Communist Books

Classics of Marxism-Leninism:

Karl Marx and Frederick Engels: Communist Manifesto. Marx: Capital, Critique of Political Economy, preface; Critique of the Gotha Programme;The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte;Value, Price and Profit; Wage-Labor and Capital. Engels: Anti-Duhring;Ludwig Feuerbach;Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State; Speech at the Graveside of Karl Marx; Socialism, Utopian and Scientific; The Housing Question. V.I. Lenin: Imperialism: the Highest Stage of Capitalism;'Left-Wing' Communism: An Infantile Disorder; Marx-Engels-Marxism; Materialism and Empirio-Criticism; State and Revolution; The Teachings of Karl Marx; Proletarian Revolution and the Renegade Kautsky; What Is To Be Done?

International Publishers

Other Great Marxist-Leninist Books:
Emile Burns: What is Marxism? (also named Introduction to Marxism). Maurice Cornforth: Historical Materialism; Materialism and the Dialectical Method;Theory of Knowledge. William Z. Foster: American Trade Unionism; History of the Communist Party of the U.S.; Twilight of World Capitalism. Gus Hall: Working Class USA; Fighting Racism. Georgi Dimitrov: Against Fascism and War (Report to the 7th Congress of the Communist International, 1935). Otto Kuusinen, main author, Fundamentals of Marxism-Leninism. Roger Keeran and Thomas Kenny: Socialism Betrayed: Behind the Collapse of the Soviet Union. Beatrice Lumpkin: Always Bring a Crowd: The Story of Frank Lumpkin, Steelworker. Stalin: Foundations of Leninism. Victor Perlo: Economics of Racism, Vol. I and II; Superprofits and Crises. Howard Selsam: Dynamics of Social Change; Philosophy of Marxism; What Is Philosophy?. Henry Winston: Class, Race and Black Liberation.

What is Revisionism? A Falsification of Marxism-Leninism

Comrades, Brothers and Sisters,

"Revisionism is by no means novel to the history of the world working class movement. Marxism-Leninism has had to deal with numerous versions of revisionism and opportunism since the end of the 1890s." (Right-Wing Revisionism Today, 1976, Progress Publishers, Moscow)

What is revisionism?

Revisionism is not the old-style bourgeois anti-communism that slanders socialism. Nor are bourgeois and petty-bourgeois ideologists who distort the principles of scientific socialism from outside of the Communist movement adequately defined as revisionists. No, REVISIONISTS CALL THEMSELVES MARXISTS, SOCIALISTS AND EVEN COMMUNISTS. "By revisionism, Lenin understood an opportunist trend alien to Marxism and socialism that existed within the revolutionary party of the working class and which, under the guise of Marxism, actually carried out a revision of the fundamental tenets of Marxist theory, replacing the basic principles of that theory by bourgeois and petty-bourgeois ideas." (Right-Wing Revisionism Today, 1976, Progress Publishers, Moscow)

V.I. Lenin said that revisionism is "one of the chief, if not the chief, manifestation of bourgeois influence on the proletariat and bourgeois corruption of the workers." (Lenin, Works, Vol. 20) And, while revisionism changes it's forms and accents, "it continues to be a revision of Marxist theory all along the line--i.e., it revises all the component parts of Marxism (philosophy, political economy and scientific communism)." (Right-Wing Revisionism Today, 1976, Progress Publishers, Moscow)


(Lenin noted that revisionism swims with the tide of bourgeois ideology)
"Revisionism is an opportunist trend in the worker's movement which is hostile to Marxism-Leninism, and the intent of which is to revise and reconsider the Marxist-Leninist theory. Revisionists reject the scientifically founded tenets on the inevitability of the class struggle in antagonistic society and question the significance of the socialist revolution and the role of the dictatorship of the proletariat as a form of rule by the working class in the transition period from capitalism to socialism." (What Are Classes and the Class Struggle, Progress Publishers, 1986)

Gus Hall, yesteryear's leader of the Communist Party U.S.A., taught that "the struggle for the purity of Marxism-Leninism" against opportunism is crucial. He wrote that: "a classical feature of revisionism is its rejection of the concept of the dictatorship of the proletariat. The line runs as follows: 'We accept such fundamental Marxist-Leninist concepts as the class struggle, but we believe the idea of the proletarian dictatorship must be discarded as being no longer valid.'" (Gus Hall, 'World Workingclass Unity, ' 1969; reprinted in Gus Hall's book Working Class USA, 1987, International Publishers)

