Anti-revisionism is a position within
Marxism–Leninism
Marxism–Leninism is a communist ideology which was the main communist movement throughout the 20th century. Developed by the Bolsheviks, it was the state ideology of the Soviet Union, its satellite states in the Eastern Bloc, and various co ...
which emerged in the 1950s in opposition to the
reforms
Reform ( lat, reformo) means the improvement or amendment of what is wrong, corrupt, unsatisfactory, etc. The use of the word in this way emerges in the late 18th century and is believed to originate from Christopher Wyvill's Association movement ...
of
Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev
Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev (– 11 September 1971) was the First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1953 to 1964 and chairman of the country's Council of Ministers from 1958 to 1964. During his rule, Khrushchev s ...
. Where Khrushchev pursued an interpretation that differed from his predecessor
Joseph Stalin
Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Ioseb Besarionis dze Jughashvili; – 5 March 1953) was a Georgian revolutionary and Soviet political leader who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until his death in 1953. He held power as General Secreta ...
, the anti-revisionists within the international communist movement remained dedicated to Stalin's ideological legacy and criticized the
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...
under Khrushchev and his successors as
state capitalist
State capitalism is an economic system in which the state undertakes business and commercial (i.e. for-profit) economic activity and where the means of production are nationalized as state-owned enterprises (including the processes of capital ac ...
and
social imperialist
As a political term, social imperialism is the political ideology of people, parties, or nations that are, according to Soviet leader Vladimir Lenin, "socialist in words, imperialist in deeds". In academic use, it refers to governments that enga ...
.
The term
Stalinism
Stalinism is the means of governing and Marxist-Leninist policies implemented in the Soviet Union from 1927 to 1953 by Joseph Stalin. It included the creation of a one-party totalitarian police state, rapid industrialization, the theory ...
is also used to describe these positions, but it is often not used by its supporters who opine that Stalin simply synthesized and practiced
orthodox Marxism
Orthodox Marxism is the body of Marxist thought that emerged after the death of Karl Marx (1818–1883) and which became the official philosophy of the majority of the socialist movement as represented in the Second International until the Firs ...
and
Leninism
Leninism is a political ideology developed by Russian Marxist revolutionary Vladimir Lenin that proposes the establishment of the Dictatorship of the proletariat#Vladimir Lenin, dictatorship of the proletariat led by a revolutionary Vanguardis ...
. Because different political trends trace the historical roots of
revisionism to different eras and leaders, there is significant disagreement today as to what constitutes anti-revisionism.
As a result, modern groups which describe themselves as anti-revisionist fall into several categories. Some uphold the works of Stalin and
Mao Zedong
Mao Zedong pronounced ; also romanised traditionally as Mao Tse-tung. (26 December 1893 – 9 September 1976), also known as Chairman Mao, was a Chinese communist revolutionary who was the founder of the People's Republic of China (PRC) ...
and some the works of Stalin while rejecting Mao and universally tend to oppose
Trotskyism
Trotskyism is the political ideology and branch of Marxism developed by Ukrainian-Russian revolutionary Leon Trotsky and some other members of the Left Opposition and Fourth International. Trotsky self-identified as an orthodox Marxist, a rev ...
. Others reject both Stalin and Mao, tracing their ideological roots back to
Karl Marx
Karl Heinrich Marx (; 5 May 1818 – 14 March 1883) was a German philosopher, economist, historian, sociologist, political theorist, journalist, critic of political economy, and socialist revolutionary. His best-known titles are the 1848 ...
,
Friedrich Engels
Friedrich Engels ( ,["Engels"](_blank)
'' Vladimir Lenin
Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov. ( 1870 – 21 January 1924), better known as Vladimir Lenin,. was a Russian revolutionary, politician, and political theorist. He served as the first and founding head of government of Soviet Russia from 1917 to 19 ...
. In addition, other groups uphold various less-well-known historical leaders such as
Enver Hoxha
Enver Halil Hoxha ( , ; 16 October 190811 April 1985) was an Albanian communist politician who was the authoritarian ruler of Albania from 1944 until his death in 1985. He was First Secretary of the Party of Labour of Albania from 1941 unt ...
, who also broke with Mao during the
Sino-Albanian split
The Sino-Albanian split was the gradual worsening of relations between the People's Socialist Republic of Albania and the People's Republic of China in the period 1972–1978.
Both countries had supported each other in the Soviet–Albanian and S ...
.
Overview
Marxism–Leninism
Marxism–Leninism is a communist ideology which was the main communist movement throughout the 20th century. Developed by the Bolsheviks, it was the state ideology of the Soviet Union, its satellite states in the Eastern Bloc, and various co ...
is a politico-economic theory developed by
Joseph Stalin
Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Ioseb Besarionis dze Jughashvili; – 5 March 1953) was a Georgian revolutionary and Soviet political leader who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until his death in 1953. He held power as General Secreta ...
in the 1920s. According to its proponents, it is a synthesis of the theories of
Karl Marx
Karl Heinrich Marx (; 5 May 1818 – 14 March 1883) was a German philosopher, economist, historian, sociologist, political theorist, journalist, critic of political economy, and socialist revolutionary. His best-known titles are the 1848 ...
