The A-Z of Marxism
A short dictionary for activists
Note that the following is a work in progress and a collective effort. Thanks in particular to Tess Lee Ack and Daniel Taylor for drafting many of the entries. The dictionary will be hosted here temporarily in draft form as we build the list of words, revise the definitions and iron out technical and editorial creases. When the list is more complete and polished, we’ll host it at redflag.org.au. If you have suggestions for additions, edits, alternative definitions, or recommendations for “further reading” articles that explain a concept in greater depth, do get in touch. SA members can use the Red Flag submissions portal.
Left-wing activists occasionally use terms that aren’t much understood outside of our own circles. Sometimes, that’s because we can be slightly out of touch with reality. But mostly it’s a natural feature of life: almost every pastime or field of endeavour creates its own vocabulary. Talk to a coin collector about coins, a gardener about gardening, a footy fan about football, a surfer about surfing, an economist about economics, etc.—you will notice that they use a range of words specific to their field. They also use some “regular” words differently from the rest of us. The socialist movement is no different. Throughout our history, socialists, trade unionists, anarchists, and others have developed a vernacular of left-wing activism and analysis, which we aim to preserve. So we’re building an activist dictionary, “The A-Z of Marxism”, to help readers understand it.
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
Select a letter above or click on the dashes at the left of the page to view the entries.
A
Abolitionist
Someone who was part of or supported the movement to end slavery in the United States. In contemporary use, someone who wants to eliminate prisons and the prison system.
Abstract labour
Accord (the Accord)
The ALP-ACTU Accord, or the Prices and Incomes Accord, was a series of agreements, starting in 1983 and ending in 1996, between the federal Labor government and the Australian Council of Trade Unions. The theory of the Accord was that workers would receive lower pay rises but would be compensated for this with lower income taxes and increased social welfare (such as the introduction of Medicare). The reality was a massive transfer of wealth from workers to bosses and the decimation of the union movement. During the Accord years, most union leaders discouraged rank-and-file activism, which was viewed as a threat to the deal they had struck with Labor. They attacked unions, such as the Builders Labourers Federation, that refused to cooperate with the government and the employers. (For more, see the Socialist Review article “The Accord and the state of working class organisation”.)
Accumulation (Capital accumulation)
Activism
Efforts to bring about some sort of social or political change.
Activist
Someone who engages in activism. In trade unions, a “union activist” recruits people to the union and campaigns in their workplace for better wages and conditions, and against bigotry, to unite workers against the boss.
Alienation
Ambit claim
Anarchism
A socialist current that usually defines itself in opposition to Marxism. This opposition began with the founder of modern anarchism, Mikhail Bakunin. The movement mostly emphasises decentralisation, both as a vision of socialism and a principle of organising: socialism is conceived as a network of small communes freely trading with each other, and socialist organisation is a network of small groups acting largely autonomously. Many anarchists reject Karl Marx’s emphasis on the industrial working class, on mass action and political action, and on the need for a revolutionary workers’ state. However, these anarchist principles have tended to break down during large-scale struggles, resulting in the development of anarchist sub-currents that accept major principles of Marxism. For example, anarcho-syndicalists concede the centrality of the working class and “platform” anarchists concede the need for political struggle and a revolutionary state. This diversity of opinion, combined with a lack of any broadly agreed-upon anarchist theory of human history or society, makes anarchism hard to define, even for anarchists.
Apartheid
A system of institutionalised racial discrimination and segregation. Most commonly associated with the regime in South Africa from 1948 to the early 1990s and with Israel in relation to its rule over the Palestinians. (For more, see the Indiana International & Comparative Law Review article “Apartheid outside Africa: the case of Israel”.)
Arab Spring (the Arab Revolutions)
A wave of uprisings and revolutions across the Middle East and North Africa in 2011-12. The movement resulted in the overthrow of governments in Tunisia, Libya, Egypt and Yemen, and civil war in Syria. Other countries were rocked by sustained mass protest movements, including Morocco, Iraq, Algeria, Lebanon, Jordan, Kuwait, Oman, Bahrain and Sudan (the government of which fell to another revolution in 2019).
Austerity
A program of government cuts to social services and public sector wages. It can also involve selling public assets (see privatisation), making certain services “user pays” (rather than free), and adding taxes to basic consumer goods. Austerity is invariably about reducing working-class living standards, and is most often implemented in times of recession, high government debt and/or war.
Authoritarian
Usually means hostile to democracy; a person, political practice or political system who/that attempts to limit or prevent open debate and the exchange of ideas, and stifle popular participation or decision-making.
Award
A legal document outlining minimum pay rates and conditions of work in Australia. Awards are generally industry-based, meaning that different awards cover different types of work. Almost all workers and bosses are covered, and legally bound, by an award. Some workers, usually those in workplaces with trade union members, are also covered by enterprise agreements. (For more, see the list of awards at the Fair Work Ombudsman.)
B
Bakunin, Mikhail
A Russian anarchist and chief rival of Karl Marx in the First International. While Marx and Engels argued for the working class and the oppressed to unite in a workers’ state to overthrow the capitalist state, Bakunin advocated a decentralised network of small communes freely trading with each other. Bakunin said that the capitalist state and the workers’ state are equally objectionable: it did not matter how democratic a workers’ state was for the oppressed nor how necessary such a state was to defend a revolution. Bakunin also advocated secret plots by armed minorities as a means of sparking revolutions. He was expelled from the First International in 1872 for maintaining a secret organisation inside the group.
Bargain (to bargain)
The formal negotiation process to reach an agreement over issues such as wages and working conditions applying to different groups of workers. In Australia, the resulting employment contracts are called bargaining agreements. Bargaining is usually conducted between employers and unions and often occurs in an individual enterprise (business)—hence the term “enterprise agreement” (EA) or sometimes “enterprise bargaining agreement” (EBA). Less frequently, bargaining results in industry agreements that cover workers in all businesses across a particular sector of the economy.
Bargaining period
The limited period in which a union is permitted to present, negotiate and take action for a new workplace or industry agreement (contract). Workers can take “protected” (that is, legal) industrial action to support their claims only when negotiating on a proposed enterprise agreement and must apply to the Fair Work Commission for a protected action ballot order. Under Australia’s highly restrictive workplace laws, workers/unions taking action outside the bargaining period, or without a Commission-authorised secret ballot, are severely penalised.
Bolshevik
Russian for “of the majority”. It was the name taken by Vladimir Lenin’s faction/party following a split in the Russian socialist movement in 1903. The other, moderate, faction was called the Mensheviks, meaning “of the minority”. See also Menshevik.
Bolshy
Derivative of Bolshevik. Generally, someone energetically anti-capitalist, passionate and unmovable on a particular issue, or displaying militant tendencies. “She’s very Bolshy—always picking fights with cops”; or: “He’s quite Bolshy about composting, don’t let him catch you putting your scraps in the bin”. See also Bolshevik.
Boss
Anyone who employs a worker or who has the power to direct their work or fire them. Usually refers to capitalists, but can also refer to managers and bureaucrats.
