The Marxist–Leninist Party of Germany is an Anti-Revisionist

Anti-Revisionist

In the Marxist–Leninist movement, anti-revisionism refers to a doctrine which upholds the line of theory and practice associated with Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels, Vladimir Lenin and Joseph Stalin, and usually either Mao Zedong or Enver Hoxha as well...

 Marxist-Leninist, Maoist, Communist political party

Political party

A political party is a political organization that typically seeks to influence government policy, usually by nominating their own candidates and trying to seat them in political office. Parties participate in electoral campaigns, educational outreach or protest actions...

 in Germany

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

 without parliamentary representation. It was founded in 1982 by members of the Communist Workers Union of Germany (Kommunistischer Arbeiterbund Deutschlands; KABD).

The MLPD has traditionally defined itself as Maoist

Maoism

Maoism, also known as the Mao Zedong Thought , is claimed by Maoists as an anti-Revisionist form of Marxist communist theory, derived from the teachings of the Chinese political leader Mao Zedong . Developed during the 1950s and 1960s, it was widely applied as the political and military guiding...

 in orientation, originating from the heritage of Maoism in the 1960s student movements. It declares the political and economical changes in most of the eastern European countries after the 20th Party Congress as treason to socialism

Socialism

Socialism is an economic system characterized by social ownership of the means of production and cooperative management of the economy; or a political philosophy advocating such a system. "Social ownership" may refer to any one of, or a combination of, the following: cooperative enterprises,...

. It refers to the ideas of Karl Marx

Karl Marx

Karl Heinrich Marx was a German philosopher, economist, sociologist, historian, journalist, and revolutionary socialist. His ideas played a significant role in the development of social science and the socialist political movement...

, Friedrich Engels

Friedrich Engels

Friedrich Engels was a German industrialist, social scientist, author, political theorist, philosopher, and father of Marxist theory, alongside Karl Marx. In 1845 he published The Condition of the Working Class in England, based on personal observations and research...

, Vladimir Lenin

Vladimir Lenin

Vladimir Ilyich Lenin was a Russian Marxist revolutionary and communist politician who led the October Revolution of 1917. As leader of the Bolsheviks, he headed the Soviet state during its initial years , as it fought to establish control of Russia in the Russian Civil War and worked to create a...

, Joseph Stalin

Joseph Stalin

Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin was the Premier of the Soviet Union from 6 May 1941 to 5 March 1953. He was among the Bolshevik revolutionaries who brought about the October Revolution and had held the position of first General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union's Central Committee...

 and Mao Zedong

Mao Zedong

Mao Zedong, also transliterated as Mao Tse-tung , and commonly referred to as Chairman Mao , was a Chinese Communist revolutionary, guerrilla warfare strategist, Marxist political philosopher, and leader of the Chinese Revolution...

, some adherents oriented themselves also at Enver Hoxha

Enver Hoxha

Enver Halil Hoxha was a Marxist–Leninist revolutionary andthe leader of Albania from the end of World War II until his death in 1985, as the First Secretary of the Party of Labour of Albania...

 after the Deng Xiaoping

Deng Xiaoping

Deng Xiaoping was a Chinese politician, statesman, and diplomat. As leader of the Communist Party of China, Deng was a reformer who led China towards a market economy...

-era began in China.

It promotes the "Dictatorship of the proletariat

Dictatorship of the proletariat

In Marxist socio-political thought, the dictatorship of the proletariat refers to a socialist state in which the proletariat, or the working class, have control of political power. The term, coined by Joseph Weydemeyer, was adopted by the founders of Marxism, Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, in the...

" as a condition for the development of socialism. The MLPD wants to abolish the current German constitution and replace it with a new social order of socialist orientation.

It participates in the International Conference of Marxist-Leninist Parties and Organizations

International Conference of Marxist-Leninist Parties and Organizations (International Newsletter)

The International Conference of Marxist-Leninist Parties and Organizations is a grouping of parties and organizations adhering to Marxist-Leninist-Maoist thought...

 (ICMLPO) and the International Coordination of Revolutionary Parties and Organizations

International Coordination of Revolutionary Parties and Organizations

The International Coordination of Revolutionary Parties and Organizations is an association of more than 40 “autonomous, independent and self-reliant” communist parties and organizations...

 (ICOR).

The MLPD's youth movement is called Rebell (Rebel).

At the 1998 federal elections the party gained only 0.01 percent of the votes. In 2002 the MLPD didn't participate at the federal elections and called on people for boycott.

The MLPD participated in the 2005 federal elections

German federal election, 2005

German federal elections took place on 18 September 2005 to elect the members of the 16th German Bundestag, the federal parliament of Germany. They became necessary after a motion of confidence in Chancellor Gerhard Schröder failed on 1 July...

, generally positioning itself in campaigns as a radical alternative to the Left Party

Left Party (Germany)

The Party of Democratic Socialism was a democratic socialist political party active in Germany from 1989 to 2007. It was the legal successor to the Socialist Unity Party , which ruled the German Democratic Republic until 1990. From 1990 through to 2005, the PDS had been seen as the left-wing...

. The MLPD won 0.1 percent of the total votes cast. This marked a tenfold increase compared to the result of 1998, despite the competition through the Left Party.

Its strongest showing was in the states of Saxony-Anhalt

Saxony-Anhalt

Saxony-Anhalt is a landlocked state of Germany. Its capital is Magdeburg and it is surrounded by the German states of Lower Saxony, Brandenburg, Saxony, and Thuringia.Saxony-Anhalt covers an area of...

 and Thuringia

Thuringia

The Free State of Thuringia is a state of Germany, located in the central part of the country.It has an area of and 2.29 million inhabitants, making it the sixth smallest by area and the fifth smallest by population of Germany's sixteen states....

, where it garnered 0.4 percent of the vote.

Although some German labor unions declare a simultaneous membership in the labor union and the MLPD inadmissible, many members of the party are members of a labor union and even fulfill a task there. Thereby some MLPD members were already excluded from a labor union, among these the present chairman of the party Stefan Engel, who used to be a member of the IG Metall

IG Metall

IG Metall is the dominant metalworkers' union in Germany. Analysts of German labor relations consider it a major trend-setter in national bargaining. As a metalworkers' union, it represents workers in the motor vehicle industry...

 and is now a member of Ver.di

Ver.di

-External links:* * on the ver.di homepage...

.