What is revisionism?
Revisionism, or right-opportunism, is any position which seeks to alter the core theory of Marxism in order to replace its proletarian character with a bourgeois one. It is a tendency “internal” to Marxism which presents itself as it in order to deceive the workers.
Why is revisionism bad?
Revisionism has the universal character of destroying the communist movement and socialist society anywhere it’s gained power. There are countless examples of this, but the most major ones include the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics after 1956 (when Khrushchev seized power) and the People’s Republic of China after 1976 (when the Gang of Four was overthrown and the Cultural Revolution ended).
Revisionism, or Right opportunism, is a bourgeois trend of thought that is even more dangerous than dogmatism. The revisionists, the Right opportunists, pay lip service to Marxism; they too attack “dogmatism”. However, what they are really attacking is the quintessence of Marxism. They oppose or distort materialism and dialectics, oppose or try to weaken the people’s democratic dictatorship and the leading role of the Communist Party, and oppose or try to weaken socialist transformation and socialist construction. After the basic victory of the socialist revolution in our country, there are still a number of people who vainly hope to restore the capitalist system and fight the working class on every front, including the ideological one. Moreover, their right-hand men in this struggle are the revisionists. —Mao Zedong, “On the Correct Handling of Contradictions Among the People”
In both of the aforementioned ex-socialist states, capitalism was restored soon after the revisionist turn.
Do any socialist states exist in the modern age?
In short, no. Modern China is a social-imperialist state. Cuba, Laos, Vietnam, and the DPRK (North Korea) are semi-colonies of either Russia or China, having restored capitalism decades ago.
What are examples of revisionism?
Many instances of revisionism exist, but for the sake of brevity, here are the highlights:
- Khrushchevism/Brezhnevism: Replaced the dictatorship of the proletariat with the “dictatorship of the whole people” which rejected the Marxist conception of the state and the continuation of class struggle under socialism.
- Dengism/“Socialism with Chinese characteristics”: Denies the role of class struggle under socialism, seeking class collaboration, replaced the Chinese proletarian state with a dictatorship of the bourgeoisie, and put all focus onto the development of the productive forces over class struggle
- Social democracy (e.g. Kautskyism, Bertsteinism): Rejected dialectics and revolution itself with peaceful and gradual “evolution” into socialism, rejected the Leninist conception of imperialism, adopted bourgeois nationalism and movementism
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