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| Revolutionary Left | |
|---|---|
| Name | Revolutionary Left |
| Colorcode | #000000 |
| Ideology | Marxism–Leninism, Trotskyism, Maoism, Socialism, Communism |
| Position | Far-left |
| Founded | Various origins |
| Headquarters | Various |
| Country | Global |
Revolutionary Left is a broad political current encompassing organizations, parties, and movements that advocate radical social transformation through class struggle, revolutionary rupture, or armed insurrection. Key figures, factions, and epochs associated with this current include leaders, parties, and uprisings across Europe, Latin America, Asia, and Africa such as Karl Marx, Vladimir Lenin, Leon Trotsky, Fidel Castro, and Mao Zedong. Its networks intersect with labor unions, guerilla armies, student movements, and international fronts including Comintern, Fourth International, Shining Path, and Red Brigades.
The current draws theoretical lineage from texts and organizations like The Communist Manifesto, State and Revolution, What Is To Be Done?, The Permanent Revolution, and On Practice, synthesizing doctrines such as Marxism, Leninism, Trotskyism, Maoism, and Hoxhaism. Movements often reference events and institutions such as February Revolution, October Revolution, Spanish Civil War, Cuban Revolution, and Chinese Communist Revolution to justify strategies and programmatic demands. Influential intellectuals and activists associated include Rosa Luxemburg, Antonio Gramsci, Che Guevara, Ho Chi Minh, and Amílcar Cabral whose writings and praxis inform party platforms and cadre education. Alliances and schisms have involved organizations such as Comintern, Cominform, Socialist International, and Labour Party factions.
Origins trace to 19th-century European currents including Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels in London, early socialist experiments like the Paris Commune, and insurgent episodes such as the Taiping Rebellion and Mexican Revolution. The formation of the Bolshevik Party, participation in the Russian Civil War, and the institutionalization of Soviet Union structures shaped 20th-century praxis. Interwar movements featured groups like the Italian Socialist Party splinters, German Spartacist League, and the Spanish Communist Party during the Spanish Civil War. Decolonization-era insurgencies in Vietnam War, Algerian War, and Guerrilla warfare campaigns produced guerilla currents exemplified by FARC, MNLF, and ZANU–PF.
Prominent organizations historically and contemporarily associated include Communist Party of the Soviet Union, Chinese Communist Party, Communist Party of Cuba, Partido Comunista del Perú (Shining Path), Red Army Faction, Red Brigades, Irish Republican Army, Sandinista National Liberation Front, and Workers' Party (Brazil). International networks and sects include Comintern, Fourth International, Trotskyist International Secretariat, and regional formations such as European Left and Latin American Council of Social Sciences. Labor and student wings often link to unions and federations like Confédération Générale du Travail, American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations, and campus groups tied to May 1968 events, Kent State shootings, and Tlatelolco massacre.
Tactics range from parliamentary participation observed in parties like Communist Party of Great Britain, to insurrectionary methods used by Weather Underground, Shining Path, and Symbionese Liberation Army, to guerilla warfare in Cuban Revolution and Vietnam War. Strategies include united front formations exemplified by Popular Front (1936), armed struggle doctrines influenced by Foquismo and Protracted people's war, and syndicalist mobilizations rooted in Industrial Workers of the World and CNT (Spain). Revolutionary praxis also involves cultural initiatives linked to Cultural Revolution (China), artistic movements like Socialist Realism, and publishing organs akin to Pravda and Granma.
Key episodes associated with the current include the October Revolution, Spanish Civil War, Chinese Communist Revolution, Cuban Revolution, Nicaraguan Revolution, Guatemalan Revolution (1944–1954), and insurgencies such as the Shining Path insurgency, Nepalese Civil War, and the FARC insurgency. Urban guerilla campaigns include actions by Red Brigades, Baader-Meinhof Group, and Weather Underground, while successful mass mobilizations occurred during Paris Commune, Mexican Revolution, Iranian Revolution, and uprisings like May 1968 events and Portuguese Carnation Revolution.
Criticisms encompass allegations of authoritarianism leveled at regimes like the Soviet Union, People's Republic of China, and Democratic People's Republic of Korea, debates over purges such as the Great Purge, and controversies surrounding human rights in contexts like Great Leap Forward and Cultural Revolution (China). Tactical critiques address violence and terrorism accusations directed at groups including Shining Path, Red Army Faction, and Algerian FLN. Ideological disputes produced splits involving Trotsky vs Stalin, the Sino-Soviet split, and the Eurocommunism debate, while economic critiques reference famines and planning failures in states like Soviet Union and Cambodia under Khmer Rouge.
Contemporary influence appears in parties and movements such as La France Insoumise, Podemos, Syriza, Workers' Party (Brazil), and social movements linked to Occupy Wall Street, Black Lives Matter, and climate activism associated with Extinction Rebellion. Electoral and extra-parliamentary strategies intersect in municipal experiments like Barcelona en Comú and policy debates influenced by thinkers citing David Harvey, Slavoj Žižek, and Angela Davis. Transnational networks connect to campaigns around anti-globalization movement, ALBA, and solidarity initiatives tied to Palestinian solidarity movement and anti-imperialism activism.
Category:Political movements