Bourgeoisie
It’s just French for “capitalist class”. Often used to make a speaker or writer appear learned or erudite.
Bureaucrat
C
Cadre
Derives from a military term for the commissioned and non-commissioned officers of a military unit responsible for training the rank-and-file troops. In the context of socialist organisations, cadre refers to the layer of experienced members with a solid understanding of Marxist politics who are capable of winning others to a Marxist worldview, and of playing a leading role both inside and outside the organisation. (Cadre is traditionally pronounced Kah-dray, but Australian socialists mostly say Kay-duh.)
Capital
Capitalism
Capitalist
A business owner. Perhaps more specifically, a person who is reliant on the labour of their business’s employees for the bulk of their income. When socialists talk about “the capitalists”, we usually mean members of the ruling class who own or control big businesses. These capitalists are a tiny fraction of a country’s population—less than 1 percent—and run the major sections of the economy. Capitalists include the directors, CEOs and top managers of the biggest companies. (For more, see the Red Flag article “The ruling class in Australia”.)
Cartel
A group of companies that act together to control a market and eliminate competition. See also monopoly.
Centrism
Civil society
Modern societies are often considered to have three components: the family, civil society and the state. If the family is supposedly the sphere of love and intimacy, and the state the sphere of public politics, civil society is basically the economic sphere. People leave their homes and families in the morning and enter a world in which workers compete for jobs and business owners compete for customers. In the words of German philosopher Georg Hegel, it is “the battlefield where everyone’s individual private interest meets everyone else’s”. In Karl Marx’s paraphrase, civil society is the “war of all against all”. Often, “civil society” is used more broadly. So people sometimes refer to “civil society institutions”, which implies “non-government groups”. A trade union, for example, is a civil society institution. But so too is a sports club. So the phrase is often vague and unhelpful.
Class
See social class
Class collaboration
Class consciousness
Consciousness is usually considered an attribute of individuals. So someone is “conscious of their surroundings” or becomes “unconscious” when they receive a hard blow to their head. Class consciousness refers to collective awareness on the part of social classes, or sections of them. Fundamentally, class consciousness is bosses and workers understanding that they have different economic interests—that profits are the result of exploitation, for example. Workers are said to have a high level of working-class consciousness when they develop a political understanding of the nature of capitalism—for example, that racism divides workers and must be fought, that the state is not neutral in the class struggle—and are prepared to fight for a better world (that is, that they are activists).
Class struggle
By “struggle”, Marxists don’t mean “difficulty”, as in “I struggle to get out of bed in the morning”, or “She is struggling to make ends meet”. Class struggle refers to the contest between bosses and workers over the distribution of the economy’s wealth and over who exerts control or influence within society more generally. For example, when we talk about “working-class struggle”, we mean the extent to which workers are standing together to fight for better wages, shorter working hours, democratic rights, and against discrimination and oppression in the workplace and in society, among other things. For workers, class struggle involves strikes or other industrial actions and public displays such as mass street marches, which express collective power.
Closed shop
Colonialism
The occupation and control of a country or territory by a foreign power for an extended period. Colonial powers directly control the government and economy, exploit the country’s resources and dominate the colonised population, often imposing their own language and cultural values. Between the sixteenth and twentieth centuries, colonialism was predominantly carried out by European states competing for markets and resources. The process led to the creation of vast empires, such as the Portuguese, Spanish, Dutch and British empires.
Comintern
See Third International
Commodity
An item (or service) produced for sale rather than for the consumption or use of the person or people creating it. Karl Marx said that a commodity must have both a use-value and a value (expressed in its price, or exchange-value). For example, a tomato grown in a backyard simply for eating is not a commodity. It has a use-value: the quality of being edible, which is determined by its chemical and biological properties. But if it isn’t produced for a market and never enters one, from the perspective of the capitalist system, it has no economic value. However, a tomato grown to be sold also has an exchange-value (a price), which is not determined by its physical qualities (its use-value), but by the average quantity of labour required to produce it. See also socially necessary labour; abstract labour; value.
Commodity fetishism
In anthropology, fetishism refers to the primitive belief that supernatural powers exist or are embodied in inanimate objects (e.g. totems). Marx draws on this concept to describe the illusion that the production and exchange of commodities on the market is a relationship between things (money and goods) rather than between people. Even though a product has value only because it embodies human labour, its value appears to be a natural attribute of the product, like its weight or density. The social relation between people (those producing the things being exchanged) thus assumes “the fantastic form of a relation between things [which] I call the fetishism ... of commodities”. (Marx, Capital, Vol. 1.) See also commodity, value, use-value, exchange-value, market.
Communism
Communist International
See Third International
Comrade
A fellow member of a movement. The German kamerad meant roommate or barracks-mate (someone who shares your chamber, from the Latin camera) and was a term of friendship used in the nineteenth century by soldiers, students and members of clubs. After the 1848 European revolutions, French socialists adapted kamerad to camarade as a neutral form of respectful and egalitarian address. Subsequently, socialist movements in different countries imported the word “comrade” or selected their native equivalent. The Russian tovarishch is related to tovar, “commodity”; tovarishch was initially used among merchants before coming to mean “travel companion” and then “comrade”. In Germany, kamerad came to be more strongly associated with the military and, ultimately, the fascist movement: Nazis called each other kamerad, while socialists preferred the word genosse or genossin, roughly meaning “one who shares the enjoyment”.
Conservatism
As a political movement or ideology, conservatism is notoriously tricky to define. Perhaps the neatest definition is that conservatism is the defence of hierarchy—the belief that some people should rule over others, be it husbands over wives, bosses over workers, rich over poor, or perhaps whites over blacks (although this last notion has gone out of favour, at least publicly). Conservatives generally oppose movements and political ideas that seek to undermine “traditional” institutions of authority, such as the nuclear family or the church, or that strive for more egalitarian (therefore less hierarchical) societies. See also right-wing.
Constant capital
Business investment in non-human production inputs, such as raw materials, machinery and equipment, buildings, etc. Constant capital is “dead labour”, i.e. the past labour embodied in the means of production. It transfers its existing value, or part of its value, during the production process (to the things being produced), but does not create new value—hence “constant” capital. See also value, variable capital, means of production.
Consumerism
Often used pejoratively to describe either a) the excessive and often wasteful level of consumption of material goods and services, particularly in wealthier societies; or b) the corporate ethos that individuals ought to find satisfaction or even meaning through purchasing consumer goods. In economic theory, it’s the idea that consumer spending is desirable as a driver of economic growth and a measure of the “development” of a capitalist economy. See also ethical consumerism.
Contradictory consciousness
Culture war
D
Deep state
Unelected parts of the state which act in secret to undermine democracy and restrict the actions of elected officials. The deep state may consist of military officers, intelligence officers and civil servants. The term was originally used with reference to countries with a history of coups, or where unelected state officials were intensely hostile to a new regime, such as Egypt after the 2011 revolution. Donald Trump’s supporters popularised the idea that a “woke” deep state was undermining his presidency. In reality, every capitalist state has a large unelected bureaucracy intended to limit the impact of elected officials. This is an openly acknowledged part of the “checks and balances” of capitalist democracy. The so-called deep state is a standard part of a capitalist constitution; it sometimes inconveniences right-wing governments, and often crushes left-wing ones.
