An educational resource for Anti-Colonial Marxist Leninist theory.
Synonymous with “mode of production”. The system which manufactures the material needs necessary for life, which includes both the productive forces of a society (its collective labour, the instruments used for labour, as well as raw materials) and the relations of production (the necessary social relationships developed to survive and produce things). See Superstructure.
Synonymous with capitalist or ruling class. The class in capitalist society who owns the general means of production as private property, such as business executives who own a company that employs the workers. See Capitalism, Proletariat.
A society based on the exchange of commodities with a clear class divide between those who own the means of production (the bourgeoisie) and those who sell their labor capacity to the owners of the means of production (the proletariat). See Bourgeoisie, Proletariat.
Hierarchical social strata based on relations to the ownership of production (factories, businesses, etc.).
The resulting dialectical struggle of the antagonisms between an oppressor class and an oppressed class. See Capitalism, Class, Feudalism.
A hierarchical social system which is based upon the relations of a colonies ownership by an colonial power, thus typically creating or perpetuating a racial mode of oppression. See Imperialism, Neo-Colonialism, Race, the Colonialism/Imperialism Guide.
A society in which both class and the state have been abolished. See Socialism, “Principles of Communism“.
Cultural imperialism is the set of ideas, concepts and agencies used to structure the behavior of a people in accordance with the will of the oppressor/imperial culture. It is also the creation and maintenance of unequal relationships between civilizations, favoring the culture of the more economically powerful civilization.
In the media and online, cultural imperialism still means powerful cultures so "generously" sharing their ways with smaller less powerful places around the world, in which the members of imperialized cultures forsake their traditional values and even lose their cultural identities when they are solely exposed to Western media. See Colonialism, Imperialism, the Colonialism/Imperialism Guide.
A fusion of both Hegel’s dialectics and Feuerbach’s materialism, it understands reality to be purely a physical one, in which consciousness (thoughts, emotions, etc) is an extension developed from matter. Since matter is always changing, this dialectical view is prevalent within nature. See Dialectics, “What is Dialectical Materialism?“
A framework for viewing the world as comprising of concrete, interconnected objects further consisting of contradictory elements joined together, in opposition to metaphysics. See Dialectical Materialism, Metaphysics.
A society where the vanguard, and thereby the proletariat, replace the bourgeoisie as the ruling class. From this system, a true democracy for the people instead of previous imitation of one set in place by the capitalists. See Bourgeoisie, Vanguard.
An extremely reactionary capitalist ideology which comes to power significantly through the ruling class’ sponsorship and funding. In addition to previously mentioned characteristics, its other aspects also includes that of xenophobic nationalism, undemocratic hierarchies, religious fanaticism, and a disdain of the equality of marginalised groups. Often formed within periods in history when the contradictions within capitalist society can no longer be contained within the framework of a bourgeois “democracy”. See Capitalism.
A broad term referring to any ideology whose focus is the abolition of the patriarchy. See the Feminist Reading Guide.
A society which typically is associated with smaller scale agriculture done by the serfs who work on the land that the lords own. This society differs from capitalism (though it is a direct predecessor) as the classes of its citizens is defined from inheritance and the exploitation of labour is far more visible. See Capitalism.
See Monopoly Capital.
An application of Dialectical Materialism towards history. It is predicated on the understanding of history as a developing thing based upon the society’s mode of production. See Dialectical Materialism, Mode of Production, “Dialectical and Historical Materialism“.
The opposite of Materialism, it understands reality to be composed of ideas which exist in the abstract rather than being developed from practise. This inevitably leads to the belief that truth (which is also abstracted) can be found by merely thinking. See Materialism.
A stage in capitalist development in which colonial expansion cannot continue without direct competition between large nations, and capital concentrates to the point that finance or monopoly capital emerges. See Capitalism, Colonialism, Neo-Colonialism, Finance Capital, Monopoly Capital, the Colonialism/Imperialism Guide.
The class that is degraded and downtrodden upon within industrial sectors, including those who are frequently unemployed, houseless, prostitutes, etc. Historically served as a part of fascist movements during times of struggle under capitalism. See Fascism.
A comprehensive revolutionary ideology which seeks guide the working class into building communism. As such, it is comprised of three parts: Dialectical Materialism, Political Economy, and the application of these two into the development of Socialism. See Communism, Dialectical Materialism, Proletariat, Socialism, “The Three Sources and Three Component Parts of Marxism“.
An extension of Marxism created by Lenin to include an analysis of imperialism as well as an expansion of socialist praxis and the tactics of the dictatorship of the proletariat. See Dictatorship of the Proletariat, Marxism, Imperialism, “Foundations of Leninism“.
A term for the larger group of people, when compared to the vanguard, who are less committed to revolutionary movements, joining usually at the decisive moments which consequentially is what creates societal change. See Vanguard.
A philosophical trend which asserts that behaviors, thoughts, etc. are a part of and created by the material world, as opposed to idealism which asserts that the mind creates the material world to some extent or another. See Dialectical Materialism, Idealism.
In Aristotelian philosophy it refers to the study of that which is beyond the physical realm, that which cannot be experienced or sensed. Applied to a Marxist view, it comes into contention with dialectics since it abstracts concepts into static objects without noting the relationships that make them up. See Dialectics.
An enterprise which has gained control over most or all of any specific industry. See Finance Capital.
A stage of colonialism in which control by the oppressor nation shifts from direct physical ownership to indirect economic domination through economic and political control. See Colonialism, Imperialism, the Colonialism/Imperialism Guide.
Synonymous with worker/working class. The class in capitalist society who generally engages in wage labor and is responsible for most of society’s production. See Bourgeoisie, Capitalism.
An ideology which wishes to stagnate or shut down revolutionary movements to progress society forwards to its next stage of development, thus either preserving the status quo. See Fascism, Revolutionary.
Sometimes synonymous with Communism. The transitional stage between capitalism and communism in which the workers control the state, and the capitalist class is removed. See Communism, “Principles of Communism“.
Anything that is not immediately related to the production within a society, including its ideology, religions, culture, media, etc. While it can affect the mode of production, it is instead often influenced by it, since the nature of their relationship is predominant. See Base.
A term for the people who are well committed and organised in order to take a leading role in the revolutionary struggle. It is the vanguard’s job to educated and direct the masses towards societal change. See Mass.
Commodified labor in which the worker sells their ability to work to someone who owns the means of production. See Bourgeoisie, Capitalism, Proletariat, “Wage Labor and Capital“.