Marxism, Marxism-Leninism, and Xi Jinping's Report to 20th Congress

By Charles Andrews.

Facts count more than words. Xi Jinping says, "China respects the sovereignty and territorial integrity of all countries." A couple of days later, the Chinese Consul General in Manchester stepped onto UK territory outside the consulate gate. He grabbed a demonstrator from a noisy but peaceful rally, dragged him into the consulate compound, and had his staff beat the man up.

However, for those persons still wedded to evaluating the PRC by its words, let us look at how Xi Jinping's report to the 20th Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) uses "Marxism" and "Marxism-Leninism." His 25,000-word speech contains exactly one mention of Lenin or Leninism:

Communist Parties' participation in bourgeois governments is a deeply erroneous strategy

By Nikos Mottas.

Every time a Communist Party compromised the aim of workers' power in order to participate (or support) a “progressive”, “left-wing”, “anti-capitalist”, “anti-fascist” etc, bourgeois government the results were utterly disappointing, leading to ideological degeneration and disintegration of the workers-popular movement.

A few days ago, the Portuguese Communist Party (PCP), a party with significant history, paid the price of its participation in the “progressive” government of the Socialists, by receiving a rather disappointing 4.4% and four seats in the legislative elections. This result marks an almost 2% loss compared to the 2019 election. 

Communist Party of Sweden on Chinese imperialism: Open response to the Communist Party of China

In the struggle between the United States and China for the leadership in the imperialist system, we see each side “dressing” the interests of its monopolies with the appropriate ideological cover. Last December, during the first ten days, the U.S. held the so-called “Summit for Democracy”, selectively calling representatives of 110 capitalist countries and excluding some of them, such as China and Russia.

China, on the other hand, prepared its own “response” with a statement drawn up by the Communist Party of China and signed by 355 political parties, social organizations and think tanks. The Communist Party of China has not released the full list of these parties/organizations. 

Vladimir Lenin and the timeliness of his work: Contributions by European Communist and Workers' Parties

On Thursday, 22 of April, 2021, 151 years since the birth of the leader of the October Revolution, the parties of the European Communist Initiative (ECI) held a teleconference dedicated to Lenin and the timeliness of his work, following a decision of the ECI Secretariat. 

The teleconference was attended by Communist and Workers' parties from the following countries: Austria, Belarus, Finland, France, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Moldova, Norway, Poland, Russia, Spain, Sweden, Turkey, Ukraine. 

Click here to read the introductory speech of Giorgos Marinos, member of the Political Bureau of the CC of the Communist Party of Greece (KKE).  

Lenin's work is timely — Speech by G. Marinos at the online event of the European Communist Initiative

On Thursday, 22 of April, 2021, 151 years since the birth of the leader of the October Revolution, the parties of the European Communist Initiative (ECI) held a teleconference dedicated to Lenin and the timeliness of his work, following a decision of the ECI Secretariat.

The teleconference was attended by a delegation of the Communist Party of Greece (KKE) comprised of Giorgos Marinos, member of the PB of the CC of the KKE, Eliseos Vagenas, member of the CC and head of the Section of International Relations of the CC, Kostas Papadakis, member of the CC and MEP, and Aris Evangelidis, member of the Section of International Relations of the CC.

62nd anniversary of the Cuban Revolution - Somos Continuidad!

By Nikos Mottas.

Sixty-two years ago, on January 1, 1959, the rebel forces of the 26th of July Movement, led by revolutionary leader Fidel Castro, seized the capital Havana, forcing dictator Batista to flee. Hence started a long and tumultuous journey of rebuilding a nation based on the principles of socialism.

The Cuban Revolution, the first socialist revolution in the Americas, was one of the 20th century's most significant events. It became - and continues being - a reference point for the workers-people's movement in Latin America and the whole world.

Clara Zetkin — Discussion with Vladimir I. Lenin on the Women's Question

The following text is a discussion between Vladimir Ilyich Lenin and German marxist, pioneer of the struggle for women's rights, Clara Zetkin which took place in 1920 in Moscow, during the Second Congress of the Communist International. Lenin and Zetkin discuss about the Women’s Question, referring to the class nature of sex inequality and the perspective of women’s social emancipation based on the experience of the – then young – Soviet Russia. Clara Zetkin kept notes of the discussion in her Memorandum Book and wrote a brochure in 1925, a year after Lenin’s death. 

