Marxists Internet Archive Library of Writers
 Founders of Marxist practice and philosophy. Established the ground work of Marxism through an examination of the rise of capitalism, the history of society, and critique of many prevalent philosophies. Established the First International workers' organisation. [Full Biography] 
International Workingmen’s Association
The International Workingmen's Association was first international organisation of the working class. Marx and Engels played a leading role in the International which was founded in 1864 and introduced Marxist ideas into all corners of the world. | ||
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(1826-1900) 10+ German Revolutionary, comrade of Marx in the Communist League in the 1840s. [Full Biography] (1826-1906) < 5 After fighting in the 1848 Revolution in Germany, he fled to America; later Secretary of the First International; Marx's closest supporter in the US. [Full Biography] (1828-1888) < 5 Created dialectical materialism independently of Marx & Engels, but on seeing their writings became their most ardent supporter. His main contributions were using dialectics to elaborate epistemology. [Full Biography] (1840-1913) 10+ Co-founder of the German Social Democracy with Wilhelm Liebknecht in 1869. Part of the Reichstag from 1867. Outstandingly argued for the emancipation of women's rights before capitalism could be overthrown. [Full Biography] |
(1841-1911) 30+ A member of the Paris Commune. Staunch advocate of Women’s rights, wrote also on the history of religion, morals, literature, language, and comedy. Married to Marx’s second daughter, Laura. [Full Biography] (1844-1883) < 5 Fought for Irish independence from England. Detailed the atrocities against Irish political prisoners in England. Braved a narrow escape from France after the massacres of the Paris Commune. Marx's eldest daughter. [Full Biography] (1845-1922) 5+ French socialist. Leader of the Marxist wing of the French workers’ movement. [Full Biography] | |
The Socialist International
The Second International (Social Democracy) was founded in the 1880s by Marxists in Europe, and set up mass political parties of the working class in each country around the world.
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(1854-1938) 60+ Helped create the German Social-Democracy, one of the best-known theoreticians of the Second International, and a leading proponent of Marx & Engels after their death. During and after World War I he became a pacifist. [Full Biography] (1846-1919) 10+ Writer, historian, member of German Social Democrats and the Spartacist League. [Full Biography] (1854-1940) < 5 One of the founders of the Second International in France. [Full Biography] (1849-1922) < 5 Founder of Swedish Social-Democracy. [Full Biography] (1834-1896) 100+ Helped create the Socialist League (with E. Marx). An artist who became a revolutionary communist through his search to address the lack of creative and artistic freedom allowed in the capitalist work process. Wrote fiction on-far-in-the-future Communist societies. [Full Biography] (1854-1925) 300+ Among the first sources for many Marxist and materialist ideas in English. Founding member of Social Democratic Federation. Popularised Marxist approach to French Revolution in English. [Full Biography] (1855-1898) 30+ Helped formed the Socialist League (with W. Morris), and wrote extensively in its paper. Wrote extensively on women's issues. Organizing, writer, record-keeper, and speaker for militant trade unions such as the Gasworkers, and the Dockers Union. [Full Biography] (1858-1913) 5+ Founding member of British Social Democracy. [Full Biography] (1852-1914) 40+ Helped create the IWW. Developed one of the most detailed outlines of how Socialist society should function. Believed that democratic control of all industries and services must be held by workers organised into industrial unions. [Full Biography] (1855-1926) 20+ Helped build the American Railway Union, and later the American Socialist Party. Arrested for his political criticism of WWI, he ran for U.S. President while a political prisoner and received almost a million votes. [Full Biography] ( ) <5 US writer, editor and translator for Charles H Kerr's International Socialist Review and The Masses. (1868-1916) 200+ Helped create the Irish Socialist Republican Party in 1896; served as Secretary of the Transport and General Workers Union. Executed for his leading role in the Easter Rising. [Full Biography] |
(1857-1933) 10+ Leader of the international women's movement. National Executive member of the German Social Democratic party. Long time comrade of Rosa Luxemburg, helped create the Spartacists and German Communist Party. Supported the Soviet government. [Full Biography] (1871-1919) 5+ "Karl Liebknecht called upon the workers and soldiers of Germany to turn their guns against their own government. Karl Liebknecht did that openly from the rostrum of parliament (the Reichstag) [of which he was a deputy – he was the only member of government to do so]." Executed by the German government. [Full Biography] (1871-1919) 60+ Championed the idea of the mass strike. Tireless opponent of WWI, she renounced the German Social Democracy, helped to create the Spartacus League, and later the German Communist Party. Critical of the Soviet government. Executed by the German government. [Full Biography] (1843-1904) < 5 Among the first Italian Marxists, he was a writer and philosopher. Criticized the theories of Hegel, Nietzsche, Croce, and neo-Kantiansim. [Full Biography] (1856-1929) < 5 Italian Marxist of the Second International, criminologist. [Full Biography] (1856-1918) 10+ Helped create the Russian Social-Democratic party, becoming a Menshevik after the split in the party, but he tried to keep the party united. Believed that capitalism need to grow up before socialism was possible; thus he opposed the Soviet government. [Full Biography] (1851-1919) < 5 A founder with Plekhanov of the Emancipation of Labour Group, and a translator of Marx's works into Russian; later joined the Mensheviks. [Full Biography] (1873-1923) 5+ Originally close collaborator of Lenin, split with him in 1903 and became leading Left Menshevik and critic of Bolshevism. [Full Biography] —— Reformists ——(1850-1932) 10+A close associate of Engels and an early Marxist, Bernstein came to believe that capitalism could be made more and more democratic so that a socialist revolution would be unnecessary and irrelevant. [Full Biography] (1859-1914) 10+ Popular French socialist. Founder of l'Humanité. [Full Biography] (1860-1925) < 5 A founder of Swedish social democracy. [Full Biography] (1901-1977) < 5 Italian socialist, critic of bureaucracy. [Full Biography] | |