And the book, Fundamentals of Marxism-Leninism, authored primarily by Otto Kuusinen, shares these words: "Modern revisionism seeks to smear the great teaching of Marxism-Leninism, declared that it is 'outmoded' and alleges that it has lost its significance for social progress. The revisionists try to kill the revolutionary spirit of Marxism, to undermine faith in socialism among the working class and the working people in general. They deny the historical necessity for a proletarian revolution and the dictatorship of the proletariat during the period from capitalism to socialism, deny the leading role of the Marxist-Leninist Party, reject the principles of proletarian internationalism and call for rejection of Leninist principles of Party organization and, above all, democratic centralism, for transforming the Communist Party from a militant revolutionary organization into some kind of debating society." ("Declaration, Meeting of Representatives of the Communist and Workers' Parties of the Socialist Countries held in Moscow," Nov. 14, 1957, Moscow, Foreign Languages Publishing House)


(Gus Hall: "revisionism tries to sidestep the basic class issues and proletarian approach.")

Revisionism swims with the tide of bourgeois ideology. "In scientific communism and socio-political ideas, revisionism rejects the theory of the class struggle, the opposing nature of liberalism and socialism, and the dictatorship of the proletariat." The text Right-Wing Revisionism Today points out that "the revisionism of scientific communism lies in the renunciation of the leading role of the working class and its party in the fight for socialism, of the Leninist theory of socialist revolution, of the historical necessity of proletarian dictatorship, of the basic principles of socialist democracy and the Leninist theory of the working-class party." (Right-Wing Revisionism Today, 1976, Progress Publishers, Moscow)

Marxism-Leninism holds that a Communist Party must be the vanguard of the working class, i.e., its advanced, class-conscious part, capable of leading the masses in the struggle for the overthrow of capitalism and the building of socialism. V. I. Lenin put it squarely: "By educating the workers' party, Marxism educates the vanguard of the proletariat which is capable of assuming power and of leading the whole people to socialism, of directing and organizing the new order, of being the teacher, the guide, the leader of all the toilers and exploited in the task of building up their social life without the bourgeoisie and against the bourgeoisie." (Lenin, State and Revolution, 1917)

But right revisionism attacks the concept of the Marxist-Leninist vanguard party. Otto Kuusinen, a co-worker of Lenin's, wrote in a text entitled Fundamentals of Marxism-Leninism that revisionism aims to liquidate the Party or transform it into a reformist organization.

"The ideologists of revisionism endeavor to 'revise,' or, more exactly, to distort all the fundamental theses of Marxist-Leninist theory...But they have invariable chosen Lenin's teaching on the Party as one of their chief targets. The theoretical and practical efforts of the revisionists are in the final analysis always subordinated to their attempt to liquidate the Party or to transform it into a reformist organization. Under some historical conditions this intention is not even concealed, under others it is disguised." (Otto Kuusinen, et. al., Fundamentals of Marxism-Leninism, Foreign Languages Publishing House, Moscow)

The revisionist falsification of Marxism-Leninism runs all along the line. "The focal point of revisionism of the economic theory of Marxism is the economic basis of socialism, including its major laws; socialization of the principle means of production (and) economic planning." And revisionists also distort Marxist-Leninist philosophy. (Right-Wing Revisionism Today, 1976, Progress Publishers, Moscow)

Read the selected pieces by Lenin in Against Revisionism, in Defence of Marxism.

Revisionism Swims with the Tide of Bourgeois Ideology

Comrades, Brothers and Sisters,

We warmly recommend that folks also read our other posts and definitions against revisionism 'cuz "revisionism strikes when the working people drop their guard and relax their fight against it." ("Right-Wing Revisionism Today, " 1976, Progress Publishers, Moscow) I warmly invite us to study more about revisionism.

Revisionism Swims with the Tide of Bourgeois Ideology

I warmly point out that the Soviet book, "Right-Wing Revisionism Today, " points out that:

"Throughout his life, Lenin resolutely fought various opportunist trends. This struggle continued, in the new historical setting, the traditions of Marx and Engels who had created and defended their philosophy in sharp clashes with bourgeois and petty-bourgeois ideas...

"By revisionism, Lenin understood an opportunist trend alien to Marxism and socialism that existed within the revolutionary party of the working class and which, under the guise of Marxism, actually carried out a revision of the fundamental tenets of Marxist theory, replacing the basic principles of that theory by bourgeois and petty-bourgeois ideas. He branded opportunism as a betrayal of the liberation of the working class, as a deal with the class enemy of the proletariat and a siding with the bourgeoisie in politics.

