A vocabulary for changing the world
MARXIST
GLOSSARY.
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THE GLOSSARY
A word opens a world.
Class & working lifeAlienationPengasingan / AlienasiWorkers’ separation from control over their labour, its products and their own creative capacities under capitalist social relations.
A designer has no say over how their designs are used or what gets produced.
Philosophy & historyBase and superstructureAsas dan superstrukturThe economic base consists of production relations; political, legal and ideological institutions form a superstructure that interacts with it. The relationship is not mechanically one-way.
Property laws protect ownership, while political struggles can change those laws.
The state & socialismBourgeois democracyDemokrasi borjuisParliamentary democracy within capitalist class relations: political rights coexist with concentrated economic power. Marxists defend democratic rights while arguing for power beyond capitalist ownership.
Equal voting rights do not give workers equal control over major investment decisions.
Class & working lifeBourgeoisie / Capitalist classBorjuis / Kelas kapitalisThe class that owns and controls the main means of production and accumulates wealth through employing wage labour.
Owning a large manufacturing business differs from owning personal household belongings.
Revolution & internationalismBureaucracyBirokrasiIn this political context, an administrative layer that becomes detached from democratic control and develops interests and privileges of its own.
Officials make binding decisions without being accountable to the people they represent.
Capitalism & economicsCapitalModalValue invested to obtain more value through capitalist production and circulation. It is a social relationship, not simply any machine or sum of money.
Money used to employ workers and produce for profit functions as capital.
Capitalism & economicsCapitalismKapitalismeA system based on private ownership of the main means of production, wage labour and production for profit in competitive markets.
A company may close a useful service because it is not profitable.
Class & working lifeClass consciousnessKesedaran kelasAwareness of shared class interests and the need for collective organisation. Socialist consciousness also connects immediate struggles with changing the system.
Workers in different departments recognise that they face the same employer.
Class & working lifeClass strugglePerjuangan kelasConflict between classes over wealth, working conditions, ownership and political power. It includes everyday disputes as well as major social movements.
A wage dispute concerns how the wealth produced at work is distributed.
Capitalism & economicsCommodityKomoditiA good or service produced for exchange. It has a use for someone and enters a relationship of exchange with other commodities.
Bread baked for sale is a commodity; bread baked for your own meal is not.
The state & socialismCommunismKomunismeThe fully developed classless society envisaged by Marxism, based on common ownership and sufficient abundance to distribute according to need, without a coercive class state.
This is a social aim, not simply the name of a ruling party.
Capitalism & economicsCrisis of overproductionKrisis pengeluaran berlebihanA capitalist crisis in which goods and productive capacity exceed what can be sold profitably, despite unmet human needs. Profitability, credit and competition shape its development.
Homes can stand empty while people lack affordable housing.
Revolution & internationalismDeformed workers’ stateNegara pekerja yang cacat sejak awalCWI’s historical term for states where capitalism was abolished but bureaucratic rule existed from the outset, rather than developing out of an earlier workers’ democracy.
This distinguishes their origins from the degeneration of the post-1917 Soviet state.
Revolution & internationalismDegenerated workers’ stateNegara pekerja yang merosotTrotsky’s description of the USSR after bureaucratic usurpation: capitalist property had been abolished, but workers had lost political power. This is a historical theoretical category, not today’s Russia.
The analysis distinguished the nationalised economic foundations from the ruling dictatorship.
Organising & strategyDemocratic centralismSentralisme demokratikAn organisational method combining democratic debate and accountable decision-making with unity in carrying out agreed action. Its practical balance depends on conditions; it does not mean unaccountable leadership.
Members debate a campaign, decide collectively and organise to carry it out.
The state & socialismDemocratic planned economyEkonomi terancang demokratikCoordinating production, investment and distribution through democratically agreed social priorities, using public ownership, participation and feedback rather than leaving major decisions to private profit.
Workers and communities help determine transport, housing and energy priorities.
Philosophy & historyDialecticsDialektikA way of understanding things through their connections, internal contradictions and development, including gradual changes that can produce sudden transformations.
Small workplace grievances can accumulate into a collective strike.
The state & socialismDictatorship of the proletariatKediktatoran proletariatMarx’s term for working-class political rule during the transition from capitalism. In CWI’s usage it means workers’ democracy, not the dictatorship of a leader or bureaucracy.
The key question is which class holds power and how working people exercise it.
Revolution & internationalismDual powerDwi kuasaAn unstable revolutionary situation in which an existing government faces a rival centre of authority rooted in workers’ and popular organisations.
In Russia in 1917, the Provisional Government coexisted with powerful soviets.
Capitalism & economicsExchange valueNilai tukarThe proportion in which one commodity exchanges for another. Money expresses this relationship as a price; market prices can diverge from underlying value.
The usefulness of a coat does not explain by itself what it exchanges for.
Class & working lifeExploitationEksploitasiIn Marxist economics, the appropriation of surplus labour by an owning class. Under capitalism it occurs through wage labour, even where wages are legally agreed.
A legal employment contract can still allow an employer to appropriate surplus value.
