Scientific communism

Part of a series on
Communism
Concepts Class struggle Class consciousness Classless society Collective leadership Common ownership Commune Communist society Free association From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs Gift economy Proletarian internationalism Stateless society Workers' self-management World revolution
Aspects Communist state Communist party Communist revolution Communist symbolism History of communism
Variants Anarchist European Juche Marxist National Pre-Marxist Primitive Religious Christian World
Internationals Communist League First Second Third Fourth
People Karl Marx Friedrich Engels Peter Kropotkin Rosa Luxemburg Vladimir Lenin Emma Goldman Leon Trotsky Joseph Stalin Ho Chi Minh Mao Zedong Josip Broz Tito Enver Hoxha Che Guevara Fidel Castro
By region Colombia Cuba Korea Peru Philippines Poland Russia Sumatra Vietnam
Related topics Anarchism Anti-capitalism Anti-communism Third-Worldism Cold War Communitarianism Criticisms of communism Criticisms of communist party rule Left-wing politics List of communist parties New Class New Left Red Scare Socialism Socialist mode of production Socialist economics Syndicalism
Communism portal

Scientific communism was one of the three major ingredients of Marxism-Leninism as taught in the Soviet Union in all institutions of higher education and pursued in the corresponding research institutions, and departments. The discipline consisted in investigation of laws, patterns, ways, and forms of class struggle, socialist revolution, and development of socialism and construction of communism.

Passing exams in scientific communism was an obligatory prerequisite in obtaining any postgraduate scientific degree in the Soviet Union; see "Kandidat" article for details.

Typical courses of study included the following topics, among others.

• Origins and development of the communist theory
• Theory of socialist revolution
• International communist movement
• Dictatorship of the proletariat
• Transformation of socialism into communism
• Socialist democracy
• Communist interpersonal relations and upbringing
• Criticisms of anti-communism

Other components of Marxism-Leninism

• Marxist-Leninist philosophy (Marxist philosophy plus Leninism), subdivided into dialectical materialism and historical materialism
• Political economy subdivided into the political economy of capitalism and political economy of socialism

References