,
Friedrich Engels
Friedrich Engels ( ,["Engels"](_blank)
'' Vladimir Lenin
Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov. ( 1870 – 21 January 1924), better known as Vladimir Lenin,. was a Russian revolutionary, politician, and political theorist. He served as the first and founding head of government of Soviet Russia from 1917 to 19 ...
while critics term it
Stalinism
Stalinism is the means of governing and Marxist-Leninist policies implemented in the Soviet Union from 1927 to 1953 by Joseph Stalin. It included the creation of a one-party totalitarian police state, rapid industrialization, the theory ...
. It was Stalin who succinctly defined that "Leninism is the Marxism of the era of imperialism and the proletarian revolution" in his famous pamphlet titled ''
Foundations of Leninism
''Foundations of Leninism'' is a 1924 collection by Joseph Stalin of nine lectures he delivered at Sverdlov University that year. It was published by the Soviet newspaper, ''Pravda''.
Background
After the January 1924 death of Vladimir Lenin, ...
'',
and this tenet forms the basis of Marxism–Leninism. It builds on Marx's theory that
capitalism
Capitalism is an economic system based on the private ownership of the means of production and their operation for Profit (economics), profit. Central characteristics of capitalism include capital accumulation, competitive markets, pric ...
divides society into two classes, namely the
bourgeoisie
The bourgeoisie ( , ) is a social class, equivalent to the middle or upper middle class. They are distinguished from, and traditionally contrasted with, the proletariat by their affluence, and their great cultural and financial capital. They ...
or property-owning class and the
proletariat
The proletariat (; ) is the social class of wage-earners, those members of a society whose only possession of significant economic value is their labour power (their capacity to work). A member of such a class is a proletarian. Marxist philo ...
or labouring class. It claims that within the international proletariat emerges a section of
labour aristocracy
Labor aristocracy or labour aristocracy (also aristocracy of labor) has at least four meanings: (1) as a term with Marxist theoretical underpinnings; (2) as a specific type of trade unionism; (3) as a shorthand description by revolutionary industr ...
from the powerful
imperialist
Imperialism is the state policy, practice, or advocacy of extending power and dominion, especially by direct territorial acquisition or by gaining political and economic control of other areas, often through employing hard power (economic and ...
nations, which is granted some economic and political power over the superexploited proletariat of the
colonial
Colonial or The Colonial may refer to:
* Colonial, of, relating to, or characteristic of a colony or colony (biology)
Architecture
* American colonial architecture
* French Colonial
* Spanish Colonial architecture
Automobiles
* Colonial (1920 au ...
and
neo-colonial
Neocolonialism is the continuation or reimposition of imperialist rule by a state (usually, a former colonial power) over another nominally independent state (usually, a former colony). Neocolonialism takes the form of economic imperialism, g ...
countries. Marxists–Leninists advocate the most
class conscious members of the proletariat form
vanguard parties
Vanguardism in the context of Leninist revolutionary struggle, relates to a strategy whereby the most class-conscious and politically "advanced" sections of the proletariat or working class, described as the revolutionary vanguard, form organi ...
based around the principle of
democratic centralism
Democratic centralism is a practice in which political decisions reached by voting processes are binding upon all members of the political party. It is mainly associated with Leninism, wherein the party's political vanguard of professional revo ...
which will lead revolutionary movements towards the creation of single-party states which will gradually progress to
socialism
Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the e ...
and finally global
communism
Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...
.
Anti-revisionism is a position within Marxism–Leninism based on its interpretation by Stalin, who supported the dictatorship of the proletariat, drastic and fast-paced economic transformation in the short-term, and violent confrontation with capitalist powers. The emergence of the
Khrushchevist interpretation lead to a reaction from pro-Stalin Marxist–Leninists, who formed the anti-revisionist movement and opposed Khruscevists
de-Stalinization
De-Stalinization (russian: десталинизация, translit=destalinizatsiya) comprised a series of political reforms in the Soviet Union after the death of long-time leader Joseph Stalin in 1953, and the thaw brought about by ascension ...
policies. Anti-revisionists rejected the
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...
's leadership of the Marxist–Leninist movement, believing it had become
state capitalist
State capitalism is an economic system in which the state undertakes business and commercial (i.e. for-profit) economic activity and where the means of production are nationalized as state-owned enterprises (including the processes of capital ac ...
and
social imperialist
As a political term, social imperialism is the political ideology of people, parties, or nations that are, according to Soviet leader Vladimir Lenin, "socialist in words, imperialist in deeds". In academic use, it refers to governments that enga ...
. Despite this, the lines between the two camps in Marxism–Leninism were often blurry.
