Counter-revolution in the context of "Authoritarian socialism"

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⭐ Core Definition: Counter-revolution

A counter-revolutionary or an anti-revolutionary is anyone who opposes or resists a revolution, particularly one who acts after a revolution has occurred, in order to try to overturn it or reverse its course, in full or in part. The adjective "counter-revolutionary" pertains to movements that would restore the state of affairs or the principles that prevailed during a pre-revolutionary era.

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👉 Counter-revolution in the context of Authoritarian socialism

Authoritarian socialism, or socialism from above, is an economic and political system supporting some form of socialist economics while rejecting political pluralism. As a term, it represents a set of economic-political systems describing themselves as "socialist" and rejecting the liberal-democratic concepts of multi-party politics, freedom of assembly, habeas corpus, and freedom of expression, either due to fear of counter-revolution or as a means to socialist ends. Journalists and scholars have characterised several countries, most notably the Soviet Union, China, Cuba, and their allies, as authoritarian socialist states.

Contrasted to democratic socialist, social democratic, anti-statist, and libertarian forms of socialism, authoritarian socialism encompasses some forms of African, Arab and Latin American socialism. Although considered an authoritarian or illiberal form of state socialism, often referred to and conflated as socialism by critics and argued as a form of state capitalism by left-wing critics, those states were ideologically Marxist–Leninist and declared themselves to be workers' and peasants' or people's democracies. Academics, political commentators and other scholars tend to distinguish between authoritarian socialist and democratic socialist states, with the first represented in the Soviet Bloc and the latter represented by Western Bloc countries which have been democratically governed by socialist parties - such as Britain, France, Sweden and Western social-democracies in general, among others. Those who support authoritative socialist regimes are pejoratively known as tankies.

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Counter-revolution in the context of Dekulakization

Dekulakization (Russian: раскулачивание, romanizedraskulachivaniye; Ukrainian: розкуркулення, romanizedrozkurkulennya) was the Soviet campaign of political repressions, including arrests, deportations, or executions of millions of supposed kulaks and their families. Redistribution of farmland started in 1917 and lasted until 1933, but was most active in the 1929–1932 period of the first five-year plan. To facilitate the expropriations of farmland, the Soviet government announced the "liquidation of the kulaks as a class" on 27 December 1929, portraying kulaks as class enemies of the Soviet Union.

More than 1.8 million peasants were deported in 1930–1931. The campaign had the stated purpose of fighting counter-revolution and of building socialism in the countryside. This policy, carried out simultaneously with collectivization in the Soviet Union, effectively brought all agriculture and all the labourers in Soviet Russia under state control.

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Counter-revolution in the context of Marxism-Leninism

Marxism–Leninism (Russian: марксизм-ленинизм, romanizedmarksizm-leninizm) is a communist ideology that became the largest faction of the communist movement in the world in the years following the October Revolution. It was the predominant ideology of most communist governments throughout the 20th century. It was developed in the Soviet Union by Joseph Stalin and drew on elements of Bolshevism, Leninism, and Marxism. It was the state ideology of the Soviet Union, Soviet satellite states in the Eastern Bloc, and various countries in the Non-Aligned Movement and Third World during the Cold War, as well as the Communist International after Bolshevization. Today, Marxism–Leninism is the official ideology of the ruling parties of China, Cuba, Laos, and Vietnam, as well as many other communist parties. The state ideology of North Korea is derived from Marxism–Leninism, although its evolution is disputed.

Marxism–Leninism was developed from Bolshevism by Joseph Stalin in the 1920s based on his understanding and synthesis of classical Marxism and Leninism. Marxism–Leninism holds that a two-stage communist revolution is needed to replace capitalism. A vanguard party, organized through democratic centralism, would seize power on behalf of the proletariat and establish a one-party communist state. The state would control the means of production, suppress opposition, counter-revolution, and the bourgeoisie, and promote Soviet collectivism, to pave the way for an eventual communist society that would be classless and stateless.

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Counter-revolution in the context of Contras

The Contras (Spanish: La contrarrevolución, lit.'the counter-revolution') were the anti-communist right-wing rebels who waged a guerilla war against the Marxist Sandinista National Liberation Front and the Junta of National Reconstruction, which came to power after the Nicaraguan Revolution in 1979. The Contras war against the Sandinista government lasted from 1979 until 1990 and was one of the highest profile conflicts of the Cold War.

Following the Nicaraguan Revolution in 1979, which led to the fall of Anastasio Somoza Debayle, Nicaragua's president by the Sandinistas, various groups were formed in opposition to the Sandinistas, including by Samoza allies and former members of the National Guard, and also by Anti-Somozistas' groups whom had previously been aligned with and fought alongside the Sandinistas. The United States and several other countries provided military assistance and financial aid to the Contras. In 1981, the CIA and Argentina's Secretariat of Intelligence persuaded several Contra groups to unite into the larger Nicaraguan Democratic Force (FDN).

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