| abstract
| - Shigaism (Japanese: 志賀主義, Shiga-shugi) is a term used to refer to the political teachings of Kazuo Shiga, founder of the Communist Party of Akitsu, and their followers. It is consider by some to be a revisionist view on communism. Though adherents to Shigaism reject the notion of revisionism most also openly acknowledge that there are "fundamental differences" between Shigaism and traditional Marxism and almost none claim to hold the same political viewpoint as well-known communists such as Karl Marx and Vladimir Lenin. Much of Shigaist political theory stems mainly from the book that Kazuo Shiga wrote known simply as "Communism of Akitsu", published before the Soviet-Shigaist Split. Parts of it also stems from other texts from Kazuo Shiga and the Communist Party of Akitsu, including the Ideals of the Akitian Factory Laborers Union and the Manifesto of Communist Party of Akitsu. A defining point of Shigaist political theory is the rejection of the notion that a violent proletarian revolution is absolutely necessary to achieve the goal of pure communism. Rather, they argue that in nations with an established democratic system that is respected by the government a violent revolution is unnecessary, and that within such nations the goal of pure communism can be achieved through the democratic process. It also advocates that in such situation a democratic revolution take place, in that the capitalist society would be gradually replaced with a socialist one, with the socialist one being a transitional phase to the establishment of pure communism.
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