User:Saula Wenger/sandbox/Terms to avoid

The following are terms Revolupedia editors should avoid and alternatives to use instead.

Note: These are purely suggestions on the part of myself (Saula Wenger) and should not be taken as Revolupedia policy.

Terms to avoid

Term	Context	Use instead	Note
Soviet Russia/Russia	To reference the entire Union of Soviet Socialist Republics	Soviet Union/USSR (when referencing the entire Union) Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (when referencing the Union Republic)	"Soviet Russia" is also valid when used to refer to the predecessor to the USSR, the Russian Soviet Republic
American	To strictly refer to people from the United States of America	US American	"American" can refer to anybody from the Americas (North and South America). To only use it to refer to a single country in the Americas is a product of American chauvinism
Dengism/Dengist	To refer to the ideology of the Communist Party of China and its capitalist policies	Socialism with Chinese Characteristics/Chinese socialism	SwCC should be used to refer to the actual policies and ideology of the CPC, Dengism should be used to refer to the cultist supporters of the CPC abroad
Chinese Communist Party (CCP)	Instead of Communist Party of China (CPC)	Communist Party of China	Although relatively trivial, "Communist Party of China" should be used over "Chinese Communist Party" as it is the official English translation of the party
Gonzaloism/Gonzaloist	When referring to Maoist organizations outside of Peru	Maoism/Maoist, Marxism–Leninism–Maoism, principally Maoism	"Gonzaloist" is a revisionist pejorative for Maoist organizations
Communist state	References to revolutionary states which uphold Marxism	Socialist state, Marxist–Leninist state	Modern Marxist discourse separates socialism and communism into the lower and higher stages respectively; none of the historical socialist states have attained communism, or the higher stage, making the name "communist state" questionable
Left communism (without scare quotes)		"Left" communism	Calling "left" communists left without scare quotes provides them with legitimacy which they do not deserve; they are only "left" in words, but rightist in effective deeds
Libertarianism	To refer exclusively to right-wing libertarianism	Right-wing libertarianism	In countries outside of the United States, "libertarianism" is more often associated with libertarian socialism, e.g. anarchism. There is a right and a left within libertarianism, and that distinction should be made
Stalinism/Marxism–Leninism–Stalinism	To refer to Marxism–Leninism and Marxist–Leninists (i.e. true Leninists, not pseudo-Leninist revisionists)	Marxism–Leninism	"Stalinism" is a Trotskyite invention used to attack Marxism–Leninism. Although some Hoxhaist organizations use the term "Marxism-Leninism–Stalinism", they are firmly in the minority
Transgenderism	To refer to transgender people and their allies	Transgender	The -ism in "transgenderism" gives the impression that being transgender is an ideology over a state of being. This term should be avoided due to its transphobic implications
Classics/Heads of Marxism	To refer to the five/four leading theorists of Marxist thought	Foundational theorists of Marxism	"Foundational theorists" is more likely to be understood over "classics" and is more descriptive
North Korea		Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK)	Official name
Maoist China	To refer to China under Mao Zedong and the Gang of Four (1949–1976)	Mao's China, China under Mao	Maoism did not exist until the 1980s when it was defined by Chairman Gonzalo. Using "Maoism" in this way is no different from using the term "Stalinism" to denote the Soviet Union under Stain — Stalin was a Marxist–Leninist just as Mao was
East Germany	To refer to the German Democratic Republic	German Democratic Republic (GDR/DDR)	Official name