Scientific symposium on Socialism initiated by the Communist Party (TKP) held in Ankara

Photo: soL news.

An interesting symposium on Socialist future and planning began on Friday 6th December in Ankara, after an initiative by the Communist Party of Turkey (TKP). 

The meeting takes place under the auspice of the "Academy of Science and Enlightment" at the premises of the Middle East Technical University (METU), with more than 300 scholars, university students and workers attending the event.

The General Secretary of the Communist Party of Turkey, Kemal Okuyan, was among the speakers of the first day. Okuyan pointed out that the only goal of scientific work in capitalism is the maximalization of profits, because its organization is in the hands of monopolies. In socialism, he said, the organization of scientific work will be transformed into a large network of all the working people. 

Ho Chi Minh — How I became a communist

Ho Chi Minh (Nguyen Tat Thanh), 1890-1969.

Published in April 1960 in a Soviet journal entitled Problems of the East. Selected Works, vol. 4 (Hanoi: Foreign Languages Publishing House, 1962).

After World War I, I made my living in Paris, now as a retoucher at a photographer’s, now as painter of “Chinese antiquities” (made in France!). I would distribute leaflets denouncing the crimes committed by the French colonialists in Viet Nam.

At that time, I supported the October Revolution only instinctively, not yet grasping all its historic importance. I loved and admired Lenin because he was a great patriot who liberated his compatriots; until then, I had read none of his books.

Marxist-Leninist Theory with Nikos Mottas | The Dictatorship of the Proletariat: A Higher Form of Democracy [Audio]

Cornelius Castoriadis — The philosopher who preached socialism but sided with barbarity

Cornelius Castoriades (1922-1997)

By Nikos Mottas.

The 26th of December marks the death anniversary of philosopher, economist and psychoanalyst Cornelius Castoriadis. Born in Istanbul in 1922, the writings of Castoriades remain today a reference point for the political spectrum of the so-called “libertarian socialism” and the self-identified as “autonomy movements”. Indeed, being a prolific writter in a vast range of political philosophy issues, Castoriadis was established, especially during the period between 1960 and 1980, as one of the most significant representatives of the radical French and European intelligentsia.

European Communist Initiative: Speech by KKE Politburo member Giorgos Marinos

The plenary meeting of the European Communist Initiative (ECI) was held at the headquarters of the Communist Party of Greece (KKE) in Athens on Monday 26/11/18. 

Within the framework of the meeting an assessment of the rich action of the previous six months was carried out, that highlighted the significant interventions and initiatives that were held by the ECI: against the imperialist Euro-Atlantic plans and the further dangerous militarization of the EU; against the anti-communism of the EU and of the governments particularly against the Communists in Poland, Ukraine and other countries; against the anti-popular measures that are been generalized: the orchestrated restriction of the right to strike, the measures affecting the right to education in the EU Member States and other countries. 

Marxist-Leninist Theory with Nikos Mottas | Socialist Revolution: The Political and Social Context [Audio]

Karl Marx's 200th birth anniversary: The man who changed the world forever

By Nikos Mottas.

"Philosophers have hitherto only interpreted the world in various ways; the point is to change it." 

 

- Karl Marx, Theses on Feuerbach.

Two centuries have passed since the birth of the greatest thinker in the history of mankind. It was the 5th of May 1818 when Karl Heinrich Marx was born in Trier, Rhenish Prussia (present-day Germany). 

He was the man who tried not just to interpret the world, but to change it. The issue of how to change the world consisted the core of his remarkably unique theoretical work as well as his practical activity. The result was the scientific theory of the working class, for the overthrow of the capital's power and the establishment of the workers' power, the "dictatorship of the proletariat", the abolition of the exploitation of man by man and the ultimate transition from class societies to communism. 

Mikhail V. Popov - Counterrevolution in the USSR (Михаил Попов- Контрреволюция в СССР)

By Mikhail V. Popov.
Len.ru, 10 April 2017.

V.I. Lenin- The Defeat of One’s Own Government in the Imperialist War

Vladimir I. Lenin - The Defeat of One’s Own Government in the Imperialist War.

