What breakthroughs are at the core of Marxism-Leninism?
1) That the transition from capitalism to socialism requires the revolutionary overthrow of the exploiting classes and the establishment of the dictatorship of the proletariat.
2) That the transition between capitalism to socialism and from socialism to communism can only be brought about under the dictatorship of the proletariat.
3) That the dictatorship of the proletariat shall be under the leadership of a vanguard party made of representatives of the working class.
4) That the socialist period must take the form of a centralized state-planned economy to replace profit motive.
5) That the liquidation of socialism in the Soviet Union and Albania was not due to the failure of Marxism or communism, but rather due to internal enemies of the remnant, expropriated bourgeoisie in a hidden form. They were assisted by conscious enemies of the working class within the party disguising their objectives by masquerading as Marxist-Leninists.
6) That revisionism presents a very real danger to the anti-imperialist and Marxist-Leninist movement internationally, and that all parties should attend to the political education of their members so that any future revisionism may be countered and defeated before it sabotages socialism once again.
7) That the diversion of the Chinese Revolution into the revisionism of halting at the stage of the national-democratic revolution for a long duration threw many Marxist-Leninists worldwide into a mistaken identification of Maoism with Marxism-Leninism.
8) That the continuing global warfare being waged by the imperialist countries with US imperialism at the head must be opposed, as should all imperialist wars waged against the peoples in developing and colonial countries.
9) That in the current era, the imperialist strategy of fostering neo-colonial oppressions is becoming transformed into an even more subtle oppression. This relies on ever more demagogic leaders in those neo-colonial states adopting more dangerous forms of a “pseudo-socialist” camouflage. Hence national liberation movements must as always be supported, but with an insistence on moving to the second stage of socialist revolution – even more insistently than in the prior era.
10) And finally, that the current world situation shows U.S. imperialism is declining, but no less dangerous than before. The NATO alliance remains the largest aggressive military force ever assembled in history, and the USA’s main armed force within Europe. Chinese social-imperialism is expanding its domain. China and Russia appear to be joining forces, and the position of EU imperialism is still evolving. The BRICS countries are involved in these developments as “junior partners” of imperialism. It seems a so-called “multi-polar world” is emerging, but the smaller imperialist powers cannot challenge the two larger ones – the U.S. and China. A “multi-polar” world is not inherently more advantageous for the working class, as the late 19th and early 20th centuries show us. The current era reflects the continuation of decaying global capitalism and imperialism, and must be used by the working people to advance the cause of socialist revolution.