I’ve always heard my comrades insist that Marxism-Leninism is scientific. I understand how dialectical materialism is scientific, and I understand that Marxism-Leninism is rooted in dialectical materialism. For a while, that satisfied me, but lately I’ve been reading material about how Marxists might present falsifiable hypotheses which made me realize I don’t understand how this works at all.
How do I, a Marxist, go about studying society scientifically in a way that dovetails nicely with dialectical materialism? Do I have to do experiments? What does that look like? How will I know if I’m wrong? Examples would help.
It just kinda depends. You don’t need to know the difference between α and β values or how to read a χ2 table to be a good activist. What you mainly need to know is how to discern fact from propaganda (which is why most MLs love to say “read theory”). And through dialectical materialism, you should know how to not only integrate fact into your actions, but also integrate the results of those actions into fact, thus adapting your informal ‘model’ of reality. Dialectics is rather similar to the scientific method, but with less formal controlled experimentation. Dialectical practice is mainly concerned with the causes and effects of actions in the real world, and adjusting our practice until results and theory merge together.
Party leaders, on the other hand, would need some semblance of understanding of management, basic methods of interpreting studies, how to allocate resources to studies, and just generally know enough to talk to scientists and statisticians in order to make informed decisions. But the nitty-gritty of hypothesis testing and data analysis should be left to the experts. Most fields of study take years to get into for a reason. Someone in charge of organizing a lot of people can’t get lost in the weeds, though. They need data summaries to get an idea of how real life systems, production methods, and power structures work, and then be able to review what changes their budgets or policy changes made to the state of those structures.
The Three Sources and Three Component Parts of Marxism by Lenin
Socialism: Utopian and Scientific by Engels
An example of Lenin doing analysis on census data
An example of Lenin’s communications with the Central Statistical Board
ON PRACTICE by Mao.
PRELIMINARY CONCLUSIONS OF THE LAND INVESTIGATION CAMPAIGN You can get a feel for the differences between the ways Lenin and Mao communicate about data here. Lenin has a head for statistical sciences and manages in a rather traditional bureaucratic manner. Mao delegates and encourages committees to have some degree of autonomy and discretion so long as they follow the main directives. Note that the land investigation campaign simultaneously re-organized the land and reported on the results of their efforts, rather than simply performing a population survey. Practice of the method is integrated deeply with the study.
METHODS OF WORK OF PARTY COMMITTEES