maoism, leninism, stalinism

[Fawkes]

i have a good understanding of what Marxism is and what Anarchy is, but i dont know much about leninism, maoism, and stalinism. Can anyone explain any of those philosophies to me, or have a link to a good website about it.


thanks

[Xanthus]

Leninism is an application of Marxism to the concrete situation of Russia in the early 20th century.

Stalinism is a corruption of an emerging proletarian state on the basis of beurocracy, and the falsification of historical materials relating to Marxism and Leninism in order to make it appear that Stalinism is a continuation of those threads. The Stalinist state functions in a bonapartist fashion, balencing it's self between the beurocratic caste and the working masses, and solving problems by rule of the sword.

Maoism is the method of creating an essecially Stalinist state without a genuine Marxian revolution occuring previously. It is established primarily on the back of the peasent revolt (making Guerillaism a favorite tactic of Maoists), and operates once established in a bonapartist fashion, similar to Stalinism.

Those explainations are very brief and incomplete, so perhaps someone could elaborate.
...Of course, I don't mean the elaboration of Stalinists telling us how Leninism and Stalinism are the same thing, or of the Maoists claiming that socialism was built in China.

[STN]

try this site
online encyclopedia
its an online encyclopedia, its excellent

i know one thing...lenin believed in a dictatorship of the proletariat, and stalinism in my mind was not to god of an ideoligy, false communism i think

[Xanthus]

Originally posted by STN@Mar 24 2006, 01:16 PM
i know one thing...lenin believed in a dictatorship of the proletariat, and stalinism in my mind was not to god of an ideoligy, false communism i think

Not just Lenin believed in the dictatorship of the proletariat, but Marx as well, and anyone else who follows the thread of Marxist philosophy. The phrase "dictatorship of the proletariat", however, is often misunderstood.

And yes, Stalinism was beurocratic reaction maskarading as communism.

[STN]

Not just Lenin believed in the dictatorship of the proletariat, but Marx as well, and anyone else who follows the thread of Marxist philosophy. The phrase "dictatorship of the proletariat", however, is often misunderstood.

I'm Sorry, Yes Marx Believed in a dictatorship of the proletariat...sorry.

[Severian]

What is Stalinism

To briefly summarize: Stalinism is not a philosophy, an ideology, or a theory. It is the rule of a privileged bureaucratic caste over a postcapitalist economy.
And, secondarily, the politics of their franchise parties worldwide.

Maoism is a variety of Stalinism. (Mao himself certainly would not have denied this.)

[TC]

Maoism is a variety of Stalinism. (Mao himself certainly would not have denied this.)

...no he'd have denied it because he'd deny that, as much as he liked Stalin, that Stalin created any distinct system from Marxism-Leninism. Just cause Mao was buddies with Stalin doesn't mean he saw what he was doing in China as 'following' something origional to Stalin. For that matter, Mao never used the term Maoist nor did his Chinese supporters (they refered to Mao's politics simply as 'Mao Zedong's thoughts' and refered to both themselves and Mao as Marxist-Leninists). Only westerners who worship Mao call themselves Maoist.

Stalinism is a term coined by Trotskyists that doesn't apply to anyone, rather it presupposes a particular political interpretation of Stalin not shared by his supporters or mainstream Communists.

[Comrade_Ryan]

If only the Soviet Union was lead by brillant geniuses like you Xanthus (or Alex if you would prefere), you could of explained how they misunderstood Marx.

[norwegian commie]

If only the Soviet Union was lead by brillant geniuses like you Xanthus (or Alex if you would prefere), you could of explained how they misunderstood Marx.

haha

Not just Lenin believed in the dictatorship of the proletariat, but Marx as well, and anyone else who follows the thread of Marxist philosophy. The phrase "dictatorship of the proletariat", however, is often misunderstood.

Yeah, if STN tried you critiise Lenin on that point he is way out of his leage and probably does not even know what it is other than a "dictatorship"

You anti-leninist dont know shit about his ideas, ive even seen people calling him a sexist, wich is rediculus. the person claiming it was red-star, the guy that thinks crime shuld be delt with, with a gun in the back of your head.

[CombatLiberalism]

You can always ask Maoists. IRTR (irtr.org) is a Maoist organization. IRTR is going to be soon creating a Cultural Revolution archive of primary source material, so that people can see what Chinese Maoists actually wrote. You should also read what Mao, Jiang Qing, and others had to say. For now, you can also check out the Maoist Internationalist Movement's FAQ at: http://www.etext.org/Politics/MIM/wim/revdefs.html "What is a Maoist?"

Hope these resources help.

