Marxism-Leninism is a
communist ideological stream that emerged as the mainstream tendency among the
Communist parties in the 1920s as it was adopted as the ideological foundation of the
Communist International during
Stalin's era.
However, in various contexts, different (and sometimes opposing) political groups have used the term "Marxism-Leninism" to describe the ideology that they claimed to be upholding.
Within 5 years of Lenin's death, Joseph Stalin completed his rise to power in the Soviet Union. According to G. Lisichkin, Marxism-Leninism as a separate ideology was compiled by Stalin basically in his "The questions of Leninism" book[1]. During the period of Stalin's rule in the Soviet Union, Marxism-Leninism was proclaimed the official ideology of the state [2].
Whether Stalin's practices actually followed the principles of Karl Marx and Lenin is still a subject of debate among historians and political scientists[3]. Trotskyists in particular believe that Stalinism contradicted authentic Marxism and Leninism[4], and they initially used the term "Bolshevik-Leninism" to describe their own ideology of anti-Stalinist (and later anti-Maoist) communism. Left communists rejected "Marxism-Leninism" as an anti-Marxist current.[citation needed]
