Economism (Russian socialist current)

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Economism was a late-19th-century Russian socialist current that prioritized workers’ immediate economic struggles over broader political revolution, provoking sharp criticism from Lenin and other Marxists.

All labels observed (4)

How this entity was disambiguated

Statements (37)

Predicate Object
instanceOf Russian Marxist current
political tendency
socialist current
associatedWith Economism (Russian socialist current) self-linksurface differs
surface form: Economist trend in Russian Social Democracy
broaderMovement international socialist movement
consideredByOpponentsAs form of opportunism
trade-unionism
countryOfOrigin Russian Empire
criticizedBy Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (Bolsheviks)
surface form: Russian Social Democratic Labour Party radicals

Vladimir Lenin
orthodox Marxists in Russia
criticizedIn What Is to Be Done?
surface form: Lenin’s pamphlet "What Is To Be Done?"
downplayed revolutionary political leadership
emphasized spontaneous workers’ movement
focus trade-union demands
workers’ immediate economic struggles
historicalContext development of Russian Social Democratic Labour Party
pre-revolutionary Russian socialist movement
ideologicalOrientation reformist socialism
ideology Marxism
influencedDebateOn relationship between economic and political struggle
role of political party in workers’ movement
languageOfDiscourse Russian
legacy foil for development of Leninist conception of the party
negative example in Leninist theory
opposedBy Iskra group
Leninist current
opposedFocus broader political revolution
positionOnPartyRole limited role for centralized revolutionary party
positionOnPoliticalStruggle secondary to economic struggle
relatedConcept economism (general political term)
relatedTo trade union movement in the Russian Empire
startTime late 19th century
timePeriod 1890s
early 1900s
viewedByLeninAs failure to develop class consciousness beyond economic demands
subordination of socialism to trade-unionism

How these facts were elicited

Referenced by (4)

Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.

What Is to Be Done? influencedBy Economism (Russian socialist current)
Economism (Russian socialist current) associatedWith Economism (Russian socialist current) self-linksurface differs
this entity surface form: Economist trend in Russian Social Democracy
Economism in the Russian socialist movement hasAlternativeName Economism (Russian socialist current)
this entity surface form: Russian Economism
Economism in the Russian socialist movement associatedWith Economism (Russian socialist current)
this entity surface form: the Economists faction in Russian Social Democracy