SOS POLITICAL SCIENCE & PUBLIC

ADMINISTRATION
M.A POLITICAL SCIENCE II SEM
POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY: MORDAN POLITICAL
THOUGHT, THEORY & CONTEMPORARY
IDEOLOGIES(201)
TOPIC NAME-LENINISM
Introduction

■ Leninism is a political theory about how the

revolutionary communist party should be organized. It
says it should be a dictatorship of the proletariat (the
working class holds the power). It is considered one of
the first steps towards socialism (where the workers
own the factories, etc.).[1] It is one part of Marxism–
Leninism, which emphasizes the transition from
capitalism to socialism.
Ideas
■ Democratic Centralism, also known as the idea of the
vanguard party. Like other communists, Lenin wanted to see a
socialist revolution led by the working class. But he thought
the workersneeded strong leadership in the form of a
Revolutionary Party based on Democratic Centralism. Lenin
wanted Communist political parties in every country to lead
the revolution. He thought the vanguard party would need to
have strong discipline, or it would fail.
■ The idea that capitalism is the cause of imperialism (empire-
building). He thought that imperialism was the "highest stage"
of capitalism.
 What did Lenin say about socialism?
■ Leninism is a political theory developed by Russian revolutionary Vladimir
Lenin that proposes the establishment of the dictatorship of the proletariat,
led by a revolutionary vanguard party, as the political prelude to the
establishment of socialism. The function of the Leninist vanguard party is to
provide the working classes with the political consciousness (education and
organisation) and revolutionary leadership necessary to depose capitalism in
the Russian Empire (1721–1917).[1] 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
 What did Lenin say about socialism?
■ In the aftermath of the October Revolution (1917), Leninism was the dominant version of Marxism in
Russia and the basis of soviet democracy, the rule of directly elected soviets. In establishing the socialist
mode of production in Bolshevik Russia — with the Decree on Land (1917), War Communism(1918–
1921), and the New Economic Plan (1921–1928) — the revolutionary régime suppressed most political
opposition, including Marxists who opposed Lenin's actions, the anarchists and the Mensheviks, factions
of the Socialist Revolutionary Party and the Left Socialist-Revolutionaries.[3] The Russian Civil War (1917–
1922), which included the seventeen-army Allied intervention in the Russian Civil War (1917–1925),
and left-wing uprisings against the Bolsheviks (1918–1924) were the external and internal wars which
transformed Bolshevik Russia into the Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic (RSFSR), the core
republic of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics(USSR).[4]
■ As revolutionary praxis, Leninism originally was neither a proper philosophy nor a discrete political
theory. Leninism comprises politico-economic developments of orthodox Marxism and Lenin’s
interpretations of Marxism, which function as a pragmatic synthesis for practical application to the actual
conditions (political, social, economic) of the feudal agrarian society of Imperial Russia in the early 20th
century.[1] As a political-science term, Lenin's theory of proletarian revolutionentered common usage at
the fifth congress of the Communist International (1924), when Grigory Zinoviev applied the
term Leninism to denote "vanguard-party revolution."[5]
How did Lenin use Marxism