| Writers whose main historical current is elsewhere, but also belonged to this current: Wilhelm Liebknecht, August Bebel, Paul Lafargue, Jules Guesde, Vladimir Lenin, Leon Trotsky, Leon Kamenev. | ||
The BolsheviksThe Bolsheviks were the Russian Section of the Second International. In 1917 they took power in the first socialist revolution in history. Their members became leaders of the Communist International. | ||
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(1870-1924) 1300+ Helped create the Bolshevik party. Led the Soviets to power in the Russian Revolution. Elected to the head of the Soviet government until 1922, when ill health confined him to bed. Created the Communist International. Created the theory of Imperialism, emphasised the importance of the political party as vanguard in the revolution. [Full Biography] (1868-1936) 5+ World-renowned writer of fiction, Gorky first focused on the plight of societal outcasts in Russia, then turned his attention to the struggles of the working class. [Full Biography] (1869-1939) < 5 Bolshevik Revolutionary. Writer, educator and Secretary of the Party. Wife and advisor to V.I. Lenin. Secretary to the Board of Iskra beginning in 1901. Brought recognition of International Women's day to Russia. [Full Biography] (1870-1938) < 5 Historian and Archivist of Marxism, helped create the Marx-Engels Institute. Political prisoner of Stalinism, died in prison. [Full Biography] (1872-1952) 30+ Bolshevik Revolutionary. Led the Workers' Opposition, which opposed party control of trade unions and believed in industrial unionism. First woman ambassador in history. Proponent of free love, she wrote extensively on women's and other social issues. [Full Biography] (1873-1941) 5+ President of Soviet Ukraine, worked to make the Soviet Ukrainian identity independent of Russia. Helped create the Left Opposition, seen as its ideological leader. Explained Socialist economics. Political prisoner of Stalinism, died in prison. [Full Biography] (1873-1928) < 5 Russian Doctor, an old Bolshevik expelled in 1909 as an ultra-left. Also a writer, after the Revolution dedicated himself to science. [Full Biography] (1875-1933) 5+ Bolshevik Revolutionary, outstanding orator. Commissar for Education in the Soviet government. Historian and archivist of Russia, he wrote extensive, personal biographical portraits on the leaders of the revolution. [Full Biography] |
(1879-1940) 100+ First Menshevik, later Bolshevik Revolutionary. As commissar of war led the Red Army to defeat the Entente in their invasion of Soviet Russia. Helped create the Left Opposition to overthrow Stalin and stop the monstrous attrocities he'd soon commit. Created the theory of the Permanent Revolution, and the Fourth International. Assassinated by the Soviet government. [Full Biography] (1882-1962) 5+ Russian Revolutionary. Worked with Lenin and Trotsky on pre-revolutionary Bolshevik newspaper Iskra. Publicly split with Fourth International in 1951. Wife of Leon Trotsky. [Full Biography] (1883-1936) < 5 Bolshevik and founding member of Russian Social Democratic Labour Party. First chairman of Central Committee and a founding member of the politburo. First supported Stalin, then joined Trotsky to try to remove him. Imprisoned and placed on trial for alleged assassination plot against Stalin. Executed by the Soviet government. [Full Biography] (1883-1936) 5+ Bolshevik. With Kamenev, opposed the plans for a revolution. Allied with Stalin and Kamenev against Trotskyism. Later, allied with Trotsky against Stalin. Wrote about the history of the party. Executed during the Moscow Trials. [Full Biography] (1885-1937) < 5 An Old Bolshevik, a member of the Central Committee during the October Revolution and member of the “Workers Opposition” after the Revolution. Executed by the Soviet government. [Full Biography] (1885-1939) 5+ Old Bolshevik, active in the Communist International in Europe. Died in prison. [Full Biography] (1888-1938) 10+ Bolshevik Revolutionary. Editor of Pravda (1928-29). Joined Stalin against Trotsky, then led the Right Opposition against Stalin. A theoretical leader of the party, focused heavily on economics, and wrote on market socialism. Executed after the Moscow Trials. [Full Biography] (1895-1926) < 5 Bolshevik remembered for her heroic efforts with the Red Army during the Civil War and her reports on the German Revolution. | |
The CominternAfter the Russian Revolution 1917, millions of workers across flocked to support the Revolution, and Communist Parties were set up in almost every country in the world. After the mid-1920s, the government party in the Soviet Union and other countries were part of the Communist International. | ||