Delegate
A person elected or authorised to represent others in a group or organisation—for example, at a meeting or conference or in an ongoing capacity. In a trade union, a delegate is elected by their workmates to negotiate with their employer and liaise with the union officials on their behalf. See also shop steward.
Democracy
In ancient Greece, it meant “rule of the people”—a way to organise political life based on collective decision-making. In the ancient world, a small minority of slave-owning men were the only citizens, and they were empowered to discuss and decide on very important matters. Unlike ancient democracy, modern capitalist democracy usually allows most of the adult population to participate, but gives us a say on a narrow set of questions: for the most part, we decide which politicians will be elected. The socialist movement has been associated with trying to expand democracy to more areas of life—into the workplace, for example—to create a more all-embracing version of democracy, where “the people” can decide on all important questions of social life.
Democratic revolution
Demonstration
A public protest. When people take to the streets to express an opinion they collectively share (that their government should not join a foreign war, for example), it demonstrates that many people care about an issue and are willing to act on it. In some European languages, protests are called “manifestations”. In everyday life, the fact that many people want the world to change can be concealed. Public protests demonstrate, or prove, this fact: they act as a manifestation, an embodiment, of previously concealed thoughts and feelings.
Dependency theory
Determinism
The belief that all events, including human actions, are inevitably caused or determined by preceding events and in accordance with natural/scientific laws outside human control. “Hard” determinism holds that free will is an illusion (leading to the conclusion that individuals cannot be held morally responsible for their actions). Some interpretations of Marxism are deterministic—the idea that economic development inevitably leads to socialism, for example, or that the class struggle will automatically undermine bigotry among sections of the working class. Marx himself, however, rejected determinism. Humans are not simply the passive objects of historical forces; we actively shape our own history. However, our actions are constrained and limited by existing social, economic and political conditions. He wrote, in The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte: “Men make their own history, but they do not make it as they please; they do not make it under self-selected circumstances, but under circumstances existing already, given and transmitted from the past”.
Dialectic
Direct action
A form of activism that usually involves groups and individuals disrupting “business as usual”, using tactics such as protests, boycotts, strikes, blockades, occupations and other forms of civil resistance or disobedience. Direct action contrasts with the more “indirect” or passive activism of lobbying or voting, but is not necessarily counterposed (activists can both blockade a fossil fuel extraction site and vote for a person or party that pledges to do something about climate change, for example).
Division of labour
E
Economic crisis
Economy (the economy)
Eight-hour day
Since the Industrial Revolution, workers have tried to resist exploitation by limiting the length of the working day. The eight-hour day movement played a crucial role in shaping labour rights and working conditions. The concept was initially proposed in 1817 by Robert Owen, a Welsh capitalist and social reformer, with the slogan “Eight hours labour, eight hours recreation, eight hours rest”. The first workers to achieve this goal were stonemasons in Melbourne in 1856.
Emancipation
The liberation of an oppressed group from legal, social or political restrictions—for example, the abolition of slavery. It can also refer to the fight to win equality for an oppressed or disenfranchised group, along with full economic, social and political rights. See also self-emancipation.
Engels, Friedrich (1820–1895)
German philosopher, political theorist and activist, journalist and revolutionary socialist. A lifelong friend and close collaborator of Karl Marx, he is acknowledged as the co-founder of “scientific socialism”, i.e. Marxism. Vladimir Lenin wrote, “After his friend Karl Marx, he was the finest scholar and teacher of the modern working class in the whole civilised world”. Though the son of a wealthy textile manufacturer, Engels at a young age became a fierce critic of capitalism, and found a kindred spirit when he met Marx in 1844. Together, they wrote a series of key texts—including The Holy Family (1844), The German Ideology (1846) and The Communist Manifesto (1848)—and worked as political activists in the Communist League and First International. Engels also wrote several important works of his own, many of which are considered foundational to Marxist theory. His first book, The Condition of the Working Class in England (1845), drew on his observations of the appalling working conditions that prevailed following the Industrial Revolution. His pathbreaking book, The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State (1884), remains one of the best explanations of women’s oppression and how it can be eliminated. Other significant works include his Anti-Dühring (1878), Socialism: Utopian and Scientific (1880), Dialectics of Nature (1872–1882) and Ludwig Feuerbach and the End of Classical German Philosophy (1886). Engels supported Marx financially for much of his life and, following Marx’s death in 1883, edited his manuscripts to complete Volumes II and III of Capital (1885 and 1894).
Enterprise agreement (EA)
A contract between an employer and a trade union that enshrines the terms, conditions and entitlements for the workers it covers. Such agreements cover a specific business or a group of companies (as opposed to an industry). EAs, to be valid, generally need to provide for wages and conditions of work equal to or above the legal minimums set out in awards. See also award.
Ethical consumerism
Exchange-value
The measure of a commodity’s value expressed in what it can be exchanged for, typically the payment of money for a product or service. While related to “price”, Marx argued that exchange-value is not identical to the money price of a commodity, which may fluctuate wildly from its value. See also commodity, price, value, use-value.
Exploitation
When an individual or group controls and lives off the labour of others, and controls the surplus produced by that labour. (“Surplus” here means the goods and services produced above and beyond what is required to maintain the working population.) Notable exploitative relationships include slave owners and slaves, landowners and peasants, and bosses and workers. Living off a surplus produced by others is not necessarily exploitation: those who cannot work due to injury, disability, age, or unemployment live by consuming part of society’s surplus, but do not exploit anyone. Exploitation necessarily involves having power over others and influencing the labour process. This power generally derives from the exploiter’s ownership or control of the means of production. See also labour power.
F
Family (the nuclear family)
A household consisting of two parents and their children. Family forms have varied considerably throughout human history, depending on the nature of the society and the mode of production at the time. The nuclear family is a modern phenomenon specific to the needs of capitalism—the privatised reproduction of future workers and the care and maintenance of the existing workforce. It is the primary source of women’s oppression under capitalism. Even though most women today have paid employment outside the home, they still bear the majority of the responsibility for family care. This benefits capitalism in two main ways. First, women’s unpaid labour in the home is of enormous economic value in itself. Second, that women’s primary role is seen as wife and mother justifies the sexual division of labour in which many women are employed in the so-called caring (and lower-paid) industries such as health care, child care, aged care and teaching. Though the impact of social changes has led to some variations (for example single-parent households or same-sex parents and children), the nuclear family is seen and promoted as the ideal or “natural” family model.
