- by Gearóid Ó Machail
- The Guardian
- Issue #2207
In the spring of 1920, as the young Soviet Republic struggled for survival amid internal and external siege, Lenin penned “Left-Wing” Communism: An Infantile Disorder. The pamphlet took aim precisely at those West European communists who considered themselves “more Left” than the Bolsheviks.
Lenin pointed out that this “Left-wing” infantilism “regards its own impatience as a theoretical justification,” and is essentially “a revolutionary swing to the Right and Left,” a “real reflection of the petty-bourgeois adherent and vacillation in the revolutionary struggle.”
More than a century later, a new strain of “Left-wing” infantilism is spreading among Western Marxists. They gaze down upon the emerging multipolar world order with condescension, dismissing with European-centric arrogance the tremendous and unprecedented achievements of states building socialism such as the People’s Republic of China, the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam, and Lao People’s Democratic Republic. This attitude is not only a betrayal of Lenin’s teachings but a fundamental abandonment of historical materialism.
Lenin repeatedly emphasises a core principle: Marxism must be integrated with the revolutionary practice of each specific country. The Bolsheviks’ success lay precisely in the fact that they did not “mechanically apply Marxism but creatively utilised it.” Yet many contemporary Western Marxists seem to have forgotten this basic truth.
The Trotskyist Revolutionary Communist International (RCI) exemplifies this, simplistically framing the emerging multipolar world as merely “a world dominated by several imperialist powers in competition with each other,” rather than “an emerging post-imperialist world order being constructed by non-aligned countries.” This perception assumes that any nation with significant military capabilities is necessarily imperialist, refusing to acknowledge that nations like Iran and the DPRK develop military capabilities precisely to “defend themselves against the imperialist West.”
This reduction of multipolarity to “competition among imperialists” mirrors the “Left-wing” infantilism Lenin criticised – replacing concrete historical analysis with abstract dogma.
If Western Marxists would only set aside their Eurocentric spectacles, they might behold a dramatically different picture.
In 2025, GDP in the People’s Republic of China rose to 140.19 trillion yuan, achieving 5.0% growth. Urban employment increased by 12.67 million jobs; free pre-school education benefited 14 million children; and a childcare subsidy reached over 30 million infants. High-tech manufacturing grew by 9.4%, and new-energy vehicle production exceeded 16 million units.
A once impoverished, semi-colonial country, under Communist Party leadership, has become the world’s second-largest economy and completed the largest poverty alleviation programme in human history.
Under the leadership of the Communist Party of Vietnam, the Đổi Mới (Renovation) reforms have achieved “great, comprehensive, and historically significant accomplishments.” Vietnam has transitioned from a low-income impoverished nation to a lower-middle-income country, maintained high growth rates for decades, and shifted from food shortages to becoming an agricultural export powerhouse.
Between 2021 and 2025, the Laotian economy maintained average annual growth of 4.2%, with inflation controlled at 4.8% by November 2025. State budget revenue increased from 15.1% to approximately 20% of GDP. Public debt as a percentage of GDP fell from 112% to 88%. Chinese investment in Laos has surpassed $18 billion. Under the Lao People’s Revolutionary Party, this once least-developed nation is steadily advancing towards socialist modernisation.
Are these achievements flawless? No. Every socialist nation faces challenges and contradictions in building socialism. However, to dismiss these accomplishments as “state capitalism” or “bureaucratic capitalism” insults the struggles of hundreds of millions and demonstrates theoretical laziness.
Lenin stated that a revolutionary party must “combine principle with flexibility of tactics,” and be “skilled in mastering all forms of struggle.” He criticised the “Left” communists for being “incapable of adopting the strategic and tactical methods that correspond to the specific conditions and concrete circumstances.”
Today’s Western Marxists cling to an abstract model of “socialism” distilled from European experience, using it as a yardstick to measure China, Vietnam, and Laos. Finding discrepancies, and an absence of socialist utopianism, they declare these nations “not truly socialist.”
Lenin wrote ‘Left-Wing Communism’ to help young West European communist parties “recognise and overcome ‘Left-wing’ infantilism and learn to apply the principles of Marxist strategy. Today, we must similarly help certain Western Marxists overcome their Eurocentric infantilism.
Multipolarity is not an arena of inter-imperialist rivalry, but a historic opportunity for oppressed nations to achieve genuine emancipation. The achievements of Southeast Asian socialist states are real, immense, and plain to see. To dismiss them with haughty contempt is not merely a theoretical error but political irresponsibility.
The cause of socialism is the common cause of the world’s proletarians. It cannot have only a single European template. As Lenin taught us, Marxism must integrate with each country’s concrete conditions. Chinese modernisation, Vietnam’s Đổi Mới, Laos’ socialist-oriented market economy – these are magnificent attempts at the indigenisation of Marxism. They deserve respect and study.
Socialist Voice
Where to start with Lenin?
FK
There’s a lot of Lenin to read – more than 40 volumes of the collected works! Here’s a short list of some of the more important and widely-read texts
State and Revolution
Lenin explains how the state is to be used by socialists to build a socialist society and refutes utopian ideas about simply abolishing states altogether and overnight.
What is to be done?
Written in the midst of a struggle to forge disparate communist ‘circles’ into a single effective party. Includes rebuttals of those who wanted to simply attend to bread-and-butter issues and/or thought communism would just arrive without effort. Very important to understanding the concept of ‘democratic centralism.’
The Three Sources and Three Component Parts of Marxism
Drawing on a huge range of texts, Lenin shows how Marxism combines French socialism, German philosophy and British political economy. A terrific primer. These days we’re all materialists – in the sense of seeing physical reality as important, but in this text Lenin goes into how that materialism should work.
Left-wing communism, an infantile disorder
Lenin explains the importance of a kind of principled pragmatism, of moving forward while paying careful attention to local conditions.
Imperialism, the highest stage of capitalism
An extremely important text. Lenin was writing when the British Empire was at its most powerful, and the USA was just getting started, but this book is very important for understanding of why and how imperialism relates to capitalism
All these texts are available from the CPA bookshop at cpa.org.au or for free online.
