revision of fundamental Marxist theories and premises , and usually involves making an alliance with the bourgeois class . Some academic economists have used revisionism to describe post-Stalinist , Eastern European writers who criticized one-party rule and argued in favour of freedom of the press and of the arts , intra- and sometimes inter-party democracy, independent labor unions ,

2286-557: A socialist state and proclaimed its commitment to building a socialist economy in its 1936 constitution and a subsequent 1977 constitution . It was governed by the Communist Party of the Soviet Union as a single-party state, ostensibly with a democratic centralism organization, with Marxism–Leninism remaining its official guiding ideology until the dissolution of the Soviet Union on 26 December 1991. The political systems of these Marxist–Leninist socialist states revolved around

2413-427: A socialist state, or including the term people's republic or socialist republic in their country's full name, although this does not necessarily reflect the structure and development paths of these countries' political and economic systems. Currently, these countries include Algeria , Bangladesh , Guyana , India , Nepal , Nicaragua , Sri Lanka and Tanzania . The idea of a socialist state stems from

2540-416: A state under the control of a vanguard party that is organizing the economic, social, and political affairs of said state toward the construction of socialism. States run by communist parties that adhere to Marxism–Leninism, or some national variation thereof, refer to themselves as socialist states or workers' and peasants' states. They involve the direction of economic development toward the building up of

2667-554: A state would be a temporary affair and suggests that a new generation brought up in "new and free social conditions" will be able to "throw the entire lumber of the state on the scrap-heap". Socialists who embraced reformism , exemplified by the German politician Eduard Bernstein (1850-1932), took the view that both socialism and a socialist state will gradually evolve out of political reforms won by organized socialist political-parties and unions. More-orthodox Marxists regard these views as

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2794-399: A system in which social values or workers' interests have economic priority. However, the concept of a socialist state is mainly advocated by Marxist–Leninists and most socialist states have been established by political parties adhering to Marxism–Leninism or some national variation thereof such as Maoism , Stalinism , Titoism or Ho Chi Minh Thought . A state, whether socialist or not,

2921-505: A time. The real fruit of their battles lies, not in the immediate result, but in the ever expanding union of the workers. [...] [I]t ever rises up again, stronger, firmer, mightier. It compels legislative recognition of particular interests of the workers, by taking advantage of the divisions among the bourgeoisie itself. Thus, the ten-hours' bill in England was carried. According to the orthodox Marxist conception, these battles eventually reach

3048-593: A transition to the abolition of all classes and to a classless society ." Marx expanded upon his ideas about the dictatorship of the proletariat in his short 1875 work, Critique of the Gotha Program , a scathing criticism and attack on the principles laid out in the programme of the German Workers' Party (predecessor to the Social Democratic Party of Germany ). The programme presented a moderate gradualist , reformist and democratic way to socialism as opposed to

3175-612: Is a state representing the interests of the working class which presides over a state capitalist economy structured upon state-directed accumulation of capital with the goal of building up the country's productive forces and promoting worldwide socialist revolution , while the realization of a socialist economy is held as the long-term goal. In the Western world, particularly in mass media, journalism, and politics, these states and countries are often called communist states (although they do not use this term to refer to themselves), despite

3302-512: Is also a form of abolition) for the class over which, or against which, the dictatorship is exercised." After World War I , Karl Kautsky became a critic of the Bolshevik Revolution , and was famously denounced by Lenin as a "renegade". The use of violence, terror and rule of a single communist party was criticised by other Marxists , including Karl Kautsky , and Rosa Luxemburg , as well as Anarcho-Communists like Peter Kropotkin . In

3429-478: Is most often used as an epithet by those Marxists who believe that such revisions are unwarranted and represent a watering down or abandonment of Marxism—one such common example is the negation of class struggle . Revisionism has been used in a number of contexts to refer to different or claimed revisions of Marxist theory . Those who opposed Karl Marx 's revolution through his lens of class struggle and sought out non-revolutionary or more conciliatory means for

3556-456: Is no need for a state in a socialist system because there would be no class to suppress and no need for an institution based on coercion and therefore, regard the state being a remnant of capitalism. They hold that statism is antithetical to true socialism, the goal of which is the eyes of libertarian socialists such as William Morris , who wrote as follows in a Commonweal article: "State Socialism? — I don't agree with it; in fact, I think

3683-470: Is opposed the most by anarchists, who reject the idea that the state can be used to establish a socialist society due to its hierarchical and arguably coercive nature, considering a socialist state or state socialism as an oxymoron . The concept of a socialist state is also considered unnecessary or counterproductive and rejected by some classical , libertarian , and orthodox Marxists, libertarian socialists and other socialist political thinkers who view