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(1879-1923) 40+ Scottish schoolteacher and Marxist educator. His evening-classes produced many of the activists who became instrumental in the Clyde revolts during and after WWI. Soviet Consul to Scotland. [Full Biography] (1883-1969) 10+ American socialist who became a prominent support of Trotsky but later an anti-communist. [Full Biography] (1885-1936) 5+ American Revolutionary, supporter of the Soviet government. Historian of the revolution. Tireless advocate to stop U.S. invasion of Soviet Russia. Wife of John Reed. [Full Biography] (1887-1920) 20+ American Revolutionary, supporter of the Soviet government. Historian of the revolution. Tireless advocate to stop U.S. invasion of Soviet Russia. Husband of Louise Bryant. [Full Biography] (1890-1974) 100+ American, IWW organiser, later helped create the US Communist Party. In the 1920s became a Trotskyist, and helped create the US Socialist Workers Party. (1892-1964) 10+ British geneticist, biometrician, physiologist, and popular advocate of science. [Full Biography] (1901-1971) 15+ Popularised Marxism. Wrote a 4 volume history of science from a Marxist perspective. [Full Biography] (1865-1941) < 5 Russian revolutionary, joined French CP as an exile. [Full Biography] (1879-1962) < 5 French Psychologist who elaborated a systematic Marxist psychology. [Full Biography] |
(1881-1950) < 5 Polish-Jewish Communist, Marxist Political economist. [Full Biography] (1890-1947) 20+ Originally an anarchist, later joined the Russian Communist Party. As a Comintern representative in Germany he helped prepare the aborted insurrection in 1923. Also joined the Left Opposition in 1923, expelled from the party in 1928 and briefly imprisoned. Exiled in 1933. [Full Biography] (1890-1960) 5+ Prominent German theorist. Expelled from the Communist Party for "right-wing deviation" in 1928 as main theorist for the Brandlerites. Particularly occupied with analyzing the actual class struggle of his time on independent Marxist grounds. [Full Biography] (1891-1937) 50+ Helped create the Italian Communist Party. Arrested in 1926 for his revolutionary activities and sentenced by a fascist court to 20 years imprisonment. Theorized key concepts such as hegemony, base and superstructure, organic intellectuals, and war of position. [Full Biography] (1892-1937) <5 Founder of Communist Party and in 1935 of the POUM in Spain. [Full Biography] (1894-1930) 5+ Peruvian Professor. Self-educated. Historian of European Marxism and movements in South America. [Full Biography] | |
Third International After Lenin | ||
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(1879-1953) 30+ General Secretary of Soviet Communist Party from 1917 till his death in 1953. Responsible for the murder of the entire Bolshevik top leadership and the consolidation of bureaucratic rule in the USSR. [Full Biography] (1882-1949) 20+ Long-standing leader of Bulgarian C.P. [Full Biography] (1890-1986) < 5 Soviet leader who succeeded Stalin. [Full Biography] (1894-1971) 10+ Leader of Soviet Union who denounced Stalin in 1956 and tried to reform Soviet society. [Full Biography] (1907-1937) 5+ English philosopher and writer, won to Marxism in the 1930s and died fighting for the Republican cause in Spain in 1937. Wrote classic Marxist analyses of literature and art. [Full Biography] (1912-2003) < 5 English Marxist historian. [Full Biography] |
(1878-1939) A leader of the Jewish Bund, and later leading member of the CPUSA. [Full Biography] (1881-1961) Trade unionist and leader of the Communist Party of the USA. [Full Biography] (1900-1996) CPUSA Member, writer and anti-poverty, pro-labour journalist. [Full Biography] (1900-1964) 10+ Post World War Two leader of the French Communist Party. [Full Biography] (1903-1981) < 5 French Marxist philosopher. [Full Biography] (1891-1973) A leader of the Canadian Communist Party, trade unionist, and agitator, especially among the unemployed during the Depression; loyal supporter of the Soviet line. [Full Biography] (1907-1983) Canadian trade unionist, Communist and Member of Parliament. [Full Biography] (1908-1985) Leader of Albanian CP, followed separate foreign policy, anti-Khrushchev, anti-Mao and pro-Stalin. [Full Biography] (1916-2001) New Zealand-born communist, supporter of Enver Hoxha in Britain. [Full Biography] | |
| Writers whose main historical current is elsewhere, but also belonged to this current: Clara Zetkin | ||
TrotskyismWith the degeneration of the Soviet Union and the Comintern, a Left Opposition current joined Trotsky in setting up a rival Fourth International, defending socialist revolution and the Soviet Union, but in opposition to Stalinism. | ||
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(1900-1943) 10+ Greek Trotskyist. Led mass movements of veterans and defended workers in court. Wrote extensively about Trotsky. Shot dead by fascists while in prison. [Full Biography] (1904-1972) 20+ American Communist Party, then helped create the American Trotskyist movement. Left the SWP and joined the Socialist Party. [Full Biography] (1905-1979) 10+ American Trotskyist and socialist feminist. [Full Biography] (1905-1992) 50+ American Trotskyist and author of a number of books on Marxist philosophy. [Full Biography] (1906-1988) 5+ American Trotskyist, wrote a classic eye-witness history of the Spanish Revolution. After the WWII, understood that Capitalism would recover and dominate the world, and that Socialism had a long struggle ahead. [Full Biography] (1910-1979) 10+ A leader of the US SWP 40s-60s, advocate for Cuban revolution. (1910-1941) 5+ German Jew expelled from the Communist Party for supporting Leon Trotsky, fled to France and later Norway he was eventually assassinated by a Stalinist agent. [Full Biography] (1911-1996) 5+ International Secretary of Fourth International after WWII. Minister in Ben Bella's Socialist government of Algeria. Developed theory of "centuries of deformed workers states". [Full Biography] (1914-1976) 5+ Romanian trotskyist, active in France from 1936. In 1939, he broke with the IVth International groupings in France and founded the “Groupe Communiste (IVéme Internationale), latter renamed "Union Communiste (Trotskyiste)". Today's "Lutte Ouvriére" group claims to stand in the continuity of Barta's UC(T). [Full Biography] (1901-1971) < 5 Early member of Chinese CP, a founder of Trotskyism in China. (1901-1988) < 5 South African communist who travelled to China and wrote extensively on China as a Trotskyist. |
