# Left communism

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Left-wing variant of communism

Not to be confused with the [Left Opposition](/source/Left_Opposition), a Russian communist faction led by Leon Trotsky in the 1920s.

"Left Communists" redirects here. For the historical groups, see [Left Communists (Soviet Russia)](/source/Left_Communists_(Soviet_Russia)) and [Left Communists (Weimar Republic)](/source/Left_Communists_(Weimar_Republic)).

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**Left communism**, or the **communist left**, describes a range of positions held by the [left wing](/source/Left_wing) of [communism](/source/Communism), which criticises the political ideas and practices held by [Marxist–Leninists](/source/Marxism%E2%80%93Leninism) and [social democrats](/source/Social_democrats).[1] Left communists assert positions which they regard as more authentically [Marxist](/source/Marxism) than the views of Marxism–Leninism espoused by the [Communist International](/source/Communist_International) after its [Bolshevization](/source/Bolshevization) by [Joseph Stalin](/source/Joseph_Stalin) and during its [second congress](/source/2nd_World_Congress_of_the_Comintern).[2][3][4] There have been two primary currents of left communism since [World War I](/source/World_War_I), namely the Italian left and the Dutch–German left.

The Italian communist left tends to follow [Bordigism](/source/Bordigism) (though a smaller [Damenite](/source/Onorato_Damen) current exists) and considers itself to be [Leninist](/source/Leninism), but denounces Marxism–Leninism as a form of [bourgeois](/source/Bourgeois) [opportunism](/source/Opportunism) materialized in the [Soviet Union under Stalin](/source/History_of_the_Soviet_Union_(1927%E2%80%931953)). The Italian current of left communism was historically represented by the [Italian Socialist Party](/source/Italian_Socialist_Party) and the [Communist Party of Italy](/source/Communist_Party_of_Italy) but today is embodied in the [Internationalist Communist Party of Italy](/source/Internationalist_Communist_Party_(Italy)), [International Communist Party](/source/International_Communist_Party), and the [International Communist Current](/source/International_Communist_Current).

The Dutch–German left split from [Vladimir Lenin](/source/Vladimir_Lenin) prior to Stalin's rule and supports a firmly [council communist](/source/Council_communist) viewpoint as opposed to the Italian left which emphasised the need for an international revolutionary party.[5] The Dutch–German current of left communism was historically represented by the [Communist Workers' Party of Germany](/source/Communist_Workers'_Party_of_Germany), [General Workers' Union of Germany](/source/General_Workers'_Union_of_Germany), and the [Communist Workers' International](/source/Communist_Workers'_International).

Left communism differs from most other forms of Marxism in believing that communists should not participate in [bourgeois democratic](/source/Bourgeois_democratic) elections, and some argue against participating in trade unions. However, many left communists split over their criticism of the [Bolsheviks](/source/Bolsheviks). [Council communists](/source/Council_communism) criticised the Bolsheviks for use of the party form and emphasised a more autonomous organisation of the working class, without political parties.

Although she was murdered in 1919 before left communism became a distinct tendency, [Rosa Luxemburg](/source/Rosa_Luxemburg) has been heavily influential for most left communists, both politically and theoretically. Proponents of left communism have included [Herman Gorter](/source/Herman_Gorter), [Antonie Pannekoek](/source/Antonie_Pannekoek), [Otto Rühle](/source/Otto_R%C3%BChle), [Karl Korsch](/source/Karl_Korsch), [Amadeo Bordiga](/source/Amadeo_Bordiga), [Paul Mattick](/source/Paul_Mattick), [Onorato Damen](/source/Onorato_Damen), [Jacques Camatte](/source/Jacques_Camatte), and [Sylvia Pankhurst](/source/Sylvia_Pankhurst).[2] Later prominent theorists are shared with other tendencies such as [Antonio Negri](/source/Antonio_Negri), a founding theorist of the [autonomist tendency](/source/Autonomism).[6]

## Early history and overview

Two major traditions can be observed within left communism, namely the [Dutch–German current](/source/Council_communism) and the Italian current.[7] The political positions those traditions share are opposition to [popular fronts](/source/Common_front), to many kinds of [nationalism](/source/Nationalism) and national [liberation movements](/source/Liberation_movements) and to [parliamentarianism](/source/Parliamentary_system).[*[citation needed](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed)*]