The
Korean Workers' Party
The Workers' Party of Korea (WPK) is the founding and sole ruling party of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, commonly known as North Korea. Founded in 1949 from the merger of the Workers' Party of North Korea and the Workers' Party o ...
was pro-Soviet, but it also defended Stalin's legacy and was engaged in violent struggle against the capitalist
South Korea
South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...
and its American backers. Due to this, the global anti-revisionist movement tended to support it despite its ideological departure from Marxism–Leninism. The
Communist Party of Cuba
The Communist Party of Cuba ( es, Partido Comunista de Cuba, PCC) is the sole ruling party of Cuba. It was founded on 3 October 1965 as the successor to the United Party of the Cuban Socialist Revolution, which was in turn made up of the 26t ...
and the
Communist Party of Vietnam
The Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV), also known as the Vietnamese Communist Party (VCP), is the founding and sole legal party of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. Founded in 1930 by Hồ Chí Minh, the CPV became the ruling party of North ...
also received critical support from many anti-revisionists despite being pro-Soviet due to their violent struggles against the United States. The Cuban communists also provided material support to the American anti-revisionist
Black Panther Party
The Black Panther Party (BPP), originally the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense, was a Marxist-Leninist and black power political organization founded by college students Bobby Seale and Huey P. Newton in October 1966 in Oakland, Califo ...
.
The
Chinese Communist Party
The Chinese Communist Party (CCP), officially the Communist Party of China (CPC), is the founding and One-party state, sole ruling party of the China, People's Republic of China (PRC). Under the leadership of Mao Zedong, the CCP emerged victoriou ...
is officially anti-revisionist. However, most anti-revisionists followed the example of the
Albanian Labour Party
The Party of Labour of Albania ( sq, Partia e Punës e Shqipërisë, PPSh), sometimes referred to as the Albanian Workers' Party (AWP), was the ruling and sole legal party of Albania during the communist period (1945–1991). It was founded o ...
in denouncing it as revisionist following the beginning of
market-based and pro-American reforms in late 1970s. The term "
Dengism
Deng Xiaoping Theory ( zh, s=邓小平理论, p=Dèng Xiǎopíng Lǐlùn), also known as Dengism, is the series of political and economic ideologies first developed by Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping. The theory does not reject Marxism–Leninism ...
" is often used to describe this perceived revisionist tendency in Marxism–Leninism despite official claims that it is an adaptation of Marxism–Leninism to contemporary Chinese material conditions rather than a revision.
Despite agreeing that he had a revisionist turn later in his life, most contemporary anti-revisionists hold particular interest in the theories of Chinese leader
Mao Zedong
Mao Zedong pronounced ; also romanised traditionally as Mao Tse-tung. (26 December 1893 – 9 September 1976), also known as Chairman Mao, was a Chinese communist revolutionary who was the founder of the People's Republic of China (PRC) ...
, who claimed that socialist movements in the neo-colonial world could temporarily ally with the
nationalist
Nationalism is an idea and movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the state. As a movement, nationalism tends to promote the interests of a particular nation (as in a group of people), Smith, Anthony. ''Nationalism: The ...
movements of the local
petite bourgeoisie
''Petite bourgeoisie'' (, literally 'small bourgeoisie'; also anglicised as petty bourgeoisie) is a French term that refers to a social class composed of semi-autonomous peasants and small-scale merchants whose politico-economic ideological st ...
and that the implementation of a
mass line
The mass line is the political, organizational and leadership method developed by Mao Zedong and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) during the Chinese Communist Revolution. It refers to formulating policy based on theory, implementing it based pe ...
policy will prevent a vanguard from becoming revisionist. Others believe in a separate ideology known as
Marxism–Leninism–Maoism
Marxism–Leninism–Maoism (MLM) is a political philosophy that synthesizes and builds upon Marxism–Leninism and Maoism. Its proponents refer to Marxism–Leninism–Maoism as Maoism and Maoism as Mao Zedong Thought (MZT) or Marxism–Lenin ...
which views the early theories of Mao as a higher stage of Leninist ideology, just like
Leninism
Leninism is a political ideology developed by Russian Marxist revolutionary Vladimir Lenin that proposes the establishment of the Dictatorship of the proletariat#Vladimir Lenin, dictatorship of the proletariat led by a revolutionary Vanguardis ...
is considered by its proponents to be a higher stage of
Marxism
Marxism is a Left-wing politics, left-wing to Far-left politics, far-left method of socioeconomic analysis that uses a Materialism, materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to understand S ...
. Among both anti-revisionist Marxist–Leninists with a tendency towards Mao's theories and Marxist–Leninist–Maoists, there exists a
Maoist Third Worldist tendency which claims the labour aristocracy has no immediate revolutionary potential and may also claim it experiences no exploitation at all.
