User:Saul Wenger/notes

General notes and references for articles.

Theory

Dictatorship of the proletariat

Relevant quotations

Joseph Stalin

" Hence the three main aspects of the dictatorship of the proletariat.

1) The utilisation of the rule of the proletariat for the suppression of the exploiters, for the defence of the country, for the consolidation of the ties with the proletarians of other lands, and for the development and victory of the revolution in all countries.

2) The utilisation of the rule of the proletariat in order to detach the labouring and exploited masses once and for all from the bourgeoisie, to consolidate the alliance of the proletariat with these masses, to draw these masses into the work of socialist construction, and to ensure the state leadership of these masses by the proletariat.

3) The utilisation of the rule of the proletariat for the organisation of socialism, for the abolition of classes, for the transition to a society without classes, to a socialist society.

The proletarian dictatorship is a combination of all these three aspects. No single one of these aspects can be advanced as the sole characteristic feature of the dictatorship of the proletariat. On the other hand, in the circumstances of capitalist encirclement, the absence of even one of these features is sufficient for the dictatorship of the proletariat to cease being a dictatorship. Therefore, not one of these three aspects can be omitted without running the risk of distorting the concept of the dictatorship of the proletariat. Only all these three aspects taken together give us the complete and finished concept of the dictatorship of the proletariat.

The dictatorship of the proletariat has its periods, its special forms, diverse methods of work. During the period of civil war, it is the forcible aspect of the dictatorship that is most conspicuous. But it by no means follows from this that no constructive work is carried on during the period of civil war. Without constructive work it is impossible to wage civil war. During the period of socialist construction, on the other hand, it is the peaceful, organisational and cultural work of the dictatorship, revolutionary law, etc., that are most conspicuous. But, again, it by no means follows from this that the forcible aspect of the dictatorship has ceased to exist or can cease to exist in the period of construction. The organs of suppression, the army and other organisations, are as necessary now, at the time of construction, as they were during the period of civil war. Without these organs, constructive work by the dictatorship with any degree of security would be impossible. It should not be forgotten that for the time being the revolution has been victorious in only one country. It should not be forgotten that as long as capitalist encirclement exists the danger of intervention, with all the consequences resulting from this danger, will also exist."

— Concerning Questions of Leninism

Stalinism

Relevant quotations

Georgi Dimitrov

"The social-democrat lackeys often call us “Stalinists” and they think that in this way they insult the communists. But we are proud of this honorary appellation as we are proud of the appellation “Leninists”. There is no greater honor for a revolutionary than being a true Leninist, a true Stalinist, a devoted disciple of Lenin and Stalin until the end. And there is no greater happiness for the communists than fighting under the guidance of Stalin for the triumph of the international proletariat's just cause. Not everybody can be a Stalinist. The honorary appellation “Leninist–Stalinist” has to be won through Bolshevik struggle, persistence and unlimited devotion to the cause of the working class.”

— Georgi Dimitrov, Stalin and the international proletariat, 1939

William Z. Foster

"Stalin has further developed Marxism-Leninism through many invaluable theoretical accomplishments. His principal contributions to Marxian theory lie in indicating the path of the actual building of socialism in the U.S.S.R. Thus, his powerful polemics against Trotsky, Zinoviev, Bukharin and their counterrevolutionary affiliates comprised the greatest ideological struggle of our times. They clarified every aspect of the vast and unique problem of building socialism in one country, and surveyed the whole position of international capitalism. They resulted in a decisive victory for the leadership of the Communist Party and, thereby, of socialism.

Stalin has raised the whole Marxist-Leninist structure still another stage higher by revealing the path to the actual building of socialism and the development toward communism.

Leninism-Stalinism also was the theoretical basis of the international policy of the people’s front, the historically imperative tactic to unite the masses of workers, farmers, professionals and small business people in the capitalist and colonial countries in effective struggle against fascism and for democracy.”

— William Z. Foster, Lenin and Stalin as Mass Leaders The Communist, Vol. XVIII, No. 12, December 1939

Imperialism

Russian imperialism

According to statistics provided by the World Inequality Database, out of 60 billion euros, the government of the Russian Federation spent 8 billion on workers in enterprises in foreign countries. These enterprises are largely owned by Russian bourgeoisie and less developed economies, constituting an exportation of capital.

The state

Vladimir Lenin

"[...] this period [the transition from capitalism to communism] inevitably is a period of an unprecedently violent class struggle in unprecedentedly acute forms, and, consequently, during this period the state must inevitably be a state that is democratic in a new way (for the proletariat and the propertyless in general) and dictatorial in a new way (against the bourgeoisie)."