Fascism
Fascist
Feudalism
Fictitious capital
First International
The International Workingmen’s Association (IWA), founded in London in 1864, was the first international organisation to unite working-class and left-wing forces—socialist, communist, social democratic and anarchist groups and trade unions. The IWA was established during a revival of workers’ struggle following a period of reaction in the wake of the 1848 revolutions. At its peak, the First International had up to 8 million members. Karl Marx was a founding member, wrote the IWA’s program and constitution and served on its General Council. From April 1865, women were accepted as members, but the leadership remained exclusively male until 1867, when Harriet Law, supported by Marx, was admitted the General Council. The IWA held conferences in Geneva (1866), Lausanne (1867), Brussels (1868), Basel (1868) and The Hague (1872). Political tensions and differences emerged, particularly between the socialist forces, led by Marx, and the anarchists, led by Bakunin. In 1872, these conflicts resulted in the expulsion of the anarchists. Subsequently, the General Council, at Marx’s suggestion, moved the IWA headquarters to New York. The IWA was formally disbanded in July 1876.
First World
Today, this refers to industrialised, stable democracies with high standards of living. But the term emerged during the Cold War, reflecting more the political alliances of the post-World War Two era. “First World” referred to the US-led Western Bloc (NATO) and its allies; “Second World” was the Soviet Bloc (Warsaw Pact) and its allies; and “Third World” was the Non-Aligned Movement, led by Egypt, Yugoslavia, Indonesia and India. The terms became less commonly used after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1989-91. See also Global North and Global South.
Forces of production (or productive forces)
The combination of natural resources, labour power, knowledge and technology required to produce goods and services. When Marxists write about “the development of the productive forces / forces of production”, we mean the increasing sophistication and productivity of an economy.
Free market
Free trade
Freedom
G
General strike
When the majority of workers, or the workers in a range of key industries, stop work simultaneously (and for a day or longer) in a city, state or country. See also strike.
Global North
The wealthier industrialised, diversified and technologically advanced countries that dominate global politics, trade and financial institutions. Most, though not all, are located in the northern hemisphere. Countries include the US and Canada, Europe, Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand. The term has come to replace the older designation “First World”. See also First World.
Global South
Developing countries, mostly in the southern hemisphere, usually characterised by poverty, limited industrialisation, poor infrastructure and reliance on agriculture or resource extraction. It includes much of Africa, Latin America and Asia. The term was first used in 1969 by Carl Oglesby, who argued that centuries of northern “dominance over the global south … [has] converged … to produce an intolerable social order”.
Globalisation
Government of the left
Grassroots
The base of “regular” people in a movement or organisation (as opposed to the leadership, for example). The term was used in 1912 by US Senator Albert Beveridge, who described the Progressive Party as one that “has come from the grass roots … grown from the soil of people’s hard necessities”. Grassroots movements are movements that favour bottom-up, rather than top-down decision-making and maximise the involvement of ordinary people in political activity.
Guerrilla struggle
Military combat conducted by irregular forces (e.g. the armed wing of a political organisation) against larger and more powerful conventional military forces, usually in an attempt to overthrow a government. Guerrilla struggles involve unconventional tactics, such as hit-and-run attacks, ambushes, sabotage and raids conducted by small, mobile units that often rely on the support of a local population. An example of a successful guerrilla struggle is the Cuban revolution of 1959, when guerrilla forces led by Fidel Castro overthrew the deeply unpopular authoritarian regime of Fulgencio Batista.
H
Hegemony
Leadership or dominance, especially by one state or social class over others (derived from the Greek for “authority, rule, political supremacy”). Italian Marxist Antonio Gramsci developed the concept of cultural hegemony to explain how the capitalist ruling class employs both consent and coercion to maintain its power. It uses its control of education, advertising, the media, etc., to inculcate the idea that the existing social, political and economic order—capitalist society—is natural, inevitable and beneficial for all. In terms of international relations, Italian sociologist Giovanni Arrighi defined hegemony as the influence a country accumulates not simply from using power to advance its own interests, but by its leadership being in the perceived interests of the countries that fall in behind it.
Historical materialism
Hot Autumn
A period of intense class struggle in the industrial centres of northern Italy in 1969–70, when students and workers united in a potentially revolutionary challenge to capitalism. Inspired by the events of May 1968 in France, left-wing students started agitating for educational and social reforms. Workers joined these protests and began fighting for their own demands, including wage rises and a 40-hour work week. This led to a series of large strikes and, in some places, workplace occupations. But as in France, the Communist Party played a key role in quelling the struggle. (For more, see the Red Flag article “‘What do we want? Everything!’: Italy’s Hot Autumn”.)
Human nature
Humanism
I
Idealism
Ideology
Ideologue
Imperialism
Imperialist state
Industrial action
Action collectively taken by workers to defend or improve their working conditions and wages and/or as a form of political protest. Industrial action can take various forms. For example: bans and limitations (refusing to perform specific tasks at work), go-slows (continuing to work, but doing so at a very relaxed pace), work-to-rule (doing no more than the minimum required in a workplace contract) and, most potently, strikes (refusing to work entirely). Bosses may also take industrial action against their workforce, often in the form of lockouts (preventing employees from entering the workplace and refusing to pay them).
Industrial muscle
Industrial Workers of the World (the IWW)
Insurrection
Intelligentsia
Professional researchers or academics in universities, think tanks, government departments, trade unions, non-government organisations and so on. Mostly, the intelligentsia is part of the middle classes.
Internationalism
The unity and solidarity of the working class across national boundaries, a bedrock principle of revolutionary socialism. Today, almost all political parties are nationalist: they argue that all people in a given country, regardless of their social status (whether they are billionaires or bus drivers, for example), share a common interest and should unite as citizens. Socialists are internationalists, arguing that workers in all countries share common interests and should unite across national boundaries against the capitalists of all countries, who collectively exploit them. So Marx and Engels ended the Communist Manifesto with the slogan “Workers of All Lands, Unite!” The need for internationalism is not a moral imperative but is rooted in the international character of capitalism itself. As Marx wrote, “The emancipation of the workers is not a local, nor a national, but an international problem”. (For more, see the Red Flag article “Nationalism versus internationalism”.)
Islamism
A political ideology holding that the Islamic religion ought to be the basis of the government, legal system and society. Islamists generally oppose the separation of church and state and argue for the imposition of Islamic law (Sharia law). Based on the various Islamic sects (Sunni, Shia, etc.), there is a range of Islamist movements and organisations which seek to achieve this in a variety of ways, and often have ideological differences. Many Islamists are also open to compromise. So in various countries (such as Indonesia, Malaysia and most North African states) Sharia law is limited and operates in conjunction with secular state laws.
Islamophobia
Hostility towards and prejudice and discrimination against Muslims. Though far from recent, Islamophobia has been systematically fostered by (mainly) Western governments and media since the attacks by Islamist forces against the US in September 2001. This provided the pretext for the US-led “war on terror”, which involved the invasions of Afghanistan (2001) and Iraq (2003), the persecution of Muslims and attacks on civil rights. The demonisation of Muslims as real or potential terrorists is a form of racism that serves imperialist interests in the Middle East, as well as stoking divisions in the Western working classes.
