“Present-day thinking on Marx and Engels’s strategy is often muddled by a curious misunderstanding. We tend to visualise a contrast between ‘developed’ countries like Germany, France and England on the one hand and ‘backward’ ones like Russia on the other. But how ‘developed’ were countries like Germany, France and England in 1848 or 1871? OnlyContinue reading “Misunderstandings Regarding Proletarian Leadership and the Peasant Question in Marxism”
Category Archives: Karl Marx
The Manifesto on the Disappearance of National Differences
“National differences and contrasts are already tending to disappear more and more as the bourgeoisie develops, as free trade becomes more general, as the world market grows in sire and importance, as manufacturing conditions and the resulting conditions of life become more uniform.” — Karl Marx and F. Engels, “The Communist Manifesto”
The CPSU(B), Gosplan and the Question of the Transition to Communist Society in the Soviet Union 1939-1953
by Vijay Singh Marxism recognises the primary role of the industrial working class in the democratic and socialist revolutions and in the transition to communist society. In the Communist Manifesto Marx and Engels indicated that of ‘all the classes that stand face to face with the bourgeoisie today, the proletariat alone is a really revolutionaryContinue reading “The CPSU(B), Gosplan and the Question of the Transition to Communist Society in the Soviet Union 1939-1953”
Karl Marx on Alienated Life Under Capitalism
“By counting the most meagre form of life (existence) as the standard, indeed, as the general standard – general because it is applicable to the mass of men. He turns the worker into an insensible being lacking all needs, just as he changes his activity into a pure abstraction from all activity. To him, therefore,Continue reading “Karl Marx on Alienated Life Under Capitalism”
Lin Biaoism and the Third World: How Idealism Distorts Class
by Espresso Stalinist An odd phenomenon is haunting the halls of Maoism – a chauvinist set of ideas loosely forged from the writings of Chinese military officer and politician Lin Biao. These ideas, to the extent to which they form coherent ideology at all, can roughly be termed “Lin Biaoism.” To be perfectly clear, IContinue reading “Lin Biaoism and the Third World: How Idealism Distorts Class”
Marxism vs. Indigenism: An Anti-Critique of Ward Churchill
This article was posted in 2008 by Rowland Keshena on a blog which is no longer active. Though there are some very pronounced ideological problems with this essay (particularly its references to “Stalinism,” as well as the “anthropocentrism” of Marxism and the idea that the concept of domination of nature by man is somehow “Judeo-Christian,” itContinue reading “Marxism vs. Indigenism: An Anti-Critique of Ward Churchill”
Engels in the Struggle for Revolutionary Marxism
D.Z. Manuilsky Speech on the Fortieth Anniversary of the death of Friedrich Engels, delivered at the Seventh Congress of the Communist International, August 5, 1935 The Seventh World Congress of the Communist International was held in Moscow from July 25 to August 20, 1935. Contents I. Engels and His Role in the Creation of ScientificContinue reading “Engels in the Struggle for Revolutionary Marxism”
“Theses on Art” from the League of Socialist Artists
Introduction from Alliance for web presentation (Alliance 2000). The “Theses on Art,” were put forward in 1972, by the “League of Socialist Artists”; and the “Marxist-Leninist Organisation of Britain (MLOB).” The latter was the progenitor of the Communist League (CL). This article was first re-printed by Alliance in hard copy with poems of Nazim Hikmet, asContinue reading ““Theses on Art” from the League of Socialist Artists”
Was Stalin’s View on Art Different from that of Marx and Engels?
This article was published by Alliance (Marxist-Leninist) as part of the publication Alliance, issue #53, “Aesthetics and Revolution – Essays and Talks.” A talk given to commemorate Bill Bland at Conway Hall, London, September 2001 Preamble This is not the occasion to dwell on Bill’s enormous contributions to the Marxist-Leninist movement in both theory andContinue reading “Was Stalin’s View on Art Different from that of Marx and Engels?”
Bill Bland: Stalin & the Arts – On Marxist-Leninist Aesthetics
This article was published by Alliance (Marxist-Leninist) as part of the publication Alliance, issue #53, “Aesthetics and Revolution – Essays and Talks.” Preface This talk was given by Bill Bland to the ‘Stalin Society’ in 1993. He later expanded this talk in some detail, into the manuscript here. It gives a history of Socialist RealismContinue reading “Bill Bland: Stalin & the Arts – On Marxist-Leninist Aesthetics”
Helen Yaffe – Ernesto ‘Che’ Guevara: A Rebel against Soviet Political Economy
Helen Yaffe is author of Che Guevara: The Economics of Revolution In January 1962 Guevara told colleagues in Cuba’s Ministry of Industries (MININD): ‘In no way am I saying that financial autonomy of the enterprise with moral incentives, as it is established in the socialist countries, is a formula which will impede progress to socialism’.[1]Continue reading “Helen Yaffe – Ernesto ‘Che’ Guevara: A Rebel against Soviet Political Economy”
Che Guevara and the Political Economy of Socialism
Rafael Martinez Che Guevara is widely known to the world as the romantic-idealist revolutionary. The economic thought of Che Guevara has not really been widely publicised as the Argentinean born revolutionary is commonly known for his works on the guerrilla warfare, whose underlying idealist and voluntarist approaches to the struggle of the oppressed masses againstContinue reading “Che Guevara and the Political Economy of Socialism”
Karl Marx on the Jewish Question
This article was published by Alliance (Marxist-Leninist) as part of the publication Alliance, issue #30, “Marx, Lenin and Stalin on Zionism.” Marx’s Views There can be little doubt that the position of Germany Jewry was that of a discriminated section of the German people. This is attested to even in the biographies of the fewContinue reading “Karl Marx on the Jewish Question”
Marx, Lenin & Stalin on Zionism: Introduction & Preface
Preface Bourgeois nationalists, whether of Zionist and Pan-Islamic persuasions, both accuse the USSR of the socialist era (from 1917-1953) of racism, aimed against either Jews or Arabs respectively. But, in reality Lenin and Stalin gave an even-handed and single reply, to both the Pan-Islamists and to the Zionists. This reply was to eschew a narrowContinue reading “Marx, Lenin & Stalin on Zionism: Introduction & Preface”
Marx and Engels on Islam
This article was published by Alliance (Marxist-Leninist) as part of the publication Alliance, issue #51, “Pan-Arabic or Pan-Islamic ‘Socialism.’” Both Marx and Engels wrote only in passing on Islam. However they provide some insights. Their view can be summarised briefly, in three main points: (i) That the relationship between Jews and the Arabs (Bedouin) wasContinue reading “Marx and Engels on Islam”
The Espresso Stalinist 