The historical origins of left communism come from [World War I](/source/World_War_I).[8] Most left communists are supportive of the [October Revolution](/source/October_Revolution) in Russia, but retain a critical view of its development. However, some in the Dutch–German current would in later years come to reject the idea that the revolution had a [proletarian](/source/Proletarian_revolution) or [socialist](/source/Revolutionary_socialism) nature, arguing that it had simply carried out the tasks of the [bourgeois revolution](/source/Bourgeois_revolution) by creating a [state capitalist](/source/State_capitalism) system.[9]

Left communism first came into focus as a distinct movement around 1918. Its essential features were a stress on the need to build a [communist party](/source/Communist_party) or [workers' council](/source/Workers'_council) entirely separate from the [reformist](/source/Reformism) and [centrist](/source/Centrist_Marxism) elements who "betrayed the proletariat", opposition to all but the most restricted participation in [elections](/source/Elections) and an emphasis on militancy. Apart from this, there was little in common between the two wings. Only the Italians accepted the need for electoral work at all for a very short period of time which they later vehemently opposed, attracting criticism from [Vladimir Lenin](/source/Vladimir_Lenin) in *["Left-Wing" Communism: An Infantile Disorder](/source/%22Left-Wing%22_Communism%3A_An_Infantile_Disorder)*.[10]

## Russian left communism

Left Bolshevism emerged in 1907 as the [Vpered group](/source/Vpered) challenged [Vladimir Lenin](/source/Vladimir_Lenin)'s perceived [authoritarianism](/source/Authoritarianism) and parliamentarianism. The group included [Alexander Bogdanov](/source/Alexander_Bogdanov), [Maxim Gorky](/source/Maxim_Gorky), [Anatoly Lunacharsky](/source/Anatoly_Lunacharsky), [Mikhail Pokrovsky](/source/Mikhail_Pokrovsky), [Grigory Aleksinsky](/source/Grigory_Aleksinsky), Stanislav Volski and [Martyn Liadov](/source/Martyn_Liadov). The *Otzovists*, or Recallists, advocated the recall of [RSDLP](/source/RSDLP) representatives from the [Third Duma](/source/State_Duma_(Russian_Empire)#Third_Duma). Bogdanov and his allies accused Lenin and his partisans of promoting [liberal democracy](/source/Liberal_democracy) through "[parliamentarism](/source/Parliamentarism) at any price".[11]: 8

The faction largely died out by the end of 1918, as its leaders accepted that much of their program was unrealistic under the circumstances of the [Russian Civil War](/source/Russian_Civil_War) and as the policies of [War Communism](/source/War_communism) satisfied their demands for a radical transformation of the economy. The [Military Opposition](/source/Military_Opposition) and the [Workers' Opposition](/source/Workers'_Opposition) inherited some characteristics and members of the Left Bolsheviks, as did [Gavril Myasnikov](/source/Gavril_Myasnikov)'s [Workers Group of the Russian Communist Party](/source/Workers_Group_of_the_Russian_Communist_Party) during the debates on the [New Economic Policy](/source/New_Economic_Policy) and the succession to Lenin. Most Left Bolsheviks were affiliated with the [Left Opposition](/source/Left_Opposition) in the 1920s, and were expelled from the party in 1927 and later killed during [Joseph Stalin](/source/Joseph_Stalin)'s [Great Purge](/source/Great_Purge).[12]

## 1952–1968

See also: [Left communism in China](/source/Left_communism_in_China) and [Shengwulian](/source/Shengwulian)

Examples of left communism ideological currents existed in China during the [Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution](/source/Great_Proletarian_Cultural_Revolution) (GPCR). For example, the Hunan rebel group the [Shengwulian](/source/Shengwulian) argued for "smashing" the existing state apparatus and establishing a "People's Commune of China" based on the democratic ideals of the [Paris Commune](/source/Paris_Commune).[13]