J
Junta
An authoritarian dictatorship (often military) that rules a country after taking power by force. Examples include the military government in Myanmar from February 2021 and the Chilean government led by General Augusto Pinochet following his coup against President Salvador Allende in September 1973. The Spanish term junta means “meeting” or “committee” and originated in the resistance to Napoleon’s invasion of Spain in 1808.
K
L
Laborism
Labour
The human activities that sustain and reproduce a society. Almost any activity can be labour: transporting food, writing poems, making a garden beautiful, manufacturing weapons, digging graves. Labour can take different forms in different periods of history. This is part of what defines a mode of production. Although other animals carry out labour-like activities, it appears that only humans can change the form of their labour, creating different historical periods defined by different ways of working.
Labour aristocracy
Labour power
A person’s capacity to work (as distinct from the physical act of working), which workers sell to a capitalist in exchange for money (wages). Labour power is the most important commodity in the capitalist economy. The capitalist purchases labour power, directing workers to produce goods or services but paying them less than the value of what they produce. This exploitation is the source of profit (surplus value), which capitalists constantly seek to maximise. As Marx noted in Capital, Volume I: “The rate of surplus value depends, in the first place, on the degree of exploitation of labour power”. See also exploitation.
Labour theory of value
Originally, the economic theory that human labour is responsible for the creation of all economic value, and therefore that capitalist production is the only truly productive part of the economy. Pro-capitalist economists endorsed this theory to argue that capitalists were more important than landlords. When the working-class movement used the theory to argue that capitalists themselves were economically and socially unnecessary, mainstream economics decided that the theory was “discredited”. Karl Marx drew upon elements of the labour theory of value to construct his analysis of capitalism, although his version differs significantly from those of the early economists. See also value.
Lecture bash
No, it is not the act of assaulting a professor. It just means “to make an announcement in a lecture”—usually before the lecturer begins the class. It is a common practice in Australian universities for left-wing activists and members of student clubs to lecture bash about upcoming events, such as meetings, protests or BBQs.
Left wing
Describes ideologies, organisations and people that support the workers’ movement and other progressive causes. The terms “left” and “right” were coined during the French Revolution, referring to the seating arrangements in the National Assembly. Those on the left supported the revolution, the creation of a democratic republic and the secularisation of society, while those on the right supported the monarchy.
Lenin, Vladimir
Leninism
Liberal (a Liberal)
Liberal (a liberal; a small l liberal)
Liberalism
Liberal democracy
Line (the)
Log of claims
It just means “list of demands”. In the workers’ movement, the log of claims is a formal document listing the specific changes or improvements in terms and conditions (e.g. wage increases, break times, entitlements) that are the basis for workers (usually represented by a union) negotiating with their boss for a new or amended contract. See also bargain, bargaining period, enterprise agreement.
Lumpen
A person from the lumpenproletariat, meaning the unorganised, usually unemployed, often destitute layer of society, lacking class consciousness or loyalty, and often including criminal elements. The term was coined by Marx and Engels who described this layer in The Communist Manifesto as “the dangerous class” and “social scum”. They argued that while the working class had the potential to overthrow capitalism and build a socialist society, the lumpenproletariat had no such revolutionary potential and could instead be used as tools by reactionary forces to attack the working class—as occurred in the 1848 European revolutions and in Nazi Germany. Today, the term “underclass” is more commonly used to refer to the chronically unemployed, the homeless and career criminals.
Luxemburg, Rosa (1871–1919)
Polish-German revolutionary activist and Marxist theorist. Radicalised at at early age, she co-founded the Social Democracy of the Kingdom of Poland and Lithuania (SDKPiL) party in 1893. Moving to Germany in 1898, she became a leading figure in the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD). Her activism led to her being imprisoned several times in Germany, and in Poland during the 1905 Russian Revolution. Her book, The Mass Strike, based on observations of that revolution, presents a powerful argument about the working class’s ability to emancipate itself through its own collective action. As the SPD moderated, she led the fight against reformism with her brilliant pamphlet Reform or Revolution?. When the SPD capitulated to nationalism and supported Germany in World War One, Luxemburg, along with Karl Liebknecht, founded the anti-war Spartacus League. They were jailed in 1916 and released following the November Revolution of 1918, after which they co-founded the Communist Party of Germany (KPD). In January 1919, Luxemburg participated in the Spartacist uprising against the SPD government in Berlin, although she (correctly) considered it premature. The uprising was crushed, and right-wing paramilitaries murdered Luxemburg and Liebknecht at the behest of the SPD leaders.
M
Mao Zedong (1893–1976)
Founding member of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in 1921, de facto leader of the party from 1935, chairman from 1943. In the civil war that followed World War Two, Mao led a peasant army to victory against Chiang Kai-shek’s reactionary nationalist forces. He founded the People’s Republic of China (PRC) in 1949 and led the country until his death in 1976.
Mao set out to reshape Chinese society, but what he called “Chinese socialism” was actually a dictatorship. All industry was state-owned and farmers were organised into collectives. But workers, having played little role in the revolution that brought Mao and the CCP to power, remained oppressed and exploited, and all opposition was ruthlessly suppressed. In 1958, Mao launched the “Great Leap Forward”—a mass mobilisation of labour to improve agricultural and industrial production. As with Joseph Stalin’s Russia from the late 1920s, this was an attempt to catch up and compete economically with the West. But the result was a massive decline in agricultural output. Exacerbated by poor harvests, this led to famine and the deaths of millions, weakening Mao’s authority.
In 1966, he launched the “Cultural Revolution”—ostensibly a crusade to challenge bureaucracy and purge the country of “impure” and “counter-revolutionary” elements, but in reality a cynical manoeuvre by Mao to shore up his own leadership of the party. Over the next three years, millions died, were injured or suffered severe persecution, and a great deal of the country’s cultural heritage was destroyed. Following Mao’s death in 1976 and the ensuing power struggle in which his supporters were purged, the CCP Central Committee in 1981 officially declared the Cultural Revolution a “severe setback” for the PRC.
Maoism
Market
Marx, Karl
Marxism
Mass action
Mass politics
Mass production
A manufacturing process that creates large quantities of standardised products to reduce costs and increase efficiency. The main features of mass production are the division of labour and automation. It often involves assembly lines, where each worker performs a part of the production process rather than working on a whole product from start to finish.
Mass strike
See general strike.
Material interest
Usually means “economic interest”. Take, for example, the sentence: “White workers have a political responsibility to fight against racism. But they also have a material interest in doing so—when the working class is divided, wages are generally lower and working conditions poorer for everyone”.
Materialism
May ’68
Refers to events in Paris, France, in May 1968, when student protests sparked a general strike of 9 million workers, forcing President Charles De Gaulle to flee the country. Many workers expressed a desire to go beyond fighting for reforms and instead abolish capitalism. May ’68 became a touchstone for a generation of left-wing radicals: it shattered the myth that Western capitalism brought only stability and prosperity, and proved that workers in advanced economies still had revolutionary potential.