[Scars]

Originally posted by CombatLiberalism@Apr 10 2006, 01:21 AM
You can always ask Maoists. IRTR (irtr.org) is a Maoist organization. IRTR is going to be soon creating a Cultural Revolution archive of primary source material, so that people can see what Chinese Maoists actually wrote. You should also read what Mao, Jiang Qing, and others had to say. For now, you can also check out the Maoist Internationalist Movement's FAQ at: http://www.etext.org/Politics/MIM/wim/revdefs.html "What is a Maoist?"

Hope these resources help.

MIM are NOT orthodox Maoists, they are definately Maoist inspired, but they have taken on board various theories of 'national liberation' and pushed them to their extreme, if vaugely logical, conclusions i.e. if you're white, you're inheirantly reactionary. They also advocate turning the USA into, and I quote, "One big gulag".

The Little Red book is an easy read and gives you a fairly basis intoduction to Maoist thought.

Ands Severian- actually Mao would have denied that Stalinism exists and said that Maoism was applying Marxist-Leninism to the situation in China.

[CombatLiberalism]

Wrong. MIM has never advocated "One Big Gulag." It was advocated by posters on IRTR. IRTR is not MIM. "No investigation, no right to speak."

Actually, IRTR is straight up Maoist. IRTR is not in line with most first world organizations who (falsely) identify as Maoists, who, for example, reject national liberation struggles. IRTR is more in line with what has historically been called "Maoism." Most first worlders don't know the difference between Maoism and Trotskyism anyways. The importance of communist led national liberation struggles against imperialism has always been central to the Maoist outlook on making revolution in our epoch. Mao's Party fought a national liberation struggle against Japan, mobilizing broad patriotic forces to kick out the imperialists. Mao's party transformed and led the national liberation struggle and great tide of peasant revolution, the commuists transformed those struggles into proletarian socialist revolution. For those who don't think this is correct, all I can do is refer them to the works of Mao himself or invite them to IRTR's Marxist Economics forum

Obviously, Mao's works are essential to understanding Maoism. The Red Book may be an okay place to start, but it is not an okay place to end up. Mao was critical of the kind of approach that the Red Book encourages. And, one doesn't get any sense of Maoism as a system of scientific thought from the Red Book.

[Comrade Marcel]

Since I've taught Marxism as Educational Coordinator for a youth org in the past, I'll try to explain this to you breif and unbiased.

You have obviously already heard the Trotskyite views and accusations, so you have an idea of what they think. You can decide for yourself if you think they are right or wrong.

To me, Lenin made many contributions to Marxism; such as hashing out the theory of socialism as a transitional stage. This was never talked about by Marx and Engels, as they seemed to use the terms socialism and communism interchangeably. It's also debateale what Marx and Engels ment when they talked about proletarian dictatorship Vs. what Lenin proposed. I would also say that Lenin contributed to understanding contemporary imperialism.

Supporters of Stalin argue that Trotsky never really followed Leninism. He didn't join the Bolshevik party until a few months before the revolution, and before that spent most of his time writing articles attacking Lenin for the Menshevik paper. Even after he joined the Bolsheviks he still spent a lot of time attacking Lenin, he would try to form factions, etc. Well Trotskyists say they are anti-beurocratic it's important to note that Trotsky was never against beuroacracy until it effected his ability to factionalize and split the party.

One of the central differences between Stalin and Trotsky are on the theory of "continues revolution" Vs. "Socialism in one country".

Most Trotskyites will say that Trotskyism and Leninism are synonymous.

However, there are some Neo-Trotskyites out there that argue Trotskyism is different and in some cases superior to Leninism. Some ultra-Trotskyites will argue that Trotsky was even correct before he became a Bolshevik and/or that Lenin actually took on his theories later on, essentially becoming a Trotskyist himself.

Marxist-Leninists (Who Trotskyists and Revisionists call "Stalinists") will argue their ideology is the correct extension of Leninism. Then you have revisionists of various sorts, who argue against some or all aspects of "Stalinism".

Maoists will say they are an extension of Marxism-Leninism, and give praise to Stalin with variation degrees of criticism (depending on the camp).

Ultra-Stalinists, usually the Hoxaites consider almost everything other than Joe and Enver (including Maoism) to be a perversion of Marxism-Leninism

There are some, but few ultra-Leninists out there that consider anything other than Lenin a perversion (Trotsky and Stalin), and even rarer you will find an ultra-Marxist (or DeLeonist) who considers Leninism a perversion of Marxism.

Even rarer still are the Socialists out there that only consider some aspects of Marx (and usually are very utopian in nature).

That's a rough description anyhow.