Refuting the assumption that orthodox Marxist theory contains anything of relevance on international relations, this book, originally published in 1980, clarifies, reconstructs, and summarizes the theories of international relations of Marx and Engels, Lenin, Stalin and the Soviet leadership of the 1970s. These are subjected to a comparative analysis and their relative integrity is examined both against one another and against selected Western theories. Marxist-Leninist models of international relations are fully explored, enabling the reader to appreciate the essence and evolution of fundamental Soviet concepts as such as proletarian, socialist internationalism, peaceful co-existence, national liberation movement and détente.

Illustrating the association between Marxist theories of social relations based on economic structures and the realities of international relations, this study reconstructs theories of international relations put forth by Marx and Engels and explores the better-known theories of the Second International concerning imperialism and the nation. The authors also examine theories advanced by Marxist diplomats and intellectuals in recent years.

Where is Marxism in International Relations? The answer lies in this collective work by Brazilian authors who have looked to Marxist theory for an alternative perspective, and therefore outside the dominant ideas in the field, to analyse International Relations. Specifically, the answer is divided into themes: key ideas by Marx and Engels for IR, Marxist thinkers as IR theorists, Marxist theories on imperialism, and the Latin-American theory on dependency. With the end result, this book adds to the international intellectual efforts to criticize and overcome capitalism.

The current conflict which threatens the very existence of the inter national communist movement as a single coherent entity must be looked for in the roots of Marxian philosophy. The central concept of pre-Leninist communism is contained in the notion of "proletarian internationalism. " Yet the emergence of the communist party-states has been squarely predicated on the requirements of single national states, as viewed through the training and experience of the various communist leaders. Thus the Soviet version has been shaped by the nationalism of Lenin, Stalin, and Khrushchev. The only aberrant case, the internationalism of Trotsky, was doomed to failure. The Chinese version of "communism" has as its root concepts the spirit of "prolonged" struggle against a superior enemy, whose ultimate defeat is ensured through the dialectics of political growth. The non communist societies are by definition "decadent. " The movement came to power by exploiting the nationalism engendered within China by the Japanese invasion. Its mass support was based on the peasantry, although the transparent fiction of "proletarian leadership" was strictly maintained. Further, "communism" is a term which has lost its original encompassing definition. Peking now narrowly defines it as policies consonant with "the thought of Mao Tse-tung. " Thus both the Soviet and the Chinese interpretation of "commun ism" are based on a concept which was anathema to the intellectual founders of the movement.

Current divergence from traditional Leninist orthodoxy is attributed to such phenomena as nuclear warfare, continued Western prosperity and the Sino-Soviet split, according to this systematic analysis of Soviet foreign policy.