Classics of Marxism
The four classics of Marxism or the four heads of communism, along with other variations, refers to the original Marxist theorists who significantly augmented the body of revolutionary theory. The four classics are Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels, Vladimir Lenin, and Joseph Stalin. Symbols depicting the four classical theorists are also used to represent Marxism–Leninism in general.
Followers of Maoism include Mao Zedong as a head of Marxism for his contributions, some also including Abimael Guzmán for synthesizing Maoism. Others (often belonging to the "Hoxhaist" tendency) uphold Enver Hoxha as a fifth classic.[1]
Classic theorists
The following theorists are considered to be classical theorists by Marxist–Leninists.
Karl Marx
Karl Marx is considered the primary founder of Marxism alongside Engels. Among his many theoretical developments include the development of the materialist conception of history and enumeration of various aspects of political economy, including the role of surplus-value in the capitalist mode of production.[2]
Friedrich Engels
Friedrich Engels is considered the second foundational theorist of Marxism. He was a close partner and friend of Marx who financed and otherwise aided Marx's efforts. When Marx focused on developing matters of political economy, Engels would often focus on developing theory relating to philosophy and sociology. Engels' works include The Principles of Communism, Socialism: Utopian and Scientific, and The German Ideology.
Vladimir Lenin
Vladimir Lenin developed the theory of classical Marxism (i.e. that of Marx and Engels) into what would become Marxism–Leninism — Marxism in the age of imperialism and socialist revolution. He led the Bolsheviks through years of revolutionary struggle against the reactionary Tsarist autocracy until establishing one of the world's first socialist states in 1917 during the Great October Socialist Revolution.[3]
Joseph Stalin
Joseph Stalin is understood to be the fourth classical theorist of Marxism for his leadership of the Soviet Union during its period of socialist construction — one of the first examples of socialism being developed in history. He furthermore took the theories of Lenin and synthesized them into the framework of Leninism.[4]
Other interpretations
Enver Hoxha
Many anti-revisionist Marxist–Leninists regard Enver Hoxha, leader and founder of the People's Socialist Republic of Albania and Party of Labor of Albania, to be the fifth classical theorist of Marxism. He is considered to have this status due to his life-long struggle against Soviet and Chinese revisionism, defense of Marxist–Leninist principles in an era of mass opportunism, and exposures of modern imperialism and social-imperialism in works such as Imperialism and the Revolution.[1]
Maoist
Followers of Mao Zedong commonly regard him to be a classical theorist of Marxism. Marxist–Leninist–Maoists in particular regard both Mao Zedong and Abimael Guzmán of the Shining Path to be leading theorists alongside (or in some cases, instead of) Joseph Stalin. Maoists believe this placement is warranted due to Mao and Guzmán having supposedly raised Marxism to a third and higher stage of development above Leninism.[5]
Gallery
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Marx, Engels, and Lenin.
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Marx, Engels, Lenin, and Stalin.
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Marx, Engels, Lenin, Stalin, Mao, and Gonzalo.
See also
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 "Who are the Five Classics of Marxism-Leninism?". The Espresso Stalinist
- ↑ Friedrich Engels (1878). Anti-Dühring. Available on the Marxists Internet Archive.
"These two great discoveries, the materialist conception of history and the revelation of the secret of capitalistic production through surplus-value, we owe to Marx. With these discoveries socialism became a science. The next thing was to work out all its details and relations."
- ↑ Joseph Stalin (1924). Foundations of Leninism – Introduction
"Leninism is Marxism of the era of imperialism and the proletarian revolution. To be more exact, Leninism is the theory and tactics of the proletarian revolution in general, the theory and tactics of the dictatorship of the proletariat in particular. Marx and Engels pursued their activities in the pre-revolutionary period (we have the proletarian revolution in mind), when developed imperialism did not yet exist, in the period of the proletarians’ preparation for revolution, in the period when the proletarian revolution was not yet an immediate practical inevitability. But Lenin, the disciple of Marx and Engels, pursued his activities in the period of developed imperialism, in the period of the unfolding proletarian revolution, when the proletarian revolution had already triumphed in one country, had smashed bourgeois democracy and had ushered in the era of proletarian democracy, the era of the Soviets."
"That is why Leninism is the further development of Marxism." - ↑ Lenin and Stalin as Mass Leaders (1939). William Z. Foster.
- ↑ Ragnar Røed (September, 2018). "Why Maoism – What is Maoism?". Tjen Folket. Retrieved April 28, 2025.
"5. Maoism is developed in the first place by six great communist leaders: Marx, Engels, Lenin, Stalin, Mao, and Gonzalo."