PRINCIPLES OF MARXISM-LENINISM:
A STUDY COURSE
SYLLABUS
Class One:
The Development of Society.
http://ml-review.ca/aml/CLASSES/Course1-CL.htm
Class Two:
How Capitalism Works: Part One.
http://ml-review.ca/aml/CLASSES/Course2-CL.htm
Class Three:
How Capitalism Works, Part Two.
http://ml-review.ca/aml/CLASSES/Course3-CL.htm
Class Four:
The State and the Road to Socialism.
http://ml-review.ca/aml/CLASSES/Course4-CL.htm
Class Five:
The Party of the Working Class.
http://ml-review.ca/aml/CLASSES/Course5-CL.htm
Class Six:
The National Question.
http://ml-review.ca/aml/CLASSES/Course6-CL.htm
Class Seven:
War.
http://ml-review.ca/aml/CLASSES/Course7-CL.htm
Class Eight:
How Socialism Works. http://ml-review.ca/aml/CLASSES/Course8-CL.htm
Foreword by Alliance:
History of The Course:
This is a welcome and much needed
up-date of a course that was originally written, published, and run in
study groups by Comrade Bill
Bland of
Communist League (UK);
since the early 1970's. It has stood the test
of time and countless militants have been trained through this course.
It's up-dating by the Communist
League, has now been performed under a mandate of the
NCMLP
of the UK, of which the CL is a constituent
member. The aims of the NCMLP are articulated on its web page, and are
in essence to assist the principled
creation of a single unitary Marxist-Leninist
party in Britain. The web address for the NCMLP is both on our web links
page, and on the foot of this page.
This study course will be the
focus of classes held in the UK by the NCMLP shortly, in 2000. For UK enquiries
-please write to NMCLP.
Some Brief Comments On The
Course by Alliance:
1) A Minor addition:
Alliance has not altered
any of the courses; being in complete agreement with the Principles therein
imparted.
However, we have made
one addition: A list of suggested reading matter to go with each part of
the course. This is primarily because many comrades and friends will be
unable to be initially a part of a study group immediately. As the Introduction
makes clear a preferable means of conducting this course is in a group
of militants. However in case there are individuals who for various reasons
may be forced to undergo the course in an individual capacity, the reading
matter may be of additional help. We have simply appended this to the foot
of each of the course components.
2) Notes On References: Completeness,
Availability, Sources
The references are not meant
to be complete. Every Marxist-Leninist will have her or his own preferences
for, arguably, far superior illustrative texts. We apologise in advance
for having had to make some necessary recommendations, and therefore
our own choices.
The bulk of references suggested
at the foot of each of the course sections, are from the classics of Marx,
Engels, Lenin and Stalin that have stood the test of time.
But… These are often out of
print. To facilitate the student’s access to these from various libraries,
wherever possible we suggest several alternative hard copy published sources.
But, we also provide a web based hypertext hot link to various internet
archives. We recommend these latter to the student. We have in general
preferred to use those provided from the archiving of what is termed the
"Marx2Mao" collection, as we feel this is better laid out than are comparable
texts from the Marx Internet Archives. (The ideological predilections of
both of these sources are irrelevant in this discussion).
We have also provided a very
few references that are not from Marx to Stalin, and these are again open
to challenge and further suggestions to either the NCMLP or to Alliance.
INTRODUCTION OF THE NCMLP:
The Aim of the 'National
Committee for the Marxist-Leninist Party':
is to build a political party in Britain which can lead
the working class to establish its political power and a planned socialist
society. The party which can carry out this historic task can only be one
based on the political principles discovered and developed above all by
Kark Marx, Friedrich Engels, Vladimir Lenin and Josef Stalin. In recent
years the socialist societies which had been constructed in a considerable
part of the world have been replaced by capitalist societies. In consequence,
one often reads the claim that 'socialism has failed' or that 'Marxism
is dead'. In fact, so strong and popular was the socialist society which
had been established in the Soviet Union that it could be liquidated only
from within, by revisionists who posed as 'modernisers' of Marxism'-Leninism,
but in reality proceeded to distort socialism in such a way that after
many years an open counter-revolution could be carried out without major
public opposition. The lesson is clear:
EVERY MEMBER
OF THE MARXIST-LENINIST PARTY WHICH WE BUILD MUST BE SO THOROUGHLY GROUNDED
IN THE PRINCIPLES OF MARXISM-LENINISM THAT ANY LEADING FIGURE WHO MIGHT
IN THE FUTURE TRY TO DEVIATE FROM THESE PRINCIPLES WOULD INSTANTLY EXPOSE
HIMSELF TO THESE MEMBERS AS A RENEGADE AND TRAITOR.
Suggested Manner In Which
To Conduct This Course
This study course rejects the
traditional method of 'lecturing', in which the students play the role
of passive listeners, in favour of that of controlled discussion, in which
every effort is made to make the students play an active, participatory
role.
One comrade having been appointed
tutor, it is this comrade's function to present to the class a series of
carefully prepared questions, which are arranged to proceed logically from
one point to the next. By this method, students (even if they choose to
remain silent at first) cannot avoid thinking out an answer to each question
and comparing it with the answer that emerges from the discussion.
The suggested answers provided
in the text are not intended to be model answers, but merely to
serve as guide to the kind of answer which the tutor should try to draw
from the class.
If a student puts forward an
answer to a question which is clearly incorrect, the tutor should not comment,
but should ask: 'Does everyone agree?', endeavoring to draw out a criticism
of the error and an answer which is closer to the truth -- avoiding any
tendency to make a comrade who has given an incorrect answer feel humiliated.
If it proves impossible to draw
from the class a reasonably correct answer to a question: Then the tutor
should, in a comradely way, point out objections to the answer put forward
and, from there, make a further attempt to draw out a more correct answer.
Even when a correct answer has emerged, the tutor should still ask: 'Does
everyone agree?', endeavoring to clear up any doubts that remain. Only
when there appears to be general agreement on the answer to a question
should the tutor briefly sum up and proceed to the next question.
The questions should be directed,
not to individual students, but to the class as a whole. Some students
may at first be reluctant to attempt an answer to a question, although
the method of controlled discussion assists them to think out an answer,
even if they do not express it. The tutor should assist in drawing out
such students by asking them during the discussion: 'Do you agree?' No
doubt in the course of organising classes around this syllabus, experience
will suggest improvements in its content and The 'National Committee for
the Marxist-Leninist Party' would be pleased to receive suggestions from
students and tutors for improving future editions of the course.
POST-SCRIPT January 2002
Where for reasons of geographical dispersion,
these materials are used as the basis of web-seminars, it is suggested
that the "answers" to the questions are not distributed with the questions,
until such time as the student at least offers an answer herself/himself.