The Coffee Marxist

This is a very detailed guide for beginners, outlining the beliefs of all the factions within the movement. The author (yours truly) is himself is a Marxist-Leninist of the Hoxhaist type.

Marxism

Marx, Engels.
The orthodox Marxist’s main feature is that they reject the ideas of Vladimir Lenin and the concept of the vanguard of the proletariat, instead looking solely at Marx’s original writings. They state that the revolution will be a spontaneous affair-like the Paris Commune-leading straight to the dictatorship of the proletariat and communism and thus that there is no need for a revolutionary party. Their main goals are a world with no money, wages, state, leaders, etc. Most of them are academics who seek to educate the masses of people while waiting for capitalism to make people so miserable that they rebel.

Marxism-Leninism

Marx, Engels, Lenin, Stalin.
Marxism-Leninism develops Marxism from a social and economic theory into a fully fledged political ideology incorporating a key methodology to take power. The most important factor of Leninism is the theory of the vanguard party, which is a communist party of professional revolutionaries to spearhead the workers revolution. Leninism also states that the bourgeois consciousness has so infected the working class under capitalism that workers by themselves are only capable of achieving “trade union consciousness” instead of full class consciousness. The revolutionary party’s job is to raise their awareness of class struggle and promote uprising. According to Marxism-Leninism, the revolution cannot happen spontaneously or gradually, and must take the form of a violent revolution against the state to overthrow capitalism.

Marxism-Leninism is often called by Trotskyists “Stalinism,” but is actually an extension of Leninist thought. Stalin’s theories are virtually the same as Lenin’s. Stalin added the concept of “Socialism in One Country” which corrected Marx’s theory of a world-wide revolution as the only way to true socialism. Stalin maintained that true socialism could be built in a single country. Everyone but Trotskyists maintain this as the correct scientific line. Stalin also added the theory of active antagonism between classes under socialism, which he called the “Aggravation of Class Struggle under Socialism.” Marxism-Leninism takes its chief ideas from Stalin and Lenin’s additions to the theory of Marxism and also stresses the importance of heavy industry and collectivization of agriculture.

Trotskyism

Marx, Engels, Lenin, Trotsky
Trotskyism bases itself on some of the theories of Leninism: the vanguard party, the revolution, et al. However, Trotskyism differs from Lenin and Stalin’s line in several ways. Most importantly, Trotskyists despise Stalin and Marxist-Leninist movements that they deem “Stalinist.” They are highly critical of the leadership of the Soviet Union after Lenin, and generally believe any and all bourgeois propaganda about communist leaders other than Lenin. (i.e. “Stalin killed more people than Hitler.”)

Instead of countering the inflated death tolls for communist leaders that actually DID something, Trotskyists tend to act like liberals in that they compare actual revolution to idealist, abstract ideas. They believe that socialism has never been achieved in any country. All those socialist countries that do exist they term “deformed workers’ states,” and all existing leaders they term “Stalinist.” Trotskyism has never been in power in all of history, the closest to a Trotskyist government being Tito’s Yugoslavia, even though modern Trots condemn even him as “Stalinist.” Trotskyites and other idealistic lefties who label all of these governments anti-socialist are comparing imperfect realities with perfect ideals. Such a comparison can never be made.

Trotsky’s theories stress the importance of spreading the revolution by way of arms internationally, as well as claiming that socialism cannot be built without a world revolution (that is, you cannot create socialism in a single country). Trotskyists also tend to be very anti-peasant and anti-intellectual, stating that the workers themselves are the only ones with revolutionary potential.

Trotskyists are known to be the most sectarian of all communist movements. Trotskyite parties tend to be fairly small, but there are many of them. Unfortunately they make up the bulk of the communist movement in highly developed capitalist nations with anti-Stalin sentiment. They are constantly splitting into new groups, all of which bitterly hate each other. Calling someone a “Trotskyite” or a “Trot” is a pejorative term within the movement, and rightly so.

Anti-Revisionism

Marx, Engels, Lenin, Stalin (Hoxha, Mao, Kim Il-Sung)

“Anti-Revisionism” is not really an ideology, but a term applied by some of the ideologies listed to themselves. Anti-Revisionism indicates a rejection of Khrushchev’s “secret speech” denouncing Stalin. All anti-revisionists take up the line of Marx-Engels-Lenin and Stalin at minimum, though they may also take up the line of Mao, Hoxha or Kim Il-Sung. Many anti-revisionists support the DPRK (North Korea) and it’s common for them to have warm relations with the Korean Workers’ Party.

