The following resolution was adopted by Red Spark in January 2026 to explain our understanding of and commitment to Marxism-Leninism. It forms part of the fundamental programmatic approach of Red Spark. This approach is an ongoing process which will be further developed in the coming year.

Introduction: The World in Crisis

Today the world is in crisis. Those who live in the rich, imperialist nations of the world can usually shelter themselves from the scale of this crisis. For those in the Global South and for Indigenous populations, the crisis is ever-present.

Global poverty, unbearable working conditions, slum housing, massive environmental destruction and degradation of agricultural land, brutal oppression of women, gender-diverse people and religious and ethnic minorities, unending wars, genocide against the Palestinians, widespread hopelessness, alienation and despair—there is no escaping the crisis of the capitalist system for the majority of humanity.

The most powerful theory for understanding the causes of this crisis has come from the Marxist tradition, as it was developed by the Russian revolutionary Vladimir Lenin—sometimes called Marxism-Leninism.

The Foundations of Marxism-Leninism

Lenin’s contributions to Marxism can be summarised under several interrelated theoretical and strategic principles:

• A theory of imperialism that identifies global capitalism as a system dividing the world into rich exploiter nations and the exploited, oppressed nations of the Global South. This structure transfers wealth and resources from the Global South to the imperialist nations.
  
  Such exploitation allows the development of a labour aristocracy in the imperialist countries—a layer of privileged workers who form the social basis for institutionalised support for imperialism. The outlook of this stratum is characterised by opportunism: the willingness to privilege one section of the working class at the expense of the interests of the class as a whole, conciliating with the bourgeoisie and promoting class collaborationism.
  
  
• A strategy for socialist transformation centred on the political leadership of the working class. The working class must fight against all forms of oppression and injustice, regardless of which class is directly affected—national, religious, gender, and other forms.
  
  This democratic, political leadership role of the working class is indispensable for raising consciousness beyond economic struggles to socialist consciousness, which means recognising the irreconcilable antagonism between the working class and the entire capitalist system. The most politically conscious section of the working class must lead the oppressed peoples as a whole to overthrow capitalism and build a socialist society based on equality and justice.
  
  
• A revolutionary party of a new type, composed of a united and tested core of politically active Marxists—the Leninist party. Only such a party can consistently link theory to practice and provide strategic direction for the working class in moments of revolutionary crisis.
  
  
• A set of flexible tactics, to be deployed according to the historical situation, including the united front, participation in parliamentary elections, work within trade unions, support for national liberation movements, and engagement with gender and other social struggles.
  
  
• The practical demonstration of Leninism, embodied in the creation of the Bolshevik Party, which led the Russian working class and peasantry in 1917 to overthrow the Tsarist regime and establish the first workers’ state in history. Leninism was not merely a theory—it was proved effective in revolutionary practice.

The Third International and Lenin’s Legacy

Lenin’s positions were systematised in the first four congresses of the Communist International (Comintern or Third International), held between 1919 and 1922 while Lenin was alive.

The Third International was founded in 1919 to re-establish the international Marxist movement after World War I, when most of the parties of the “Second” Socialist International supported their national governments during the war and participated in the suppression of anti-war Marxists, including the imprisonment and murder of many revolutionaries.

Initiated by the Bolsheviks under Lenin’s leadership, the Third International re-established the internationalist and anti-imperialist tradition of socialism. Over the next four years, it codified and popularised Lenin’s thought through a series of theses and resolutions that remain indispensable for Marxists and Leninists today.

Contemporary Distortions of Marxism-Leninism

Many political currents that call themselves Marxist-Leninist (or simply Leninist) have abandoned key aspects of Lenin’s theory and the Comintern’s foundational principles.

• Some reject Lenin’s anti-imperialism, adopting liberal positions that justify imperialist aggression against nations of the Global South or misunderstand Lenin’s support for national independence.
  
  
• Others refuse to campaign against all forms of oppression, counterposing a simplistic “workerism” that adapts to current consciousness instead of raising it to socialist consciousness as Lenin demanded.
  
  
• Some abandon the working class as the key strategic force in establishing socialism, replacing it with other classes or social groups, especially the peasantry.
  
  
• Others revert to Second International forms of organisation, creating broad “social-democratic” or “Eurocommunist” parties that dilute revolutionary Marxism in favour of parliamentary gradualism.
  
  
• Still others transform specific tactics into dogmas—turning parliamentarism or guerrilla warfare into fixed strategies rather than flexible tools subordinated to revolutionary goals.
  
  
• Many abandon the united front tactic, essential to Leninist strategy, in favour of either opportunist alliances or sectarian isolation.
  
  
• Finally, some misunderstand democratic centralism, emphasising centralism at the expense of inner-party democracy and collective political education.

Such departures represent a drift away from Lenin’s synthesis as articulated in State and Revolution, Left-Wing Communism, and the early Comintern theses.

The Living Tradition of Marxism-Leninism

This does not mean that the Leninists of the early Third International had all the answers, nor that their principles require mechanical repetition. Leninism must be developed creatively and applied to new conditions.

Nevertheless, to be a Leninist today is to understand the principles of the early Communist International as their most rigorous expression—anchored in:

• anti-imperialism,
• revolutionary internationalism,
• working-class political leadership,
• democratic centralism,
• and the strategic use of mass action.

Leninism was later developed and applied in specific historical circumstances by Marxists such as Antonio Gramsci and Ho Chi Minh, and by Global South revolutionaries such as Fidel Castro, Che Guevara, and Amílcar Cabral. Yet the core principles of Marxism-Leninism are best understood through their classical expression in Lenin’s writings and the early Comintern theses.

These remain indispensable tools for analysing the imperialist epoch and for guiding revolutionary organisation today.

Conclusion: Rebuilding a Revolutionary Current

This is the tradition from which our organisation draws its core lessons for the project of rebuilding an organised, disciplined, and creative Leninist or Marxist-Leninist current in Australia today—one capable of confronting the urgent crises of global capitalism and the challenges of contemporary class struggle.

As Lenin wrote: “Without revolutionary theory, there can be no revolutionary movement.” The task before us is to reunite theory and practice, to reclaim the revolutionary essence of Marxism-Leninism, and to apply it to the new conditions of the twenty-first century.