(This is the first in the series of blogs that I will be writing in an attempt to brush up my general awareness, my writing skills, and of course, to substantiate the raison detre of my blog: s p a c e. For starters, the blogs will be intensive in facts and figures, with justifiable opinions, added here and there. Content will be sourced from Wikipedia and other miscellaneous sites. Intention will be to repackage the information into simpler forms)
Between the clichéd and the more highly philosophical ideas, associated with the colour red, lie the many different connections with Marxism, Maoism, Communism, Naxalism etc.
Just what are these terms? And how are they related?
MARXISM: It works on the belief that 'non-economic' features (social classes, political structures, ideologies) of a society are the outgrowths of its 'economic' features, as in, the way people collectively produce necessities of life. It proposes how to change and improve society by implementing SOCIALISM. And to get there, Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels suggest a 'class-struggle'.
SOCIALISM: Also called the 'socialistic mode of production', it differentiates between USE-VALUE and EXCHANGE-VALUE. The former refers to satisfaction of wants of human beings and the latter refers to profit-generation. Here lies the 'conflict' between Capitalism and Socialism. Capitalism relies on market forces to generate Monetary-wealth, want-satisfaction being just a by-product, whereas, socio-economic planning is the mainstay of Socialism, whereby it aims to create 'Social-Wealth', and ultimately lead to COMMUNISTIC society.
COMMUNISM: In its purest form, it is just a movement that wants to create a 'class-less' and a 'state-less' society, where economic resources are owned collectively, and there is an abundance of goods and services, such that there is enough for everybody, and the distribution of this abundance is based on the individual's needs.
I personally think, that the 'abundance' of goods and services is a highly utopian wish. By state-less, we not only imply absence of ruling governments, but even the absence of 'different' countries! as Communism believed that workers have no nation.
Now, let us look at the variants of Marxism. Marxism is one of the ideas that has been rendered very hazy and nebulous, because each country, each group, each era, in fact each man, has torn it to shreds and stitched up their own definitions of Marxism, ...so much so, that once Karl Marx said to somebody : “If that is Marxism, then I am not a Marxist”
COMMUNIST STATES: It is basically an oxymoron, in the sense that Communist States have a 'dominant', 'single'-party rule. However, they have described themselves as "socialist", reserving the term "communism" for a future classless society. Which future?! Example : CHINA
SOCIAL DEMOCRACY: It proposes a reformist way to socialism as opposed to the original revolutionist way.
After the World War I, the differences grew so much so that reformists started calling themselves 'Social Democrats' and revolutionists took up the name 'Communists'. The revolutionists even formed Comintern (Communist International) which survived from 1919 to 1943.
MARXISM-LENINISM (Vladimir Lenin) : It is basically the same as Marxism, with the specific emphasis on 'Dictatorship of the Proletariat' as the critical transitional phase between the 'revolt' (class-struggle) and the utopian 'communism' in the society. It suggests specifics for such a 'revolutionary vanguard party' that would steer the transition.
TROTSKYISM (Leon Trotsky) : It emphasises (in Marxism-Leninism ideology) that the transitional phase has to be 'eternal' until it comes into effect 'Globally'...meaning that they feel the need of a 'permanent revolution'.
MAOISM (Mao Zedong) : It is a Chinese adaptation of Marxism-Leninism. It is the official doctrine of the Communist Party of China. It believes in peasants being the main force behind the 'revolution', led by the Proletariat and a vanguard Communist Party. Mao also makes the all-round rural development the priority as opposed to the industry intensive aims (abundant goods and services) of the original Marxism. Interestingly, it favours the use of weapons (this is how we connect it to Naxalism), in the revolutionary stage. Mao said 'political power grows from the barrel of the gun' and the peasantry can be mobilized to undertake a people's war of armed struggle involving Guerilla warfare.