— Vladimir Lenin, The State and Revolution, 1917

Refuting revisionism

"Dengism"

Vladimir Lenin

"The old parties are products of an epoch whose task was to develop capitalism as speedily as possible. The struggle between the parties was over the question how best to expedite and facilitate this development. The new party is a product of the present epoch, which raises the issue of the very existence of capitalism. In the U.S.A., the freest and most advanced country, this issue is coming to the fore more clearly and broadly than anywhere else. The entire programme and entire agitation of Roosevelt and the Progressives turn on how to save capitalism by means of bourgeois reforms. The bourgeois reformism which in old Europe manifests itself in the chatter of liberal professors has all at once come forward in the free American republic as a party four million strong. This is American style. We shall save capitalism by reforms, says that party. We shall grant the most progressive factory legislation. We shall establish state control over all the trusts (in the U.S.A. that means over all industries!). We shall establish state control over them to eliminate poverty and enable everybody to earn a “decent” wage. We shall establish “social and industrial justice”. We revere all reforms—the only “reform” we don’t want is expropriation of the capitalists! The national wealth of the U.S.A. is now reckoned to be 120 billion (thousand million) dollars, i.e., about 240 billion rubles. Approximately one-third of it, or about 80 billion rubles, belongs to two trusts, those of Rockefeller and Morgan, or is subordinated to these trusts! Not more than. 40,000 families making up these two trusts are the masters of 80 million wage slaves. Obviously, so long as these modern slave-owners are there, all “reforms” will be nothing but a deception. Roosevelt has been deliberately hired by the astute multimillionaires to preach this deception. The “state control” they promise will become—if the capitalists keep their capital—a means of combating and crushing strikes. But the American proletarian has already awakened and has taken up his post. He greets Roosevelt’s success with cheerful irony, as if to say: You lured four million people with your promises of reform, dear impostor Roosevelt. Very well! Tomorrow those four million will see that your promises were a fraud, and don’t forget that they are following you only because they feel that it is impossible to go on living in the old way." —Vladimir Lenin, The Results and Significance of the U.S. Presidential Elections

An excellent quote in refuting arguments in favor of supposed Chinese "socialism." In what way? Revisionist defenders of the People's Republic of China and other instances of "market socialism" entirely omit (or fabricate) the class character of that country while instead redirecting attention to dispersed, alleged increases in living conditions and economic growth as "proof" of "socialism." However, Lenin astutely indicates that limited degrees of "state control" and poverty elimination do not constitute socialism nor even a progressive arrangement. These "reforms" are of a particular class character, in this instance a bourgeois one, and are only made to preserve the capitalist system.

Having supposedly raised "800,000,000" individuals out of "extreme poverty" matters little on the question of socialism. What matters is that the ultimate act of the expropriation of the exploiters will never happen. "Dengists" and other revisionists, therefore, only seek a society where the national flag is red and where the ruling party calls itself "communist." However, they do not want by any means a true abolition of the capitalist system.

Socialism is not mere poverty reduction, it is not symbolism without substance, it is not economic growth. Socialism is the revolutionary transformation of society from one mode of production to another. Do not be fooled by these revisionists who seek to regress us back to social democratic notions on what constitutes socialism.

Maoism

Mao's class collaboration

"Places in the organs of political power should be allocated as follows: one-third to the proletariat and the poor peasantry; one third to the petty-bourgeoisie, and the remaining one-third to the middle bourgeoisie and the enlightened gentry."

— Mao Zedong

Even during its "socialist" period, the People's Republic of China was only "one-third" a proletarian dictatorship, and "two-thirds" a dictatorship of the bourgeoisie! Compare this revisionist's words to those of Vladimir Lenin:

"The overthrow of bourgeois rule can be accomplished only by the proletariat, the particular class whose economic conditions of existence prepare it for this task and provide it with the possibility and the power to perform it. While the bourgeoisie break up and disintegrate the peasantry and all the petty-bourgeois groups, they weld together, unite and organize the proletariat. Only the proletariat — by virtue of the economic role it plays in large-scale production — is capable of being the leader of all the working and exploited people, whom the bourgeoisie exploit, oppress and crush, often not less but more than they do the proletarians, but who are incapable of waging an independent struggle for their emancipation.

The theory of class struggle, applied by Marx to the question of the state and the socialist revolution, leads as a matter of course to the recognition of the political rule of the proletariat, of its dictatorship, i.e., of undivided power directly backed by the armed force of the people. The overthrow of the bourgeoisie can be achieved only by the proletariat becoming the ruling class, capable of crushing the inevitable and desperate resistance of the bourgeoisie, and of organizing all the working and exploited people for the new economic system.

The proletariat needs state power, a centralized organization of force, an organization of violence, both to crush the resistance of the exploiters and to lead the enormous mass of the population — the peasants, the petty bourgeoisie, and semi-proletarians — in the work of organizing a socialist economy."

— The State and Revolution, 1917

Further information may be found in Jim Washington's work Socialism Cannot be Built in Alliance with the Bourgeoisie.

Idealism verses materialism

Quotes

Karl Marx

"Communism is for us not a state of affairs which is to be established, an ideal to which reality [will] have to adjust itself. We call communism the real movement which abolishes the present state of things. The conditions of this movement result from the premises now in existence."

— Karl Marx, German Ideology

Resources

On philosophy

• A Textbook of Marxist Philosophy