Two characterizations of modern revisionism should be rejected: (1) the view that it has a proletarian class nature, and (2) the identification of modern revisionism with social democracy.

Regarding the first point: Modern revisionism is not a deviant Marxism, and its states are not ‘deformed workers’ states.' Rather, revisionism is a project of the imperialist bourgeoisie that deploys a false Marxism to rally its mass base, centered on the labor aristocracy.

The US and post-1956 Soviet Union had an identical class character: both were imperialist states. The USSR was in no way "more socialist" than the USA.

Regarding the second point: Modern revisionism is a historical novelty that we must distinguish from the social-democratic revisionism of Kautsky and the Second International.

With modern revisionism, what is in question is not simply an imperialist bourgeoisie hiding behind a false Marxism in order to rally the labor-aristocratic core of its base.

Rather, modern revisionism represents a distinct project of the new state bureaucratic monopoly bourgeoisie. Its class nature was revealed and criticism of it developed only during the course of the revolutionary struggles of the GPCR.