(1914-1990) 20+ American Marxist, journalist and labor activist. Founder of the Socialist Workers Party & Fourth International in 1938, later founded the International Socialist party. Stopped associating with Trotskyism after the 1960s. [Full Biography] (1917-2000) 50+ Palestinian Jewish Trotskyist, developed critique of Stalinist Russia as a form of “bureaucratic state capitalism,” laid the basis of the theory of 'deflected' permanent revolution and the “permanent arms economy,” founder of International Socialist Tendency (Socialist Review Group). [Full Biography] (1918-1944) < 5 Jewish Trotskyist who wrote definitive Marxist work on “The Jewish Question.” Died in Auschwitz. (1923-1995) 70+ Belgian Trotskyist founder and leader of United Secretariat of the Fourth International, renowned as Marxist Economist. [Full Biography] (1924-1987) < 5 Argentinian Trotskyist. Leader of the Liga Internacional de Trabajadores (LIT), and of Movement for Socialism (MAS) in Argentina, among the largest revolutionary currents in Latin America which remained oriented to the urban working class after the Cuban Revolution, and opposed guerillaism. (1925-2002) 40+ British Trotskyist, founder member of the International Socialist Tendency and leader of the British Socialist Workers Party. [Full Biography] (1930-2003) 10+ A leading theoretician of the British Socialist Review Group and its successor, the International Socialists; also an editor of several publications including Pluto Press. (1930-2002) 10+ British postal worker and trade unionist, a founder of the British Socialist Review Group. [Full Biography] (1934-1983) 50+ Theorist of the British British Socialist Review Group in the 1950s, translator and editor of Victor Serge. [Full Biography] (1937-2004) 50+ Journalist and populariser of Marxism, longstanding member of the British British Socialist Review Group. [Full Biography] (1947-1992) 10+ British cultural critic, anti-fascist agitator and Marxist writer. [Full Biography] (1940-1997) < 5 British Trotskyist, economist. | |
| Writers whose main historical current is elsewhere, but also belonged to this current: Leon Trotsky, James Cannon | ||
 Western MarxismAfter the Soviet Union became isolated from the West, a strand of Marxism developed in the capitalist Europe, independently of the Soviet Union and the Communist Parties, generally with the Universities rather than in the workers movement. | ||
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(1886-1961) 5+ German Left Communist who wrote one of the founding documents of “Western Marxism”, expelled from the Comintern. Became pessimistic about the prospects for socialism by the end of World War Two, but was later to become a supporter of Mao. [Full Biography] |
(1885-1971) 5+ Hungarian philosopher, writer, and literary critic. Commissar for Culture and Education in Hungary's short-lived Socialist government (1919). Helped lead the Hungarian uprising of 1956 against Stalinist repression. Created Marxist theory of aesthetics that opposed political control of artists, defended humanism, elaborated alienation. [Full Biography] | |
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The Frankfurt School (1923-2005) (1900-1980) 5+ German-born U.S. psychoanalyst and social philosopher who explored the interaction between psychology and society. By applying Freudian principles to social problems, Fromm helped show the way to a psychologically balanced, "sane society." [Full Biography] (1892-1940) Critic of degeneration of art under capitalism [Full Biography] (1895-1973) Long-term leader of the Frankfurt Institute from 1930, theorised Fordist, mass-production society. [Full Biography] (1900-1993) Philosopher who wrote on literary theory. [Full Biography] (1903-1969) Philosopher who studied the effects of mass culture and fascism on European society. [Full Biography] (1898-1979) Youngest member of the original Frankfurt School, reaches a broader audience in the 1960s with his critique of “consumer society” and the containment of opposition. [Full Biography] (1929- ) Leader of second generation of the Frankfurt School, theorised the idea of “networks” as opposed to Party and class, and initiated study of procedural ethics. [Full Biography] |
(1905-1980) Existentialist philosopher who played an important role in the non-Communist Party Left in post-World War Two France, existentialist, later attracted to Marxism. [Full Biography] (1918-1990) Criticised Marxism from the standpoint of Structuralism. [Full Biography] (1931-1994) Marxist of the 1960s generation who developed ideas about “the society of the spectacle.” Valued by the “Autonomists.” [Full Biography] Liberation Epistemology (1934-2001) Western Marxism (1929-1970) Recent Marxism (1960-2003) Feminist Writers (1792–) | |
 Marxist HumanismIn the 1960s, new interpretations of Marxism, drawing on Marx's early works, sprung up in reaction to the inhuman bureacratisation of countries especially in Eastern Europe, as well as New Left and dissident Trotskyist currents who developed similar, humanist ideas. | ||
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(1901-1989) 30+ West Indian, Afro Caribbean. Lucid dialectician, historian, novelist, & playwright. Stressed the importance of non-white workers to the revolutionary movement, foresaw the civil rights movement decades before it got underway. [Full Biography] (1910-1987) 30+ American Russian Trotskyist, Humanist. Secretary to Trotsky, translated many Marx, Engels and Lenin. Critiqued Lenin's theory of the Party being the vanguard. [Full Biography] |
