Left communism

Left communism, or the communist left, describes a range of positions held by the left wing of communism, which criticises the political ideas and practices held by Marxist–Leninists and social democrats. Left communists assert positions which they regard as more authentically Marxist than the views of Marxism–Leninism espoused by the Communist International after its Bolshevization by Joseph Stalin and during its second congress. There have been two primary currents of left communism since World War I, namely the Italian left and the Dutch–German left. The Italian communist left includes the Bordigist and Damenite currents and considers itself to be Leninist, but denounces Marxism–Leninism as a form of bourgeois opportunism materialized in the Soviet Union under Stalin.