Socialist revolution

A socialist or proletarian revolution is a social revolution which is led by the proletariat that overthrows the bourgeoisie, abolishes private property, and establishes dictatorship of the proletariat to facilitate the construction of socialism. Socialist revolutions are organized under a vanguard party adhering to scientific socialism, the working class challenges the bourgeois state until it is able to overthrow it entirely and begin to create and strengthen the working class state.

The socialist revolution is distinct from all prior revolutions (e.g. a bourgeois revolution) as it is the first one which is led by and fought for the interests of the exploited majority (working class) against the exploiting minority (capitalists). As a result of this, the socialist revolution does not augment and expand the existing bureaucratic and military state apparatus as previous revolution have done, but destroys it entirely and replaces it with the proletarian dictatorship. The revolutionary process and class struggle persists after the overthrow of the bourgeois state, as the workers' state and vanguard party must work to train the proletariat to hold political power and further develop its consciousness.

See also

• Dictatorship of the proletariat
• Socialist state