## Since 1968

The uprisings of May 1968 led to a large resurgence of interest in left communist ideas in France where various groups were formed and published journals regularly until the late 1980s when the interest started to fade.[14] A tendency called [communization](/source/Communization) was invented in the early 1970s by French left communists, synthesizing different currents of left communism. It remains influential in libertarian marxist and left communist circles today.[15] Outside of France, various small left communist groups emerged, predominantly in the leading capitalist countries.[16][17][18][19] In the late 1970s and early 1980s the [Internationalist Communist Party](/source/Internationalist_Communist_Party_(Italy)) initiated a series of conferences of the communist left to engage those new elements, also attended by the [International Communist Current](/source/International_Communist_Current).[20] As a result of these, in 1983 the International Bureau for the Revolutionary Party (later renamed as the Internationalist Communist Tendency) was established by the Internationalist Communist Party and the British [Communist Workers' Organisation](/source/Communist_Workers'_Organisation_(UK)).[21]

Prominent post-1968 proponents of left communism have included [Paul Mattick](/source/Paul_Mattick) and [Maximilien Rubel](/source/Maximilien_Rubel). Prominent [left communist groups existing today](/source/List_of_left_communist_internationals) include the [International Communist Party](/source/International_Communist_Party), the [International Communist Current](/source/International_Communist_Current) and the [Internationalist Communist Tendency](https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Internationalist_Communist_Tendency&action=edit&redlink=1).[22] In addition to the left communist groups in the direct lineage of the Italian and Dutch traditions, a number of groups with similar positions have flourished since 1968, such as the [workerist](/source/Workerism) and [autonomist](/source/Autonomist) movements in Italy; Kolinko, Kurasje, Wildcat;[23] Subversion and Aufheben in England; *Théorie Communiste, Echanges et Mouvements and Démocratie Communiste* in France; TPTG[24] and Blaumachen[25] in Greece; Kamunist Kranti in India; and Collective Action Notes and Loren Goldner in the United States.

## See also

- [Communism portal](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portal:Communism)

- [Marxism](/source/Marxism)

- [Orthodox Marxism](/source/Orthodox_Marxism)

- [Autonomism](/source/Autonomism)

- [Authoritarian socialism](/source/Authoritarian_socialism)

- [Council communism](/source/Council_communism)

- [Left-wing politics](/source/Left-wing_politics)

- [Left communism in China](/source/Left_communism_in_China)

- [Libertarian socialism](/source/Libertarian_socialism)

- [List of left-wing internationals](/source/List_of_left-wing_internationals)

- [List of left communists](/source/List_of_left_communists)

- [Luxemburgism](/source/Luxemburgism)

- [Ultra-leftism](/source/Ultra-leftism)

## References

1. **[^](#cite_ref-1)** [Bordiga, Amadeo](/source/Amadeo_Bordiga) (1926). [*The Communist Left in the Third International*](https://www.marxists.org/archive/bordiga/works/1926/comintern.htm). Retrieved 23 September 2021 – via [Marxists Internet Archive](/source/Marxists_Internet_Archive).

