Thesis Statement and Outline

Bottomore, T. B. (2012). A Dictionary of Marxist Thought. Malden, Massaschussetts, USA; Oxford, England, UK; Melbourne, Victoria, Australia; Berlin, Germany: Wiley-Blackwell, 1991 ISBN 0631180826.

Bottomore (2012) is a collection of thoughts by Karl Marx. The book is has been reviewed five times and this gives it a reasonable scholarly credibility to warrant relying on. According to the book, Karl Marx and Lenin’s philosophies differed in a number of ways. Lenin was a defender of state capitalism and he postulated that socialist democracy could only come from the political or economic circumstances resulting from a totally developed capitalism. The books enable as to see the government and governance from the perspective of each individual. The argument in the book compares with that of Pons (2011) which juxtaposes the two pioneers’ philosophies about giverneance.

Montague, R. (2000). Marx and Lenin's views contrasted. Leninism , Retrieved from http://www.worldsocialism.org/spgb/socialist-standard/2000s/2001/no-1169-december-2001/marx-and-lenins-views-contrasted.

Montague (2000) argued from the perspective of Marx’s argument. The article has been reviewed once and this gives it a good academic standing. According to it, Marx argued that the achievement of socialism could only be achieved by the work of majority. Both the philosophers viewed socialism in virtually world terms as a global alternative to capitalism. This perspective of looking at socialism in world terms was an approach that even though very ambitious, was quite good because economies do not exist in isolation. This perspective will form the argument in the paper strongly.

Pons, S. A. (2011). A Dictionary of 20th Century Communis. Princeton, New Jersey, USA; Oxfordshire, England, UK: Princeton University Press ISBN 0691154295.

Pons (2011) is a collection of early economic and social thought on socialism, capitalism, and communism. Amogn the thoughts featuring in the collections are Marxism, Leninism, Ricardism, and the thoughts of Keynes which is the most modern thouhgts of the colections. Accordign to Marx argument is coiled around the wage sytem which is perceived as an ideal instruemnt of the capitalists. They use it to exploit the working class. He advocated for the abolition of the wage system by arguing that capital and wage labor are two sides of the same coin. Even though he acknowledged that nationalism was a way of accelerating development, he did not support it as such but argued that a state would increasingly lean toward capitalism if it increasingly participated in production (Pons, 2011). This resource is useful as it gives a new dimension of Marx’s thoughts: that of the wage system. The argument here are similar to those of Murray (2010) which also perceives capitalism to suppress the subjects through wages.

Murray, J. (2010). The Differences Between Marx And Lenin. Journal of Political Phylosiphy , retrieved from http://barryvale.expertscolumn.com/article/differences-between-marx-and-lenin.

Murray (2010) is was puplished in the Journal of Political Phylosiphy and the core arguments are similar to those of Montague, R. (2000) and Bottomore (2012). The article is reviewed thrice and the core line of departure from Montague, R. (2000) and Bottomore (2012) is that it states that Lenin determinedly rejected the argument that the proletariat had the capability of achieving socialism without the involvement of leaders. He argued that, to achieve a full-state of socialism, some revolutionaries such as trade unions had to be involved. He was against the Marxist argument that commodity production was a principal feature of capitalism. Murray (2010) introduces the role of leadership which Lenin argued should be exercised in minimal measures.

Carpenter, A. (2011). Karl Marx's Communism & Lenin's Communism Similarities. Journal of Early Economic Thought , https://karlmarxscommunismvsleninscommunism1a.wikispaces.com/Karl+Marx's+Communism+%26+Lenin's+Communism+Similarities.

Carpenter (2011) brings a comparison and contrasts about the thoughts of Marx and those of Lenin. Reviewed twice, the journal argues that there is a big departure between the views of Lenin and those of Marx in terms of the understanding each holds of socialism pertaining to how it can be achieved and administered. Carpenter (2011) cites that Marx perceives socialism as an abolition of ownership and advocates for a classless, stateless, and money less society which can only come to fruition upon the willingness of majority through a democratically administered process. Lenin on the other hand views socialism as a state-capitalist monopoly made for the service of the people. Marx differed with this line of argument to the extent socialism was related with nationalism.

The contrast between Lenin and Marx also comes out clearly in the way Lenin views nature and the role of the state. Marx viewed the state as a feature of the society which it could use through a politically-conscious cause to facilitate power transfer and thence abolished. Lenin on the other hand, perceived the state as a permanent and fundamental part of socialism which contradicted Marx’s perception of abolition (Pons, 2011).