Editing Decadence (section)

==Use in Marxism==
===Leninism===
According to [[Vladimir Lenin]], [[capitalism]] had reached its highest stage and could no longer provide for the general development of society. He expected reduced vigor in economic activity and a growth in unhealthy economic phenomena, reflecting capitalism's gradually decreasing capacity to provide for social needs and preparing the ground for [[Socialism|socialist]] revolution in the West.  Politically, [[World War I]] proved the decadent nature of the advanced capitalist countries to Lenin, that [[capitalism]] had reached the stage where it would destroy its own prior achievements more than it would advance.<ref name=libcom>[http://libcom.org/library/decadence-aufheben-2 Decadence: The Theory of Decline or the Decline of Theory? (Part I)]. ''[[Aufheben]]''. Summer 1993.</ref>

One who directly opposed the idea of decadence as expressed by Lenin was [[José Ortega y Gasset]] in ''[[The Revolt of the Masses]]'' (1930). He argued that the "[[mass man]]" had the notion of material progress and scientific advance deeply inculcated to the extent that it was an expectation.  He also argued that contemporary progress was opposite the true decadence of the [[Roman Empire]].<ref>Mora, José Ferrater (1956). ''Ortega y Gasset: an outline of his philosophy.'' Bowes & Bowes. p. 18.</ref>

===Left communism===
Decadence is an important aspect of contemporary [[Left communism|left communist]] theory. Similar to Lenin's use of it, left communists, coming from the Communist International themselves started in fact with a theory of decadence in the first place, yet the communist left sees the theory of decadence at the heart of [[Karl Marx|Marx's]] method as well, expressed in famous works such as ''[[The Communist Manifesto]]'', ''[[Grundrisse]]'', ''[[Das Kapital]]'' but most significantly in ''[[A Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy|Preface to the Critique of Political Economy]]''.<ref>Marx, Karl (1859). ''A Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy.''  Progress Publishers.</ref>

Contemporary left communist theory defends that Lenin was mistaken on his definition of imperialism (although how grave his mistake was and how much of his work on imperialism is valid varies from groups to groups) and [[Rosa Luxemburg]] to be basically correct on this question, thus accepting capitalism as a world epoch similarly to Lenin, but a world epoch from which no capitalist state can oppose or avoid being a part of. On the other hand, the theoretical framework of capitalism's decadence varies between different groups while left communist organizations like the [[International Communist Current]] hold a basically [[Luxemburgist]] analysis that makes an emphasis on the world market and its expansion, others hold views more in line with those of [[Vladimir Lenin]], [[Nikolai Bukharin]] and most importantly [[Henryk Grossman]] and [[Paul Mattick]] with an emphasis on monopolies and the falling [[Tendency of the rate of profit to fall|rate of profit]].