Revisionism
Revisionism is a word which has several meanings. One of its first (neutral) uses was the revision of
Marx's doctrine by
Eduard Bernstein and
Karl Kautsky in the late
19th century.
Historical revisionism is often viewed as a legitimate effort by historians to broaden the awareness of certain historical events by re-examining
conventional wisdom. However, the term has also been used in a pejorative sense, indicating an attempt to rewrite history by downgrading or simply ignoring essential facts, as in for example
Holocaust denial (see
historical revisionism (negationism)). The term is also used neutrally in describing fiction which alters or comments on a previous fictional work or genre.
 |
Chinese poster from the first stage of Cultural Revolution, reading: "Down with the Soviet revisionists" in large print, and "Crush the dog head of Leonid Brezhnev, and crush the dog head of Alexey Kosygin" at the bottom, 1967 |
Revisionism (particularly in the western socialist context) has most usually been applied to the reformulation, or for its detractors, the watering down, or abandonment, of cherished principles. For the more authoritarian currents within
socialism, but not necessarily exclusively, the term has been used as a term of abuse. It has, however, been used in different ways at different times about different socialist trends.
*In the late 19th century revisionism was used to describe writers such as
Eduard Bernstein and
Karl Kautsky who sought to
revise the teachings of
Karl Marx by claiming that a violent revolution was not necessary to achieve socialism. In all further uses of this term, there was an initial intent to create "guilt by association" between the abused socialist, and the actions of Bernstein in opposing violent revolution.
See reformism.*In the
1940s and
1950s within the international
Communist movement, revisionism was used to describe Communists who focused on consumer goods production instead of heavy industry, accepted national differences and encouraged democratic reforms. Revisionism was one of the charges leveled at
Titoists in a series of purges beginning in
1949 in
Eastern Europe. After Stalin's death revisionism became briefly acceptable in
Hungary during
Imre Nagy's government (
1953-
1955) and in Poland during
Władysław Gomułka's government, although neither Nagy nor Gomułka described themselves as revisionists.
*Following the Soviet repression of the
Hungarian Revolution in
1956, many people, particularly intellectuals, resigned from western Communist parties in protest. They were sometimes accused of revisionism by "loyalist" Communists.
E. P. Thompson's
New Reasoner was an example of this revisionism. This movement eventually became known as the
New Left.
*The views, so described, of
Anthony Crosland,
Hugh Gaitskell and their followers in the
United Kingdom's Labour Party in the 1950s and subsequently, concerning the relevance of
Public ownership in the party's objectives.
*In the early
1960s,
Mao Zedong and the
Communist Party of China revived the term revisionism to attack
Nikita Khrushchev and the
Soviet Union over various ideological and political issues, as part of the
Sino-Soviet split. The Chinese routinely described the Soviets as "modern revisionists" through the
1960s. This usage was copied by the various
Maoist groups that split off from Communist parties around the world.
*
Marxist philosopher Louis Althusser attacked
John Lewis and
Marxist humanists as "revisionists".
According to
orthodox marxists, theories, movements, leaders are revisionists when they describe themselves as marxist but perceived by orthodox marxists to be opposed to the general analysis of Marx and Engels.
The party that created the Soviet Union was built by Lenin and the Bolsheviks on the basis of a particular version of the analysis of Marx and Engels and on the struggle against revisionist analysis. Two questions were essential in Lenin's contribution to marxism: (1) the revolutionary way to socialism; (2) the establishment of the dictatorship of the proletariat.
Lenin attacked deviations and revisionist positions leading to the weakening the proletarian revolution involving many aspects of the struggle of the working class to overthrow the
bourgeoisie and to build socialism and maintain power for the working class (i.e. the
dictatorship of the proletariat), as a first step before
communism (the establishment of a
classless society with the withering of the State).
Marx's theories became gradually dominant in the workers' and socialist movement. The Marxists waged many struggles against revisionists and
opportunists in the
Second International, and mainly two debates: against Bernstein (who accepted Marxism without its revolutionary aspect) and against Kautsky (who believed that capitalism led to socialism without struggle). Lenin fought against revisionist positions of the Second International (on the peaceful transition to socialism, on narrow nationalism and separatist positions instead of internationalism, on the support by the social-democrat parties to "their" bourgeoisie during the First World War, etc.)
