Leninism Prior to \"Leninism\" Refers

Leninism

Prior to "Leninism" refers to the political and economic theories of Vladimir Lenin, which, according to the Princeton University Web site, provided "the guiding doctrine of the Soviet Union." Those theories by Lenin were built around Marxism, and it is important to note that Lenin believed that the only way the proletariat (working class individuals) can arrive at a revolutionary consciousness - overthrowing capitalism, for example - is through a structured, disciplined organization he called "democratic centralism." All ideology and strategy, Lenin believed, are necessarily arrived at through internal democracy, and once a decision has been made, all must abide. Further, it's not possible to reform capitalism, it must be overthrown and the proletariat must be educated (brain-washed?) to believe that religion and nationalism are designed to further capitalism through fear and exploitation - those institutions are just tools for the capitalists to hold down the proletariat.

The prospects for Liberalism today in India, the ex-colonial country chosen for this assignment, are quite good. First, which liberalism is being explored? The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy describes "The presumption in Favor of Liberty" as having an assumption "in favor of freedom." "Classical Liberalism" links personal (individual) liberty with private property. Each person can live as he or she sees fit to live, and that "all rights, including liberty rights, are forms of property." Part of the definition posits that private property "...is the only effective means for the protection of liberty." And the proponents of the "New Liberalism" take the position that a market based on private property "tended to be unstable" and was not an adequate foundation for a stable, free society. New Liberalism also puts great emphasis (and faith) on government being able to solve economic problems.

The evaluation of Liberalism's prospects: India is the world's largest democracy - that is, the democracy with the most people. It is technically a federal republic. In the 19th Century, India became a colony of Great Britain. But by the 1940s, there was a rising wave of resistance to England's hegemony and on August 15, 1947, India achieved independence from England. This independence was arrived at through massive nonviolent protests led by Mohandas Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru. A democracy based on peaceful demonstrations rather than on a coup or forced government changes is one in which millions of citizens decided to take action for their own future economic and democratic benefit. The political system India has is based on the political culture of the society that governed it - which is England. The Indian system of justice, according to the CIA World Factbook is based on English common law. But because India is 80% Hindu, 13.4% Muslim and 2.3% Christian, the country has separate codes of law for those three religions. In fact, there is a great deal of hostility between Muslims and Hindu people, so separate law codes show that India has adopted Classical Liberalism.

Classical Liberalism that has evolved into New Liberalism in India means an open democracy where the government uses a free market and fairness in matters of justice along with regular elections for local political systems and at the national level the election of persons to two houses of Parliament, a president and vice president, a supreme court, and good diplomatic relations with most other countries.