3810-541: Is undemocratic; and Marxism–Leninism is neither Marxism nor Leninism , but rather, a composite ideology which socialist leaders like Joseph Stalin used to expediently determine what is communism and what is not communism among the Eastern Bloc countries. Although most Marxist–Leninists distinguish between communism and socialism , Bordiga, who did consider himself a Leninist and has been described as being "more Leninist than Lenin", did not distinguish between

3937-521: The Bolshevik -led revolution in Russia , many socialist groups—including reformists, orthodox Marxist currents such as council communism , and the Mensheviks , as well as anarchists and other libertarian socialists—criticized the idea of using the state to conduct planning and nationalization of the means of production as a way to establish socialism. Lenin himself acknowledged state capitalism as part of

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4064-503: The Bolsheviks consolidated their power and sought to control and direct the social and economic affairs of the state and broader Russian society to safeguard against counterrevolutionary insurrection, foreign invasion, and to promote socialist consciousness among the Russian population while simultaneously promoting economic development. These ideas were adopted by Lenin in 1917 just prior to

4191-495: The Communist International ; and that a political vanguard organized by organic centralism was more effective than a vanguard organized by democratic centralism . The American Marxist Raya Dunayevskaya also dismissed it as a type of state capitalism because state ownership of the means of production is a form of state capitalism; the dictatorship of the proletariat is a form of democracy and single-party rule

4318-574: The European Economic Community because it demanded a free-market capitalist economy among its members. Nevertheless, public ownership in France and the United Kingdom during the height of nationalization in the 1960s and 1970s never accounted for more than 15–20% of capital formation , further dropping to 8% in the 1980s and below 5% in the 1990s after the rise of neoliberalism . The socialist policies practiced by parties such as

4445-449: The Maoist view of the dictatorship of the proletariat was not exercised by the proletariat as a class in and of itself, but instead by those with the correct "proletarian consciousness". The beliefs and values which comprised the necessary Maoist proletarian consciousness were matters of political and intellectual debate, subject to re-definition over time. The Cultural Revolution questioned

4572-539: The Marxist tradition conceive of the state as representing the interests of its ruling class, partially out of material necessity for the smooth operation of the modes of production which the state presides over. Marxists trace the formation of the contemporary form of the sovereign state to the emergence of capitalism as a dominant mode of production, with its organizational precepts and functions designed by capitalists and by their supporters specifically to manage and regulate

4699-598: The October Revolution . Additional people's republics emerged following the Allied victory in World War II, mainly within the Eastern Bloc . In Asia, China became a people's republic following the Chinese Communist Revolution and North Korea also became a people's republic. During the 1960s, Romania and Yugoslavia ceased to use the term people's republic in their official name, replacing it with

4826-524: The Socialist Republic of Vietnam states that Vietnam only entered a transition stage between capitalism and socialism after the country was reunified under the Communist Party of Vietnam in 1976. The 1992 constitution of the Republic of Cuba states that the role of the Communist Party of Cuba is to "guide the common effort toward the goals and construction of socialism (and the progress toward

4953-458: The Workers' Party of Korea (WPK), known as Juche . Originally regarded as a variant of Marxism–Leninism, Juche was declared to be fully distinct by his son and successor, Kim Jong Il , and was adopted as the official state ideology in the 1972 constitution of North Korea . Further developed throughout the 1980s and 1990s, Juche made significant ideological breaks with Marxism–Leninism, and in

5080-577: The laws of capitalism still operated fully and private enterprise dominated the economy, some political commentators claimed that during the post-war period, when socialist parties were in power, countries such as Britain and France were democratic socialist states and the same is now applied to the Nordic countries and the Nordic model . In the 1980s, the government of President François Mitterrand aimed to expand dirigisme and attempted to nationalize all French banks, but this attempt faced opposition of

5207-518: The lower-phase communism . For Bordiga, both stages of socialist or communist society —with stages referring to historical materialism —were characterized by the gradual absence of money, the market, and so on, the difference between them being that earlier in the first stage, a system of rationing would be used to allocate goods to people, while in communism this could be abandoned in favour of full free access. This view distinguished Bordiga from Marxist–Leninists, who tended, and still tend, to telescope

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5334-405: The productive forces to underpin the establishment of a socialist economy and usually include that at least the commanding heights of the economy are nationalized and under state ownership . This may or may not include the existence of a socialist economy, depending on the specific terminology adopted and level of development in specific countries. The Leninist definition of a socialist state

5461-643: The revolutionary socialist violent approach of the orthodox Marxists . As a result, the latter accused the Gotha program as being " revisionists " and ineffective. Nevertheless, he allowed for the possibility of a peaceful transition in some countries with strong democratic institutional structures (such as the case of Great Britain, the Netherlands and the United States), suggesting however that in other countries in which workers can not "attain their goal by peaceful means"

