Marxism?Leninism is a political ideology combining Marxism (the scientific socialist concepts theorised by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels) and Leninism (Vladimir Lenin's theoretical expansions of Marxism which include anti-imperialism, democratic centralism, and Vanguardist party-building principles). Marxism?Leninism was the official ideology of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and of the Communist International (1919?43), making it the guiding ideology of the world communist movement. As such, it is the most prominent ideology associated with communism.The goal of Marxism?Leninism is the development of a state into a socialist republic through the leadership of a revolutionary vanguard composed of "professional" revolutionaries, an organic part of the working class who come to socialist consciousness as a result of the dialectic of class struggle. The socialist state, representing a "dictatorship of the proletariat" (as opposed to of the bourgeoisie) is primarily or exclusively governed by the party of the revolutionary vanguard through the process of democratic centralism, which Lenin described as "diversity in discussion, unity in action." Through this policy, the communist party (or equivalent) is the supreme political institution of the state and primary force of societal organisation. Marxism?Leninism sees political pluralism, the presence of competition between parties, as an ineffective measure of genuine democracy and rather asserts that, in a socialist society, pluralism only measures division and dysfunction within society.The ultimate goal of Marxism?Leninism is the development of socialism into the full realisation of communism, a classless social system with common ownership of the means of production and with full social equality of all members of society. To achieve this goal, the communist party mainly focuses on the intensive development in industry, science and technology, which lay the basis for continual growth of the productive forces and therein increases the flow of material wealth. All land and natural resources are publicly owned and managed through the Marxist?Leninist state, with varying forms of public ownership of social institutions. In recent decades, Marxist?Leninist states have incorporated market methods of exchange and expanded the role played by the non-state sector in developing the national economy, such as China and Vietnam.The phrase "Marxism?Leninism" was introduced by Joseph Stalin in the 1930s to distinguish the new synthesis of Marxism with the theories of Lenin. However, the Communist Party of the Soviet Union retained Marxism?Leninism in its programme after the denunciation of Stalin, thus making a distinction between Marxism?Leninism and "Stalinism". Marxism?Leninism developed into distinctive variations based on its application to unique local historical conditions, the most notable being Stalinism (based on the theory of Socialism in One Country) and Maoism (based on peasant-based revolution in underdeveloped countries).
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