International Working-men's Association

(First International) The founders of Marxism, Marx and Engels, participated in the “International Workingmen's Association” from 1864 to 1872, where they found their first base of support and a connection with the workers' movement. Based in London, the International found supporteres across Europe and in the U.S.A.





Karl Marx & Fredrick Engels

Founders of Marxist practice and philosophy. Established the ground work of Marxism through an examination of the rise of capitalism, the history of society, and critique of many prevailent philosophies. Established the First International Workers' organisation.

[Marx Biography] [Engels Biography]





The Socialist International

(Second International) In the 1880s, militant workers' movements grew up in all the capitalist countries. Marxists built powerful social-democratic parties which gave political leadership to these movements and transformed Marxism into a worldwide, mass movement.









The Bolsheviks Social-democracy was unable to prevent the First World War, and only one section – the Bolshevik Party in Russia, was able to overthrow their government, pull out of the war and institute a socialist policy. The Bolsheviks called on the workers of all countries to come to their aid.











The Comintern In 1919, the Bolsheviks held a conference attended by revolutionaries fom every corner of the world, and established the Communist International (Comintern); soon there were Communist Parties in every country, drawing the most militant workers to the Bolsheviks.











Soviet Philosophers and Scientists Writers – scientists, philosophers, teachers – in the Soviet Union were obliged to develop their ideas in terms of the official orthodox Marxist dogma. Most of these writers cannot properly be described as Marxists, but nevertheless their work has contributed in some way or another to our understanding of Marxism.







Soviet Marxism Despite the suppression of Trotskyism and the impossibility of open political discussion in Stalin's Soviet Union, a few Russians continued the development of Marxism in Psychology, Medicine, Law and the Sciences. This “non-political Marxism” only dared to show its political colours after Stalin's death.









Western Marxism As it became clear that the world revolution had not spread beyond Soviet Russia, the Communist Parties still exercised great influence, particularly in the workers movement, but some Marxists turned to the unique problems of fighting capitalism in advanced capitalit countries where revolution was no longer on the immediate agenda.













Trotskyism After the victory of Hitler in Germany, Leon Trotsky concluded that the Third International was dead for the purposes of revolution, and launched the Fourth International with his supporters in countries around the world. Trotskyism became an opposition force in the workers' movement everywhere.











Left Communism A number of Marxists, especially in Europe and the US, not only rejected Stalinism, but rejected the whole project of building socialism through state power. These were Marxists, not Anarchists, and they remain a force to this day.













Marxist Humanism Although Marxist Humanism first appeared as a break-away form orthodox Trotskyism, in the 1960s many intellectuals in Eastern Europe and in the Communist Parties in Britain and the US, embraced a Humanist Marxism, emphasising human agency, rather than structural determinism and “iron laws of history” and so on.





Deng Xiaoping

Former longstanding leader of the Chinese Communist Party; purged as a “capitalist roader” during the Cultural Revolution, but returned to power after Mao's death and led the gradual return of China to capitalism.

[Biography]





Branko Pribicevic

Political scientist, member of the Central Committee of the League of Communists of Serbia.

[Biography] Ota Šik

Czech dissident who became Deputy Prime Minister during the “Prague Spring” advocating a “Third Way” between capitalism and communism; in exile, became more of a social democrat of the Western variety.

[Biography]





See also Eurocommunism by Manuel AzcÃ¡rate.

—— New Worker / Communist Currents ——

Mansoor Hekmat

Iranian Marxist. Built the Worker-Communist Party of Iran.



Shahrokh Zamani

Iranian Marxist and trade unionist.



Filemon Lagman

Phillipino Communist. Led the split in the Communist Party of the Philippines in 1991 over strategy of guerilla warfare. Advocated the orientation to the workers movement, combining parliamentary and extra-parliamentary means of struggle.



Geno Perente

Founder and leader of the secretive Communist Party USA (Provisional).





Salvadore Allende

Leader of the Chilean Socialist Party and President of Chile in 1973, when he was overthrown by a US-organised coup.

[Biography]









Guerilla Marxism Some Marxists, in countries where open political debate was impossible, turned instead to military struggle as a form of political organisation, retiring to the countryside and basing themselves on the peasantry, rather than the urban working class.





Maoism In the early 1960s, divisions opened up within the Comintern, with a current sympathetic to the Mao Zedong, as opposed to the Soviet leader Khrushchev, developing a distinct philosophical and political line, emphasising the role of the peasantry.





National Liberation Particularly in the decades after the end of World War Two, communists were in the leadership of national liberation struggles, the leaders of these struggles developed a distinct approach to socialist theory.





African Liberation Movement The struggle against colonialism in Africa, to create independent socialist states, brought forward several generations of heoric fighters, who contributed to the development of Marxist ideas.





Black Liberation From the 18th century up to the present people of colour have resisted oppression by white capitalist powers and have developed a distinct current of revolutionary socialist thinking.