5588-538: The " all-people's state ". At its founding, the People's Republic of China termed itself a people's democratic dictatorship . According to Mao Zedong , this meant a democracy for the revolutionary people (viewed as the majority of the population) and the coercive measures implicit in "dictatorship" for counterrevolutionaries . This form of state in favor of the peasantry, proletariat, and others who could assert revolutionary consciousness made no pretense of impartiality. In

5715-567: The "lever of our revolution must be force", on the principle that the working people had the right to revolt if they were denied political expression. Marx stated that in a proletarian-run society the state should control the "proceeds of labour" (i.e. all the food and products produced) and take from them that which was "an economic necessity", namely enough to replace "the means of production used up", an "additional portion for expansion of production" and "insurance funds" to be used in emergencies such as natural disasters. Furthermore, he believed that

5842-418: The 20th century, Vladimir Lenin developed his own variation of Marxism, known as Leninism —the adaptation of Marxism to the socio-economic and political conditions of Imperial Russia (1721–1917). This body of theory later became the official ideology of some Communist states . Lenin wrote that the Marxist concept of dictatorship meant an entire societal class holds political and economic control, within

5969-687: The Bolshevik Party itself (some evidence existed for this in the mass of ex-opposition party members who signed up for Bolshevik membership immediately after the end of the Civil War). Despite the principle of democratic centralism in the Bolshevik Party, internal factions were banned. This was considered an extreme measure and did not fall within Marxist doctrine. The ban remained until the Soviet Union's dissolution in 1991. In 1921, vigorous internal debate and freedom of opinion were still present within Russia and

6096-642: The British military, once invited in, proceeded to execute members of the Bolshevik Party (who had peacefully stood down from the Soviet when they failed to win the elections). As a result, the Bolsheviks banned each opposition party when it turned against the Soviet government. In some cases, bans were lifted. This banning of parties did not have the same repressive character as later bans under Stalin would. Internally, Lenin's critics argued that such political suppression always

6223-552: The Cultural Revolution, all of them had "to be concerned about the affairs of the state." Ultimately, the Cultural Revolution failed to complete this reimagining of what the dictatorship of the proletariat might be. Communist Party of the Philippines theorist and activist Jose Maria Sison describes the dictatorship of the proletariat as a "socialist democracy" for the proletariat and the other exploited classes, without which

6350-535: The June and October events, the tedious offering of sacrifices since February and March, the very cannibalism of the counterrevolution will convince the nations that there is only one way in which the murderous death agonies of the old society and the bloody birth throes of the new society can be shortened, simplified and concentrated, and that way is revolutionary terror. On 1 January 1852, the communist journalist Joseph Weydemeyer published an article entitled "Dictatorship of

6477-610: The October Revolution in Russia and published in The State and Revolution . With the failure of the worldwide revolution, or at least European revolution, envisaged by Lenin and Leon Trotsky , the Russian Civil War and finally, Lenin's death, war measures that were deemed to be temporary, such as forced requisition of food and the lack of democratic control, became permanent and a tool to boost Joseph Stalin 's power, leading to

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6604-455: The Paris Commune as the prototype for a revolutionary government of the future, "the form at last discovered" for the emancipation of the proletariat. Engels noted that "all officials, high or low, were paid only the wages received by other workers. [...] In this way, an effective barrier to place-hunting and careerism was set up". Commenting on the nature of the state, Engels continued: "From

6731-542: The Paris Commune model form of government was realised in the soviets (councils of workers and soldiers) established in the Russian Revolution of 1905 , whose revolutionary task was deposing the capitalist (monarchical) state to establish socialism —the dictatorship of the proletariat—the stage preceding communism . In Russia, the Bolshevik Party (described by Lenin as the "vanguard of the proletariat") elevated

6858-567: The Paris Commune. That was the Dictatorship of the Proletariat'. To avoid bourgeois political corruption, Engels claimed that "the Commune made use of two infallible expedients. In this first place, it filled all posts—administrative, judicial, and educational—by election on the basis of universal suffrage of all concerned, with the right of the same electors to recall their delegate at any time. And, in

6985-470: The Proletariat" in the German language newspaper Turn-Zeitung , where he wrote that "it is quite plain that there cannot be here any question of gradual, peaceful transitions" and recalled the examples of Oliver Cromwell (England) and Committee of Public Safety (France) as examples of "dictatorship" and "terrorism" (respectively) required to overthrow the bourgeoisie. In that year, Marx wrote to him, stating: "Long before me, bourgeois historians had described

7112-419: The Russian soviet model. However, according to Lenin in a developed country it would be possible to dispense with the disenfranchisement of capitalists within the democratic proletarian dictatorship as the proletariat would be guaranteed of an overwhelming majority. The Bolsheviks in 1917–1924 did not claim to have achieved a communist society. In contrast the preamble to the 1977 Constitution (Fundamental Law) of

