Liquidationism

For the economic concept, see Liquidationism (economics).

In Leninist theory, liquidationism (Russian: Ликвидаторство) is the ideological abandonment (liquidation) of the vanguard party's program, either in whole or in part, by party members.

Concept

According to the Bolshevik leader Vladimir Lenin, writing in 1909, liquidationism "consists ideologically in negation of the revolutionary class struggle of the socialist proletariat in general, and denial of the hegemony of the proletariat".^[1]

Nikolai Aleksandrovich Rozhkov was identified by Lenin as a liquidationist.^[2]

In his concluding remarks to the 1914 Marxism and Liquidationism symposium, Lenin made the distinction between "Left liquidationism," which is "leaning towards anarchism, and "Right liquidationism," which is "liquidationism proper" and "leans towards liberalism."^[3]

Current use

The term is still used in modern, ideological discussions of the communist left.^[4]

See also

• Vanguardism
• Reformism
• Bolshevism
• Menshevism
• Factions of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party, which later split into Bolsheviks and Mensheviks

References

1. Lenin, Vladimir (11 July 1909). "The Liquidation of Liquidationism". Marxist Internet Archive. Retrieved 3 November 2018.
2. Lenin, Vladimir (3 December 1911). "A Liberal Labour Party Manifesto". Marxist Internet Archive. Retrieved 3 November 2018.
3. Lenin, Vladimir (April 1914). "Concluding remarks to the symposium Marxism and Liquidationism". From Marx to Mao. Retrieved 3 November 2018.
4. Lichtenberg, Christoph (2 June 2017). "Liquidationism Yesterday and Today". International Bolshevik Tendency. Retrieved 3 November 2018.