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Leninism refers to various related political and economic theories elaborated by Bolshevik revolutionary leader Vladimir Lenin, and by other theorists who claim to be carrying on Lenin's work. Leninism builds upon and elaborates the ideas of Marxism, and serves as the philosophical basis for Communism and the pre-Stalin government of the Soviet Union.
The term "Leninism" itself did not exist during Lenin's life. It came into widespread use only after Lenin ended his active participation in the Soviet government due to a series of incapacitating strokes shortly before his death. Grigory Zinoviev popularized the term at the fifth congress of the Communist International (Comintern).
Leninism has become one of the dominant branches of Marxism since the establishment of the Soviet Union. Leninism's direct theoretical descendents are Stalinism and Trotskyism, named for Josef Stalin and Leon Trotsky, associates of Lenin who became the leaders of the two major political and theoretical factions that developed in the Soviet Union after Lenin's death. Proponents of each theory (such as Stalin and Trotsky themselves) often deny that the other is a "real" Leninist theory, and claim that their own theory is the only true successor to Lenin's ideas.
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