History
Self-proclaimed anti-revisionists firmly oppose the reforms initiated in
Marxist–Leninist countries by leaders like
Nikita Khrushchev
Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev (– 11 September 1971) was the First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1953 to 1964 and chairman of the country's Council of Ministers from 1958 to 1964. During his rule, Khrushchev s ...
in the Soviet Union and
Deng Xiaoping
Deng Xiaoping (22 August 1904 – 19 February 1997) was a Chinese revolutionary leader, military commander and statesman who served as the paramount leader of the People's Republic of China (PRC) from December 1978 to November 1989. After CC ...
in China. They generally refer to such reforms and states as
state capitalist
State capitalism is an economic system in which the state undertakes business and commercial (i.e. for-profit) economic activity and where the means of production are nationalized as state-owned enterprises (including the processes of capital ac ...
and
social imperialist
As a political term, social imperialism is the political ideology of people, parties, or nations that are, according to Soviet leader Vladimir Lenin, "socialist in words, imperialist in deeds". In academic use, it refers to governments that enga ...
. They also reject
Trotskyism
Trotskyism is the political ideology and branch of Marxism developed by Ukrainian-Russian revolutionary Leon Trotsky and some other members of the Left Opposition and Fourth International. Trotsky self-identified as an orthodox Marxist, a rev ...
and its
permanent revolution
Permanent revolution is the strategy of a revolutionary class pursuing its own interests independently and without compromise or alliance with opposing sections of society. As a term within Marxist theory, it was first coined by Karl Marx and ...
as
hypocritical
Hypocrisy is the practice of engaging in the same behavior or activity for which one criticizes another or the practice of claiming to have moral standards or beliefs to which one's own behavior does not conform. In moral psychology, it is th ...
by arguing that
Leon Trotsky
Lev Davidovich Bronstein. ( – 21 August 1940), better known as Leon Trotsky; uk, link= no, Лев Давидович Троцький; also transliterated ''Lyev'', ''Trotski'', ''Trotskij'', ''Trockij'' and ''Trotzky''. (), was a Russian ...
had at one time thought it acceptable that socialism could work in a single country as long as that country was
industrialized
Industrialisation ( alternatively spelled industrialization) is the period of social and economic change that transforms a human group from an agrarian society into an industrial society. This involves an extensive re-organisation of an econo ...
, but that Trotsky had considered Russia too backward to achieve such industrialization which is what it later in fact did achieve, mostly through his archenemy
Joseph Stalin
Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Ioseb Besarionis dze Jughashvili; – 5 March 1953) was a Georgian revolutionary and Soviet political leader who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until his death in 1953. He held power as General Secreta ...
's
five-year plans.
In their own right, anti-revisionists also acknowledge that the
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...
contained a
new class
New class is used as a polemic term by critics of countries that followed the Soviet-type Communism to describe the privileged ruling class of bureaucrats and Communist party functionaries which arose in these states. Generally, the group known in ...
or red bourgeoisie, but they generally place the blame for the formation of that class on Khrushchev and his successors and not on Stalin. In anti-revisionist circles, there is very little talk of
class conflict
Class conflict, also referred to as class struggle and class warfare, is the political tension and economic antagonism that exists in society because of socio-economic competition among the social classes or between rich and poor.
The forms ...
in the Soviet Union before 1956, except when talking about specific contexts such as the
Russian Civil War
, date = October Revolution, 7 November 1917 – Yakut revolt, 16 June 1923{{Efn, The main phase ended on 25 October 1922. Revolt against the Bolsheviks continued Basmachi movement, in Central Asia and Tungus Republic, the Far East th ...
(when some agents of the former feudal ruling class tried to retake
state power from the
Bolsheviks
The Bolsheviks (russian: Большевики́, from большинство́ ''bol'shinstvó'', 'majority'),; derived from ''bol'shinstvó'' (большинство́), "majority", literally meaning "one of the majority". also known in English ...
) and
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
(fought principally between
communists
Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a so ...
and
fascists
Fascism is a far-right, authoritarian, ultra-nationalist political ideology and movement,: "extreme militaristic nationalism, contempt for electoral democracy and political and cultural liberalism, a belief in natural social hierarchy and th ...
, representing the interests of the
proletariat
The proletariat (; ) is the social class of wage-earners, those members of a society whose only possession of significant economic value is their labour power (their capacity to work). A member of such a class is a proletarian. Marxist philo ...
and the
bourgeoisie
The bourgeoisie ( , ) is a social class, equivalent to the middle or upper middle class. They are distinguished from, and traditionally contrasted with, the proletariat by their affluence, and their great cultural and financial capital. They ...
, respectively).
During the
Sino-Soviet split
The Sino-Soviet split was the breaking of political relations between the People's Republic of China and the Soviet Union caused by doctrinal divergences that arose from their different interpretations and practical applications of Marxism–Len ...