(1918-2001) 20+ American autoworker and life-long supporter of Raya Dunayevskaya and C L R James. [Full Biography] (1928-1995) < 5 Australian Marxist, elaborated ethical foundations of Marxism. | |
 Soviet MarxismCurrents of Marxism survived in the Soviet Union under Stalin, who made a critique of the regime, while remaining separate from the Left Opposition, mainly by confining themselves to scientific and technical matters. | ||
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(1891-1937) 10+ Foremost exponent of the Marxist approach to Law. [Full Biography] (1896-1934) 10+ Soviet Psychologist who founded the Cultural Historical Activity Theory (CHAT) school of human development. [Full Biography] (1902-1977) < 5 The creator of neuropsychology. Soviet Psychologist who made advances in cognitive psychology, the processes of learning and forgetting, and mental retardation. Charted the way in which damage to specific areas of the brain affect behavior. [Full Biography] |
(1895-1936) 5+ Soviet linguist, associate of Mickhail Bakhtin. [Full Biography] (1904-1979) < 5 Soviet Psychologist who developed his own theory of activity which linked social context to development. [Full Biography] (1904-) < 5 Soviet Psychologist who developed cultural-historical activity theory in the field of childhood development. (1924-1979) 5+ Soviet philosopher. Charted the materialist development of Hegel's dialectics. Wrote extensively on dialectics, the Metaphysics of Positivism, and The Dialectics of the Abstract and Concrete in Marx's Capital. [Full Biography] | |
 Left CommunismA number of Marxists in Europe and the Americas developed a Left alternative to the Marxism of both Stalinists and Trotskyists, mainly centred around the idea of Soviets, i.e., Workers' Councils. | ||
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(1864-1927) < 5 Dutch socialist and poet, opposed WWI, became an advocate of ultra-left within Comintern. Expelled from Communist Party. [Full Biography] (1873-1960) 30+ Dutch astronomer. Helped form a Marxist party in the Netherlands. Member of the German Social Democratic party. [Full Biography] (1874-1943) < 5 German Left Communist who voted with Karl Liebknecht against the war credits and was a founding member of the German Communist Party. [Full Biography] (1879-1947) < 5 French supporter of Esperanto and anti-nationalism. [Full Biography] (1882-1960) < 5 British Left-Communist and Suffragette. [Full Biography] |
(1889-1970) 5+ Italian Communist, was expelled from Comintern as an ultra-left, later leading an independent Marxist Party in Italy. [Full Biography]
(1903-1981) 60+German Left Communist, later lived in the U.S.. Main exponent of “Council Communism” and opponent of idea of Revolution being led by a political party. [Full Biography] (1927-1995) < 5 Italian Marxist, active in trade unions after WW2, built Lotta Comunista, an independent communist current in Italy. [Full Biography] (1880-1958) < 5 Scottish American socialist educator, founding member of the CPUSA, and later the Proletarian Party. Keracher was also a journalist and agitator. [Full Biography] | |
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(1951-2002) < 5 Iranian Marxist. Conducted party building for the workers' movements in Iran and Iraq, specifically the Worker-Communist Party of Iran. |
(1953-2001) < 5 Phillippino Communist. Led the split in the Communist Party of the Philippines in 1991 over strategy of guerilla warfare. Advocated the orientation to the workers movement, combining parliamentary and extra-parliamentary means of struggle. | |
 Guerilla MarxismFrom the 1960s, especially following the Cuban Revolution, currents of Marxism emerged which promoted the armed struggle, either in the countryside or “urban guerilla warfare.” | ||
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(1928-1967) 10+ International Revolutionary. Helped create and maintain the Cuban Revolution. Creatively tried to establish socialism in Cuba, worked tirelessly to create revolutions throughout Africa and South America. Created the guerilla foco theory – building a revolutionary movement through militant resistance instead of party building. [Full Biography] |
(1911-1969) < 5 A Brazillian revolutionary who led the National Liberation Action (ALN). His tactics inspired the Italian Red Brigades, the German Red Army Faction. Expelled from the Brazilian Communist Party for “pro-Cuban” sympathy. Executed by police. | |
PopularisersSome writers have advocated the overthrow of capitalism or were outspoken supporters of the Soviet Union, but did not see themselves as Marxists, or may have combined reactionary “populist” rhetoric with calls for socialism. Some contributed to socialism simply by reporting on its struggles as journalists, often eye-witnesses to revolutionary struggles other expressed its spirit in their art. | ||
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(1855-1920) <5 South-African born, British Socialist, writer and feminist. [Full Biography] (1876-1916) American novelist, and populist socialist. [Full Biography] (1878-1968) Radical American writer who exposed the conditions of the poor in the industrial cities of the U.S.. [Full Biography] (1897-1969) Journalist for the Christian Science Monitor, who visited the Soviet Union after the Bolshevik revolution; provided information to US intelligence. [Full Biography] |
