''Fundamentals of Marxism–Leninism'' is a book by a group of Soviet authors headed by

Otto Wille Kuusinen Otto Wilhelm "Wille" Kuusinen (; russian: О́тто Вильге́льмович Ку́усинен, Otto Vilgelmovich Kuusinen; 4 October 1881 – 17 May 1964) was a Finnish-born Soviet communist and, later, Soviet politician, literary his ...

. The work is considered one of the fundamental works on dialectical materialism and on Leninist

communism Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a ...

. The book remains important in understanding the philosophy and politics of the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

; it consolidates the work of important contributions to Marxist theory.

Publication

The first edition of ''The Fundamentals'' was published in 1960. A second revised edition was published in 1963. The text draws heavily on the works of

Karl Marx Karl Heinrich Marx (; 5 May 1818 – 14 March 1883) was a German philosopher, economist, historian, sociologist, political theorist, journalist, critic of political economy, and socialist revolutionary. His best-known titles are the 1848 ...

and

Vladimir Lenin Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov. ( 1870 – 21 January 1924), better known as Vladimir Lenin,. was a Russian revolutionary, politician, and political theorist. He served as the first and founding head of government of Soviet Russia from 1917 to 1 ...

, with additional references to

Friedrich Engels Friedrich Engels ( ,"Engels"
'' Nikita Khrushchev Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev (– 11 September 1971) was the First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1953 to 1964 and chairman of the country's Council of Ministers from 1958 to 1964. During his rule, Khrushchev s ...

Synopsis

Part One: The Philosophical Foundations of The Marxist-Leninist World Outlook

Part One of Fundamentals covers materialist and

idealist In philosophy, the term idealism identifies and describes metaphysical perspectives which assert that reality is indistinguishable and inseparable from perception and understanding; that reality is a mental construct closely connected to id ...

philosophy, the use of dialectics within materialist philosophy and its opposition to

metaphysics Metaphysics is the branch of philosophy that studies the fundamental nature of reality, the first principles of being, identity and change, space and time, causality, necessity, and possibility. It includes questions about the nature of conscio ...

, and develops a theory of knowledge, truth, necessity, and human freedom. The text argues that only a consistently materialist approach to philosophy can be truly scientific, since it requires the recognition of the objective existence of matter, as outside and independent of the human mind.

Part Two: The Materialist Conception of History

Part Two of the work covers Marxist theories of history, or

historical materialism Historical materialism is the term used to describe Karl Marx's theory of history. Marx locates historical change in the rise of class societies and the way humans labor together to make their livelihoods. For Marx and his lifetime collaborat ...

, by outlining the role of the

mode of production In the Marxist theory of historical materialism, a mode of production (German: ''Produktionsweise'', "the way of producing") is a specific combination of the: * Productive forces: these include human labour power and means of production (tools, ...

class Class or The Class may refer to: Common uses not otherwise categorized * Class (biology), a taxonomic rank * Class (knowledge representation), a collection of individuals or objects * Class (philosophy), an analytical concept used differentl ...

, class struggles, the state and the individual in social development.

Part Three: Political Economy of Capitalism

Part Three summarizes Marx's

Das Kapital ''Das Kapital'', also known as ''Capital: A Critique of Political Economy'' or sometimes simply ''Capital'' (german: Das Kapital. Kritik der politischen Ökonomie, link=no, ; 1867–1883), is a foundational theoretical text in materialist phi ...

and Lenin's theory of Imperialism.

Part Four: Theory and Tactics of the International Communist Movement

Part Four covers the Marxist–Leninist strategy of the international communist and working-class movement.

Part Five: Socialism and Communism

Part Five summarizes the main features of the socialist mode of production.

External links

*
Fundamentals of Marxism-Leninism
', second revised edition in PDF format *
Fundamentals of Marxism-Leninism
', original 1960 edition in PDF format {{DEFAULTSORT:Fundamentals of Marxism-Leninism Marxist books