NAXALISM: It refers to the militant Communist groups active in different parts of India, under different organisational envelopes. They have been declared as Terrorist Organisation under Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act 1967. The name derives from Naxalbari, a village in West Bengal, where the movement started. As of 2009, they were spread over 180 districts, mainly in 10 states in India, accounting for about 40% of India's geographical area. Majorly ffected states are: Chhattisgarh, Orissa, Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal, Bihar, Maharashtra, Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh. SALWA JUDUM, an anti-Naxalite movement, in Chhattisgarh, India, started in 2005, as a people's resistance movement against the Naxalites. It started as an uprising of indigenous people, but later received support from the state. Ironically, it got associated with anti-social activities itself. There were allegations of recruitment of Child Soldiers, of Security Forces collaborating with Tribals (Salwa Judum), and things going dirtier (with vandalism and rape). The government of course denied allegations and said that the Human Rights Activists were distorting the truth.
The issue of equating Maoists with Terrorists has become the national debate, more so, with Binayak Sen, being accused of Sedition after he was charged with acting as a courier of letters from a Maoist group to a Corporate personality.
MISCELLANEOUS DATA:
LEFT COMMUNISM: As far as I could make any sense, it demands the presence of a Communist Party, greatly restricted participation in the elections, and probably that revolutionaries moved on the offensive.
ANTI-REVISIONISM: This is basically Marxist-Leninist, only that it opposes any 'revision' in the same.
STRUCTURAL MARXISM: It views Marxism through the eye-glass of Structuralism. Structuralism, if I have to put simply, is a study of any social phenomenon, which is neither the same as 'Reality' nor the same as 'Perception of Reality'. That means, it assumes, that most people are not accurately aware of how things are moving about in this world. They are misguided by 'Definitions' and 'Imaginations'.
WESTERN MARXISM, MARXIST HUMANISM, MARXIST FEMINISM, AUTONOMIST MARXISM are some of the other variants. (for simplified details, please leave a query in the comment box)
NATIONS associated with MARXISM: Here are some of the countries that had governments at some point in the 20th century who at least nominally adhered to Marxism: Afghanistan, Bulgaria, Chile, China, Cuba, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Laos, Mongolia, Nepal, North Korea, Poland, Russia, the USSR and its republics, Yugosavia, Venezuela, Vietnam. In addition, the Indian states of Kerela, Tripura and West Bengal have had Marxist governments, but change takes place in the government due to electoral process.
Between the clichéd and the more highly philosophical ideas, associated with the colour red, lie the many different connections with Marxism, Maoism, Communism, Naxalism etc.
Just what are these terms? And how are they related?
MARXISM: It works on the belief that 'non-economic' features (social classes, political structures, ideologies) of a society are the outgrowths of its 'economic' features, as in, the way people collectively produce necessities of life. It proposes how to change and improve society by implementing SOCIALISM. And to get there, Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels suggest a 'class-struggle'.
SOCIALISM: Also called the 'socialistic mode of production', it differentiates between USE-VALUE and EXCHANGE-VALUE. The former refers to satisfaction of wants of human beings and the latter refers to profit-generation. Here lies the 'conflict' between Capitalism and Socialism. Capitalism relies on market forces to generate Monetary-wealth, want-satisfaction being just a by-product, whereas, socio-economic planning is the mainstay of Socialism, whereby it aims to create 'Social-Wealth', and ultimately lead to COMMUNISTIC society.
COMMUNISM: In its purest form, it is just a movement that wants to create a 'class-less' and a 'state-less' society, where economic resources are owned collectively, and there is an abundance of goods and services, such that there is enough for everybody, and the distribution of this abundance is based on the individual's needs.
I personally think, that the 'abundance' of goods and services is a highly utopian wish. By state-less, we not only imply absence of ruling governments, but even the absence of 'different' countries! as Communism believed that workers have no nation.
Now, let us look at the variants of Marxism. Marxism is one of the ideas that has been rendered very hazy and nebulous, because each country, each group, each era, in fact each man, has torn it to shreds and stitched up their own definitions of Marxism, ...so much so, that once Karl Marx said to somebody : “If that is Marxism, then I am not a Marxist”
COMMUNIST STATES: It is basically an oxymoron, in the sense that Communist States have a 'dominant', 'single'-party rule. However, they have described themselves as "socialist", reserving the term "communism" for a future classless society. Which future?! Example : CHINA
SOCIAL DEMOCRACY: It proposes a reformist way to socialism as opposed to the original revolutionist way.