Means of production
The tools, facilities, raw materials and other resources necessary to create a product. These may include land, buildings (e.g. factories, offices), infrastructure (e.g. transport, communications, energy supply) and machinery—and of course labour, without which nothing can be produced.
Menshevik
Russian for “of the minority”. The Mensheviks were a moderate faction within the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (RSDLP), which split at the second party congress in 1903. In contrast to the Bolshevik (“of the majority”) faction led by Vladimir Lenin, the Mensheviks supported a gradual transition to socialism, and opposed Lenin’s concept of a vanguard workers’ party in favour of a broader mass party. The two factions often worked together, but became distinct political parties during the course of the Russian Revolution.
Middle class
Perhaps more accurate is middle classes: those generally, but not always, occupying positions between the working class and the capitalist and ruling classes. The middle classes include small business owners (see “petit bourgeoisie”), academics, trade union leaders (see “union bureaucrat”), peasants and middle managers in both private companies and in the state bureaucracy.
Militant (noun)
Militant (adjective)
Minimum wage
The lowest rate an employer can legally pay workers who are not covered by an award or enterprise agreement. People under the age of 18, people with a disability, apprentices and trainees may be paid less than the minimum wage, which in Australia is set by the Fair Work Commission.
Mode of production
Monopoly
The exclusive ownership or control of the supply of a commodity or service. This lack of competition gives monopolies the power to dictate prices and dominate the market. See also cartel.
Movement
N
Nation
Nationalisation
Nationalism
Nation-state
Nazi (and neo-Nazi)
Neoliberalism
O
Occupy movement
A mass international movement that grew out of opposition to social and economic inequality in the years after the Global Financial Crisis. Inspired by a global wave of anti-austerity and anti-capitalist protests in 2010 and the Arab Revolutions of 2011, it began in September 2011 with Occupy Wall Street—a protest encampment in Zuccotti Park in the heart of New York’s financial district. Within a month, the Occupy movement had spread to more than 951 cities across 82 countries. Its slogan, “We are the 99%”, referenced the growing concentration of wealth among the top 1% of the population. Occupy was committed to methods of non-violence and participatory democracy, with decisions made by consensus (as opposed to voting) at general assemblies. Analysis by the Global Language Monitor in November 2011 found that the word “occupy” had been the “most commonly used English word on the internet and in print” over the previous twelve months. Despite this initial impact, however, the Occupy movement had little sustained influence and eventually collapsed, partly due to state repression (arrests, breaking up of encampments, etc.), and partly due to its own limitations and internal divisions. The decentralised and structureless nature of the movement, and its hostility to organisation, made it virtually impossible to establish clear leadership and decision-making processes.
Oligarch
An extremely wealthy business owner with a great deal of political influence; from the Greek meaning “to rule”. Oligarchs exist in every society, but the term is particularly used to describe those who benefited from the privatisation of state-run industries after the collapse of the Soviet Union.
Oligarchy
A term coined by Aristotle to mean “rule by the rich”, referring to a government in which power rests with a small number of wealthy people.
Opportunism
Politically, the sacrifice of principle for expediency or advantage. It involves compromising or even abandoning political principles and long-term goals to gain greater power, influence or popularity. Short-term gains take precedence over ideological consistency and integrity. This is characteristic of most politicians. As former Conservative British PM Stanley Baldwin put it, “I would rather be an opportunist and float than go to the bottom with my principles around my neck”. Opportunism is often used as a synonym for reformism. The triumph of reformism within the German Social Democratic Party led to its abandonment of the principles of internationalism and working-class solidarity, and its support for the ruling class during World War One.
Oppression
Organisation
P
Pacifism
Paris Commune
The name given to a short-lived revolutionary government established by Parisian workers in 1871. The Commune was brutally suppressed by the French Army, which executed an estimated 10,000 to 15,000 Communards. From this experience, Karl Marx concluded that “the working class cannot simply lay hold of the ready-made state machinery and wield it for its own purposes”. Instead, he argued, workers must smash the state and replace it with their own forms of political organisation.
Parliamentarism
The tendency to elevate the goal of winning votes in parliamentary elections above all other questions of political principle or strategy. The approach has frequently led socialist organisations to adapt to, rather than challenge, the status quo of capitalist politics (see opportunism). Friedrich Engels called it “an ailment whose unfortunate victims are permeated by the lofty conviction that the whole world, its history and its future are directed and determined by a majority of votes”.
Party
Peasantry
The social class of agricultural workers and small farmers with limited, if any, land ownership. The most oppressed and numerous class in medieval feudal societies, subject to fees, taxes and/or obligatory service to a landlord. See also feudalism, serf.
Permanent revolution
Petty bourgeoisie
Picket line
A boundary established and staffed by striking workers (and sometimes supporters), usually at the entrance to a workplace. The aim is to maximise the economic impact of the strike by preventing people and products from getting in or out of the workplace. This may also include stopping strikebreakers from being brought in to undermine the strike. Workers who cross picket lines are called “scabs”. See also scab.
Political struggle (political action)
Political revolution
Politics
Popular classes
Popular front
Praxis
A totally unnecessary word. If you catch yourself uttering it, consider apologising to whoever you are conversing with.
Pre-class society
Human society existed for many thousands of years before the emergence of social classes. Examples are gatherer-hunter and some early agricultural societies. The inability of these societies to produce a surplus of food and other basic necessities above what was needed for immediate subsistence meant that a high degree of egalitarianism and cooperation was required for their survival. This limited the economic basis for the emergence of a social hierarchy. Friedrich Engels described pre-class society as “primitive communism”.
Price
Private property
In Marxist terms, this refers not to the personal possessions of individuals (such as their homes, cars, jewelry, etc.), but to the private (or state) ownership and control of the means of production—the factories, mines, ports, telecommunications infrastructure, farmland and so on—which is fundamental to the capitalist economy. See also means of production.
Privatisation
When a government sells or gives away public assets to private companies. Privatisation often results in services that were provided free, having been paid for by taxes, becoming user-pays and run for profit. Among the most important things to have been privatised in various countries are power, water, gas and telephone services, banks, railways, ports, roads, housing and mines. When selling assets is too unpopular, governments sometimes take partial steps: leasing them to private operators, forcing state-owned services to make a profit, or simply reducing funding and letting services degrade until privatisation seems like it could make things better. See also: nationalisation.
Production
Productivity
Profit
Progressive
Proletariat
An archaic word for “working class”. In ancient Rome, “proletariat” referred to landless free men impoverished by the extension of slavery. In the 1800s, Karl Marx used the word to refer to the growing social class of industrial workers employed by capitalists. There are few reasons to use “proletariat” or “proletarian” (“worker”) today, even when quoting nineteenth-century texts. “Working class” is a more accessible phrase. See also working class.
Propaganda
Protected action
Protectionism
Public housing
Housing owned directly by the government and used to house workers, either for free or at a significant discount to privately owned housing. Not to be confused with social or community housing, which are privately owned by companies or non-government organisations. Public housing was introduced in Australia from 1945 and grew from nearly zero to 96,000 dwellings. Unlike in Britain, it was never a significant proportion of the total housing stock. Nevertheless, from 1956, public housing came under attack and began to be demolished. This continued through the 1960s and 1970s, with attempts (some successful) by left-wing workers to defend the housing against demolition or sell-offs.