(1854-1900) Irish poet and playwrite who was also a socialist. [Full Biography] (1856-1950) Irish writer and playwrite, comrade of Eleanor Marx, Edward Aveling, and William Morris, later joined the Fabian society, a circle of intellectuals who advocated reform to avoid revolution. [Full Biography] (1866-1946) Radical science fiction author who used his novels to warn of the dangers of capitalism. [Full Biography] (1880-1968) Keller was deaf and blind but became renowned for her abilities. She was a firm supporter of the Russian Revolution and the IWW. [Full Biography] (1885-1970) American Progressive journalist who reported on revolutions from Russia to Spain to China, a unique source of sympathetic views for American workers. [Full Biography] (1905-1960) Sociologist who studied the benefits to families and children of the policies of the Soviet Union towards women. [Full Biography] (1907-1966) Journalist known mainly for her reportage on American labor struggles and strikes. [Full Biography] | |
MaoismIn the early 1960s, divisions opened up within the Comintern, with a current sympathetic to Mao Zedong, as opposed to the Soviet leader Khrushchev, developing a distinct philosophical and political line, emphasising the role of the peasantry. | ||
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(1893-1976) Became leader of the Chinese Communist Party during the Long March in 1937, and led China to its Revolution in 1949 and remained its supreme leader until his death in 1976. [Full Biography] (1886-1976) Longstanding leader of the CCP, denounced during the Cultural Revolution but later rehabilitated. [Full Biography] (1898-1976) Most respected of the old generation of leaders of the Chinese Communist Party. [Full Biography] (1902-1997) Longstanding leader of the Chinese Communist Party; was denounced during the Cultural Revolution, but survived and returned to leadership, being one of those who opposed restoration of the market. [Full Biography] |
(1902-1997) Longstanding leader of the Chinese Communist Party who was denounced during the Cultural Revolution as a “capitalist roader” and died in prison. [Full Biography] (1907-1971) Firm supporter of Mao during the Cultural Revolution, leader of the Red Army. [Full Biography] (1920- ) Led China after the Cultural Revolution after out-manoeuvering “Gang of Four” in a power struggle later in 1976. Deng Xiaoping's policies of reform began to take shape during Hua's tenure, and by 1980, leadership had shifted to Deng. Hua remains a member of the CC. [Full Biography] India Subject Archive (1939-1994) (1918-1972) A founder of the pro-Chinese Communist Party in India, died in police custody. [Full Biography] (1947-1998) Longstanding leader of the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist). [Full Biography] | |
Market SocialistsBetween the mid-1960s and mid-1980s, a current within the countries where Communist Parties were in power, developed the idea that the market could be used as a means of achieving a form of socialism which included the “free market.” | ||
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(1904-1997) Former longstanding leader of the Chinese Communist Party; purged as a “capitalist roader” during the Cultural Revolution, but returned to power after Mao's death and led the gradual return of China to capitalism. [Full Biography] |
(1919-2004) Czech dissident who became Deputy Prime Minister during the “Prague Spring” advocating a “Third Way” between capitalism and communism; in exile, became more of a social democrat of the Western variety. [Full Biography] | |
National LiberationParticularly in the decades after the end of World War Two, communists were in the leadership of national liberation struggles, the leaders of these struggles developed a distinct approach to socialist theory. | ||
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(1890-1969) Longstanding leader of the Vietnamese national liberation movement; set-up a guerilla base in the countryside in 1944, going on to defeat the French in 1954, but dying before final victory over the US invasion in 1975. [Full Biography] (1906-2000) Leader of the Vietnamese Army in the wars against both the French colonial forces and the US invaders. Foremost theorist of protracted warfare. [Full Biography] (1908-1986) Led Communist forces in South Vietnam after French withdrawal in 1954 and was First Secretary of North Vietnam Communist Party from 1959. After Ho Chi Minh’s death in 1969, became Party leader. [Full Biography] (1927- ) Leader of the Cuban Revolution and President of the Cuban Republic to this day. [Full Biography] |
(1881-1936) One of modern China’s most prominent and influential writers. His work frequently promoted radical change through criticism of antiquated cultural values and repressive social customs. [Full Biography] (1892-1980) Leader of the partisan army which liberated Yugoslavia from the Nazis and created a workers' state in defiance of Stalin's orders. [Full Biography] (1898-1974) Algerian communist and founder of the modern Algerian nationalist movement; supporter of the Russian Revolution. [Full Biography] Africa Subject Archive (1917-1989) | |
Black LiberationFrom the 18th century up to the present people of colour have resisted oppression by white capitalist powers and have developed a distinct current of revolutionary socialist thinking. | ||
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(1743-1803) The “Black Jacobin” who led a slave rebellion in Haiti in 1800 and created the first Black Republic, inspired by the French Revolution. [Full Biography] |
(1925-1965) US Black Muslim leader, assassinated in 1965. [Full Biography] Black Panther Party (1966-1998) | |
AnarchismAnarchism is a political current that has existed in the working class movement from its beginning and was an important component of the First International, but parted company with Marxism in the late 19th century. | ||
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(1809-1865) Founder and leading theorist of anarchism, advocated a cooperative society. [Full Biography] (1814-1876) Russian nobleman who advocated revolutionary anarchism; participant in the First International winning leadership of a significant section of the International in the 1870s. [Full Biography] (1844-1916) Biographer of Bakunin and theorist for anarcho-syndicalism. [Full Biography] (1859-1892) Radical French anarchist. [Full Biography] (1864-1930) Radical French anarchist. [Full Biography] (1872-1894) Radical French anarchist. [Full Biography] |