, the governments of the
People's Republic of China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
under
Mao Zedong
Mao Zedong pronounced ; also romanised traditionally as Mao Tse-tung. (26 December 1893 – 9 September 1976), also known as Chairman Mao, was a Chinese communist revolutionary who was the founder of the People's Republic of China (PRC) ...
and the
People's Republic of Albania
The People's Socialist Republic of Albania ( sq, Republika Popullore Socialiste e Shqipërisë, links=no) was the Marxist–Leninist one party state that existed in Albania from 1946 to 1992 (the official name of the country was the People's R ...
under
Enver Hoxha
Enver Halil Hoxha ( , ; 16 October 190811 April 1985) was an Albanian communist politician who was the authoritarian ruler of Albania from 1944 until his death in 1985. He was First Secretary of the Party of Labour of Albania from 1941 unt ...
proclaimed themselves to be taking an anti-revisionist line and denounced Khrushchev's policies in the Soviet Union. In the United States, those who supported China or Albania at the time were expelled from the
Communist Party USA
The Communist Party USA, officially the Communist Party of the United States of America (CPUSA), is a communist party in the United States which was established in 1919 after a split in the Socialist Party of America following the Russian Revo ...
under orders from Moscow and formed the
Progressive Labor Movement and other
new communist movement
The New Communist movement (NCM) was a diverse left-wing political movement principally within the United States, during the 1970s and 1980s. The NCM were a movement of the New Left that represented a diverse grouping of Marxist–Leninists and ...
parties in 1961. A short time later, anti-revisionist groups were further divided by the
Sino-Albanian split
The Sino-Albanian split was the gradual worsening of relations between the People's Socialist Republic of Albania and the People's Republic of China in the period 1972–1978.
Both countries had supported each other in the Soviet–Albanian and S ...
, with those following Albania being loosely described as
Hoxhaist
Hoxhaism () is a variant of Anti-revisionism, anti-revisionist Marxism–Leninism that developed in the late 1970s due to a split in the anti-revisionist movement, appearing after the Sino-Albanian split, ideological dispute between the Chinese ...
.
On the whole, the original 1960s-era anti-revisionists tended to take a careful, selective approach to the
Cuban Revolution
The Cuban Revolution ( es, Revolución Cubana) was carried out after the 1952 Cuban coup d'état which placed Fulgencio Batista as head of state and the failed mass strike in opposition that followed. After failing to contest Batista in cou ...
and the way it soon aligned itself with Soviet ideas and practice, criticizing the latter action while simultaneously acknowledging some aspects of Cuban self-described socialism as genuinely revolutionary—in particular the writing and thinking of
Che Guevara
Ernesto Che Guevara (; 14 June 1928The date of birth recorded on /upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/78/Ernesto_Guevara_Acta_de_Nacimiento.jpg his birth certificatewas 14 June 1928, although one tertiary source, (Julia Constenla, quoted ...
. Anti-revisionists also took a hopeful approach towards the
Vietnamese communists
Vietnamese may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to Vietnam, a country in Southeast Asia
** A citizen of Vietnam. See Demographics of Vietnam.
* Vietnamese people, or Kinh people, a Southeast Asian ethnic group native to Vietnam
** Overse ...
, expressing confidence that they too were genuinely revolutionary-communist in their aspirations and supported their struggle against the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
in the
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War (also known by #Names, other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vie ...
—a side which got a lot of support from the Soviet Union, anti-revisionists'
state capitalist
State capitalism is an economic system in which the state undertakes business and commercial (i.e. for-profit) economic activity and where the means of production are nationalized as state-owned enterprises (including the processes of capital ac ...
enemy.
Several present-day
communist parties
A communist party is a political party that seeks to realize the socio-economic goals of communism. The term ''communist party'' was popularized by the title of ''The Manifesto of the Communist Party'' (1848) by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. A ...
worldwide still see themselves as explicitly anti-revisionist, but not every such party adhering to elements of anti-revisionism necessarily adopts the label anti-revisionist. Many such organizations may call themselves
Maoist
Maoism, officially called Mao Zedong Thought by the Chinese Communist Party, is a variety of Marxism–Leninism that Mao Zedong developed to realise a socialist revolution in the agricultural, pre-industrial society of the Republic of Ch ...
,
Marxist–Leninist
Marxism is a left-wing to far-left method of socioeconomic analysis that uses a materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to understand class relations and social conflict and a dialect ...
, or simply
revolutionary communist. The
Workers' Party of Korea
The Workers' Party of Korea (WPK) is the founding and sole ruling party of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, commonly known as North Korea. Founded in 1949 from the merger of the Workers' Party of North Korea and the Workers' Party of ...
still claims an anti-revisionist political line, but the communist movement as a whole and anti-revisionists from the Maoist and Hoxhaist camps in particular tend to insist
North Korea
North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the northern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and shares borders with China and Russia to the north, at the Yalu River, Y ...
is a revisionist state. However, many if not most Hoxhaists and Maoists are critically supportive of North Korea on grounds of
anti-imperialism
Anti-imperialism in political science and international relations is a term used in a variety of contexts, usually by nationalist movements who want to secede from a larger polity (usually in the form of an empire, but also in a multi-ethnic so ...