Publicly run
Government owned, as opposed to being owned by an individual, private company or non-government organisation. Historically, Australia had a large number of publicly run services including a bank, an airline, and telephone, water, gas and electricity services. Many of these were sold to private companies and investors during the 1980s and 1990s.
Q
R
Racism
Rally
Usually, a public demonstration. Sometimes another collective show of strength: large political parties or other big organisations can hold rallies of their members and supporters to show how many activists support their cause. This second usage is now rather rare in English, but this may simply be because nowadays there aren’t many political parties in the English-speaking world that rely on enthusiastic support of millions of volunteers. See also demonstration.
Rank and file
The members of a group or organisation, such as a trade union or political party, who hold no official position, as opposed to its elected officials or leaders. The term derives from military usage, referring to the “ranks” and “files” which privates and non-commissioned officers form on parade.
Rate of profit
Reactionary
Reform(s)
Reformism
A term with at least two distinct meanings. It can refer to the belief that socialism will be introduced through legal means, without an insurrection or a social revolution. But it can also mean the belief that socialism is unattainable, and that society can be improved only by reforming capitalism.
Relations of production
Reparations
Payments or compensation made to individuals or groups to acknowledge harm, loss, damage or injustice, frequently due to government policy. For example, the Stolen Generations received an apology from the Australian parliament, and some support services and payments, albeit inadequate, were provided. The victors of a war often exact reparations from the defeated country or countries, which may take the form of currency, precious metals, natural resources, industrial assets, or intellectual property.
Revisionism
Revolution
Revolutionary government
Right wing
Riot
Ruling class
The social class which governs a given society through economic and political domination. This includes control over the state, as well as ownership of the key economic goods like factories, infrastructure, natural resources and land. In feudal societies, the aristocracy and landowners were the ruling class. Under capitalism, the the ruling class is made up of the capitalist class, government ministers, the heads of government departments, the top brass in the military and police, the chief justices of the judiciary and so on. See also capitalist. (For more, see the Red Flag article “The ruling class in Australia”.)
Russian revolution
S
Scab
Someone who continues to work during a strike, or is brought in to replace striking workers to keep production going and undermine the unity and effectiveness of the workers taking action. Also known as strikebreakers or blacklegs. Scabs are traitors to their class; they put their (perceived) self-interest above the interests of their fellow workers. (For more, see the Red Flag article “I call it scab”.)
Second International
Also known as the Socialist International (SI), the successor organisation to the International Workingmen’s Association (IWA), or First International. Established in 1889, it included representatives from most of Europe’s major working-class organisations, with the German Social Democratic Party (SPD) the most prominent. It sought to establish common policies for its member parties, and develop and coordinating their strategy and tactics. Though ostensibly Marxist, it included other political tendencies such as reformism and anarchism (until the expulsion of the anarchists in 1893). At its foundation, the SI proclaimed that socialists were “brothers [sic] with a single common enemy … private capital, whether it be Prussian, French or Chinese”, and from 1907 right up to July 1914 made numerous strident statements against militarism and war. However, once World War I began, most of the organisations in the SI—led by the SPD—capitulated to nationalism and supported their “own” states in the conflict. The Russian Bolsheviks were among the few who opposed this betrayal, which largely reflected the decisive shift towards reformism in the SPD. The split between the International’s reformist and revolutionary wings led to its collapse. The revolutionary forces regrouped, largely under the aegis of the Bolsheviks who, following the victory of the Russian revolution, established the Third or Communist International (Comintern).
Sectarianism
Contemporary usage refers to a narrow minded adherence to a particular religious sect. So we hear of “sectarian violence” between Prodestants and Catholics in Northern Ireland, Hindus and Muslims in India, or Sunnis and Shiites in the Middle East. In Marxist terms, sectarianism generally means “to put one’s own organisation’s interests above the interests of the working class as a whole”. It has frequently been used as a term of abuse against anyone trying to build a specifically revolutionary party. Vladimir Lenin, for example, was accused of sectarianism by Leon Trotsky and Rosa Luxemburg when, during World War One, he demanded that revolutionaries organisationally split from the reformists who supported the war. Later, Trotsky’s followers were routinely accused of sectarianism for building organisations outside of the Stalinist and reformist parties.
Sectionalism
Self-determination
Self-emancipation
Semicolonial
Serf
Sexism
Shop floor
An archaic term roughly meaning “workplace”—but with connotations of rank-and-file activism. For example, a “shop floor victory” implies that workers have gotten something (a pay rise, for example) through their own efforts, rather than it having been granted through a tribunal or the negotiation of union leaders. See also rank and file.
Shop steward
Another term for “delegate”; a union member elected (although sometimes appointed) as the workers’ representative in a particular workplace or department. See also delegate.
Slate system
Slavery
Smash the state
Social class
Social democracy
1. In the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, most socialists and Marxists, including people such as Vladimir Lenin, called themselves social democrats. This was to differentiate themselves from simple social reformers—who wanted workers to have better lives but didn’t want to politically challenge the “old order”, which was often still run by remnants of the feudal ruling class—and those, often capitalists and their hangers on, who wanted more democracy but didn’t care much for the living conditions of workers. A social democrat was for socialism, a society that promised the most democracy and the greatest social reforms.
2. After the Russian revolution of 1917 and the establishment of the Third International, social democracy referred to the reformist socialism aligned to the Second International, typified by organisations such as the Australian Labor Party, the British Labour Party and the German Social Democratic Party. Many social democratic parties have since dropped any reference to socialism, yet retain links to the workers’ movement.
Social housing
Socially necessary labour
Social revolution
Socialism
Socialism from below
Socialist revolution
Solidarity
Soviet
Speakout (a)
When people speak in a public place (e.g. a street corner) to argue for a cause or promote an event or activity. In the United States, the term is “soapboxing”. (See “Harlem’s soapbox speakers” at the Digital Harlem Blog for some history.)
Stalin, Joseph
Stalinism
Stall (a)
State (the)
State capitalism
Strategy
Strike
When workers collectively refuse to work for a specified or indefinite period in support of demands such as improved wages and conditions, or against employers’ attacks (e.g. surveillance, speed-ups, anti-union measures). By withdrawing their labour, workers stop production and the flow of profits to the boss. Strikes may occur in individual or groups of workplaces, or across particular industries; workers may strike in solidarity with other workers, or as a political protest. See also general strike.
Struggle
See class struggle.
Subimperial
Surplus value
Swamp (the)
Syndicalism
A labour movement current that aims to destroy capitalism through revolutionary trade unionism. Syndicalists tend to avoid what they call “political action”—forming political parties, running in parliamentary elections or placing demands on governments. In the twentieth century, syndicalists were often some of the bravest militants (the Industrial Workers of the World in Australia, for example). But they lacked a strategy for dealing with the centralised power of the capitalist state, which resulted in a series of disastrous defeats.