(1842-1921) Leader of Russian Anarchism. [Full Biography] (1853-1932) Leader of Italian anarchism. [Full Biography] (1884-1934) Leader of anarchist forces during the Wars of Intervention after the Russian Revolution. [Full Biography] (1869-1940) American anarchist, feminist and writer, deported to the Soviet Union, fought in Spanish Civil War. [Full Biography] (1873-1958) German libertarian anarchist, worked in the Jewish anarchist movement in London before going to New York. [Full Biography] (1934-1985) Czech anarchist writer and musician, emigrated to the U.S. [Full Biography] | |
The French RevolutionThe leaders of the French Revolution were the first to develop modern social theory and laid the basis for modern socialism. Rousseau traced the origins of inequality to private property, and Babeuf is credited with being the first Communist. The socialist ideas from the French Revolution are one of the sources of Marxism. |
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(1712-1778) It has been said that the French Revolution put Rousseau's philosophy into practice, in particular his idea of the Social Contract. Although he died 20 years before the Revolution, he was its principal theorist. [Full Biography] (1723-1789) French materialist and atheistic philosopher. [Full Biography] (1743-1793) Leader of the left wing of the Revolution, inspired the execution of royalist prisoners which launched the second, radical phase of the Revolution; his murder set off the Great Terror. [Full Biography] |
(1757-1794) Leader of the extreme left-wing during the Revolution and spokesperson of the sans coulottes. Hébert initiated a planned economy before his overthrow, after which the Revolution lost the support of the poor. (17??-1794) Priest who became a leader of the popular democratic Enragés during the French Revolution. He was renowned for the foul and abusive language of his journalism. [Full Biography] (1758-1794) Leader of the Jacobins and instigator of the Great Terror, Robespierre was the ultimate “moralist.” His overthrow marked the end of the radical phase of the Revolution. [Full Biography] (1760-1797) Rose to prominence in the twilight of the Revolution, convening a running public forum organising for more radical measures. He can be regarded as the first communist and an advocate of popular sovereignty and participatory democracy. [Full Biography] | |
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(1805-1881) Founder of the communist movement in the 1830s, he believed communism could be achieved by the dictatorship of a radical minority. He was immensely popular in France and elsewhere but spent most of his days in prison. [Full Biography] |
The Paris Commune (1832-1885) Agitator, editor of Le Cri du Peuple. [Full Biography] (1831-1913) Journalist, deputy to Government of National Defence for Paris. [Full Biography] (1830-1905) Nurse, soldier, hero of the Commune and labour organiser. [Full Biography] | |
Utopian SocialismVisions of a better society have been a concern of thinkers since ancient times, and a part of the critique of existing conditions. The speculations of the early 19th century Utopians are an important contribution to Marxism. Fourier and Owen in particular were much admired by Marx and Engels. | ||
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(1478-1535) Thomas More wrote Utopia in 1515, looking forward to a world of individual freedom and equality governed by Reason, at a time when such a vision was almost inconceivable. [Full Biography] (1609-1660) A leader of the True Levellers in the English Revolution of 1648. [Full Biography] (1611-1677) Common-Wealth of Oceana was based on universal land-ownership and was a militant republic dedicated to spreading its democratic system to the rest of the world. Cromwell banned it. [Full Biography] (17??-17??) Little is known of Morelly; Code of Nature was an attempt to provide a systematic philosophical justification of his communist ideas. [Full Biography] (1760-1825) French Utopian socialist who took part in War of Independence of the United States; opposed Deism and promoted the study of Nature. [Full Biography] |
(1772-1837) French Utopian socialist who criticised the bourgeois society established by the French Revolution. He promoted the role of environment and education in moulding personality. [Full Biography] (1771-1851) Welsh industrialist and social reformer; formed a model industrial community at New Lanark, Scotland, and pioneered cooperative societies. [Full Biography] (1788-1856) His followers, known as the Icarians, established ill-fated utopian communities in Illinois, Missouri, Iowa, and California. [Full Biography] (1812-1875) Leader of True Socialism, early associate of Marx. [Full Biography] (1850-1898) American author, famous for his utopian novel set in the year 2000, Looking Backward, published in 1888. [Full Biography] | |
Foundations of Political ScienceThe history of political science is inseparable from the art of war and the problems of philosophy, and there is a long history to discussion of the problems of modern political theory. These writers are the pioneers of political science and revolutionary theory. | ||
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(c 420 BCE) Ancient Chinese philosopher, author of The Art of War, which sums up the wisdom of centuries of Chinese political experience. [Full Biography] (1469-1527) 15th century Italian civil servant who put in writing the political methods of Renaissance Europe. [Full Biography] (1632-1704) English Empiricist who was the main theorist of the development of bourgeois political institutions in Britain. [Full Biography] (1892-1957) Early 20th century Australian Labor Party official. |