After the World War I, the differences grew so much so that reformists started calling themselves 'Social Democrats' and revolutionists took up the name 'Communists'. The revolutionists even formed Comintern (Communist International) which survived from 1919 to 1943.
MARXISM-LENINISM (Vladimir Lenin) : It is basically the same as Marxism, with the specific emphasis on 'Dictatorship of the Proletariat' as the critical transitional phase between the 'revolt' (class-struggle) and the utopian 'communism' in the society. It suggests specifics for such a 'revolutionary vanguard party' that would steer the transition.
TROTSKYISM (Leon Trotsky) : It emphasises (in Marxism-Leninism ideology) that the transitional phase has to be 'eternal' until it comes into effect 'Globally'...meaning that they feel the need of a 'permanent revolution'.
MAOISM (Mao Zedong) : It is a Chinese adaptation of Marxism-Leninism. It is the official doctrine of the Communist Party of China. It believes in peasants being the main force behind the 'revolution', led by the Proletariat and a vanguard Communist Party. Mao also makes the all-round rural development the priority as opposed to the industry intensive aims (abundant goods and services) of the original Marxism. Interestingly, it favours the use of weapons (this is how we connect it to Naxalism), in the revolutionary stage. Mao said 'political power grows from the barrel of the gun' and the peasantry can be mobilized to undertake a people's war of armed struggle involving Guerilla warfare.
NAXALISM: It refers to the militant Communist groups active in different parts of India, under different organisational envelopes. They have been declared as Terrorist Organisation under Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act 1967. The name derives from Naxalbari, a village in West Bengal, where the movement started. As of 2009, they were spread over 180 districts, mainly in 10 states in India, accounting for about 40% of India's geographical area. Majorly ffected states are: Chhattisgarh, Orissa, Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal, Bihar, Maharashtra, Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh. SALWA JUDUM, an anti-Naxalite movement, in Chhattisgarh, India, started in 2005, as a people's resistance movement against the Naxalites. It started as an uprising of indigenous people, but later received support from the state. Ironically, it got associated with anti-social activities itself. There were allegations of recruitment of Child Soldiers, of Security Forces collaborating with Tribals (Salwa Judum), and things going dirtier (with vandalism and rape). The government of course denied allegations and said that the Human Rights Activists were distorting the truth.
The issue of equating Maoists with Terrorists has become the national debate, more so, with Binayak Sen, being accused of Sedition after he was charged with acting as a courier of letters from a Maoist group to a Corporate personality.
MISCELLANEOUS DATA:
LEFT COMMUNISM: As far as I could make any sense, it demands the presence of a Communist Party, greatly restricted participation in the elections, and probably that revolutionaries moved on the offensive.
ANTI-REVISIONISM: This is basically Marxist-Leninist, only that it opposes any 'revision' in the same.
STRUCTURAL MARXISM: It views Marxism through the eye-glass of Structuralism. Structuralism, if I have to put simply, is a study of any social phenomenon, which is neither the same as 'Reality' nor the same as 'Perception of Reality'. That means, it assumes, that most people are not accurately aware of how things are moving about in this world. They are misguided by 'Definitions' and 'Imaginations'.
WESTERN MARXISM, MARXIST HUMANISM, MARXIST FEMINISM, AUTONOMIST MARXISM are some of the other variants. (for simplified details, please leave a query in the comment box)
NATIONS associated with MARXISM: Here are some of the countries that had governments at some point in the 20th century who at least nominally adhered to Marxism: Afghanistan, Bulgaria, Chile, China, Cuba, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Laos, Mongolia, Nepal, North Korea, Poland, Russia, the USSR and its republics, Yugosavia, Venezuela, Vietnam. In addition, the Indian states of Kerela, Tripura and West Bengal have had Marxist governments, but change takes place in the government due to electoral process.
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