T
Tactic
Tankie
A pejorative term originally applied to supporters of the Soviet Union’s crushing of the 1956 Hungarian Revolution. Since then, it has been used as a term of abuse against socialists who champion regimes—usually dictatorships—that they designate as “socialist” or “anti-imperialist” because they don’t belong to the US-led Western imperialist bloc. An example is Syria before the overthrow of Bashar al-Assad in 2024. See also Stalinism.
Terrorism
Third International
The Communist International, or Comintern, was an international organisation established in 1919 by the Russian Communist Party (previously the Bolshevik party) to facilitate debate and collaboration between revolutionary socialist parties. It was established to build a revolutionary alternative to the reformist parties that supported the First World War and opposed the workers’ revolutions that broke out at the war’s end. Under Joseph Stalin’s leadership from the late 1920s, the Comintern was transformed from a forum of genuine debate and collaboration into a tool for enforcing the interests of Russia’s state bureaucracy on the world communist movement. The organisation was dissolved in 1943.
Third period
The ultra-left policy adopted by the Comintern (see Third International) at its Sixth World Congress in 1928. The concept was initially developed in 1926 by Nikolai Bukharin, but is mostly associated with Joseph Stalin. They argued that the “First Period” of revolutionary upsurge in 1917 and the following years was followed by a “Second Period” in which capitalism stabilised and the international working-class movement was pushed onto the defensive. But, they said, the weakness of capitalism, combined with the intense business competition for markets, would increase pressures to reduce production costs by driving down wages. The consequent lowering of working-class living standards would inevitably lead to a “Third Period” of intensified class struggle and social upheaval. To prepare for this, Communist parties outside the Soviet Union were instructed to purge “reactionary elements” (such as Trotskyists) and to abandon the “united front” policy of 1923–28. Social democratic parties were now designated as “social fascists” and attacked physically and verbally as enemies of the working class. This disastrous policy led to Hitler coming to power without a fight in 1933, and to the defeat of the Spanish Revolution in 1936.
Third World
Originally used during the Cold War to describe states not politically aligned with either the Western (capitalist) or Eastern (“communist”) blocs. Over time, it came to mean countries with low levels of economic development and low standards of living. Third World has increasingly been replaced by the term Global South. See also First World, Global South.
Third Worldism
Ticket
This has two meanings. 1. A list of candidates standing in an election as a group. A ticket can represent one party or a group of people who have decided to work together within a party or trade union. 2. Proof of membership in a union. The slogan “no ticket, no start” was popular in the twentieth century in many workplaces where union membership was a condition of employment (see closed shop).
Trade union
A membership organisation bringing workers together to defend their rights and to fight for higher wages. Unions generally represent workers across an industry or trade (Hence trade union or, sometimes, industrial union). For example, there are separate unions for construction workers, retail workers, nurses, teachers and so on. The principle of trade unionism is that workers have very little power as individuals to challenge bosses when the latter treat or pay them poorly. But as a collective, workers potentially have much more power than their boss. Because workers do all the work, they can band together and cause economic pain for their employer if they are mistreated. In Australia, unions are officially recognised and have legal rights to negotiate with bosses and produce workplace contracts. Workers join unions by signing up and paying a regular fee. See also strike, enterprise agreement, union bureaucrat.
Trotsky, Leon
A revolutionary socialist and key leader of the 1905 Russian revolution. Trotsky joined the Bolsheviks during 1917 and led the insurrection at the end of that year. A close collaborator of Vladimir Lenin: contemporaries often referred to the Russian post-revolutionary government as that of “Lenin and Trotsky”, as they were its two most prominent leaders. Trotsky led the military victory of the revolutionary government in the civil war following the revolution and became the most prominent revolutionary leader in Russia to oppose the emerging dictatorship of Joseph Stalin. Murdered by Stalin’s agents in 1940.
Trotskyism
A socialist current established to oppose the degeneration of the Russian Revolution into a dictatorship under Joseph Stalin. Named after revolutionary leader Leon Trotsky, who campaigned for the international Communist movement to return to the teachings of Karl Marx and Vladimir Lenin. After the death of Trotsky, the movement split into various currents and organisations. (For more, see the Red Flag article “Are you a Trotskyist?”.)
U
Ultra left
Underdeveloped country
Union
See trade union.
Union bureaucracy
Union bureaucrat
A pejorative term used to describe someone permanently employed by a trade union to carry out official union work. Can include elected officials, and organisers and recruiters whose role is not particularly bureaucratic in nature. The term highlights something about the networks of paid officials who run trade unions: they are part of the middle class and have different economic interests to the workers they represent. Union officials mediate between workers and bosses, and often act in the interests of the latter, rather than the former.
United front
Uprising
Upsurge
Unprotected action
Use-value
The practical utility or usefulness of something. Marx wrote that use-value is tied to “the physical properties of [a] commodity”, i.e. the intrinsic characteristics of a product that enable it to satisfy a human need or want. For example, the use-value of a pen is its capacity to write; the use-value of a lounge chair is that it is comfortable to sit on for extended periods; the use-value of a cup is that it holds liquids in a way that makes them easy to drink. While all this might seem inane on its own, the importance of the concept of use-value is brought to light when contrasted with “value” and “exchange-value” in Marx’s explanation of how capitalism works. See also commodity, exchange-value, value.
V
Value
Vanguard
Literally “advanced guard”. Refers to the most class-conscious section of the working class. A vanguard does not always exist—sometimes there isn’t any discernible leading and class-conscious section of a country’s working class. A vanguard is created through a process of class struggle. Examples are Petrograd (Saint Petersburg) metalworkers in the 1917 Russian Revolution and car manufacturing workers in northern Italy in the Hot Autumn of 1969-70.
Variable capital
W
Wages
The money paid to workers in exchange for their labour power. See also labour power, commodity, exploitation.
War
White supremacy
The belief that white people constitute a superior race and should therefore rule society. Its ideological foundations date back to seventeenth-century “scientific racism”, the discredited pseudoscientific belief that the human species is divided into a hierarchy of biologically distinct races, with white people at the top, and all other races considered inferior. The theory was used to justify slavery and colonialism. It persists today among far-right groups and ideologies in the United States, Europe and Australia, among other places.
Woke
Derived from African-American vernacular, woke originally meant being “awake” or alert to racial injustice and oppression. Early usage comes from the Black nationalist activist Marcus Garvey as early as the 1920s; by the 1930s, the phrase “stay woke” was popularised. Later usage was broadened to encompass awareness of other issues of social injustice, such as LGBTI oppression. From the late 2010s, and as a backlash grew against the Black Lives Matter movement in the US, “woke” began to be used by the political right as a pejorative term against the left and progressives. For example, people who are opposed to racism and other forms of bigotry, and who argue that society ought to be more equal, are often described as having “the woke mind virus”—which is a rhetorical manoeuvre by right-wingers to make bigotry appear sensible/rational, and anti-racism pathological.
Worker
A member of the working class
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