7239-549: The Singaporean People's Action Party (PAP) during its first few decades in power were of a pragmatic kind as characterized by its rejection of nationalization. Despite this, the PAP still claimed to be a socialist party , pointing out its regulation of the private sector, state intervention in the economy, and social policies as evidence of this. The Singaporean prime minister Lee Kuan Yew also stated that he has been influenced by

7366-538: The Soviet Union a socialist state, nor did he claim that it had achieved socialism. He adopted state capitalist policies, defending them from left-wing criticism, but arguing that they were necessary for the future development of socialism and not socialist in themselves. On seeing the Soviet Union's growing coercive power, Lenin was quoted as saying that Russia had reverted to "a bourgeois tsarist machine [...] barely varnished with socialism". A variety of non-state, libertarian communist and socialist positions reject

7493-454: The Soviets emptying out of ordinary people. Half the population of Moscow and a third of Petrograd had by this stage fled to the countryside to find food and political life ground to a halt. The Bolsheviks became concerned that under these conditions—the absence of mass participation in political life and the banning of opposition parties—counter-revolutionary forces would express themselves within

7620-495: The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (the "Brezhnev Constitution"), stated that the 1917 Revolution established the dictatorship of the proletariat as "a society of true democracy" and that "the supreme goal of the Soviet state is the building of a classless, communist society in which there will be public, communist self-government." During the Russian Civil War (1918–1922), all the major opposition parties either took up arms against

7747-459: The Welfare State have come to be used as interchangeable terms, and in the mouths of some people, as terms of reproach. Why this is so it is not difficult to understand, if you view everything from the angle of a strictly individualistic competitive society. A free health service is pure Socialism and as such, it is opposed to the hedonism of capitalist society. Although, as in the rest of Europe,

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7874-462: The abolition of bureaucratic privileges, and the subordination of police forces to the judiciary power. In Marxist discourse, revisionism often carries pejorative connotations and the term has been used by many different factions. It is typically applied to others and rarely as a self-description. By extension, Marxists who view themselves as fighting against revisionism have often self-identified as Marxist–Leninist anti-revisionists . Revisionism

8001-500: The administration of things", thereby ceasing to be a state by the traditional definition. With the fall of the 1871 Paris Commune , Marx cautiously argued in The Civil War in France that "the working class cannot simply lay hold of the ready-made state machinery, and wield it for its own purposes. The centralized state power, with its ubiquitous organs of standing army, police, bureaucracy, clergy, and judicature—organs wrought after

8128-400: The affairs of a capitalist economy. Because this involves governance and laws passed in the interest of the bourgeoisie as a whole, and because government officials either come from the bourgeoisie or are dependent upon bourgeois interests, Marx characterized the capitalist state as a dictatorship of the bourgeoisie . Extrapolating from this, Marx described a post-revolutionary government on

8255-507: The amplest opportunity to remold themselves and contribute what they can to the progress of socialist society." Under this conception, the dictatorship of the proletariat makes political allowances and respects legitimate interests of sections of the bourgeoisie which join the revolution because "it has never occurred that the proletariat has ascended to power without allies." In contrast, "the coercive apparatuses of class dictatorship are applied on those who have no desire but to destroy or subvert

8382-478: The beginnings of censorship and mass political repression had not yet emerged. The Workers Opposition faction continued to operate despite being nominally dissolved. The debates of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union continued to be published until 1923. At the 22nd Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union , Nikita Khrushchev declared transformation of the "dictatorship of the proletariat" into

8509-419: The broader notion of state socialism , the political perspective that the working class needs to use state power and government policy to establish a socialised economic system. The term can vary in its use from meaning a political system to adopting terms of a welfare state. This may either mean a system where the means of production, distribution, and exchange are nationalised or under state ownership, or simply

8636-404: The central role of the party which holds ultimate authority. Internally, the communist party practiced a form of democracy called democratic centralism . During the 22nd Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union in 1961, Nikita Khrushchev announced the completion of socialist construction and declared the optimistic goal of achieving communism in twenty years . The Eastern Bloc

8763-505: The character of the national power of capital over labour, of a public organized for social enslavement , of an engine of class despotism'". One of the most influential modern visions of a transitional state representing proletarian interests stemmed from the example of the Paris Commune, in which the workers and working poor took control of the city of Paris in 1871 in reaction to the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-1871. Marx described

8890-401: The concept of a socialist state altogether, believing that the modern state is a byproduct of capitalism and cannot be used for the establishment of a socialist system. They reason that a socialist state is antithetical to socialism and that socialism will emerge spontaneously from the grassroots level in an evolutionary manner , developing its own unique political and economic institutions for

