Revolutionary defeatism is a concept made most prominent by

Vladimir Lenin Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov ( 187021 January 1924), better known as Vladimir Lenin, was a Russian revolutionary, politician and political theorist. He was the first head of government of Soviet Russia from 1917 until Death and state funeral of ...

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

. It is based on the

Marxist Marxism is a political philosophy and method of socioeconomic analysis. It uses a dialectical and materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to analyse class relations, social conflic ...

idea of class struggle. Arguing that the proletariat could not win or gain when fighting a war under

capitalism Capitalism is an economic system based on the private ownership of the means of production and their use for the purpose of obtaining profit. This socioeconomic system has developed historically through several stages and is defined by ...

, Lenin declared its true enemy is the imperialist leaders who sent their lower classes into battle. Workers would gain more from their own nations' defeats, he argued, if the war could be turned into civil war and then international revolution. Initially rejected by all but the more radical at the

socialist Socialism is an economic ideology, economic and political philosophy encompassing diverse Economic system, economic and social systems characterised by social ownership of the means of production, as opposed to private ownership. It describes ...

Zimmerwald Conference in 1915, the concept appears to have gained support from more and more socialists, especially in

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

in 1917 after it was forcefully reaffirmed in Lenin's " April Theses" as Russia's war losses continued, even after the February Revolution as the

Provisional Government A provisional government, also called an interim government, an emergency government, a transitional government or provisional leadership, is a temporary government formed to manage a period of transition, often following state collapse, revoluti ...

kept them in the conflict. Revolutionary defeatism was also a policy of the International Communist Party under Amadeo Bordiga, which saw

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

as a reactionary war between two opposing empires, in contrast to the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and

Chinese Communist Party The Communist Party of China (CPC), also translated into English as Chinese Communist Party (CCP), is the founding and One-party state, sole ruling party of the People's Republic of China (PRC). Founded in 1921, the CCP emerged victorious in the ...

who were then allied with Great Britain and the United States in a continuation of Dmitrov's Comintern Popular Front anti-fascist politics, which treated the war as a progressive fight for freedom and liberation from the

Nazi Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...

regime. During World War I in the United Kingdom, the British socialist movement included a small minority of revolutionary defeatists such as John Maclean. Using Lenin's terminology, revolutionary defeatism can be contrasted to revolutionary defencism and to social patriotism or social chauvinism.{{cn, date=May 2024

References

Communist terminology Russian Revolution Vladimir Lenin World War I propaganda

See also

References