With the success of the October Revolution (1917) in Russia, Lenin's followers continued these battles in defence of what they called
Marxism-Leninism: their theoretical struggle led to the struggle of
Stalin against
Trotsky,
Bukharin and others.
With the development of the
Third International, of the struggle of Communists against
fascism and the victory against the
Third Reich, Marxism-Leninism incorporated other theoretical concepts: the
United Front against Fascism and War (1935), which led to the
Popular Front and differents sorts of United Fronts (Revolution in China). The alliance of communists with progressive forces were victorious.
In 1944, based on the unity against fascism (Teheran Conference), Browder declared that capitalism and Communism could peacefully co-exist (a concept that was different than that of Lenin's peaceful coexistence). In 1945,
Jacques Duclos, a leader of the French Communist Party denounced Browder's policy ("
Duclos letter") and
Browderism was considered a new form of revisionism.
In 1948,
Yugoslavia accepted US aid, separated from the
Comintern bloc of countries and was accused of revisionism.
In 1963, after the death of Stalin (1953),
Khrushchev, at the 20th Congres of the CPSU, attacked Stalin and presented a new analysis of contradictions within the International Communist. The CP of China started a debate with the CPSU ("Proposal concerning the general line of the International Communist Movement" among other letters and comments) which led to a struggle, by the CP of China against "modern revisionism".
The term historical revisionism has a respectable meaning among historians and journalists as, illustrated in the
Washington Post article "History In The Remaking: Reagan's Story Doesn't End Here"
[Lewis L. Gould History In the Remaking Reagan's Story Doesn't End Here in the Washington Post, June 13, 2004, Page B01.].Historical revisionism also has a more specific meaning when it is used as a label to describe the views of historians who publish articles that deliberately misrepresent and manipulate historical evidence. An example of this secondary usage is reported in another
Washington Post article, "Conservatives Celebrate Winning One for the Gipper"
[Lisa de Moraes :Conservatives Celebrate Winning One for the Gipper in the Washington Post, November 6, 2003, Page C07]::People for the American Way saw it in a different light [...] Our primary concern is continued right-wing intimidation against the expressions of opposing points of view, whether attacks on dissent, intimidation of scientific researchers, or a demand for
historical revisionism – or historical cleansing – regarding Ronald Reagan.
(emphasis added).
This second common usage has occurred because some authors who publish articles that deliberately misrepresent and manipulate historical evidence (such as David Irving, a proponent of Holocaust denial), have called themselves "historical revisionists"[ Page 145. Richard J. Evans ]"Lying About Hitler: History, Holocaust, and the David Irving Trial"'', (
2001), ISBN 0465021530., and this label has been used by others as a
pejorative to describe them when criticising their work.
Another example of historical revisionism is as a result of political intent. In particular, one can examine the aggressive efforts of some governments to censor school textbooks and online sources. By intentionally omitting or censoring some information, such governments can pursue a nationalistic agenda. Even delays of public information can misconstrue the orginal events. Current examples would include:
*The Chinese government for censoring criticism of how the
CPC dealt with the civil protests such as
Tiananmen Square Protests.
*Japanese school textbooks tend to whitewash acts of aggression and atrocities by Japan during WWII
Japanese war crimes.
*
Territorial revisionism is sometimes used as an
euphemism for
revanchism or
irredentism. The term has some usage in European post-
Cold War debate, where many ethnic minorities hope to change the state borders drawn up after
World War II.
*
Revisionist Zionism was a movement founded by
Vladimir Jabotinsky, who argued that the terms of the
British Mandate in Palestine should be revised to make explicit the objective of creating a Jewish state there. Today's
Likud party is a direct descendant of the Revisionists.
*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. For example, the film
Dances With Wolves is a revisionist
Western because it portrays the
Native Americans sympathetically instead of as the
savages of traditional Westerns, which have been criticized as
racist. Similarly, the novel
Wicked by
Gregory Maguire is a revisionist account of
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, which portrays
The Wicked Witch of the West being on the right side and the
Wizard being evil. This usage is not generally considered
pejorative.
