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📜 Rewriting history 🛠️ Changing doctrine
revisionism

revisionism

2 9.1
A political idea that supports changing socialist ideas to accept gradual reforms instead of revolution
  • noun
  • /rɪˈvɪʒənɪzəm/
  • Specialized
translation icon : revisionismo
  • The movement towards gradual reforms in the party reflects a clear shift towards revisionism instead of a revolutionary approach.
  • postmodern revisionism

Examples

  • We upheld Marxism-Leninism against modern revisionism, which was first espoused by Khrushchev and then by his successor Brezhnev.

    Blog text (9)

  • C. These parties failed because of "revisionism" and must purge all "revisionist" elements within their ranks.

    Blog text (22)

  • And so the revisionism becomes, you know, an official policy of all of these right wing groups of all of them.

  • Leader Charge and White Hat are not talking about revisionism or political correctness.

    Academic text (1991)

  • Revisionism continued, and we could make no progress unless it was wiped out.

    Academic text (1993)

  • One stemmed from what might be called conservative revisionism, especially among right-wing intellectuals.

    Academic text (1999)

  • Historians, as well as the public, have an aversion to radical revisionism: it is unsettling, for it undermines our confidence that we understand the past.

    Academic text (2010)

  • Lenin has talked about the intimate relationship between imperialism and revisionism, and the revisionism grows on the protection and support of imperialism.

    Blog text (19)

  • Many historians disagree with the notion of revisionism when it suggests altering widely accepted historical facts.

  • The debate over revisionism in academic circles highlights the tensions between traditional and modern interpretations of socialism.

Synonyms

reformism
vsrevisionism
1 7.8

Belief in making slow changes to laws and society rather than sudden change

aims specifically at changing established Marxist doctrine rather than general reform
Fabianism
vsrevisionism
9.9

Belief that socialism should come slowly through legal reforms rather than by revolution

focuses on altering core party theory rather than following law
deviationism
vsrevisionism
  • Archaic
9.9

Moving away from a party's official ideas, especially in communist parties

advocates changing doctrine as a theory rather than merely an act

Antonyms

conservatism
83 4.9

A belief in keeping traditional values and avoiding quick change

orthodoxy
29 7.4

Traditional beliefs and practices accepted by a group, especially in religion

Compounds

historical revisionism
  • Formal
1 7.9

A change to the accepted story of past events

How Reformist

radicalism
14 8.1
revisionism
  • Specialized
2 9.1
reformism
1 7.8
orthodoxy
29 7.4

Surface Forms

revisionism singular
revisionisms plural

Morphology

revisionism = revision (semi-transparent) = revision + ism

Formed from 'revision' + '-ism', but in political contexts it denotes a specific ideological stance with connotations not fully predictable from 'revision' alone.

Etymology

Revisionism comes from the common verb revise, with re- meaning 'again' and revise meaning 'to change or check again'. So in politics, revisionism is the idea of changing older socialist ideas, often by choosing slow reforms instead of a full revolution.