"Under cover of Marxist terminology and a claim to be ’creatively’ developing Marxism, revisionists actually replace Marxism by views that are alien and inimical to it. As Lenin said, revisionists allegedly recognize certain principles of Marxism but, in practice, replace them with bourgeois notions. (Lenin, "Collected Works, " Vol. 21)

"Therefore, the class nature of revisionism is a replacement of Marxism by bourgeois ideas, even though the social roots of revisionist ideas are usually associated with the petty bourgeoisie...

"Lenin noted that revisionism swims with the tide of bourgeois ideology." ("Right-Wing Revisionism Today, " 1976, Progress Publishers, Moscow)

A Vanguard Marxist-Leninist Communist Party

Comrades, Brothers and Sisters,

Revisionism denies both the revolutionary character of and the leading (vanguard) role of the Marxist-Leninist Party. I apologize, my friends, for the long piece, but I realize that this Marxist-Leninist information is not widely available. Please try to read the italicized sections if you study nothing else.

The first section will share information from Otto Kuusinen’s book Fundamentals of Marxism-Leninism on the revolutionary character of a Marxist-Leninist Party while the second part of this post will focus on the Communist Party as the vanguard of the working class, i.e., its advanced, class-conscious part, capable of leading the masses in the struggle for the overthrow of capitalism and the building of socialism.


"REVOLUTIONARY CHARACTER OF A MARXIST PARTY.

"Of all the organizations created by the working class, only a political party can give proper expression to the basic interests of the working class and lead it to victory. With the aid of trade unions, mutual aid societies and other similar organizations alone the workers will never be able to put an end to capitalism and build a socialist society. For this the workers need an organization of a higher type, an organization that does not confine itself to the struggle for the satisfaction of the current needs of the working people but aims at bringing the working class to power in order to effect a revolutionary transformation of society. Such an organization is the Communist Party. V.I. Lenin wrote that: ’...in order that the bulk of a certain class may learn to understand its interests and its position, in order that it may learn to pursue its own policies, requires precisely that the advanced elements of this class should be organized immediately and at all costs even if these elements at first constitute a negligible part of the class.’ (Lenin, "Works," Vol. 19, 4th Russian Edition)

"As long as the working class wages only an economic struggle, the bourgeoisie does not see any great danger in that for itself; but when the working class organizes politically, i.e. creates a political party which expresses its will as a class, the bourgeoisie begins seriously to fear for its rule. That is why reaction deals its main blows against the political party of the working class. At the same time, trying to undermine the Party from within, capitalist propaganda endeavors to persuade the workers that they can do without their own party...

"...V.I. Lenin wrote: ’Only a political party of the working class, i.e., a Communist party, is capable of uniting, educating and organizing such a vanguard of the proletariat and the whole mass of working people, a vanguard which alone is able to resist the inevitable petty-bourgeois vacillations of this mass, the inevitable traditions and relapses of trade-union narrowness or trade-unionist prejudices amidst the proletariat, i.e., to lead the proletariat politically and through it to lead all the masses of the working people.’ (Lenin, "Works," Vol. 32, 4th Russian Edition)

"However, not every political party claiming the leadership of the working class is capable of accomplishing this task. This is evident from the experience of the Social-Democratic Parties of the Second International. Acting through the opportunist leaders of Social-Democracy, the bourgeoisie was able to a considerable extent to bring these parties under its influence, to ’tame’ them and make them barely indistinguishable from the usual bourgeois parliamentary opposition. As a result, the Social-Democratic Parties, which at first raised high hopes in the working class, lost their ability to organize and lead the working class movement. This was particularly evident when all the social contradictions engendered by the epoch of imperialism became extremely aggravated.

"Objective reality and the interests of the proletariat made the creation of working-class parties of a new type a matter of imperative necessity.

"The first such party was successfully built in Russia, where the imperialist contradictions were particularly sharp. At the end of the 1890s, V.I. Lenin raised the banner of struggle against opportunism in the ranks of Social-Democracy. This struggle set an example for the revolutionary movement throughout the world...

"...The main thing that characterizes the parties of the new type is their irreconcilability to capitalism. The Communists are waging an active struggle for its abolition, for a revolutionary transformation of capitalist society, for they hold that only the taking of political power by the working class and the establishment of a dictatorship of the proletariat are essential conditions for this transformation. Hence the intolerance displayed by Communists for all forms of opportunism, which in practice signifies adaptation to capitalism.

