Maximum programme

In Marxist theory, a maximum programme consists of a series of demands which will achieve socialism.

The concept of a maximum programme comes from the Erfurt Programme of the SPD, later mirrored by much of the Socialist International. The maximum is contrasted with a minimum programme of immediate social demands. In the short term, parties were to pursue only the minimum programme of achievable demands, which would improve the lives of workers until the inevitable collapse of capitalism. These groups believed that the achievement of a minimum programme would enable them to become mass parties and pursue their maximum programme.