The French Revolution The leaders of the French Revolution were the first to develop modern social theory and laid the basis for the modern socialism. Rousseau traced the origins of inequality to private property, and Babeuf is credited with being the first Communist. The socialist ideas from the French Revolution are one of the sources of Marxism.





Julien La Mettrie

Militant atheist.

[Biography]



Jean-Jacques Rousseau

It has been said that the French Revolution, put Rousseau's philosophy into practice, in particular his idea of the Social Contract. Although he died 20 years before the Revolution, he was its principle theorist.

[Biography]



Jean-Paul Marat

Leader of the left wing of the Revolution, inspired the execution of royalist prisoners which launched the second, radical phase of the Revolution; his murder set off the Great Terror.

[Biography]



Robespierre

Leader of the Jacobins and instigator of the Great Terror, Robespierre was the ultimate “moralist.” His overthrow marked the end of the radical phase of the Revolution.

[Biography] Jacques Roux

Priest who became a leader of the popular democratic Enragés during the French Revolution. He was renowned for the foul and abusive language of his journalism.

[Biography]



Jacques Hébert

Leader of the extreme left-wing during the Revolution and spokesperson of the sans coulottes. Hébert initiated a planned economy before his overthrow, after which the Revolution lost the support of the poor.



Holbach

French materialist and atheistic philosopher.

[Biography]



Gracchus Babeuf (1760-1797) 5+

Rose to prominence in the twilight of the Revolution, convening a running public forum organising for more radical measures. He can be regarded as the first communist and an advocate of popular sovereignty and participatory democracy.

[Biography]

Utopian Socialism Visions of a better society have been a concern of thinkers since ancient times, and a part of the critique of existing conditions. The speculations of the early 19th century Utopians are an important contribution to Marxism. Fourier and Owen in particular were much admired by Marx and Engels.





Thomas More

Thomas More wrote Utopia in 1515, looking forward to a world of individual freedom and equality governed by Reason, at a time when such a vision was almost inconceivable.

[Biography]



James Harrington

Common-Wealth of Oceana was based on universal land-ownership and was a militant republic dedicated to spreading its democratic system to the rest of the world. Cromwell banned it.

[Biography]



Morelly

Little is known of Morelly; Code of Nature was an attempt to provide a systematic philosophical justification of his communist ideas.

[Biography]



Saint-Simon

French Utopian socialist who took part in War of Independence of the United States; opposed Deism and promoted the study of Nature.

[Biography]

Charles Fourier (1772-1837)

French Utopian socialist who criticised the bourgeois society established by the French Revolution. He promoted the role of environment and education in moulding personality.

[Biography]



Robert Owen (1771-1851)

Welsh industrialist and social reformer; formed a model industrial community at New Lanark, Scotland, and pioneered cooperative societies.

[Biography]



Étienne Cabet

His followers, known as the Icarians, established ill-fated utopian communities in Illinois, Missouri, Iowa, and California.

[Biography]





————

Edward Bellamy

American author, famous for his utopian novel set in the year 2000, Looking Backward, published in 1888.

[Biography]



Anarchists and Syndicalists Anarchism is a political current that has existed in the working class movement from its beginning and was an important component of the First International, but parted company with Marxism in the late 19th century.







Feminists From the 18th century up to the present, women fighting against their oppression by patriarchal structures have developed political science, ethics and critical philosophy and contributed to the development of revolutionary theory. Many were Marxists.





Mary Wollstonecraft

English radical who was the first woman to systematically enquire into the causes of women's oppression.

[Full Biography] Harriet Taylor

Friend of John Stuart Mill, and her work was published under his name, one of the earliest arguments for the emancipation of women, in the tradition of classical liberalism.

[Full Biography]

Evelyn Reed

Member of the American Trotskyist movement, socialist feminist, was one of the first to challenge anthropological and other spurious justifications for patriarchy.

[Full Biography] Simone de Beauvoir

Author of The Second Sex, the most significant review of approaches to the critique of women's role in history and modern society. De Beauvoir was an Existentialist.

[Full Biography]





Socialist Populists and Journalists Some writers have advocated the overthrow of capitalism or were outspoken supporters of the Soviet Union, but did not see themselves as Marxists, or may have combined reactionary “populist” rhetoric with calls for socialism. Some writers have contributed to the development of socialism simply by reporting on its struggles in their professional capacity as journalists, often eye-witnesses to revolutionary struggles, although not themselves participants.





Foundations of Political Science The history of political science is inseparable from the art of war and the problems of philosophy, and there is a long history to discussion of the problems of modern political theory. These writers are the pioneers of political science and revolutionary theory.







Philosophy The Value_of_Knowledge archive includes classic works by over 140 writers from the Copernican Revolution up to the present time, centred on problems in the epistemology, the theory of knowledge.







Political Economy Political Economy grew out of moral philosophy in the late 18th century as a new and distinct branch of science, dedicated to understanding how people can live. The critical study of the political economists absorbed much of Karl Marx's life.