"The Communist Parties do not act blindly, groping in the dark, but...(must be)...guided by the revolutionary theory of Marxism-Leninism which scientifically expresses the fundamental interests of the working class. The Party is a voluntary union of like-minded persons for the purpose of applying the Marxist world outlook and carrying out the historic mission of the working class." (Otto Kuusinen, et al, Fundamentals of Marxism-Leninism, Foreign Languages Publishing House, Moscow)

"VANGUARD OF THE WORKING CLASS AND ALL WORKING PEOPLE.

"The Communist Party is the vanguard of the working class, i.e., its advanced, class-conscious part, capable of leading the masses in the struggle for the overthrow of capitalism and the building of socialism. V.I. Lenin wrote: ’By educating the workers’ party, Marxism educates the vanguard of the proletariat which is capable of assuming power and of leading the whole people to socialism, of directing and organizing the new order, of being the teacher, the guide, the leader of all the toilers and exploited in the task of building up their social life without the bourgeoisie and against the bourgeoisie.’ (Lenin, State and Revolution, 1917)

"The party of the proletariat--a Communist Party--while being a class party has at the same time deep roots not only among the workers but also among other sections of the people.

"Communists are in no way peculiar people; they are plain workers, peasants, intellectuals, in a word, ordinary people. But they are distinguished by their greater class-consciousness, ideological steadfastness and, consequently, more intense revolutionary character and readiness to face any ordeal for the sake of the lofty idea which they have united to realize. Their life is bound up with the interests of the people and they are deeply concerned with everything that agitates the peoples minds...

"...History shows us that before becoming real vanguards the revolutionary parties usually pass through a number of stages of political and organizational development. At the outset they are, more often than not, propagandist groups and their work is conducted mainly within their own ranks. This is necessary to ensure ideological unity, educate the membership and improve the organization. Then comes the time when the parties go to the masses and begin to lead strikes and mass actions of the working class. This period is very important for it signifies the merging of the spontaneous working-class movement with the ideas of socialism and its transformation into a class-conscious, organized movement. In the next stage the party becomes a real political force capable of leading not only the majority of the working class but also considerable masses of the people.

"In some capitalist countries the Communist Parties have not yet been able to win the broad masses of the working class and have not yet become mass parties. As the vanguard uniting the most class-conscious section of the working-class in its ranks, they play no small part in the life and struggle of working people. It is clear, however, that they will be able to play a still greater part when they unite the masses around themselves. Then they will become a real political force capable of leading the workers to social emancipation, to the building of a new society.

"The speed with which a party passes from one stage to another depends on objective conditions, as well as on the correctness of its own policies and the ability of its leadership..." (Otto Kuusinen, et al, Fundamentals of Marxism-Leninism, Foreign Languages Publishing House, Moscow)

The Historic Mission of the Working Class

Otto Kuusinen, a stellar Communist, wrote eloquently in the book Fundamentals of Marxism-Leninism:

"A deep analysis of the economic structure of capitalism led Marx and Engels to the conclusion that this social system contained the seeds of its own collapse and that a new system--socialism--would replace it. But the founders of Marxism not only disclosed the main direction of further development; they also discovered that the proletariat, the working class, was the leading social force destined to bring about the great social transformation, i.e., to destroy capitalism and build socialism.

"Marx and Engels formulated this discovery and fully substantiated it in the Communist Manifesto published in Germany in 1848. It states 'Not only has the bourgeoisie forged the weapons that bring death to itself; it has also called into existence the men who are to wield those weapons--the modern working class--the proletarians.' 'The development of Modern Industry, therefore, cuts from under its feet the very foundation on which the bourgeoisie produces and appropriates products. What the bourgeoisie, therefore, produces, above all, are its own gravediggers. Its fall and the victory of the proletariat are equally inevitable.'(Marx and Engels, Communist Manifesto,1848)" (Otto Kuusinen, et al., Fundamentals of Marxism-Leninism, Foreign Languages Publishing House, Moscow)



(Lenin said that "the main thing in the doctrine of Marx is that it brings out the historic role of the proletariat as the builder of a socialist society.")

The Working Class is the Liberator of the Working People.

Kuusinen continues: "On what did Marx and Engels base their conception of the historic mission of the working class?