.
Anti-revisionists aligned with Hoxha and the line of the
Party of Labour of Albania
The Party of Labour of Albania ( sq, Partia e Punës e Shqipërisë, PPSh), sometimes referred to as the Albanian Workers' Party (AWP), was the ruling and sole legal party of Albania during the communist period (1945–1991). It was founded o ...
argue that
Mao Zedong Thought
Maoism, officially called Mao Zedong Thought by the Chinese Communist Party, is a variety of Marxism–Leninism that Mao Zedong developed to realise a socialist revolution in the agricultural, pre-industrial society of the Republic of Chi ...
is itself a form of revisionism. Hoxhaists insist that Mao's
Three Worlds Theory
In the field of international relations, the Three Worlds Theory ( zh, s=三个世界的理论, p=Sān gè Shìjiè de Lǐlùn) by Mao Zedong proposed to the visiting Algerian President Houari Boumédiène in February 1974 that the internationa ...
contradicted
Marxism–Leninism
Marxism–Leninism is a communist ideology which was the main communist movement throughout the 20th century. Developed by the Bolsheviks, it was the state ideology of the Soviet Union, its satellite states in the Eastern Bloc, and various co ...
and existed only to justify his alliance with the United States that began in the early 1970s and his meeting with President
Richard Nixon
Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as a representative and senator from California and was ...
during the
Sino-Soviet split
The Sino-Soviet split was the breaking of political relations between the People's Republic of China and the Soviet Union caused by doctrinal divergences that arose from their different interpretations and practical applications of Marxism–Len ...
that Hoxha and the Hoxhaists opposed. Hoxhaists also argue that the theory of
New Democracy
New Democracy, or the New Democratic Revolution, is a concept based on Mao Zedong's Bloc of Four Social Classes theory in Chinese Communist Revolution, post-revolutionary China which argued originally that democracy in China would take a path ...
and
people's war
People's war (Chinese: 人民战争), also called protracted people's war, is a Maoist military strategy. First developed by the Chinese communist revolutionary leader Mao Zedong (1893–1976), the basic concept behind people's war is to mainta ...
were revisionist and anti-scientific. The Hoxhaist camp came into existence during the Sino-Albanian split.
Active anti-revisionist groups
* Afghanistan
**
Communist (Maoist) Party of Afghanistan
* Albania
**
Communist Party of Albania
* Argentina
**
Revolutionary Communist Party of Argentina
The Revolutionary Communist Party ( es, Partido Comunista Revolucionario) is a Marxist–Leninist–Maoist in Argentina.
The party is part of the Frente de Todos coalition that supported the presidential candidate Alberto Fernández during th ...
* Australia
**
Communist Party of Australia (Marxist–Leninist)
The Communist Party of Australia (Marxist–Leninist) (CPA (ML)), is an Australian communist party founded in 1964. The party's origins derived from a split within the Communist Party of Australia (CPA), stemming from the Sino-Soviet split. T ...
* Benin
**
Communist Party of Benin
The Communist Party of Benin (french: Parti Communiste du Bénin) is an anti-revisionist Marxist–Leninist communist party in Benin. PCB was founded in 1977 by the Union of Communists of Dahomey. The party was initially called Communist Party o ...
* Bhutan
**
Communist Party of Bhutan (Marxist–Leninist–Maoist)
* Brazil
**
Revolutionary Communist Party
* Burkina Faso
**
Voltaic Revolutionary Communist Party
Voltaic Revolutionary Communist Party (french: Parti communiste révolutionnaire voltaïque, PCRV) is a communist party in Burkina Faso. It was founded on 1 October 1978, following a split in the Voltaic Communist Organization (OCV).
The PCRV ...
* Burma
**
Communist Party of Burma
The Communist Party of Burma (CPB), also known as the Burma Communist Party (BCP), is a clandestine communist party in Myanmar (Burma). It is the oldest existing political party in the country.
Founded in 1939, the CPB initially fought ag ...
* Canada
**
Communist Party of Canada (Marxist–Leninist)
The Communist Party of Canada (Marxist–Leninist) ( abbr. CPC(M-L)) is a Canadian federal political party founded by Hardial Bains in 1970. The CPC(M-L) has been registered with Elections Canada as the Marxist–Leninist Party of Canada (MLP ...
**
Parti marxiste–léniniste du Québec
* Chile
**
Chilean Communist Party (Proletarian Action)
* China
**
Maoist Communist Party of China
The Maoist Communist Party of China (MCPC) is an underground communist party in China adhering to Marxism–Leninism–Maoism.
The MCPC was established in 2008 as a reaction to the economic reforms initiated by the ruling Communist Party o ...
* Colombia
**
Communist Party of Colombia (Marxist–Leninist)
* Côte d'Ivoire
**
Revolutionary Communist Party of Côte d'Ivoire
* Denmark
**
Workers' Communist Party
* Dominican Republic
**
Communist Party of Labour
The Communist Party of Labour ( es, Partido Comunista del Trabajo) is a communist party in the Dominican Republic. The party was founded in 1980, after the split from the Maoist Dominican Popular Movement. PCT upheld the political line of the Pa ...