Published in Sotsial-Demorkrat No. 43, July 26, 1915.

Source: Lenin Collected Works, Progress Publishers, [1974], Moscow, Volume 21, pages 275-280. 

Republished from Marxists Internet Archives.

During a reactionary war a revolutionary class cannot but desire the defeat of its government.

This is axiomatic, and disputed only by conscious partisans or helpless satellites of the social-chauvinists. Among the former, for instance, is Semkovsky of the Organising Committee (No. 2 of its Izvestia), and among the latter, Trotsky and Bukvoyed,[2] and Kautsky in Germany. To desire Russia’s defeat, Trotsky writes, is “an uncalled-for and absolutely unjustifiable concession to the political methodology of social-patriotism, which would replace the revolutionary struggle against the war and the conditions causing it, with an orientation—highly arbitrary in the present conditions—towards the lesser evil” (Nashe Slovo No. 105).

J.V. Stalin - Trotskyism or Leninism? (1924)

Joseph V. Stalin- Trotskyism or Leninism?

Speech delivered at the Plenum of the Communist Group in the A.U.C.C.T.U., 

November 19, 1924;

Published on Pravda, No.269, 

November 26, 1924.

Published via Marxists Internet Archives.

Comrades, after Kamenev's comprehensive report there is little left for me to say. I shall therefore confine myself to exposing certain legends that are being spread by Trotsky and his supporters about the October uprising, about Trotsky's role in the uprising, about the Party and the preparation for October, and so forth. I shall also touch upon Trotskyism as a peculiar ideology that is incompatible with Leninism, and upon the Party's tasks in connection with Trotsky's latest literary pronouncements.

Joseph V. Stalin- Concerning Questions of Leninism

Concerning Questions of Leninism.

By Joseph V. Stalin.

 January 25, 1926.

Source: Foreign Languages Publishing House, Moscow, 1954 via Marxists Internet Archive.

Dedicated to the Leningrad Organisation of the C.P.S.U (B).

I. THE DEFINITION OF LENINISM

The pamphlet The Foundations of Leninism contains a definition of Leninism which seems to have received general recognition. It runs as follows:

“Leninism is Marxism of the era of imperialism and the proletarian revolution. To be more exact, Leninism is the theory and tactics of the proletarian revolution in general, the theory and tactics of the dictatorship of the proletariat in particular.”1

The centennial of the 1917 October Revolution to be commemorated in New York (Left Forum, 2-4 June)

Marxism-Leninism Today is co-organizing a panel commemorating the 100th anniversary of the Russian Revolution at the Left Forum in New York City.

Jointly co-sponsored with the Party of Communists USA, the panel is entitled: “The Russian Revolution and its Indelible Stamp on the Course of World History”  

The event will take place on Sunday, June 4th at 10:00 AM. Room 1.124 John Jay College, 899 10th ave (between 58 & 59th Sts.).

Featured panelists include Zoltan Zigedy and Joseph Jamison both members of the Editorial Board of Marxism-Leninism Today;  George Gruenthal an officer of the PCUSA; and Grover Furr Professor at Montclair State University and author of  several volumes , including "Khrushchev Lied"; "Yezhov vs Stalin" and "Trotsky’s Amalgams".

Communist Party of Greece: Criticism of certain contemporary opportunist views on the state

POSITION OF THE INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS SECTION OF THE CC OF THE KKE AT THE 11th ANNUAL CONFERENCE "V.I.LENIN, THE OCTOBER REVOLUTION AND THE CONTEMPORARY WORLD".

Source: inter.kke.gr.

The importance and timeliness of Lenin's work on the state. 

100 years ago, a few months before the Great October Socialist Revolution and in particularly difficult and complex political conditions, V.I. Lenin wrote a fundamentally important work, "The State and Revolution", which, of course, was published for the first time after the October Revolution in 1918.

In this work, Lenin highlighted the essence and analyzed the class nature of the state: “The state is a product and a manifestation of the irreconcilability of class antagonisms. The state arises where, when and insofar as class antagonisms objectively cannot be reconciled. And, conversely, the existence of the state proves that the class antagonisms are irreconcilable.”[1]