"In the first place, being the most exploited class in capitalist society, the working class--owing to the very conditions of its life--becomes the most consistent and irreconcilable opponent of the capitalist order. The vital class interests of the workers impel them to an implacable struggle against capitalism. Marx and Engels emphasised that 'of all the classes that stand face to face with the bourgeoisie today, the proletariat alone is a really revolutionary class.' (Marx and Engels, Communist Manifesto, 1848)

"Secondly, Marx and Engels based their conception on the fact that the workers by their very position in production are connected not with its past but with its future and, consequently, with the future of the whole of society.

"What does this mean?

"It means, in the first place, that the development of the material basis of capitalism--large-scale industry--does not threaten the existence of the proletariat as a class, does not undermine its positions in society, but, on the contrary, leads to an increase in the numbers of workers and enhances their role in the life of society.

"It means, furthermore, that the interests and aspirations of the working class coincide with the main trend in the development of the productive forces. The level of development of these forces attained under capitalism requires the abolition of private ownership of the means of production. And it is the working class that is destined to carry out this task. It is objectively interested not only in overthrowing capitalism but also in replacing it with socialism, the system which, having superseded capitalism, gives full scope for a tremendous development of the productive forces of society.

"As Marx and Engels put it, the proletariat executes the sentence which private ownership passes on itself by engendering the proletariat. As a matter of fact, the working class is the only class that has no part in the ownership of the means of production and theerfore does not have to attach any value to it. Moreover, since private ownership of the means of production forms the basis of the exploitation of the worker by the capitalist, its abolition and replacement by social ownership is the only way to liberate the working class.

"In concluding that it was the working class that was destined to destroy capitalism and build socialism, Marx and Engels also based themselves on the fact that it was the only class possessing the fighting qualities needed to accomplish so great an historical objective.

"What are these qualities?

"First of all, the working class has the advantage of mass. It is one of the most numerous and at the same time rapidly growing classes in capitalist society.

"But this is not the only thing. By virtue of the very conditions of its life and labor the working class is capable of the highest degree of organization. The work at a large enterprise daily instills in the workers such qualities as the spirit of collectivism, capacity for strict discipline, and mutual aid and support. These qualities are invaluable not only in labor but also in struggle. By gathering thousands of workers under the roof of plants and factories which are, as a rule, located in large cities, the capitalists themselves help the workers overcome the disunion and isolation that was the curse of the other mass movements of the working people, especially the peasant movement. That is why the workers lend themselves to organisation and union more readily than any other class.

"Of all the oppressed classes the working class is also the most capable of developing its political consciousness and of adopting an advanced, scientific world outlook. Large-scale industry requires more highly educated workers than do the other forms of economy, while the conditions of the class struggle in the capitalist epoch require much higher political consciousness. The proletariat acquires political consciousness not only and not so much from books as from its experience in labor and struggle. In addition, the best minds of the intelligentsia come over to the side of the working class and help it elaborate and gain a scientific, revolutionary world outlook which, by becoming the property of millions of workers, grows into a prodigious force.

"At the same time the working class is the most militant and revolutionary class of society.

"All this gives the working class the mission of abolishing capitalism and replacing it with socialism.

"It is no mere chance that this mission of the working class is called a historic mission.

"In the course of history various classes--slave-owners, fuedal lords, capitalists--found themselves at the head of society. By reshaping society according to their own needs and interests, each of these classes helped to establish a more advanced mode of production. But social injustice and inequality was invariably retained. Each time society was headed by a handful of oppressors and each new step along the path of progress was made at the price of incredible suffering of the working masses, who always constituted the vast majority of society.

"When the working class comes to head society, it puts an end to this injustice forever. By liberating itself it simultaneously liberates all of humanity. By reshaping society according to its own needs and interests it creates a new society in which all people will find true happiness. It is the mission of the working class once and for all to abolish the prime basis of social injustice, the private ownership of the means of production which caused the division of society into rich and poor, exploiters and exploited, oppressors and oppressed. Fulfillment of this task is the only way to free society from poverty and from a situation in which the masses are deprived of their rights, and to put an end to political and national oppression, militarism and wars.

