revisionism

revisionism
/ri vizh"euh niz'euhm/, n.
1. advocacy or approval of revision.
2. any departure from Marxist doctrine, theory, or practice, esp. the tendency to favor reform above revolutionary change.
3. a departure from any authoritative or generally accepted doctrine, theory, practice, etc.
[1900-05; REVISION + -ISM]

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      in Marxist thought, originally the late 19th-century effort of Eduard Bernstein (Bernstein, Eduard) to revise Marxist doctrine. Rejecting the labour theory of value, economic determinism, and the significance of the class struggle, Bernstein argued that by that time German society had disproved some of Marx's predictions: he asserted that capitalism was not on the verge of collapse, capital was not being amassed by fewer and fewer persons, the middle class was not disappearing, and the working class was not afflicted by “increasing misery.”

      The revisionism of Bernstein aroused considerable controversy among the German Social Democrats of his day. Led by Karl Kautsky (Kautsky, Karl) (q.v.), they officially rejected it (Hanover Congress, 1889). Nevertheless, revisionism had a great impact on the party's practical policies.

      After the Bolshevik Revolution, the term revisionism came to be used by Communists as a label for certain types of deviation from established Marxist views. Thus, for example, the independent ideas and policies of the Yugoslav Communists were attacked as “modern revisionism” by Soviet critics, who themselves were accused of revisionism by Chinese Communists.

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Universalium. 2010.

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Look at other dictionaries:

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  • revisionism — [[t]rɪvɪ̱ʒənɪzəm[/t]] N UNCOUNT (disapproval) Revisionism is a theory of socialism that is more moderate than normal Marxist theory, and is therefore considered unacceptable by most Marxists. [FORMAL] The Guardian says the reforms come after… …   English dictionary

  • Revisionism (Marxism) — Eduard Bernstein, originator of the original Revisionism …   Wikipedia

  • Revisionism (fictional) — In fiction, revisionism is the retelling of a story or type of story with substantial alterations in character or environment, to revise the view shown in the original work. Unlike most usages of the term revisionism, this is not generally… …   Wikipedia

  • revisionism — noun Date: 1903 1. a movement in revolutionary Marxian socialism favoring an evolutionary rather than a revolutionary spirit 2. advocacy of revision (as of a doctrine or policy or in historical analysis) • revisionist noun or adjective …   New Collegiate Dictionary

  • revisionism — noun /rɪˈvɪʒəˌnɪzəm/ a) the advocacy of a revision of some accepted theory, doctrine or a view of historical events b) an evolutionary form of Marxism …   Wiktionary

  • Revisionism —    See Fulfillment Policy …   Historical dictionary of Weimar Republik

  • revisionism — Synonyms and related words: Bohemianism, Bolshevism, Castroism, Communist Information Bureau, Communist Party, Fabianism, Maoism, Marxian socialism, Marxism, Marxism Leninism, Stalinism, Titoism, Trotskyism, beatnikism, communism, conversion,… …   Moby Thesaurus

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