On April 22nd, 1870, Vladimir Illyich Ulyanov “Lenin,” hero of the Russian Revolution, and architect of the world’s first Socialist state, was born. His contributions to the Marxist canon and to the revolutionary theory and practice of the proletariat throughout the world carries on to this day, in increasing magnitude. Every passing day, he is vindicated. His analysis of imperialism, the right of nations to self-determination, and revolutionary strategy have played a key role in the past century, and have remained ever-more relevant throughout.

He also loved cats!

Some significant works:

What is to be Done?

Imperialism, The Highest Stage of Capitalism

The State and Revolution

“Left-Wing” Communism

The Right of Nations to Self-Determination

Materialism and Empirio-Criticism

The Tax in Kind

Interested in Marxism-Leninism, but don’t know where to start? Check out my “Read Theory, Darn it!” introductory reading list!

  • Cowbee [he/they]@lemmy.mlOP
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    2 days ago

    As a Marxist-Leninist, the biggest distinction is that Marxists and Anarchists have different views of what the State even is, to begin with. As a consequence, what a society that has abolished the state looks entirely different for Marxists and Anarchists. We can’t all get behind the ideas you posited, specifically decentralization as the basis for the economy.

    For Marxists, the state is an instrument of class oppression, and to eliminate it, you must eliminate class. An important note, class is not hierarchy. There exists inter-class hierarchy, such as bourgeois and proletarian, but also intra-class hierarchy, such as managers and workers. A fully publicly owned and planned global economy is what Marxists envision as “Communism.” Without any property distinctions, there is no class, and thus no need for special bodies of armed men to uphold property distinctions, no need for things like property rights, while things like administration remain.

    This is because Marx’s view of Socialism is as it emerges from Capitalism. As Capitalism advances, large industry emerges, and with it cooperative production and increasing complexity in fewer and fewer firms. Marx therefore saw the Proletariat, growing greater in number and the bourgeoisie lesser and lesser as competition dies out, as taking control and directing this new economy in its own interests. It isn’t about reversing trends into decentralized communes, as in Marx’s eyes, this retains class distinctions, as each commune only owns itself, and thus there is no mechanism for equal ownership across communes, and therefore a necessity for a “state” in each commune to protect these rights and competition between communes for production and trade.

    For Anarchists, the state is about hierarchy. Tackling this is the primary objective. This is why when Anarchists judge Marxists on their ability to abolish what Anarchists percieve as the state, they find Marxists invariably fall flat. However, when Marxists are judged on their own merits and own goals, we find Marxists to be quite successful.

    As a side-note, the vanguard structure is a formalization of what already exists, the politically advanced among the revolutionary class. It isn’t distinct from the revolutionary class. I recommend reading The Tyranny of Structurelessness.

    I over-simplified a ton, but I hope this helps! I can also answer any questions you may have. I used to be an Anarchist myself, so that helps smooth miscommunication.

    I also elaborate on this subject here.

    • valentinesmith@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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      2 days ago

      interesting, thanks for writing it down like this.

      If you allow the random question, is this persistence of class between communes also the reason you shifted from anarchism to Marxism? Because I think you do make a persuasive point and would like to know what changed your trajectory/mind.

      • Cowbee [he/they]@lemmy.mlOP
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        2 days ago

        No problem!

        To answer your question, I believe the arguments presented by Marx concerning the ever-increasing complexity of production in large-scale industry paving the way for societal progression naturally towards a planned economy to be more than compelling enough for me to question my prejudice against the various existing Socialist states. That spurned on a lot of personal reading on the various Socialist states and more Marxist theory. Strategically, I find Marxism-Leninism has proven itself in theory and in practice, and it continues to get refined and shaped ever further.