9017-400: The concept of establishing a socialist state instead of abolishing the bourgeois state apparatus outright. They use the term state socialism to contrast it with their own form of socialism, which involves either collective ownership (in the form of worker cooperatives ) or common ownership of the means of production without state centralized planning . Those socialists believe there

9144-565: The country's productive forces while simultaneously promoting world communism . Academics, political commentators, and other scholars tend to distinguish between authoritarian socialist and democratic socialist states, with the first representing the Soviet Bloc and the latter representing Western Bloc countries which have been democratically governed by socialist parties such as Britain , France , Italy , and Western social democracies in general, among others, all of which operate within

9271-498: The country's 1992 constitution, all references to Marxism–Leninism and communism were removed from state and party materials. Scholars are divided over the classification of the modern-day Juche , with some considering it to be a departure from Marxist–Leninist principles, given the primacy of family lineage and nationalism over class struggle , and where social distinction and hierarchy are promoted over classless society and egalitarianism , and others considering it to still be

9398-404: The democratic socialist British Labour Party. Because most existing socialist states operated along Marxist–Leninist principles of governance, the terms Marxist–Leninist regime and Marxist–Leninist state are used by scholars, particularly when focusing on the political systems of these countries. A people's republic is a type of socialist state with a republican constitution. Although

9525-535: The desired workers' state which he forecast would follow. Following Stalin's consolidation of power in the Soviet Union and static centralization of political power, Trotsky condemned the Soviet government's policies for lacking widespread democratic participation on the part of the population and for suppressing workers' self-management and democratic participation in the management of the economy. Because these authoritarian political measures were inconsistent with

9652-469: The development of socialism. Socialist states in the Marxist–Leninist sense are sovereign states under the control of a vanguard party which is organizing the country's economic, political, and social development toward the realization of socialism. Economically, this involves the development of a state capitalist economy with state-directed capital accumulation with the long-term goal of building up

9779-469: The dictatorship of the proletariat as previously implemented in socialism, particularly the fact that state functions had ultimately became the purview of party officials/cadres instead of becoming more broadly dispersed. One of the Cultural Revolution's stated components was a form of mass politics intended to put state power into the hands of the common people. As Mao told the Red Guards in the early phase of

9906-726: The dictatorship of the proletariat incompatible with the European Convention on Human Rights in Communist Party of Germany v. the Federal Republic of Germany (1957). While Karl Marx did not write much about the nature of the dictatorship of the proletariat, The Communist Manifesto (1848) stated "their ends can be attained only by the forcible overthrow of all existing social conditions." In light of counter-revolutionary violence against Hungarian Revolution of 1848 , Marx wrote that: The purposeless massacres perpetrated since

10033-626: The dictatorship of the proletariat involved political experiments focused on dismantling state power and dispersing its functions among the workers. The dictatorship of the proletariat was viewed as a form of transitional rule in which class struggle ended and the state became extinct. Force and violence played an important role in Friedrich Engels 's vision of the revolution and rule of proletariat. In 1877, arguing with Eugen Dühring , Engels ridiculed his reservations against use of force, stating: "That force, however, plays yet another role in history,

10160-465: The early 1930s, the socialist movements that did not support the Bolshevik party line were condemned by the Communist International and called social fascism . Soviet democracy granted voting rights to the majority of the populace who elected the local soviets, who elected the regional soviets and so on until electing the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union . Capitalists were disenfranchised in

10287-400: The emergence of Marxism–Leninism and Stalinism , as well as the notion that socialism can be created and exist in a single state with theory of socialism in one country . Lenin argued that as socialism is replaced by communism, the state would " wither away " as strong centralized control progressively reduces as local communities gain more empowerment. As he put it succinctly, "[s]o long as

10414-463: The fact that these countries never claimed to have achieved communism in their countries—rather, they claim to be building and working toward the establishment of socialism and the development towards communism thereafter in their countries. Terms used by communist states include national-democratic , people's democratic , people's republican , socialist-oriented , and workers' and peasants' states. Karl Marx and subsequent thinkers in

10541-403: The final form of capitalism rather than socialism. Some Trotskyists following on from Tony Cliff deny that it is socialism, calling it state capitalism. Other Trotskyists agree that these states could not be described as socialist, but deny that they were state capitalist. They support Leon Trotsky 's analysis of pre-restoration Soviet Union as a workers' state that had degenerated into

10668-501: The first post-war Labour government and the architect of the National Health Service , disputed the claim that Britain was a socialist state. For Crosland and others who supported his views, Britain was a socialist state. According to Bevan, Britain had a socialist National Health Service which stood in opposition to the hedonism of Britain's capitalist society, making the following point: The National Health service and