The state & socialismFascismFasismeA reactionary mass movement used to crush workers’ organisations and democratic rights in defence of capitalism. CWI distinguishes fascism from other forms of authoritarianism and right-wing politics.
A harsh government is not automatically fascist; its social base and methods must be examined.
Organising & strategyGeneral strikeMogok umumA coordinated stoppage across many industries or services that mobilises workers’ collective social power. Its aims, duration and political significance vary.
Transport, factories and public services stop work around a shared demand.
Philosophy & historyHistorical materialismMaterialisme sejarahAn approach to history centred on how people produce and reproduce life, and how changing productive capacities and class struggles reshape society.
Industrialisation changes both working life and the possibilities for organising.
Philosophy & historyIdealismIdealismeIn philosophy, treating ideas or mind as primary in explaining reality. Here it does not simply mean having hopes or principles.
Explaining poverty solely through people’s attitudes overlooks material conditions.
The state & socialismImperialismImperialismeIn the Leninist analysis used by CWI, capitalism dominated by monopolies and finance capital, with capital export and rivalry between powerful states over markets, resources and influence.
Economic domination can continue after a colony gains formal independence.
Revolution & internationalismInternationalismInternasionalismeWorking-class solidarity and socialist organisation across borders, recognising shared interests against capitalism and the need for an international development of socialism.
Workers support an overseas strike instead of competing to accept lower wages.
Capitalism & economicsLabour powerTenaga kerjaThe capacity to work that a worker sells to an employer for a period. Its use can create more new value than the wage paid for it.
An employer buys eight hours of someone’s capacity to work, not ownership of that person.
Philosophy & historyMarxismMarxismeThe method developed by Marx and Engels to understand society through material conditions and class relations, and to guide the struggle for socialism.
Ask who owns a workplace, who does the work, and who decides.
Philosophy & historyMaterialismMaterialismeThe view that the material world exists independently of thought; ideas develop through human interaction with that world.
Housing conditions help shape people’s outlook and demands.
Capitalism & economicsMeans of productionAlat pengeluaranThe land, buildings, machinery, infrastructure and materials used to produce goods and services. These differ from possessions mainly used for personal consumption.
An industrial sewing machine used in production is a means of production.
The state & socialismNational self-determinationHak penentuan nasib sendiriThe right of an oppressed nation to decide its political future, including independence. CWI links this right with workers’ unity and opposition to national oppression.
Defending a people’s right to decide does not require endorsing its capitalist leaders.
The state & socialismNationalisationNasionalisasi / PemiliknegaraanTransferring an enterprise or sector into public ownership. CWI distinguishes socialist nationalisation under workers’ democratic control from state ownership used to support capitalism.
A bank bailout alone does not place the economy under workers’ control.
Revolution & internationalismNew Economic Policy / NEPDasar Ekonomi Baharu / NEP SovietThe Soviet policy introduced in 1921 allowing limited private trade and small enterprise while the state retained major industry and banking. It was a retreat after wartime devastation.
This Soviet NEP is distinct from Malaysia’s Dasar Ekonomi Baru introduced in 1971.
Class & working lifeOppressionPenindasanSystematic disadvantage and domination based on gender, race, nationality or other social divisions. CWI connects struggles against oppression with class struggle without reducing them to wages alone.
Equal pay, freedom from harassment and access to childcare address connected but distinct needs.
Revolution & internationalismPermanent revolutionRevolusi kekalTrotsky’s theory that workers, allied with poor peasants, can lead democratic tasks into socialist measures in less-developed countries, with the revolution requiring international extension.
Land reform and democratic rights become linked to ending capitalist ownership.
Class & working lifePetty bourgeoisieBorjuis kecilSmall proprietors, including many shopkeepers, independent producers and small farmers, situated between the capitalist class and wage-dependent workers.
A small shop owner may work alongside family members and face pressure from large chains.
Revolution & internationalismPolitical revolutionRevolusi politikIn Trotsky’s analysis of Stalinist states, workers overthrow bureaucratic rule and restore democracy while preserving and democratically reorganising nationalised property, rather than restoring capitalism.
It changes who rules while defending the economy’s non-capitalist property foundations.
Organising & strategyPopular frontBarisan popularAn alliance of workers’ parties with capitalist parties on a shared programme. CWI argues that subordinating workers’ politics to that alliance obstructs socialist change.
This differs from agreeing on a specific joint action while keeping political independence.
Philosophy & historyProductive forcesDaya pengeluaranThe people, skills, knowledge, technology and means through which society produces what it needs.
A factory combines workers’ knowledge with machines, energy and materials.
Organising & strategyReformReformasiA change that improves conditions within the existing system. Marxists fight for such gains while connecting them to the wider struggle for socialist transformation.
A shorter working week without loss of pay is a reform worth fighting for.
Organising & strategyReformismReformismeA political approach that confines change to capitalism or expects socialism through accumulated reforms without breaking capitalist class power. Fighting for reforms is not itself reformism.
Winning higher wages and ending exploitation are different political objectives.