(1737-1809) English democratic and atheist journalist who formulated the concepts of civil liberty behind the American War of Independence and the French Revolution. Author of The Rights of Man. [Full Biography] (1759-1797) The earliest advocate of women's emancipation. [Full Biography] (1780-1831) Prussian military theorist admired Marx, Engels and Lenin. [Full Biography] (1805-1859) French diplomat who studied the development of democratic forms of society in America. [Full Biography] (1842-1924) A leader of Tammany Hall, the corrupt local government group in 19th century New York. [Full Biography] | |
PhilosophyThe “Value of Knowledge” archive includes classic works by over 140 writers from the Copernican Revolution up to the present time, centred on problems in the epistemology, the theory of knowledge. | ||
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(1561-1626) Founder of British Empiricism. [Full Biography] (1596-1650) Founder of French Rationalism. [Full Biography] (1713-1784) French materialist philosopher. (Marx's favourite writer) [Full Biography] (1770-1831) The greatest philosopher of “German Idealism,” theorist of modern dialectics and the most important influence on Marx and Engels and essential to Marxism. [Full Biography] (1792-1822) English poet and revolutionary-atheist. [Full Biography] |
(1804-1872) German philosopher, materialist and atheist critic of Hegel, and an influence on the young Marx in the 1840s. [Full Biography] (18??-19??) Scottish Hegelian, translator. (1861-1933) American Hegelian, professor at Princeton. (1856-1925) British Hegelian; Later abandoned Hegelianism. [Full Biography] (1881-1968) American Hegelian, professor at Cornell. [Full Biography] (1864-1920) German sociologist and political economist best known for his thesis of the “Protestant Ethic”; an early proponent of positivist sociology and historiography, theorised “status order” rather than class; developed the concept of “ideal types.” [Full Biography] (1866-1952) Important Italian Hegelian and socialist philosopher, one of the early advocates of Marxism in Italy, but became a reformist. [Full Biography] | |
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Ancient Dialectics (c. 500 BCE) The Tao Te Ching is one of the first and finest examples in human history of the dialectical method of reasoning, here used towards a moral end. [Full Biography] |
Ethics (1673-1998) (1724-1804) Founder of German Idealism whose works remain the foundations of Ethics. [Full Biography] (1817-1862) American liberal and romantic writer. [Full Biography] (1844-1900) German ethicist and existentialist philosopher. [Full Biography] (1908-1986) French writer and philosopher, pioneer of the modern women's movement. [Full Biography] | |
Political EconomyPolitical Economy grew out of moral philosophy in the late 18th century as a new and distinct branch of science, dedicated to understanding how people can live. The critical study of the political economists absorbed much of Karl Marx's life. | ||
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(1723-1790) Originally a moral philosopher, became the greatest of the British political economists; first to develop a labour theory of value. [Full Biography] (1766-1834) British political economists who theorised economic basis for development of society, and infamous for his reactionary theory of population. [Full Biography] (1806-1873) Contemporary and opponent of Karl Marx, English liberal theorist, early positivist and a Utilitarian in ethics. [Full Biography] |
(1856-1915) American management theorist who invented “scientific management.” [Full Biography] (1883-1946) British political economist who developed the theory of the welfare state & macroeconomic control of unemployment by public spending. [Full Biography] | |
Soviet WritersWriters – scientists, philosophers, teachers – in the Soviet Union were obliged to develop their ideas in terms of the official orthodox Marxist dogma. Most of these writers cannot properly be described as Marxists, but nevertheless their work has contributed in some way or another to our understanding of Marxism. | ||
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(1898-1976) Promoted theory of inheritance of acquired characteristics as the official Communist Party line in biology. [Full Biography] (1855-1935) Soviet scientist who carried out groundbreaking research in genetics. [Full Biography] |
(1888-1939) Soviet educationalist who promoted development of virtues of discipline and collectivism. [Full Biography] | |
Natural ScienceMarxists have always taken a keen interest in the development of the natural and social sciences and the philosophical problems arising out of science. Even scientists who have had conservative political views have contributed to revolutionary ideas. | ||
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(1809-1882) English biologist who formulated the idea of evolution of species by natural selection. [Full Biography] (1818-1881) Anthropologist who formulated the idea of development of human society through definite stages corresponding to evolution of the forces of production. [Full Biography] Psychology (1874-1989) |
(1879-1955) Discoverer of theory of relativity and the quantum nature of energy; devoted his life to fight for peace and world government. [Full Biography] Foundations of Mathematics (1911-1950) Epistemology & Modern Physics (1925-1958) | |
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Writers are grouped according to historical criteria, and next to each author's name are shown (birth-death) years and the number of works archived. Large type indicates writers who are most often cited or who have initiated a tendency and | ||
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