■ The philosophy of Marxism–Leninism originated as the

pro-active, political praxis of the Bolshevik faction of the
Russian Social Democratic Labour Party in realising
political change in Tsarist Russia. ... Leninism allowed
the Bolshevik party to assume command of the October
Revolution in 1917
 Principles of Leninism
■ Leninism, principles expounded by Vladimir I. Lenin, who was the preeminent figure in
the Russian Revolution of 1917. Whether Leninist concepts represented a contribution to or a
corruption of Marxist thought has been debated, but their influence on the subsequent
development of communism in the Soviet Union and elsewhere has been of fundamental
importance.
■ In the Communist Manifesto (1848), Karl Marx and Friedrich Engelsdefined communists as “the
most advanced and resolute section of the working-class parties of every country, that section
which pushes forward all others.” This conception was fundamental to Leninist thought. Lenin
saw the Communist Party as a highly committed intellectual elite who (1) had a scientific
understanding of history and society in the light of Marxist principles, (2) were committed to
ending capitalism and instituting socialism in its place, (3) were bent on forcing through this
transition after having achieved political power, and (4) were committed to attaining this power
by any means possible, including violence and revolution if necessary. Lenin’s emphasis upon
action by a small, deeply committed group stemmed both from the need for efficiency and
discretion in the revolutionary movement and from an authoritarian bent that was present in all
of his political thought. The authoritarian aspect of Leninism appeared also in its insistence upon
the need for a “proletarian dictatorship” following the seizure of power, a dictatorship that in
practice was exercised not by the workers but by the leaders of the Communist Party.
Principles
■ At the root of Leninist authoritarianism was a distrust of spontaneity, a conviction that
historical events, if left to themselves, would not bring the desired outcome—i.e., the
coming into being of a socialist society. Lenin was not at all convinced, for instance, that
the workers would inevitably acquire the proper revolutionary and class consciousness of
the communist elite; he was instead afraid that they would be content with the gains in
living and working conditions obtained through trade-union activity. In this, Leninism
differed from traditional Marxism, which predicted that material conditions
would suffice to make workers conscious of the need for revolution. For Lenin, then, the
communist elite—the “workers’ vanguard”—was more than a catalytic agent that
precipitated events along their inevitable course; it was an indispensable element
■ Just as Leninism was pragmatic in its choice of means to achieve political power, it was
also opportunistic in the policies it adopted and the compromises it made to maintain its
hold on power. A good example of this is Lenin’s own New Economic Policy(1921–28),
which temporarily restored the market economy and some private enterprise in the Soviet
Union after the disastrous economic results of War Communism (1918–21)
Principles
■ In practice, Leninism’s unrestrained pursuit of the socialist society resulted in
the creation of a totalitarian state in the Soviet Union. If the conditions of Russia
in its backward state of development did not lead to socialism naturally, then,
after coming to power, the Bolsheviks would legislate socialism into existence
and would exercise despotic control to break public resistance. Thus, every
aspect of the Soviet Union’s political, economic, cultural, and intellectual life
came to be regulated by the Communist Party in a strict and regimented fashion
that would tolerate no opposition. The building of the socialist society proceeded
under a new autocracy of Communist Party officials and bureaucrats. Marxism
and Leninism originally expected that, with the triumph of the proletariat, the
state that Marx had defined as the organ of class rule would “wither away”
because class conflicts would come to an end. Communist rule in the Soviet
Union resulted instead in the vastly increased power of the state apparatus.
Terror was applied without hesitation, humanitarian considerations and
individual rights were disregarded, and the assumption of the class character of
all intellectual and moral life led to a relativization of the standards of
truth, ethics, and justice. Leninism thus created the first modern totalitarian
state.
 Political Thought
■ Leninism supports the creation of a one-party state led by a communist party as a
means to develop socialism and then communism. The political structure of the
Marxist–Leninist state involves the rule of a communist vanguard partyover a
revolutionary socialist state that represents the will and rule of the proletariat.
Through the policy of democratic centralism, the communist party is the supreme
political institution of the Leninist state.
■ In Leninism, elections are held for all positions within the legislative structure,
municipal councils, national legislatures and presidencies. In most Marxist–Leninist
states, this has taken the form of directly electing representatives to fill positions,
although in some states such as People's Republic of China, the Republic of Cuba and
the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia this system also included indirect
elections such as deputies being elected by deputies as the next lower level of
government.Marxism–Leninism asserts that society is united upon common interests
represented through the communist party and other institutions of the Marxist–
Leninist state
Social thought

