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      Lenin's Misreading of Marx's Critique of the Gotha Programme

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            Abstract

            Lenin's The State and Revolution, written in 1917 on the eve of the October Revolution, introduced into Marxist theory the concept of socialism and communism as two different forms of post-capitalist society defined by the distinct ways in which they distribute consumer goods. Socialism would distribute consumer goods on the basis of the amount of work citizens undertook and retain a state. Only communism would see the completion of the state's “withering away” and distribution “according to need.” This is a conceptual framework that, in the twentieth century, was abused to justify Stalinist practice. Lenin based his theoretical innovation on Marx's discussion in the Critique of the Gotha Programme of two “phases” of “communist society.” In fact there is no basis for Lenin's schema in the writings of Marx. A careful reading of Capital, in particular, demonstrates that Marx wrote no blueprints for how the future society should be organized. He only predicted that it would evolve. For Marx, the state is a political institution that begins to dissolve as soon as the workers seize political power and will not outlast class society.

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            Contributors
            Journal
            10.13169
            jglobfaul
            Journal of Global Faultlines
            Pluto Journals
            20542089
            23977825
            December 2017-February 2018
            : 4
            : 2
            : 95-109
            Article
            jglobfaul.4.2.0095
            10.13169/jglobfaul.4.2.0095
            a34899f6-365c-4816-9e77-4c2022e9a84f
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            Social & Behavioral Sciences

            References

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            2. & (1922) The ABC of Communism . London: Penguin Books.

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            4. Constitution of the USSR (1936) Available at http://www.departments.bucknell.edu/russian/const/1936toc.html.

            5. (1986) Karl Marx's Theory of Revolution, Volume 3: The “Dictatorship of the Proletariat.” New York: Monthly Review Press.

            6. (1987) The “Dictatorship of the Proletariat” from Marx to Lenin . New York: Monthly Review Press.

            7. (18—28 March 1875) Letter to Bebel. Available at https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1875/letters/75_03_18.htm.

            8. (1934) [1877] Anti-Dühring . London: Lawrence and Wishart.

            9. Rereading “Critique of the Gotha Programme” (Tokyo, 2004).

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            11. (December 1916) “The Youth International: A Review.” Available at https://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1916/dec/00d.htm.

            12. (1980) [1918] The State and Revolution, Lenin: Collected Work (Vol. 25). Moscow: Progress Publishers.

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            18. (26 August 2010) “Communist Transition.” Weekly Worker . Available at http://weeklyworker.co.uk/worker/830/communist-transition/.

            19. (10 March 1939) “Report on the Work of the Central Committee to the Eighteenth Congress of the C.P.S.U. (B.).” Available at https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/stalin/works/1939/03/10.htm.

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