* Ecuador
**
Marxist–Leninist Communist Party of Ecuador
* France
**
Workers' Communist Party of France
**
Communist Revolutionary Party of France
The Revolutionary Communist Party of France (French: ''Parti communiste révolutionnaire de France'', abbreviated PCRF) is an anti-revisionist Marxist-Leninist communist party founded in 2016. It was the result of a merger of ''Intervention C ...
* Georgia
**
New Communist Party of Georgia
New Communist Party of Georgia (, ''Sakartvelos Akhali Komunisturi Partia''), is a communist party in Georgia. It is founded in 2001 by Yevgeny Dzhugashvili, the grandson of Joseph Stalin.
The party symbol is a hedgehog. The party participated ...
* Germany
** Organization for the Construction of a Communist Workers' Party of Germany (Arbeit Zukunft)
**
Marxist–Leninist Party of Germany
The Marxist–Leninist Party of Germany (german: Marxistisch–Leninistische Partei Deutschlands, MLPD) is a communist political party in Germany. It was founded in 1982 by members of the Communist Workers Union of Germany (; KABD) and is one o ...
* Greece
**
Movement for the Reorganization of the Communist Party of Greece 1918–1955
**
Marxist–Leninist Communist Party of Greece
The Marxist–Leninist Communist Party of Greece ( el, Μαρξιστικό-Λενινιστικό Κομμουνιστικό Κόμμα Ελλάδας, ''Marxistiko-Leninistiko Kommounistiko Komma Elladas''), better known by its acronym M-L KKE ( ...
**
Communist Party of Greece (Marxist–Leninist)
The Communist Party of Greece (Marxist–Leninist) ( el, Κομμουνιστικό Κόμμα Ελλάδας (μαρξιστικό-λενινιστικό), ΚΚΕ (μ-λ), ''Kommounistiko Komma Elladas (marxistiko-leninistiko)'', KKE (m-l)), is a ...
* India
**
Communist Party of India (Marxist–Leninist)
**
Communist Party of India (Maoist)
The Communist Party of India (Maoist) is a Marxism–Leninism–Maoism, Marxist–Leninist–Maoist banned Communism, communist political party and militant organization in India which aims to overthrow the "semi-colonial and semi-feudal In ...
**
Socialist Unity Centre of India (Communist)
The Socialist Unity Centre of India (Communist) or SUCI(C), previously called the Socialist Unity Centre of India and "Socialist Unity Centre", is an anti-revisionist Marxist-Leninist communist party in India. The party was founded by Shibda ...
* Iran
**
Iranian People's Fedai Guerrillas
The Iranian People's Fedai Guerrillas (IFPG; fa, چريکهای فدایی خلق ایران, čerikhā-ye Fadāʾi-e xalq-e Irān), also known as the Dehghani faction ( fa, جریان دهقانی) after its leader Ashraf Dehghani, is an Irani ...
**
Labour Party of Iran
The Labour Party of Iran (Toufan) ( fa, حزب کار ایران (توفان); translit.: ) is a Hoxhaist Communist party whose leadership is exiled in Germany. It is against the Iranian government and is a member of the International Confere ...
* Italy
* Mexico
**
Communist Party of Mexico (Marxist–Leninist)
* Nepal
**
Unified Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist)
The Unified Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist Centre), abbreviated UCPN (Maoist), (Nepali: एकीकृत नेपाल कम्युनिष्ट पार्टी (माओवादी)), was a political party in Nepal. It was founded ...
* Norway
**
Serve the People (Norway)
* Pakistan
**
Communist Mazdoor Kissan Party
The Communist Mazdoor Kissan Party ( ur, کمیونسٹ مزدور کسان پارٹی, ) was a minor political party in Pakistan
Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South ...
* Philippines
**
Communist Party of the Philippines
The Communist Party of the Philippines ( fil, Partido Komunista ng Pilipinas) is a far-left, Marxist-Leninist-Maoist revolutionary organization and communist party in the Philippines, formed by Jose Maria Sison on 26 December 1968. It is desi ...
* Russia
**
VKPB
"Hymn of the Bolshevik Party"
, headquarters = 4 Staraya Square, Moscow
, general_secretary = Vladimir Lenin (first) Mikhail Gorbachev (last)
, founded =
, banned =
, founder = Vladimir Lenin
, newspaper ...
**
Communist Party of the Soviet Union (2001)
The Communist Party of the Soviet Union (russian: Коммунистическая Партия Советского Союза, Kommunisticheskaya Partiya Sovetskogo Soyuza; short: КПСС, KPSS) is an organization which split from the Union ...
***
Russian Communist Workers' Party
The Russian Communist Workers' Party (in Russian language, Russian: Российская Коммунистическая Рабочая Партия; transcription: ''Rossiyskaya Kommunisticheskaya Rabochaya Partiya'' or ''RKRP'') was a communist ...