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-Non-Leninist_Marxism_2-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-Non-Leninist_Marxism_2-1) [Gorter, Hermann](/source/Herman_Gorter); [Pannekoek, Antonie](/source/Antonie_Pannekoek); [Pankhurst, Sylvia](/source/Sylvia_Pankhurst); [Rühle, Otto](/source/Otto_R%C3%BChle) (2007). *Non-Leninist Marxism: Writings on the Workers Councils*. St. Petersburg, Florida: [Red and Black Publishers](https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Red_and_Black_Publishers&action=edit&redlink=1). [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-0-9791813-6-8](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0-9791813-6-8).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-3)** [Bordiga, Amadeo](/source/Amadeo_Bordiga). [*Dialogue with Stalin*](https://www.marxists.org/archive/bordiga/works/1952/stalin.htm). Retrieved 15 May 2019 – via [Marxists Internet Archive](/source/Marxists_Internet_Archive).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-4)** Kowalski, Ronald I. (1991). *The Bolshevik Party in Conflict: The Left Communist Opposition of 1918*. Basingstoke, England: [Palgrave MacMillan](/source/Palgrave_MacMillan). p. 2. [doi](/source/Doi_(identifier)):[10.1007/978-1-349-10367-6](https://doi.org/10.1007%2F978-1-349-10367-6). [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-1-349-10369-0](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-1-349-10369-0).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-5)** Bourrinet, Philippe. ["The Bordigist Current (1919-1999)"](https://web.archive.org/web/20220120144207/https://libcom.org/history/bordigist-current-1919-1999-philippe-bourrinet). Archived from [the original](https://libcom.org/history/bordigist-current-1919-1999-philippe-bourrinet) on 20 January 2022.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-Negri_1991_6-0)** [Negri, Antonio](/source/Antonio_Negri) (1991). *Marx beyond Marx: Lessons on the Grundrisse*. Translated by Ryan, Michael. New York: [Autonomedia](/source/Autonomedia).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-7)** Smeaton, A. (1 August 2003). ["Background on the Italian Communist Left, Bordiga and Bordigism"](http://www.leftcom.org/en/articles/2003-08-01/background-on-the-italian-communist-left-bordiga-and-bordigism). *Internationalist Communist*. No. 22. Retrieved 17 October 2013 – via Leftcom.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-8)** [Luxemburg, Rosa](/source/Rosa_Luxemburg) (1915). [*The Junius Pamphlet*](https://www.marxists.org/archive/luxemburg/1915/junius/index.htm). Retrieved 23 September 2021 – via [Marxists Internet Archive](/source/Marxists_Internet_Archive).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-Fox_-_Ante_Ciliga_9-0)** Fox, Michael S. (Spring 1991). ["Ante Ciliga, Trotskii, and State Capitalism: Theory, Tactics, and Reevaluation during the Purge Era, 1935–1939"](https://web.archive.org/web/20091027132653/http://geocities.com/cordobakaf/ciliga_trotsky.pdf) (PDF). *Slavic Review*. **50** (1). [Cambridge University Press](/source/Cambridge_University_Press): 127–143. [doi](/source/Doi_(identifier)):[10.2307/2500604](https://doi.org/10.2307%2F2500604). [JSTOR](/source/JSTOR_(identifier)) [2500604](https://www.jstor.org/stable/2500604). [S2CID](/source/S2CID_(identifier)) [155654843](https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:155654843). Archived from the original on 27 October 2009. Retrieved 26 June 2020 – via GeoCities.{{[cite journal](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Template:Cite_journal)}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown ([link](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:CS1_maint:_bot:_original_URL_status_unknown))

1. **[^](#cite_ref-marxists1920_10-0)** [Lenin, V.I.](/source/Vladimir_Lenin) [*Left-Wing Communism: an Infantile Disorder*](https://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1920/lwc/index.htm). Retrieved 17 October 2013 – via [Marxists Internet Archive](/source/Marxists_Internet_Archive).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-Sochor_(1988)_11-0)** Sochor, Z. A. (28 March 1988). [*Revolution and Culture: The Bogdanov-Lenin Controversy*](https://archive.org/details/revolutioncultur00soch_0). [Cornell University Press](/source/Cornell_University_Press). pp. 4–8. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [9780801420887](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/9780801420887).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-:022_12-0)** Smele, Jonathan D. (2015). *Historical Dictionary of the Russian Civil Wars, 1916–1926*. Lanham: [Rowman & Littlefield](/source/Rowman_%26_Littlefield). pp. 667–668. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-1-4422-5280-6](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-1-4422-5280-6).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-13)** [Meisner, Maurice J.](/source/Maurice_Meisner) (1986). *Mao's China and after: a history of the People's Republic* (A revised and expanded edition of Mao's China ed.). New York. pp. 343–344. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [0-02-920870-X](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/0-02-920870-X). [OCLC](/source/OCLC_(identifier)) [13270932](https://search.worldcat.org/oclc/13270932).{{[cite book](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Template:Cite_book)}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher ([link](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:CS1_maint:_location_missing_publisher))

