Since the middle twentieth century, the international socialist movement split into two divergent mutations: “social democracy,” which came to revere private ownership of the means of production, and “communism,” which came to revere violence and despotism— needless to say, these are neither social democracy nor communism to Marx or Marxists.

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Both currents retreated from the aims of socialism— the former by abandoning the socialist method of abolishing private property, and the latter by abandoning democracy grounded in freedom of speech, the very precondition of a socialist society. These deviations were unnecessary revisions based on flawed analyses of the contemporary situation and on misunderstandings of Marx and Engels. Yet the former, in its sincerity, openly declared its own revision without shame, while the latter, in its dishonesty, not only proclaimed its own orthodoxy but also attacked those faithful to the theory by branding them as “revisionist” or “bourgeois.” As a result, genuine fidelity to the theory was lost.

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Certainly, when theory can no longer correspond to reality, revision becomes necessary; but such revision must never be undertaken thoughtlessly. In fact, the revisions of the twentieth century fractured the proletarian class and deprived it of both the opportunity and the capacity for its own essential emancipation.

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The purpose of this journal is to revive orthodox Marxism and to reclaim its true legacy—namely, the ceaseless analysis of and debate on the present conditions—so as to encourage the self‑emancipation of the proletariat and to prepare the conditions that make such emancipation possible. In modern democratic states, this struggle is a peaceful one, and it is sufficient for the proletarians of all countries simply to exercise their own power—namely, the election of proletarian representatives through the vote.

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Workers of the world, unite! The day of liberation draws near. Its power lies in your own hands.