Marxism–Leninism: the ideology of twentieth-century communism

The article considers Marxism–Leninism as a political ideology, its foundations as developed by Karl Marx (1818–83) and F. Engels (1820–95), its characteristics as established by V.I. Lenin (1870–1924), and its consolidation by J.V. Stalin (1879–1953) between 1922 and 1953 through ‘socialism in one country’ and the Communist International (Comintern). The article also considers critics of Marxism–Leninism, the transition from Comintern to the Soviet agencies of the Cold War, and support for national liberation movements. The final section considers the condemnation of Stalin by the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, attempts at revisionism, the impact of Gorbachev, the collapse of the Soviet Union, and the end of Marxist–Leninism as a dynamic ideology