1. **[^](#cite_ref-14)** ["Archive of French left communist journals after 1952"](https://archivesautonomies.org/spip.php?rubrique16). *Archives Autonomies*. Retrieved 12 April 2020.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-15)** ["On Communisation and Its Theorists"](https://endnotes.org.uk/other_texts/en/friends-of-the-classless-society-on-communisation-and-its-theorists). *Endnotes*. Retrieved 12 April 2020.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-16)** ["May 68: the student movement in France and the world"](http://en.internationalism.org/wr/313/may-68). *Internationalism*. Retrieved 19 December 2015.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-17)** Lassou (May 2012). ["Contribution to a history of the workers' movement in Africa (v): May 1968 in Senegal"](http://en.internationalism.org/print/book/export/html/4991). *Internationalism*. Retrieved 19 December 2015.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-18)** Ken (23 March 2008). ["1968 in Japan: the student movement and workers' struggles"](http://en.internationalism.org/2008/09/japan-1968). *Internationalism*. Retrieved 19 December 2015.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-19)** ["1968 in Germany (Part 1): Behind the protest movement – the search for a new society"](http://en.internationalism.org/icconline/2008/june/Germany-1968). *Internationalism*. 26 May 2008. Retrieved 19 December 2015.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-20)** Bourrinet, Philippe (2000). *The "Bordigist" Current (1912-1952)*. pp. 332–333.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-21)** ["Internationalist Communist Tendency"](http://www.leftcom.org/en/about-us). January 2000.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-22)** [Bourseiller, Christophe](/source/Christophe_Bourseiller) (2003). *Histoire générale de l'Ultra-Gauche* [*General history of the Ultra-Left*] (in French). Paris: Editions Denoël. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [2207251632](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/2207251632).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-23)** ["Wildcat"](http://www.wildcat-www.de/). Wildcat-www.de. 21 September 2013. Retrieved 17 October 2013.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-24)** ["Ta paidiá tis galarías" Τα παιδιά της γαλαρίας](http://www.tapaidiatisgalarias.org) [The children of the gallery] (in Greek). Tapaidiatisgalarias.org. Retrieved 17 October 2013.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-25)** ["Blaumachen – journal"](http://www.blaumachen.gr). Blaumachen.gr. Retrieved 17 October 2013.

## Further reading

- *Non-Leninist Marxism: Writings on the Workers Councils* (2007) (includes texts by [Herman Gorter](/source/Herman_Gorter), [Antonie Pannekoek](/source/Antonie_Pannekoek), [Sylvia Pankhurst](/source/Sylvia_Pankhurst) and [Otto Rühle](/source/Otto_R%C3%BChle)). St. Petersburg, Florida: Red and Black Publishers. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-0-9791813-6-8](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0-9791813-6-8).

- *Alexandra Kollontai: Selected Writing*. Allison & Busby, 1984.

- Pannekoek, Anton. *Workers Councils*. AK Press, 2003. Introduction by [Noam Chomsky](/source/Noam_Chomsky)

- The International Communist Current, itself a left communist grouping, has produced a series of studies of what it views as its own antecedents. In particular, the book on the Dutch–German current, which is by Philippe Bourrinet (who later left the ICC), contains an exhaustive bibliography. - *The Italian Communist Left 1926–1945* ([ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [1897980132](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/1897980132)). - *The Dutch-German Communist Left* ([ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [1899438378](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/1899438378)). - *The Russian Communist Left, 1918–1930* ([ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [1897980108](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/1897980108)). - *The British Communist Left, 1914–1945* ([ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [1897980116](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/1897980116)).

- Also of interest is volume 5 number 4 of Spring 1995 of the journal *[Revolutionary History](/source/Revolutionary_History)*. "Through Fascism, War and Revolution: Trotskyism and Left Communism in Italy".

- In addition, there is a good deal of material published on the Internet in various languages. A useful starting point is the [Left Communism collection](https://www.marxists.org/subject/left-wing/index.htm) published on the [Marxists Internet Archive](/source/Marxists_Internet_Archive).

v t e Left communism Concepts Anti-Leninism Anti-Stalinist left Class consciousness Class struggle Communism Mass strike Organic centralism Proletarian internationalism Revolutionary spontaneity Workers' council World revolution People Jan Appel Amadeo Bordiga Jacques Camatte Cornelius Castoriadis Marc Chirik Onorato Damen Gilles Dauvé Guy Debord Bruno Fortichiari Herman Gorter Rosa Luxemburg Paul Mattick Grandizo Munis Gavril Myasnikov Sylvia Pankhurst Antonie Pannekoek Otto Rühle Karl Schröder Organizations Communist Workers' Party of Germany Communist Workers' International Communist Workers' Organisation (UK) Internationalist Communist Party (Italy) International Communist Party International Communist Current List of left communist organizations by country Revolutionary Socialist Party (Netherlands) Socialisme ou Barbarie Related topics Autonomism Classical Marxism Impossibilism Ultra-leftism Workerism Politics portal

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Left communism](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Left_communism) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Left_communism?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.