**
Communists of Russia
The Communist Party "Communists of Russia" (CPCR; russian: Коммунистическая партия «Коммунисты России»; КПКР; ''Kommunisticheskaya partiya «Kommunisty Rossii»'', ''KPKR'') or simply Communists of Russi ...
**
Russian Maoist Party
The Russian Maoist Party (RMP; russian: Российская маоистская партия, РМП) is a Marxist-Leninist-Maoist party in Russia. It was established on June 9, 2000.
Ideology
The RMP accepts the legacy of the Russian Social ...
* Spain
**
Communist Party of Spain (Marxist–Leninist)
The Communist Party of Spain (Marxist–Leninist) ( es, Partido Comunista de España (marxista-leninista)) is an anti-revisionist Marxist–Leninist communist party in Spain, founded in 2006 by the ''Statewide Coordination of Communist Organiza ...
* Syria
**
Syrian Communist Party (Bakdash)
The Syrian Communist Party () is an anti-revisionist Marxist–Leninist communist party in Syria. The party emerged from a split in the Syrian Communist Party in 1986, as formed by the anti-Perestroika faction led by Khalid Bakdash. Khalid B ...
* Tunisia
**
Tunisian Workers' Communist Party
* Turkey
**
Marxist–Leninist Communist Party
**
Communist Party of Turkey/Marxist–Leninist
The Communist Party of Turkey/Marxist–Leninist (''Türkiye Komünist Partisi/Marksist-Leninist'' in Turkish language, Turkish, abbreviated as TKP/ML) is a Marxism–Leninism–Maoism, Marxist–Leninist–Maoist insurgent organization in Turke ...
**
Revolutionary Communist Party of Turkey (TDKP)
* United Kingdom
**
Communist Party of Britain (Marxist–Leninist)
The Communist Party of Britain (Marxist–Leninist), often abbreviated as CPB-ML, is a British Marxist–Leninist political party. It originated in 1968 as an anti-revisionist split from the Communist Party of Great Britain and was chaired by ...
**
Stalin Society
**
Revolutionary Communist Party of Britain (Marxist–Leninist)
The Revolutionary Communist Party of Britain (Marxist–Leninist) (RCPB-ML) is a small British communist political party, previously named the Communist Party of England (Marxist-Leninist) (CPE (ML)) on formation in 1972 until being reorg ...
**
New Communist Party of Britain
The New Communist Party of Britain is an anti-revisionist Marxist-Leninist communist party in Britain. The origins of the NCP lie in the Communist Party of Great Britain from which it split in 1977. The organisation takes an anti-revisioni ...
* United States
**
American Party of Labor
The American Party of Labor is an American anti-revisionist Marxist–Leninist communist party founded in 2008. The party aims to establish a dictatorship of the proletariat and a commonly owned publicly planned economy for the future goal of ...
**
Freedom Road Socialist Organization
The Freedom Road Socialist Organization (FRSO) is a Marxist–Leninist organization in the United States. It formed in 1985 amid the collapse of the Maoist-oriented New Communist movement that emerged in the 1970s.
The FRSO's component groups ...
**
Progressive Labor Party
** Workers Party, USA
* Venezuela
**
Marxist–Leninist Communist Party of Venezuela
Historical anti-revisionist groups
*
Communist Party of China
The Chinese Communist Party (CCP), officially the Communist Party of China (CPC), is the founding and sole ruling party of the People's Republic of China (PRC). Under the leadership of Mao Zedong, the CCP emerged victorious in the Chinese Civil ...
under
Mao Zedong
Mao Zedong pronounced ; also romanised traditionally as Mao Tse-tung. (26 December 1893 – 9 September 1976), also known as Chairman Mao, was a Chinese communist revolutionary who was the founder of the People's Republic of China (PRC) ...
's leadership
*
Party of Labour of Albania
The Party of Labour of Albania ( sq, Partia e Punës e Shqipërisë, PPSh), sometimes referred to as the Albanian Workers' Party (AWP), was the ruling and sole legal party of Albania during the communist period (1945–1991). It was founded o ...
* Soviet Revolutionary Communists (Bolsheviks)
* Communist Party of Germany/Marxists–Leninists, Communist Party of Germany/Marxist-Leninists
* Communist Party of Germany (Roter Morgen)
* Kurdistan Workers' Party, Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK)
References
External links
Encyclopedia of Anti-Revisionism On-Lineby the Marxists Internet Archive
Lies Concerning the History of the Soviet Unionby the
Stalin Society
List of Anti-Revisionist Parties/Groupsby the International Organizations and Conferences of Leftist Parties
Stand for Socialism Against Modern Revisionismby the Philippine Revolution
{{Marxist and communist phraseology
Anti-revisionism,
Hoxhaism
Maoism
Marxism
Marxism–Leninism
Stalinism