Editing Marxism–Leninism (section)

=== Definition, theory, and terminology ===
[[File:Karl Marx 001 (cropped 3-4).jpg|thumb|[[Karl Marx]] in 1875]]
[[Communist ideologies]] and ideas have acquired a new meaning since the [[Russian Revolution]],<ref name="Wright 2015, p. 3355">{{cite encyclopedia |editor-last=Wright |editor-first=James D. |editor-link=James D. Wright |encyclopedia=[[International Encyclopedia of the Social & Behavioral Sciences]] |publisher=[[Elsevier]] |year=2015 |isbn=978-0-08-097087-5 |location=Oxford |edition=2nd |page=3355 |doi=}}{{full citation needed|date=July 2024}}</ref> as they became equivalent to the ideas of Marxism–Leninism,{{r|Busky 2000, pp. 6–8}} namely the interpretation of [[Marxism]] by [[Vladimir Lenin]] and his successors.{{sfn|Cooke|1998|pp=221–222}}{{r|Wright 2015, p. 3355}} Endorsing the final objective, namely the creation of a community-owning [[means of production]] and providing each of its participants with consumption "[[From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs|according to their needs]]", Marxism–Leninism puts forward the recognition of the [[class struggle]] as a dominating principle of a [[social change]] and development.{{r|Wright 2015, p. 3355}} In addition, workers (the [[proletariat]]) were to carry out the mission of reconstruction of the society.{{r|Wright 2015, p. 3355}} Conducting a [[socialist revolution]] led by what its proponents termed the "[[vanguard of the proletariat]]", defined as the [[communist party]] organised hierarchically through [[democratic centralism]], was hailed to be a historical necessity by Marxist–Leninists.{{sfn|Albert|Hahnel|1981|pp=24–26}}{{r|Wright 2015, p. 3355}} Moreover, the introduction of the [[proletarian dictatorship]] was advocated and classes deemed hostile were to be repressed.{{r|Wright 2015, p. 3355}} In the 1920s, it was first defined and formulated by [[Joseph Stalin]] based on his understanding of [[orthodox Marxism]] and [[Leninism]].{{r|Lansford 2007, p. 17}}

In 1934, [[Karl Radek]] suggested the formulation ''Marxism–Leninism–Stalinism'' in an article in ''[[Pravda]]'' to stress the importance of Stalin's leadership to the Marxist–Leninist ideology. Radek's suggestion failed to catch on, as Stalin as well as CPSU's ideologists preferred to continue the usage of ''Marxism–Leninism''.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Ilyin |first=Mikhail |title=International Encyclopedia of Political Science |publisher=Sage Publications |year=2011 |isbn=978-1-4129-5963-6 |editor-last=Badie |editor-first=Bertrand |pages=2481–2485 |chapter=Stalinism |display-editors=et al.}}</ref> ''Marxism–Leninism–Maoism'' became the name for the ideology of the [[Chinese Communist Party]] and of other [[Communist parties]], which broke off from national Communist parties, after the [[Sino–Soviet split]], especially when the split was finalised by 1963. The [[Italian Communist Party]] was mainly influenced by [[Antonio Gramsci]], who gave a more democratic implication than Lenin's for why workers remained passive.<ref name="Morgan">{{cite encyclopedia |last=Morgan |first=W. John |year=2001 |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/referencework/9780080430768/international-encyclopedia-of-the-social-and-behavioral-sciences |title=Marxism–Leninism: The Ideology of Twentieth-Century Communism |editor1-last=Baltes |editor1-first=Paul B. |editor1-link=Neil Smelser |editor2-last=Smelser |editor2-first=Neil J. |editor2-link=Paul Baltes |encyclopedia=[[International Encyclopedia of the Social & Behavioral Sciences]] |volume=20 |edition=1st |publisher=[[Elsevier]] |page=2332 |isbn=978-0-08-043076-8 |access-date=25 August 2021 |via=Science Direct |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211031003018/https://www.sciencedirect.com/referencework/9780080430768/international-encyclopedia-of-the-social-and-behavioral-sciences |archive-date=31 October 2021 |url-status=live}}</ref> A key difference between [[Maoism]] and other forms of Marxism–Leninism is that [[peasant]]s should be the bulwark of the revolutionary energy, which is led by the working class.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Meisner |first=Maurice |date=January–March 1971 |title=Leninism and Maoism: Some Populist Perspectives on Marxism-Leninism in China |journal=The China Quarterly |volume=45 |issue=45 |pages=2–36 |doi=10.1017/S0305741000010407 |jstor=651881 |s2cid=154407265}}</ref> Three common Maoist values are revolutionary [[populism]], pragmatism, and [[dialectic]]s.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |last=Wormack |first=Brantly |year=2001 |title=Maoism |editor1-last=Baltes |editor1-first=Paul B. |editor1-link=Paul Baltes |editor2-last=Smelser |editor2-first=Neil J. |editor2-link=Neil Smelser |encyclopedia=[[International Encyclopedia of the Social & Behavioral Sciences]] |volume=20 |pages=9191–9193 |edition=1st |publisher=[[Elsevier]] |doi=10.1016/B0-08-043076-7/01173-6 |isbn=978-0-08-043076-8}}</ref>

According to Rachel Walker, "Marxism–Leninism" is an empty term that depends on the approach and basis of ruling Communist parties, and is dynamic and open to redefinition, being both fixed and not fixed in meaning.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Walker |first=Rachel |date=April 1989 |title=Marxism–Leninism as Discourse: The Politics of the Empty Signifier and the Double Bind |journal=British Journal of Political Science |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |volume=19 |issue=2 |pages=161–189 |doi=10.1017/S0007123400005421 |jstor=193712 |s2cid=145755330}}</ref> As a term, "Marxism–Leninism" is misleading because Marx and Lenin never sanctioned or supported the creation of an ''-ism'' after them, and is reveling because, being popularized after Lenin's death by Stalin, it contained three clear doctrinal and institutionalized principles that became a model for later Soviet-type regimes; its global influence, having at its height covered at least one-third of the world's population, has made Marxist–Leninist a convenient label for the [[Communist bloc]] as a dynamic ideological order.<ref name="Morgan"/>{{sfn|Morgan|2015|p={{page needed|date=April 2022}}}}