10795-429: The first two stages and so have money and the other exchange categories surviving into socialism. But Bordiga would have none of this. For him, no society in which money, buying and selling, and the rest survived could be regarded as either socialist or communist—these exchange categories would die out before the socialist rather than the communist stage was reached. Stalin made the claim that the Soviet Union had reached

10922-419: The historical development of this struggle between the classes, as had bourgeois economists their economic anatomy. My own contribution was (1) to show that the existence of classes is merely bound up with certain historical phases in the development of production; (2) that the class struggle necessarily leads to the dictatorship of the proletariat; [and] (3) that this dictatorship, itself, constitutes no more than

11049-409: The immediate revolutionary excitement is not suddenly suppressed after the victory. On the contrary, it must be sustained as long as possible. Far from opposing the so-called excesses—instances of popular vengeance against hated individuals or against public buildings with which hateful memories are associated—the workers' party must not only tolerate these actions but must even give them direction." In

11176-577: The law of value no longer directs economic activity, namely, that monetary relations in the form of exchange-value , profit , interest, and wage labour would not operate and apply to Marxist socialism. Unlike Stalin, who first claimed to have achieved socialism with the Soviet Constitution of 1936 and then confirmed it in the Economic Problems of Socialism in the USSR , Lenin did not call

11303-467: The lower stage of communism and argued that the law of value still operated within a socialist economy. Marx did not use the term socialism to refer to this development and instead called it a communist society that has not yet reached its higher-stage. The term socialism to mean the lower-state of communism was popularized during the Russian Revolution by Lenin. This view is consistent with, and helped to inform early concepts of, socialism in which

11430-422: The modern state as a byproduct of capitalism , which would have no function in a socialist system. A socialist state is to be distinguished from a multi-party liberal democracy governed by a self-described socialist party , where the state is not constitutionally bound to the construction of socialism. In such cases, the political system and machinery of government is not specifically structured to pursue

11557-505: The modern state would have no function and would gradually "wither away" or be transformed into a new form of governance. Influenced by the pre-Marxist utopian-socialist philosopher Henri de Saint-Simon (1760-1825), Friedrich Engels theorized that the nature of the state would change during the transition to socialism. Both Saint-Simon and Engels described a transformation of the state from an entity primarily concerned with political rule over people (via coercion and law-creation) to

11684-551: 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 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. Other historic reformist or gradualist movements within socialism, as opposed to revolutionary approaches, include Fabian socialist and Menshevik groupings. Whereas Marx, Engels, and classical Marxist thinkers had little to say about

11811-561: The new Soviet government , took part in sabotage, collaboration with the deposed Tsarists , or made assassination attempts against Lenin and other Bolshevik leaders. When opposition parties such as the Cadets and Mensheviks were democratically elected to the Soviets in some areas, they proceeded to use their mandate to welcome in Tsarist and foreign capitalist military forces . In one incident in Baku ,

11938-444: The new soviet government, writing that as long as classes existed a state would need to exist to exercise the democratic rule of one class (in his view, the working class) over the other (the capitalist class). Lenin wrote that "[d]ictatorship does not necessarily mean the abolition of democracy for the class that exercises the dictatorship over other classes; but it does mean the abolition of democracy (or very material restriction, which

12065-423: The organization of the state in a socialist society, presuming the modern state to be specific to the capitalist mode of production, Vladimir Lenin pioneered the idea of a revolutionary state based on his theory of the revolutionary vanguard party and organizational principles of democratic centralism . Adapted to the conditions of semi-feudal Russia, Lenin's concept of the dictatorship of the proletariat involved

12192-517: The organizational precepts of socialism, Trotsky characterized the Soviet Union as a deformed workers' state that would not be able to effectively transition to socialism. Ostensibly socialist states where democracy is lacking, yet the economy is largely in the hands of the state, are termed by orthodox Trotskyist theories as degenerated or deformed workers' states and not socialist states. Many democratic and libertarian socialists, including anarchists, mutualists , and syndicalists , criticize

12319-515: The outset, the Commune was compelled to recognize that the working class, once come to power, could not manage with the old state machine". Engels states that in order to avoid overthrow once having conquered power, the working class "must, on the one hand, do away with all the old repressive machinery previously used against it itself, and, on the other, safeguard itself against its own deputies and officials, by declaring them all, without exception, subject to recall at any moment". Engels argues that such

12446-414: The part of the working class or proletariat as a dictatorship of the proletariat because the economic interests of the proletariat would have to guide state affairs and policy during a transitional state. Alluding further to the establishment of a socialist economy where social ownership displaces private ownership and thus, class distinctions on the basis of private-property ownership are eliminated,

12573-405: The plan of a systematic and hierarchic division of labor originates from the days of absolute monarchy, serving nascent middle class society as a mighty weapon in its struggle against feudalism". In other words, "the centralized state power inherited by the bourgeoisie from the absolute monarchy necessarily assumes, in the course of the intensifying struggles between capital and labor, 'more and more