Maoism

Marx, Engels, Lenin, Stalin, Mao

Maoism is also called Marxism-Leninism-Maoism. Maoists often call themselves Marxist-Leninists, though Mao’s theories differ in several key ways from Marxism-Leninism. Mao Zedong’s theories say that the revolution can be made by rural peasants in colonized countries and by the urban proletariat in alliance with the peasantry within imperialist countries. It is not necessarily the idea of an alliance between workers and peasants that is the defining point of Maoism, since this element has always been a part of Marxism-Leninism, but rather the alliance of classes that would benefit from the revolution, which include the national bourgeoisie. Maoism says that everyone can be part of the party and the revolution regardless of their class background, and tries to get the maximum amount of people possible involved. Because of this, Maoists tend to use the term “masses” a lot instead of simply “working class” or “peasantry.” Within agricultural nations they also use rural guerrilla tactics, which they call a “Protracted Peoples’ War.”

Maoists also uphold the theory of the “Cultural Revolution,” which says that masses of people should be mobilized to spread communism and join party brigades in order to influence the culture from a capitalist or feudal era into a socialist era. The downside of Mao’s methods of doing this is that frequently the masses of people were not totally class conscious, and, as happened during the Cultural Revolution, violence can break out and the party can lose control of the movement. As a result, non-Maoist Marxist-Leninists support a revolution in the realm of culture and art, but one under firm control by the party and not dependant on the spontaneity of the masses.

Maoists usually give Mao credit for concepts he did not invent. For example, Mao stated that a “new bourgeoisie arises within the communist party,” which Maoists give him full credit for. In reality, this theory is interchangeable with Stalin’s “aggravation of class struggle under socialism,” since both state that the class struggle continues under socialism and disappears only when full communism is in place. Another example is the so-called idea of the “mass-line” or going to the masses, seeing what is on their mind and giving it a communist spin. The Maoists say this is unique to them, even though the idea that the party should be in touch with the masses goes all the way back to Marx.

Marxist-Leninists and Maoists generally work together in the same organizations however, since Maoists take mostly correct stances and pay some support to Stalin. Maoism adopts most of the correct stances of Leninism, even though in practice they become negated because of the errors of other additions to Maoism. A more in-depth and contextualized analysis of Maoism in contrast to Marxism-Leninism (such as Enver Hoxha’s “Imperialism and the Revolution”) smashes the myth that Mao’s theories are a natural continuation of Marxism-Leninism.

As a small note, there is also a vein of rather nutty Maoists who call themselves “Third-Worldists,” who believe that all people “First World” are something like an international bourgeoisie and only the “Third World” nations are revolutionary. These people are generally mocked by the movement.

Hoxhaism
Marx, Engels, Lenin, Stalin, Hoxha
Hoxhaists also call themselves Marxist-Leninists. It is the most non-revisionist and orthodox of all the communist factions. It is essentially based around the writings of the four classics plus Enver Hoxha, the leader of the Labor Party of Albania. Hoxhaism is basically the same as Marxism-Leninism, since Hoxha and Stalin are about as similar as Marx and Engels. Hoxha broke with the USSR over Khrushchev’s denouncement of Stalin, as did Mao’s China. Years later however, Hoxha broke with Mao after he started doing some questionable things, such as promoting the “three worlds theory,” not maintaining strict discipline within the party and losing control of the Cultural Revolution, all of which Hoxha viewed as anti-Marxist, adventurist and voluntarist.

Hoxhaism is the same as Marxism-Leninism without the revisionism of Mao. Hoxhaism also incorporates some of the same developments that Maoism did, for instance mass involvement, but sticks more to Marxism-Leninism. Hoxhaism also calls for a Cultural Revolution in socialist society, but with more involvement by the party and the working class.

Juche

Kim Il-Sung, Kim Jong-Il
Juche is a philosophy made by Kim Il-Sung for the conditions of the Korean peninsula. It is the current ideology of North Korea. According to the theory the revolution begins with the people and the people must be lead by a “Great Leader.” Every country must be independent with their own leader. Juche also calls for nationalism and self-sufficiency of independent nations, limiting foreign aid and foreign intervention as much as possible. Marxist-Leninists and Maoists tend to support the DPRK while also criticizing it for being revisionist.