"In the Communist Manifesto Marx and Engels wrote: 'All previous historical movements were movements of minorities or in the interest of minorities. The proletarian movement is the self-conscious, independent movement of the immense majority, in the interest of the immense majority.' (Marx and Engels, Communist Manifesto, 1848)

"The doctrine of the historic mission of the working class constitutes a highly important part of the Marxist world outlook. It was the first to show a feasible way of realising the aspirations of the oppressed and exploited masses for freedom and justice. Many outstanding people and social movements landed in an impasse only because they did not see the social force that could give the peoples freedom, well-being and happiness. Some appealed to the wisdom of monarchs, others hoped society would be saved by the creative genius of scientists and engineers, still others expected a feat from 'critically thinking personalities,' and others again set their hopes on a revival of the patriarchal peasant ways of life and the order of things that had prevailed in the medieval handicraft guilds.

"But all these hopes and expectations only entailed a useless waste of effort and not infrequently the loss of human lives. Socialism, humanity's splendid age-old dream, ceased to be an incorporeal utopia only from the moment that the social force capable of carrying this dream into life appeared and was scientifically established, that the historic mission of the working class became manifest to the workers themselves and to the progressive representatives of the other oppressed classes in capitalist society.

"This is why, in appraising the historical services rendered by the founders of Marxism, Lenin wrote: 'The main thing in the doctrine of Marx is that it brings out the historic role of the proletariat as the builder of a socialist society.'(Lenin, "Collected Works", Vol. 18)" (Otto Kuusinen, et al., Fundamentals of Marxism-Leninism, Foreign Languages Publishing House, Moscow)

Socialism Betrayed: Behind the Collapse of the Soviet Union by Roger Keeran and Thomas Kenny

Brothers and Sisters,

The great book Socialism Betrayed, written by Roger Keeran and Thomas Kenny, explains that, along with economic factors such as the "second economy" and international pressure from imperialism , revisionist and opportunist "forces oppos(ed) socialism from within" the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. There were 'two trends in Soviet politics'--a "leftwing Communist tradition represented in the main by Vladimir Lenin, Joseph Stalin and Yuri Andropov" and a "rightwing Communist tradition represented in the main by Nikolai Bukharin and Nikita Kruschev." And "the Soviet collapse occurred in the main because of the policies that Michail Gorbachev pursued after 1986." Keeran and Kenny declare that: "after 1985, Gorbachev's policies moved to the right, in the sense that they involved what might be called a social democratic vision of socialism that weakened the Communist Party, compromised with capitalism and incorporated into Soviet socialism certain aspects of capitalist private property, markets and political forms." (Roger Keeran and Thomas Kenny, Socialism Betrayed: Behind the Collapse of the Soviet Union, 2004, International Publishers)



(Lenin put it squarely: "We raised the banner of peace and socialism for the whole world to see!")

Keeran and Kenny inquire: "...why could Soviet socialism not survive a Gorbachev?

"The answer is: the subjective factor is vastly more important in socialism than in capitalism. This is both a strength and a vulnerability. A qualitative difference between socialism and capitalism is captured in the saying 'capitalism grows; socialism is built.' At the risk of a tedious simile, the two systems are like a river raft and an airplane. With capitalism--the river raft--the pole man who steers the raft has to avoid shoals, rapids and waterfalls. Mostly the flow of the current down river controls the pace and direction of the raft. It is a simple and mostly automatic system. Only loose supervision is required. Big blunders are usually not fatal.

"An airplane--socialism--is a far superior mode of transportation. It's range, its freedom of direction and manuever, and its speed far exceed that of the river raft. But the airplane requires conscious application of the laws of physics and aerodynamics, forethought, planning, science, training, ground crews, radar and so on. It is a complex system requiring a massive social division of labor. Managing the system--its piloting, the subjective aspect of its steering--is far more crucial to the safe operation of this mode of transportation than is the case with the river raft. Big blunders in piloting a plane, though rare, are often fatal. There is a smaller margin for error. The fact that airplanes sometimes crash does not prove the superiority of the river raft. It is only an argument for better-engineered, better-piloted, safer airplanes.

"The laws of socialist construction differ from the laws of capitalist development. Capitalism's laws operate blindly, without consciousness, like the law of gravity that sends the river raft down stream, no matter what the pole man is doing. But socialism's laws, while objective, require an airplane whose designers consciously master and use the laws governing such forces as gravity, thrust, lift and drag, and a pilot skillful in the technique and grounded in the underlying science.

