Editing Leninism (section)

=== Left-wing criticism ===
As a form of Marxism, revolutionary Leninism was criticised as an undemocratic interpretation of [[socialism]]. In ''The Nationalities Question in the Russian Revolution'' (1918), [[Rosa Luxemburg]] criticised the Bolsheviks for the suppression of the [[Russian Constituent Assembly|All Russian Constituent Assembly]] (January 1918); the [[Partition (politics)|partitioning]] of the [[feudal]] estates to the peasant communes; and the right of self-determination of every national people of the Russias. That the strategic (geopolitical) mistakes of the Bolsheviks would create significant dangers for the [[Russian Revolution]], such as the [[bureaucratisation]] that would arise to administrate the large country that was Bolshevik Russia.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://libcom.org/library/nationalities-question-in-the-russian-revolution-luxemburg |title=The Nationalities Question in the Russian Revolution (Rosa Luxemburg, 1918) |publisher=Libcom.org |date=11 July 2006 |access-date=2 January 2010 |archive-date=19 October 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181019085619/http://libcom.org/library/nationalities-question-in-the-russian-revolution-luxemburg |url-status=live}}</ref> In defence of the expedient revolutionary practice, in ''[["Left-Wing" Communism: An Infantile Disorder]]'' (1920), Lenin dismissed the political and ideological complaints of the anti-Bolshevik critics, who claimed ideologically correct stances that were to the political left of Lenin. In Marxist philosophy, [[left communism]] is a range of left-wing political perspectives among communists. Left communism criticizes the [[Bolshevik Party]]'s ideology as the revolutionary vanguard. Ideologically, left communists present their perspectives and approaches as authentic [[Marxism]] and thus more oriented to the [[proletariat]] than the Leninism of the [[Communist International]] at their [[1st Congress of the Comintern|first]] (1919) and [[2nd World Congress of the Comintern|second]] (1920) congresses. Proponents of left communism include [[Amadeo Bordiga]], [[Herman Gorter]], [[Paul Mattick]], [[Sylvia Pankhurst]], [[Antonie Pannekoek]] and [[Otto Rühle]].<ref>{{cite journal |last=Ojeili |first=Chamsy |date=2001 |title=The 'Advance Without Authority': Post-modernism, Libertarian Socialism and Intellectuals |journal=[[Democracy & Nature]] |volume=7 |issue=3|pages=391–413 |doi=10.1080/10855660120092294}}</ref>

Historically, the [[Dutch–German communist left|Dutch-German communist left]] has been most critical of Lenin and Leninism,<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.marxistsfr.org/archive/gorter/1920/open-letter/index.htm |title=Herman Gorter, Open Letter to Comrade Lenin, 1920 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171202053038/https://www.marxistsfr.org/archive/gorter/1920/open-letter/index.htm |archive-date=2 December 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |author-link=Antonie Pannekoek |last=Pannekoek |first=Anton |date=1938 |url=https://www.marxists.org/archive/pannekoe/1938/lenin/ |title=Lenin As Philosopher |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171026235546/https://www.marxists.org/archive/pannekoe/1938/lenin/ |archive-date=26 October 2017 |via=[[Marxists Internet Archive]]}}.</ref><ref>{{cite magazine |author-link=Otto Rühle |last=Rühle |first=Otto |date=1939 |url=https://www.marxists.org/archive/ruhle/1939/ruhle01.htm |title=The Struggle Against Fascism: Begins with the Struggle Against Bolshevism |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170831083917/https://www.marxists.org/archive/ruhle/1939/ruhle01.htm |archive-date=31 August 2017 |magazine=[[Living Marxism]] |volume=4 |issue=8 |via=[[Marxists Internet Archive]]}}</ref> yet the [[Italian communist left]] remained Leninist. Bordiga said: "All this work of demolishing opportunism and 'deviationism' (Lenin: ''[[What Is To Be Done?]]'') is today the basis of party activity. The party follows revolutionary tradition and experiences in this work during these periods of revolutionary reflux and the proliferation of opportunist theories, which had as their violent and inflexible opponents Marx, Engels, Lenin, and the Italian Left."<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.marxists.org/archive/bordiga/works/1951/fundamental-theses.htm |title=Fundamental Theses of the Party |first=Amadeo |last=Bordiga |author-link=Amadeo Bordiga |date=1951 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171202153010/https://www.marxists.org/archive/bordiga/works/1951/fundamental-theses.htm |archive-date=2 December 2017 |via=[[Marxists Internet Archive]]}}</ref> In ''The Lenin Legend'' (1935), Paul Mattick said that the [[council communist]] tradition, begun by the Dutch-German leftists, also is critical of Leninism.<ref>{{cite magazine |author-link=Paul Mattick |last=Mattick |first=Paul |date=1935 |url=https://www.marxists.org/archive/mattick-paul/1935/lenin-legend.htm |title=The Lenin Legend |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171026235543/https://www.marxists.org/archive/mattick-paul/1935/lenin-legend.htm |archive-date=26 October 2017 |magazine=[[International Council Correspondence]] |volume=2 |issue=1 |via=[[Marxists Internet Archive]]}}</ref> Contemporary left-communist organisations, such as the Internationalist Communist Tendency and the [[International Communist Current]], view Lenin as an essential and influential theorist but remain critical of Leninism as political praxis for the [[proletarian revolution]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.leftcom.org/en/articles/2017-10-06/the-significance-of-the-russian-revolution-for-today |title=The Significance of the Russian Revolution for Today |date=6 October 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171202052726/http://www.leftcom.org/en/articles/2017-10-06/the-significance-of-the-russian-revolution-for-today |archive-date=2 December 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.leftcom.org/en/articles/2015-01-21/lenin-s-legacy |title=Lenin's Legacy |date=21 January 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171202054538/http://www.leftcom.org/en/articles/2015-01-21/lenin-s-legacy |archive-date=2 December 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://en.internationalism.org/ir/96/leninists |title=Have we become 'Leninists'? – part 1 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171202052958/http://en.internationalism.org/ir/96/leninists |archive-date=2 December 2017}}</ref>