Philosophy & historyRelations of productionHubungan pengeluaranThe social relationships governing production: who owns its means, who works, who controls the process and who receives the surplus.
A tenant farmer and a wage worker face different ownership relationships.
Organising & strategyRevolutionary partyParti revolusionerAn organisation rooted in the working class that combines socialist theory, democratic discussion and coordinated action to help workers lead the transformation of society.
It connects a workplace dispute with lessons and solidarity from other struggles.
The state & socialismSocialismSosialismeIn this glossary’s CWI perspective, a society moving beyond capitalism through public ownership of the major economic sectors and democratic planning by working people, with international development.
Production is organised around social needs rather than private profit.
Revolution & internationalismSocialism in one countrySosialisme dalam satu negaraThe doctrine advanced under Stalin that socialism could be completed within one country. CWI rejects it, emphasising the world economy and the need to extend revolution internationally.
A revolution can begin in one country without being able to complete socialism in isolation.
Capitalism & economicsSocially necessary labour timeMasa kerja perlu secara sosialThe average labour time required to produce a commodity under prevailing normal conditions, with average skill and intensity. Marx relates commodity value to this social standard.
Taking twice as long individually does not automatically double a product’s value.
Revolution & internationalismSoviet / Workers’ councilSoviet / Majlis pekerjaA council of elected delegates from workplaces, military units or peasant communities. In revolutionary Russia these councils became organs through which working people could contest power.
The word originally means council; it is not simply another name for the USSR.
Revolution & internationalismStalinismStalinismeIn CWI’s analysis, bureaucratic dictatorship that displaced workers’ democracy while retaining nationalised property and planning, accompanied by repression and policies serving the ruling bureaucracy.
A nationalised economy does not by itself establish democratic working-class power.
The state & socialismStateNegara / Aparatus negaraThe institutions that maintain class rule, especially the armed forces, police, courts and administrative machinery. Marxists distinguish this structure from any particular elected government.
An election can replace ministers while the main state institutions continue.
Capitalism & economicsSurplus valueNilai lebihThe new value created by wage workers beyond the value of their labour power, appropriated by capital. It is the source of capitalist profit, interest and rent.
Illustration: RM300 of new value minus RM120 in wages leaves RM180 of surplus value.
Organising & strategyTransitional demandsTuntutan peralihanDemands connecting present needs and consciousness with the struggle for workers’ power. Their transitional role comes from a programme, context and struggle, not special wording alone.
A wage fight can raise opening company accounts and democratic public ownership when bosses threaten closure.
Revolution & internationalismTrotskyismTrotskyismeThe Marxist tradition associated with Trotsky: permanent revolution, internationalism, workers’ democracy, opposition to Stalinism and the transitional method. CWI identifies with this tradition.
It is a political approach and programme, not simply admiration for an individual.
Revolution & internationalismTwo-stage theoryTeori dua tahapThe strategy of separating a capitalist-democratic stage, often under bourgeois leadership, from socialism postponed to a later period. CWI contrasts this with permanent revolution.
Workers are told to postpone independent socialist demands to preserve a capitalist alliance.
Revolution & internationalismUneven and combined developmentPerkembangan tidak sekata dan tergabungDifferent societies develop at unequal speeds while interacting within a world system; modern industries can coexist with older social relations in the same country.
Large modern factories can develop alongside landlord-dominated agriculture.
Organising & strategyUnited frontBarisan bersatuJoint action by workers’ organisations around agreed concrete aims, while each retains its political independence and right to argue its programme.
Different unions cooperate against job cuts without merging their organisations.
Capitalism & economicsUse valueNilai gunaThe usefulness of something in meeting a need. Use value differs from its exchange value or selling price.
Drinking water has use value whether sold, shared or supplied publicly.
The state & socialismWorkers’ democracyDemokrasi pekerjaWorking people’s democratic control over the economy and political life, through elected, accountable and recallable representatives, with safeguards against bureaucratic privilege.
Representatives report to those who elect them and can be replaced between elections.
Class & working lifeWorking class / ProletariatKelas pekerja / ProletariatPeople who depend on selling their capacity to work, rather than owning substantial productive property. Class is a social relationship, not a clothing style or income bracket.
Teachers, nurses and factory operators can all belong to the working class.
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THE POLITICAL PERSPECTIVE
Ideas belong in the struggle.
These original introductory explanations follow the Marxist and Trotskyist perspective of the Committee for a Workers’ International (CWI), drawing on Socialist World, the Socialist Party and Socialism Today. They are Sosialis Alternatif’s learning guide, not an official CWI dictionary.
Examples are simplified illustrations. Terms have histories and are debated across socialist traditions; the reading links let you examine the arguments in context.
Explore CWI’s Introduction to Marxism ↗PUT THE WORDS TO WORK
Organising & strategySocial democracyDemokrasi sosialHistorically a label for mass socialist workers’ parties; later associated with reformist strategies. CWI examines these parties’ changing class character rather than relying on their names.Example & further readingClose details +
An organisation’s historic socialist name does not settle what policies it carries out today.