"Therefore a Gorbachev leadership could do far more damage to socialism than an even more blundering Hoover did to U.S. capitalism." (Roger Keeran and Thomas Kenny, Socialism Betrayed: Behind the Collapse of the Soviet Union, 2004, International Publishers)

Lenin on the State and Democracy from Capitalism to Communism

Brothers and Sisters,

Lenin taught that "the state is a special organization of force; it is the organization of violence for the suppression of some class" and that the proletariat must gain state power and suppress the bourgeoisie "in the interests of the vast majority of the people, and against the insignificant minority consisting of the slave owners of modern times--the landowners and the capitalists." Lenin also said that the "proletariat needs state power....for the purpose of guiding the great mass of the population...in the work of organizing socialist economy."(Lenin, State and Revolution, 1917)

The bourgeoisie and their class propaganda screams that socialism is anti-democratic. They conceal the fact that "the dictatorship of the proletariat, i.e., the organization of the vanguard of the oppressed as the ruling class for the purpose of suppressing the oppressors" expands democracy, "which for the first time becomes democracy for the poor, democracy for the people, and not democracy for the money-bags." But "the dictatorship of the proletariat imposes a series of restrictions on the freedom of the oppressors, the exploiters, the capitalists. We must suppress them in order to free humanity from wage slavery, their resistance must be crushed by force...

"Democracy for the vast majority of the people, and suppression by force, i.e., exclusion from democracy, of the exploiters and oppressors of the people--this is the change democracy undergoes during the transition from capitalism to communism." (Lenin, State and Revolution, 1917)



Below is excerpts from V.I. Lenin's classic work, State and Revolution, on the state and democracy in the transition from capitalism to Communism:

"Between capitalist and communist society"--Marx continues--"lies the period of the revolutionary transformation of the one into the other. Corresponding to this is also a political transition period in which the state can be nothing but the revolutionary dictatorship of the proletariat."

"Marx bases this conclusion on an analysis of the role played by the proletariat in modern capitalist society, on the data concerning the development of this society, and on the irreconcilability of the antagonistic interests of the proletariat and the bourgeoisie.

"Previously the question was put as follows: to achieve its emancipation, the proletariat must overthrow the bourgeoisie, win political power and establish its revolutionary dictatorship. Now the question is put somewhat differently: the transition from capitalist society--which is developing towards communism--to communist society is impossible without a "political transition period", and the state in this period can only be the revolutionary dictatorship of the proletariat.

"What, then, is the relation of this dictatorship to democracy?

"We have seen that the Communist Manifesto simply places side by side the two concepts: "to raise the proletariat to the position of the ruling class" and "to win the battle of democracy". On the basis of all that has been said above, it is possible to determine more precisely how democracy changes in the transition from capitalism to communism.

"In capitalist society, providing it develops under the most favourable conditions, we have a more or less complete democracy in the democratic republic. But this democracy is always hemmed in by the narrow limits set by capitalist exploitation, and consequently always remains, in effect, a democracy for the minority, only for the propertied classes, only for the rich. Freedom in capitalist society always remains about the same as it was in the ancient Greek republics: freedom for the slave-owners. Owing to the conditions of capitalist exploitation, the modern wage slaves are so crushed by want and poverty that "they cannot be bothered with democracy", "cannot be bothered with politics"; in the ordinary, peaceful course of events, the majority of the population is debarred from participation in public and political life...

"Democracy for an insignificant minority, democracy for the rich--that is the democracy of capitalist society. If we look more closely into the machinery of capitalist democracy, we see everywhere, in the “petty”--supposedly petty--details of the suffrage (residential qualifications, exclusion of women, etc.), in the technique of the representative institutions, in the actual obstacles to the right of assembly (public buildings are not for “paupers”!), in the purely capitalist organization of the daily press, etc., etc.,--we see restriction after restriction upon democracy. These restrictions, exceptions, exclusions, obstacles for the poor seem slight, especially in the eyes of one who has never known want himself and has never been inclose contact with the oppressed classes in their mass life (and nine out of 10, if not 99 out of 100, bourgeois publicists and politicians come under this category); but in their sum total these restrictions exclude and squeeze out the poor from politics, from active participation in democracy.

"Marx grasped this essence of capitalist democracy splendidly when, in analyzing the experience of the Commune, he said that the oppressed are allowed once every few years to decide which particular representatives of the oppressing class shall represent and repress them in parliament!

"But from this capitalist democracy--that is inevitably narrow and stealthily pushes aside the poor, and is therefore hypocritical and false through and through--forward development does not proceed simply, directly and smoothly, towards "greater and greater democracy", as the liberal professors and petty-bourgeois opportunists would have us believe. No, forward development, i.e., development towards communism, proceeds through the dictatorship of the proletariat, and cannot do otherwise, for the resistance of the capitalist exploiters cannot be broken by anyone else or in any other way.