Leninism supports universal social welfare.[The Marxist–Leninist state

provides for the national welfare with universal healthcare, free public
education (academic, technical and professional) and the social
benefits (childcare and continuing education) necessary to increase the
productivity of the workers and the socialist economy to develop a
communist society. As part of the planned economy, the Marxist–Leninist
state is meant to develop the proletariat's universal education (academic
and technical) and their class consciousness (political education) to facilitate
their contextual understanding of the historical development of
communism as presented in Marx's theory of history.
About women
Leninism supports the emancipation of women and ending the exploitation of women. Marxist–
Leninist policy on family law has typically involved the elimination of the political power of
the bourgeoisie, the abolition of private propertyand an education that teaches citizens to abide
by a disciplined and self-fulfilling lifestyle dictated by the social norms of communism as a means
to establish a new social order. The judicial reformation of family law eliminates patriarchyfrom
the legal system. This facilitates the political emancipation of women from traditional social
inferiority and economic exploitation. The reformation of civil law made marriage secular into a
"free and voluntary union" between persons who are social-and-legal equals; facilitated divorce;
legalised abortion, eliminated bastardy("illegitimate children"); and voided the political power of
the bourgeoisie and the private property-status of the means of production. The educational
system imparts the social norms for a self-disciplined and self-fulfilling way of life, by which the
socialist citizens establish the social order necessary for realising a communist society.[104] With
the advent of a classless society and the abolition of private property, society collectively assume
many of the roles traditionally assigned to mothers and wives, with women becoming integrated
into industrial work. This has been promoted by Marxism–Leninism as the means to achieve
women's emancipation
Cultural Policy
Leninist cultural policy modernises social relations among citizens by
eliminating the capitalist value system of traditionalist conservatism, by which
Tsarism classified, divided and controlled people with stratified social
classeswithout any socio-economic mobility. It focuses upon modernisation and
distancing society from the past, the bourgeoisie and the old intelligentsia. The
socio-cultural changes required for establishing a communist society are realised
with education and agitprop (agitation and propaganda) which reinforce
communal and communist values. The modernisation of educational and
cultural policies eliminates the societal atomisation, including anomie and social
alienation, caused by cultural backwardness. Marxism–Leninism develops
the New Soviet man, an educated and cultured citizen possessed of a
proletarian class consciousness who is oriented towards the social
cohesion necessary for developing a communist society as opposed to the
antithetic bourgeois individualist associated with social atomisation
Technology
■ The Marxist–Leninist worldview is atheist, wherein all human activity results
from human volition and not the will of supernatural beings (gods, goddesses
and demons) who have direct agencyin the public and private affairs of human
society. The tenets of the Soviet Union's national policy of Marxist–Leninist
atheismoriginated from the philosophies of Georg Wilhelm Friedrich
Hegel (1770–1831) and Ludwig Feuerbach (1804–1872) as well as that of Karl
Marx (1818–1883) and Vladimir Lenin (1870–1924).
■ As a basis of Marxism–Leninism, the philosophy of materialism (the physical
universe exists independently of human consciousness) is applied as dialectical
materialism (a philosophy of science and nature) to examine the socio-economic
relations among people and things as parts of a dynamic, material world that is
unlike the immaterial world of metaphysics. Soviet astrophysicist Vitaly
Ginzburg said that ideologically the "Bolshevik communists were not merely
atheists, but, according to Lenin's terminology, militant atheists" in excluding
religion from the social mainstream, from education and from government.
Criticism
■ Trotskyists claim that Marxism–Leninism led to the establishment
of a degenerated workers' state. Others such as philosopher Eric
Voegelin claim that Marxism–Leninism is in its core inherently
oppressive, arguing that the "Marxian vision dictated the Stalinist
outcome not because the communist utopia was inevitable but
because it was impossible“. Criticism like this has itself been
criticised for philosophical determinism, i.e. that the negative
events in the movement's history were predetermined by their
convictions. Historian Robert Vincent Daniels argues that Marxism
was used to "justify Stalinism, but it was no longer allowed to
serve either as a policy directive or an explanation of reality"
during Stalin's rule In complete contrast, E. Van Ree argues that
Stalin continued to be in "general agreement" with the classical
works of Marxism until his death
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