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Does Marxist-Leninism require the physical elimination of certain classes.
Executive summary
Marxism–Leninism as an ideology calls for a proletarian dictatorship, suppression of counter‑revolution and repression of “classes deemed hostile,” which in practice has included forcible elimination of political opposition and class enemies under Leninist and Stalinist regimes [1] [2]. Historical implementations — collectivization, mass purges, and liquidation of the independent peasantry — show that Marxist‑Leninist regimes have used mass repression and even killings to neutralize targeted classes, though doctrinal texts discuss state repression as a step toward a classless society rather than an abstract call for genocide [3] [4].
1. What Marxism–Leninism says on class, the state and repression
Marxism–Leninism insists the proletariat must seize state power via a vanguard party and establish a “dictatorship of the proletariat” to smash bourgeois resistance and suppress counter‑revolution, and it explicitly advocates repressing classes judged hostile to socialism as part of that transition [1] [4]. Lenin framed the vanguard party as a disciplined leadership that would take power “by any means possible, including violence and revolution if necessary,” and subsequent Marxist‑Leninist formulations treat suppression of opposition as an instrument of policy [4] [1].
2. Theory versus explicit call for physical extermination
Available sources do not show a unified doctrinal prescription in canonical Marxist‑Leninist texts that says “physically eliminate” certain classes as a blanket, timeless command; rather, the literature frames the use of violence and repression against class enemies and counter‑revolution as legitimate tools of revolutionary struggle and state consolidation [4] [1]. Leninist writings and Marxist‑Leninist party practice justify exclusion, repression and the use of violence against opponents — language that proponents have at times interpreted or implemented in ways that involved mass arrests, deportations and executions [4] [1].
3. How practice shaped perception: collectivization, purges, Great Terror
Scholarly and encyclopedic accounts document that in practice Marxist‑Leninist regimes carried out brutal measures that targeted whole social groups — for example, collectivization policies aimed at “liquidation of the independent peasantry as a class” and the mass purges and arrests that culminated in the Great Terror of the 1930s — demonstrating that repression of social classes was not merely rhetorical [3]. Wikipedia and ScienceDirect summaries link the ideological prioritization of class struggle and proletarian dictatorship to policies that involved perpetual mass purges and arrests of suspected collaborators with bourgeois forces [1] [3].
4. Internal debates and divergent interpretations within Marxism
There is documented disagreement among Marxists about the extent and permanence of class struggle under socialism: some theorists (and post‑Stalin leaders) later criticized the continued intensification of class struggle as non‑Marxist or counterproductive, and Mao and Khrushchev had noted tensions over emphasis on ongoing repression after classes were supposedly eliminated [5]. Some Marxist‑Leninist commentators defend strong repression as necessary to prevent restoration of capitalism, while critics—both inside and outside the left—contend that such measures devolved into bureaucratic terror [6] [3].
5. Language that fuels claims of “elimination” and the role of rhetoric
Lenin used hardline rhetoric about violence and “elimination” of vacillation or betrayal within the movement and supported mass action against oppressors; commentators note his writings endorsed violence by the masses and ruthless treatment of political opponents, language later used to justify extrajudicial measures [7] [8]. Interpretations vary: some see Lenin’s language as tactical and contextual to revolutionary struggle, others see it as opening the door to systematic repression once a party monopoly on power formed [7] [2].
6. What the available reporting does not say
Available sources do not produce a single canonical Marxist‑Leninist manifesto that lists a step‑by‑step program to physically exterminate named social classes as a permanent policy. Instead, what the sources document is an ideological framework that legitimizes suppression of hostile classes and, in several historical cases, produced policies that amounted to mass repression, deportation and execution [1] [3].
7. Bottom line for readers: doctrine, practice, and responsibility
Doctrinally, Marxism–Leninism legitimizes state repression of class enemies in pursuit of socialism and gives leaders strong theoretical cover for violent measures [1] [4]. Empirically, regimes calling themselves Marxist‑Leninist implemented policies — collectivization, purges, Great Terror — that targeted classes and resulted in mass deaths and deportations, so claims that Marxist‑Leninist governance has required or produced physical elimination of certain classes are grounded in historical practice even if the primary texts frame repression as a transitional, not perpetual, necessity [3] [1].