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Lenin Was Not A Marxist

It is erroneous to entitle Vladimir Lenin a Marxist. In his What Is to Be Done?, and The State and Revolution, Lenin discusses many Marxist categories, including the development of proletarian consciousness, the determined path of History and the inevitability of communism, and the relationship between socialism and internationalism. Vladimir Lenin’s insurgent writings represent a significant departure from the speculative writings of Karl Marx. In my essay I will show that Lenin should not legitimately describe himself as a Marxist, and that Leninism as a political philosophy is distinct from Marxism. In my essay, by differentiating Marxist and Leninist, I hope to clear up the common intellectual confusion that arises when applying such terms to a theorist and revolutionary like Lenin.
Literature and conversation regularly applies the single term ‘Marxism’ to the thought and practice of the political thinker and visionary Vladimir Lenin. Referring to Lenin as a Mar...

Posted by: Janet Valerio

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