12700-531: The proceeds of the collective labour than someone who had not worked as hard. In the Critique , he noted that "defects are inevitable" and there would be many difficulties in initially running such a workers' state "as it emerges from capitalistic society" because it would be "economically, morally and intellectually... still stamped with the birth marks of the old society from whose womb it emerges", thereby still containing capitalist elements. In summary, Marx's view of

12827-421: The process of building socialism and progressing toward a communist society. These countries never describe themselves as communist nor as having implemented a communist society . Additionally, a number of countries that are multi-party capitalist states make references to socialism in their constitutions , in most cases alluding to the building of a socialist society, naming socialism, claiming to be

12954-409: The proletariat was first used by Karl Marx in a series of articles which were later republished as The Class Struggle in France 1848–1850 . The term dictatorship indicates full control of the means of production by the state apparatus. Friedrich Engels considered the Paris Commune (1871), which controlled the capital city for two months before being suppressed, an example of the dictatorship of

13081-404: The proletariat would represent this transitional state and would involve working-class interests dominating government policy in the same manner that capitalist-class interests dominate government policy under capitalism (the dictatorship of the bourgeoisie). Engels argued that as socialism developed, the state would change in form and function. Under socialism, it is not a "government of people, but

13208-505: The proletariat. There are multiple popular trends for this political thought, all of which believe the state will persist following the revolution for its enforcement capabilities: In The Road to Serfdom (1944), the Austrian School economist Friedrich Hayek wrote that the dictatorship of the proletariat likely would destroy personal freedom as completely as does an autocracy . The European Commission of Human Rights found pursuing

13335-479: The promises made by liberal bourgeois parties prior to the February Revolution remained unfulfilled, the soviets would need to take power for themselves. Lenin argued that in an underdeveloped country such as Russia the capitalist class would remain a threat even after a successful socialist revolution. As a result, he advocated the repression of those elements of the capitalist class that took up arms against

13462-536: The reactionists. Would the Paris Commune have lasted a single day if it had not made use of this authority of the armed people against the bourgeois?". Marx's attention to the Paris Commune placed the commune in the centre of later Marxist forms. This statement was written in "Address of the Central Committee to the Communist League", which is credited to Marx and Engels: "[The workers] must work to ensure that

13589-407: The same year by remarking: "A revolution is certainly the most authoritarian thing there is; it is the act whereby one part of the population imposes its will upon the other part by means of rifles, bayonets and cannon—authoritarian means, if such there be at all; and if the victorious party does not want to have fought in vain, it must maintain this rule by means of the terror which its arms inspire in

13716-521: The second place, all officials, high or low, were paid only the wages received by other workers. The highest salary paid by the Commune to anyone was 6,000 francs. In this way an effective barrier to place-hunting and careerism was set up, even apart from the binding mandates to delegates [and] to representative bodies, which were also added in profusion." Although many revolutionaries of the Paris Commune were anarchists and "anti-authoritarian socialists" , Engels criticised anti-authoritarian socialists in

13843-600: The socialist society." Socialist state List of forms of government A socialist state , socialist republic , or socialist country , sometimes referred to as a workers' state or workers' republic , is a sovereign state constitutionally dedicated to the establishment of socialism . The term communist state is often used synonymously in the West , specifically when referring to one-party socialist states governed by Marxist–Leninist communist parties , despite these countries being officially socialist states in

13970-480: The soviets to power in the October Revolution of 1917. Throughout 1917, Lenin argued that the Russian Provisional Government was unrepresentative of the proletariat's interests because in his estimation they represented the dictatorship of the bourgeoisie. He argued that because they continually put off democratic elections, they denied the prominence of the democratically constituted soviets and all

14097-399: The state " withering away ", denying that it could apply to "bourgeois state" and highlighting that Engels work is mostly "panegyric on violent revolution". Based on these arguments, he denounces reformists as "opportunistic", reactionary and points out violent revolution as the only method of introducing dictatorship of the proletariat compliant with Marx and Engels' work. In Imperial Russia,

14224-399: The state exists, there is no freedom. When there will be freedom, there will be no state". In this way, Lenin was thereby proposing a classically dynamic view of progressive social structure which, during his own short period of governance, emerged as a defensive and preliminary bureaucratic centralist stage. He regarded this structural paradox as the necessary preparation for and antithesis of

14351-539: The state should then take enough to cover administrative costs, funds for the running of public services and funds for those who were physically incapable of working. Once enough to cover all of these things had been taken out of the "proceeds of labour", Marx believed that what was left should then be shared out amongst the workers, with each individual getting goods to the equivalent value of how much labour they had invested. In this meritocratic manner, those workers who put in more labour and worked harder would get more of