Nonetheless, the [[Bordigism]] of the [[International Communist Party]] abides Bordiga's strict Leninism. Ideologically aligned with the Dutch-German left, among the ideologists of contemporary [[communisation]], the theorist [[Gilles Dauvé]] criticised Leninism as a "by-product of [[Kautskyism]]".<ref>{{cite web |author-link=Gilles Dauvé |last=Dauvé |first=Gilles |date=1977 |url=https://libcom.org/files/Gilles%20Dauv%C3%A9-%20The%20Renegade%20Kautsky%20and%20his%20Disciple%20Lenin.pdf |title=The Renegade Kautsky and his Disciple Lenin |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170113130846/https://libcom.org/files/Gilles%20Dauv%C3%A9-%20The%20Renegade%20Kautsky%20and%20his%20Disciple%20Lenin.pdf |archive-date=13 January 2017}}</ref> In ''The Soviet Union Versus Socialism'' (1986), [[Noam Chomsky]] said that Stalinism was the logical development of Leninism and not an ideological deviation from Lenin's policies, which resulted in [[collectivisation]] enforced with a [[police state]].<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2003/05/11/books/the-other-killing-machine.html?pagewanted=all&src=pm |title=The Other Killing Machine |first=Steven Merritt |last=Miner |date=11 May 2003 |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |access-date=19 February 2017 |archive-date=27 November 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181127120049/https://www.nytimes.com/2003/05/11/books/the-other-killing-machine.html?pagewanted=all&src=pm |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.chomsky.info/articles/1986----.htm |first=Noam |last=Chomsky |author-link=Noam Chomsky |title=The Soviet Union Versus Socialism |publisher=Our Generation |date=Spring–Summer 1986 |access-date=8 October 2013 |archive-date=24 September 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924051230/http://www.chomsky.info/articles/1986----.htm |url-status=live}}</ref> In light of the tenets of socialism, Leninism was a right-wing deviation from Marxism.<ref>{{YouTube|id=yQsceZ9skQI|title=Chomsky on Lenin, Trotsky, Socialism & the Soviet Union}}.</ref>

The [[vanguard-party]] revolution of Leninism became the ideological basis of the communist parties in the socialist political spectrum. In the People's Republic of China, the Chinese Communist Party organised itself with [[Maoism]] (the Thought of Mao Zedong), [[socialism with Chinese characteristics]].<ref>{{cite book |first=Zheng |last=Yongnian |date=2009 |title=The Chinese Communist Party as Organizational Emperor |pages=61}}</ref> In Singapore, the [[People's Action Party]] (PAP) featured internal democracy and initiated single-party dominance in the government and politics of Singapore.<ref>{{cite book|first=Peter |last=Wilson |date=2002 |title=Economic growth and development in Singapore |pages=30}}</ref> In the event, the practical application of Maoism to the socio-economic conditions of [[Third World]] countries produced revolutionary vanguard parties, such as the [[Communist Party of Peru – Red Fatherland]].<ref>{{cite book |first=Kenneth M. |last=Roberts |date=1988 |title=Deepening Democracy?: The Modern Left and Social Movements in Chile and Peru |pages=288–289}}</ref>