"And the dictatorship of the proletariat, i.e., the organization of the vanguard of the oppressed as the ruling class for the purpose of suppressing the oppressors, cannot result merely in an expansion of democracy. Simultaneously with an immense expansion of democracy, which for the first time becomes democracy for the poor, democracy for the people, and not democracy for the money-bags, the dictatorship of the proletariat imposes a series of restrictions on the freedom of the oppressors, the exploiters, the capitalists. We must suppress them in order to free humanity from wage slavery, their resistance must be crushed by force; it is clear that there is no freedom and no democracy where there is suppression and where there is violence.

"Engels expressed this splendidly in his letter to Bebel when he said, as the reader will remember, that "the proletariat needs the state, not in the interests of freedom but in order to hold down its adversaries, and as soon as it becomes possible to speak of freedom the state as such ceases to exist".

"Democracy for the vast majority of the people, and suppression by force, i.e., exclusion from democracy, of the exploiters and oppressors of the people--this is the change democracy undergoes during the transition from capitalism to communism.

"Only in communist society, when the resistance of the capitalists have disappeared, when there are no classes (i.e., when there is no distinction between the members of society as regards their relation to the social means of production), only then "the state... ceases to exist", and "it becomes possible to speak of freedom". Only then will a truly complete democracy become possible and be realized, a democracy without any exceptions whatever. And only then will democracy begin to wither away, owing to the simple fact that, freed from capitalist slavery, from the untold horrors, savagery, absurdities, and infamies of capitalist exploitation, people will gradually become accustomed to observing the elementary rules of social intercourse that have been known for centuries and repeated for thousands of years in all copy-book maxims. They will become accustomed to observing them without force, without coercion, without subordination, without the special apparatus for coercion called the state.

"The expression "the state withers away" is very well-chosen, for it indicates both the gradual and the spontaneous nature of the process. Only habit can, and undoubtedly will, have such an effect; for we see around us on millions of occassions how readily people become accustomed to observing the necessary rules of social intercourse when there is no exploitation, when there is nothing that arouses indignation, evokes protest and revolt, and creates the need for suppression.

"And so in capitalist society we have a democracy that is curtailed, wretched, false, a democracy only for the rich, for the minority. The dictatorship of the proletariat, the period of transition to communism, will for the first time create democracy for the people, for the majority, along with the necessary suppression of the exploiters, of the minority. Communism alone is capable of providing really complete democracy, and the more complete it is, the sooner it will become unnecessary and wither away of its own accord....

"Furthermore, during the transition from capitalism to communism suppression is still necessary, but it is now the suppression of the exploiting minority by the exploited majority. A special apparatus, a special machine for suppression, the “state”, is still necessary, but this is now a transitional state. It is no longer a state in the proper sense of the word; for the suppression of the minority of exploiters by the majority of the wage slaves of yesterday is comparatively so easy, simple and natural a task that it will entail far less bloodshed than the suppression of the risings of slaves, serfs or wage-laborers, and it will cost mankind far less. And it is compatible with the extension of democracy to such an overwhelming majority of the population that the need for a special machine of suppression will begin to disappear. Naturally, the exploiters are unable to suppress the people without a highly complex machine for performing this task, but the people can suppress the exploiters even with a very simple “machine”, almost without a “machine”, without a special apparatus, by the simple organization of the armed people (such as the Soviets of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies, we would remark, running ahead).

"Lastly, only communism makes the state absolutely unnecessary, for there is nobody to be suppressed--“nobody” in the sense of a class, of a systematic struggle against a definite section of the population. We are not utopians, and do not in the least deny the possibility and inevitability of excesses on the part of individual persons, or the need to stop such excesses. In the first place, however, no special machine, no special apparatus of suppression, is needed for this: this will be done by the armed people themselves, as simply and as readily as any crowd of civilized people, even in modern society, interferes to put a stop to a scuffle or to prevent a woman from being assaulted. And, secondly, we know that the fundamental social cause of excesses, which consist in the violation of the rules of social intercourse, is the exploitation of the people, their want and their poverty. With the removal of this chief cause, excesses will inevitably begin to "wither away". We do not know how quickly and in what succession, but we do know they will wither away. With their withering away the state will also wither away. (Lenin, State and Revolution, Chapter 5, Section 2, 1917)