“Non-partyism is a bourgeois idea. Partyism is a socialist idea” (Lenin. Socialist Party and Non-Party Revolutionaryism. Collected works, 5th ed., vol. 12, p. 138).
The questions are designed in such a way that the first sentence of each question expresses the assignment, and the subsequent sentences specify it and are at the same time an approximate plan for answering the question. Questions written in italics and enclosed in parentheses are supplemental.
- Explain what philosophy is. Explain the difference between a philosophical system (theory) and people’s philosophy on life. State what kind of effect philosophers’ theories have on existing views in society. Conversely, discuss the relationship between the ideas held by society and the work of philosophers.
- Prove that all philosophies known to history (including modern philosophies) have been class philosophies. Explain what constitutes the basis of philosophical views. Explain why, in a class society, philosophy cannot appear and develop apart from class interests and class struggle.
- Explain why the working class needs its own philosophy. Point out the similarities between the various philosophical theories of the past. What class perspectives do they reflect? Indicate what place in society these classes occupied before the Great October Socialist Revolution and what place they occupy now. Explain how this circumstance affects the spread of philosophical ideas and views. Demonstrate how the historical task of the proletariat is related to the need to have and develop a philosophy of its own.
- Explain why dialectical materialism is the worldview of the Marxist-Leninist Party. State what role the party plays in the revolutionary struggle of the working class. Explain the importance of theory, including philosophy, for the party. (Do you think dialectical materialism/Marxism-Leninism can also be a worldview for some other layer of modern society which is not fully proletarian?) Explain the danger of passively borrowing ideas from the old, bourgeois philosophies to the party and the class of proletarians.
- Talk about the attitude of Marxist-Leninist philosophy towards truth. Give an example of a common rebuke of class (partisan) philosophy. Why do you think this rebuke is most often targeted at Marxist-Leninist philosophy? Please explain your understanding of the idea that human cognition approximates absolute truth. Explain what role historical and contemporary social classes and class struggle play in this process. Indicate what grounds we have for considering the worldview of the working class to be closest to the truth.
- Explain how the pursuit of objective truth is related to the goals and objectives of the working class. Explain how the system of exploitation of man by man is connected to the disguise of one idea as another and to the formation of deliberately false ideas about nature and society. Give examples of this disguise and the artificial methods used by the exploiting classes. Show that the tasks of the working class are the opposite of those of the exploiting classes. Point out what contributes to the success of these tasks and the victory of the struggle against the exploiting classes.
- Explain how the goals and historical tasks of the proletariat are reflected in the whole character of the philosophy of Marxism-Leninism. List the main differences between the philosophy of dialectical materialism and the former philosophy. Point out the connection that is present between practice, science, the mass of workers, and the philosophy of dialectical materialism. What accounts for this connection? Explain how the negation of all previous philosophy by the philosophy of Marxism-Leninism should be understood?
Talk about the two sides of Marxist-Leninist philosophy. Explain what obliges the conscious part of the proletariat to look at things and phenomena dialectically. Explain what is meant here by dialectics. (Why do you think it was the proletariat that first came face to face with the need for such a view?) Explain further why this view must also be materialist. Tell us what is meant by materialism in this case and its relation to dialectics.
