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Left communism, or thecommunist left, describes a range of positions held by theleft wing ofcommunism, which criticises the political ideas and practices held byMarxist–Leninists andsocial democrats.[1] Left communists assert positions which they regard as more authenticallyMarxist than the views of Marxism–Leninism espoused by theCommunist International after itsBolshevization byJoseph Stalin and during itssecond congress.[2][3][4] There have been two primary currents of left communism sinceWorld War I, namely the Italian left and the Dutch–German left.
The Italian communist left tends to followBordigism (though a smallerDamenite current exists) and considers itself to beLeninist, but denounces Marxism–Leninism as a form ofbourgeoisopportunism materialized in theSoviet Union under Stalin. The Italian current of left communism was historically represented by theItalian Socialist Party and theCommunist Party of Italy but today is embodied in theInternationalist Communist Party of Italy,International Communist Party, and theInternational Communist Current.
The Dutch–German left split fromVladimir Lenin prior to Stalin's rule and supports a firmlycouncil communist andlibertarian Marxist viewpoint as opposed to the Italian left which emphasised the need for an international revolutionary party.[5] The Dutch–German current of left communism was historically represented by theCommunist Workers' Party of Germany,General Workers' Union of Germany, and theCommunist Workers' International.
Left communism differs from most other forms of Marxism in believing that communists should not participate inbourgeois democratic elections, and some argue against participating in trade unions. However, many left communists split over their criticism of theBolsheviks.Council communists criticised the Bolsheviks for use of the party form and emphasised a more autonomous organisation of the working class, without political parties.
Although she was murdered in 1919 before left communism became a distinct tendency,Rosa Luxemburg has been heavily influential for most left communists, both politically and theoretically. Proponents of left communism have includedHerman Gorter,Antonie Pannekoek,Otto Rühle,Karl Korsch,Amadeo Bordiga andPaul Mattick.[2] Other proponents of left communism have includedOnorato Damen,Jacques Camatte, andSylvia Pankhurst. Later prominent theorists are shared with other tendencies such asAntonio Negri, a founding theorist of theautonomist tendency.[6]
Two major traditions can be observed within left communism, namely theDutch–German current and the Italian current.[7] The political positions those traditions share are opposition topopular fronts, to many kinds ofnationalism and nationalliberation movements and toparliamentarianism.[citation needed]
The historical origins of left communism come fromWorld War I.[8] Most left communists are supportive of theOctober Revolution in Russia, but retain a critical view of its development. However, some in the Dutch–German current would in later years come to reject the idea that the revolution had aproletarian orsocialist nature, arguing that it had simply carried out the tasks of thebourgeois revolution by creating astate capitalist system.[9]
Left communism first came into focus as a distinct movement around 1918. Its essential features were a stress on the need to build acommunist party orworkers' council entirely separate from thereformist andcentrist elements who "betrayed the proletariat", opposition to all but the most restricted participation inelections and an emphasis on militancy. Apart from this, there was little in common between the two wings. Only the Italians accepted the need for electoral work at all for a very short period of time which they later vehemently opposed, attracting criticism fromVladimir Lenin in"Left-Wing" Communism: An Infantile Disorder.[10]
Left Bolshevism emerged in 1907 as theVpered group challengedVladimir Lenin's perceivedauthoritarianism and parliamentarianism. The group includedAlexander Bogdanov,Maxim Gorky,Anatoly Lunacharsky,Mikhail Pokrovsky,Grigory Aleksinsky, Stanislav Volski andMartyn Liadov. TheOtzovists, or Recallists, advocated the recall ofRSDLP representatives from theThird Duma. Bogdanov and his allies accused Lenin and his partisans of promotingliberal democracy through "parliamentarism at any price".[11]: 8
The faction largely died out by the end of 1918, as its leaders accepted that much of their program was unrealistic under the circumstances of theRussian Civil War and as the policies ofWar Communism satisfied their demands for a radical transformation of the economy. TheMilitary Opposition and theWorkers' Opposition inherited some characteristics and members of the Left Bolsheviks, as didGavril Myasnikov'sWorkers Group of the Russian Communist Party during the debates on theNew Economic Policy and the succession to Lenin. Most Left Bolsheviks were affiliated with theLeft Opposition in the 1920s, and were expelled from the party in 1927 and later killed duringJoseph Stalin'sGreat Purge.[12]
Examples of left communism ideological currents existed in China during theGreat Proletarian Cultural Revolution (GPCR). For example, the Hunan rebel group theShengwulian argued for "smashing" the existing state apparatus and establishing a "People's Commune of China" based on the democratic ideals of theParis Commune.[13]
The uprisings of May 1968 led to a large resurgence of interest in left communist ideas in France where various groups were formed and published journals regularly until the late 1980s when the interest started to fade.[14] A tendency calledcommunization was invented in the early 1970s by French left communists, synthesizing different currents of left communism. It remains influential in libertarian marxist and left communist circles today.[15] Outside of France, various small left communist groups emerged, predominantly in the leading capitalist countries.[16][17][18][19] In the late 1970s and early 1980s theInternationalist Communist Party initiated a series of conferences of the communist left to engage those new elements, also attended by theInternational Communist Current.[20] As a result of these, in 1983 the International Bureau for the Revolutionary Party (later renamed as the Internationalist Communist Tendency) was established by theInternationalist Communist Party and the BritishCommunist Workers' Organisation.[21]
Prominent post-1968 proponents of left communism have includedPaul Mattick andMaximilien Rubel. Prominentleft communist groups existing today include theInternational Communist Party, theInternational Communist Current and theInternationalist Communist Tendency.[22] In addition to the left communist groups in the direct lineage of the Italian and Dutch traditions, a number of groups with similar positions have flourished since 1968, such as theworkerist andautonomist movements in Italy; Kolinko, Kurasje, Wildcat;[23] Subversion and Aufheben in England;Théorie Communiste, Echanges et Mouvements and Démocratie Communiste in France; TPTG[24] and Blaumachen[25] in Greece; Kamunist Kranti in India; and Collective Action Notes and Loren Goldner in the United States.
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