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Marxism And Its Effects On The World 's Republic Of China

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During the nineteenth century, in the midst of increased industrialization, worker exploitation, and growing gaps in wealth, Karl Marx formulated a political theory which would go on to remodel global politics in an unprecedented manner. Marxism, as it would later be known, or more generally, Communism, was destined to guide countless nations’ paths to “liberation.” Two countries in particular, the USSR and the People’s Republic of China, can trace their rapid escapes from “backwardness” into industrial powerhouses, and international superpower and rising superpower, respectively, to their adoption, as well as their exclusive interpretations, of Marxism. However, such flexible and broad adaptations of Marxism to these nations’ …show more content…

The aforementioned information is detailed within The Marxian Revolution Chapters 1 and 3. So where did Lenin and Mao diverge from and align with the ideas of Marx? From the start, Lenin was working with a Russia that did not yet meet the criteria of a conscious proletariat, indicating readiness for revolution. As such, he amended Marxism to better suit the circumstances of the Russian population. The first manner in which Lenin contrasts with Marx is through his utilization of a peasant uprising, rather than a worker uprising. At that point in Russia’s history, Russia was still in a feudal phase, where industry has not yet taken off, and the vast majority of the population was peasants, whom were controlled by landlords as well as the Tsarist Government. Lenin justified the propriety of revolution by asserting that Russia was in a state of capitalism. Lenin further diverged from Marx in the fact that Marx believed that the revolution should be lead by the self aware proletariat, rather than merely consisting of proletarian participants. However, lacking both a proletariat majority, as well as a conscious class, Lenin determined that the revolution must be lead by an elite base. As mentioned in Comrades!, Marx greatly feared a preemptive revolution, and it is plausible that such a faulty foundation of Communism in Russia is what eventually lead to the USSR’s downfall. Nonetheless, Lenin proceeded with his Bolshevik Revolution and disbanded with

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