14478-533: The structure and guidance of these country's machinery of government and economic system . The preamble to the 1976 Constitution of Portugal states that the Portuguese state has, as one of its goals, opening "the way to socialist society". Another broad example is that of Slovenia, which defines itself as a "state governed by the rule of law and a social state". Algeria, the Congo, India, and Sri Lanka have directly used

14605-724: The term socialism was often used in reference to an Arab socialist / nationalist philosophy adopted by specific regimes, such as that of Gamal Abdel Nasser and that of the various Ba'ath parties . Examples of countries directly using the term socialist in their names include the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka and the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, while a number of countries make references to socialism in their constitutions, but not in their names. These include India and Portugal. In addition, countries such as Belarus, Colombia, France, Russia, and Spain use

14732-422: The term socialist in their official constitution and name. Croatia, Hungary, and Poland directly denounce "Communism" in their founding documents in reference to their past regimes. In these cases, the intended meaning of socialism can vary widely and sometimes the constitutional references to socialism are left over from a previous period in the country's history. In the case of many Middle Eastern states,

14859-451: The term socialist republic as a mark of their ongoing political development. Czechoslovakia also added the term socialist republic into its name during this period. It had become a people's republic in 1948, but the country had not used that term in its official name. Albania used both terms in its official name from 1976 to 1991. The term socialist state is widely used by Marxist–Leninist parties, theorists, and governments to mean

14986-538: The term initially became associated with populist movements in the 19th century such as the German Völkisch movement and the Narodniks in Russia, it is now associated with Communist Party ruled states. A number of the short-lived communist states which formed during World War I and its aftermath called themselves people's republics . Many of these sprang up in the territory of the former Russian Empire following

15113-574: The term socialist states in relation to countries such as China and previously of Soviet Union and Eastern and Central European states before what some term the "collapse of Stalinism " in 1989. Anti-authoritarian communists and socialists such as anarchists, other democratic and libertarian socialists, as well as revolutionary syndicalists and left communists claim that the so-called socialist states actually presided over state capitalist economies and cannot be called socialist. Those socialists who oppose any system of state control whatsoever believe in

15240-470: The transition from capitalism to socialism. Critical of the economy and government of socialist states, left communists such as the Italian Amadeo Bordiga said that their socialism was a form of political opportunism which preserved rather than destroyed capitalism because of the claim that the exchange of commodities would occur under socialism ; the use of popular front organisations by

15367-431: The two in the same way Marxist–Leninists do. Both Lenin and Bordiga did not see socialism as a separate mode of production from communism, but rather, just as how communism looks as it emerges out of capitalism before it has "developed on its own foundations". This is coherent with Marx and Engels, who used the terms communism and socialism interchangeably. Like Lenin, Bordiga used socialism to mean what Marx called

15494-483: The two words contradict one another, and that it is the business of Socialism to destroy the State and put Free Society in its place". Classical and orthodox Marxists also view state socialism as an oxymoron, arguing that while an association for managing production and economic affairs would exist in socialism, it would no longer be a state in the Marxist definition , which is based on domination by one class . Preceding

15621-409: The varied term social state , leaving a more ambiguous meaning. In the constitutions of Croatia, Hungary, and Poland, direct condemnation is made to the respective past socialist regimes. The autonomous region of Rojava , which operates under the principles of democratic confederalism , has been described as a socialist state. During the post-war consensus , nationalization of large industries

15748-645: Was a political and economic bloc of Soviet-aligned socialist states in Eastern and Central Europe which adhered to Marxism–Leninism, Soviet-style governance , and economic planning in the form of the administrative-command system and command economy . China's socio-economic structure has been referred to as "nationalistic state capitalism" and the Eastern Bloc (Eastern Europe and the Third World ) as "bureaucratic-authoritarian systems." The People's Republic of China

15875-419: Was founded on 1 October 1949, and proclaims itself to be a socialist state in its 1982 constitution . The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) used to adhere to orthodox Marxism–Leninism since its founding until mid-1950s, by which point the supreme leader of North Korea, Kim Il Sung , sought to develop a distinct Korean re-interpretation of the ideology in order to solidify his position within

16002-400: Was his plan. Supporters argued that the reactionary civil war of the foreign-sponsored White movement required it—given Fanya Kaplan 's unsuccessful assassination of Lenin on 30 August 1918 and the successful assassination of Moisei Uritsky the same day. After 1919, the Soviets had ceased to function as organs of democratic rule as the famine induced by forced grain requisitions led to

16129-505: Was relatively widespread and it was not uncommon for commentators to describe some European countries as democratic socialist states seeking to move their countries toward a socialist economy . In 1956, leading British Labour Party politician and author Anthony Crosland claimed that capitalism had been abolished in Britain, although others such as Welshman Aneurin Bevan , Minister of Health in

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