![]() But there are obstacles to working-class self-emancipation. In short, for Lenin-as for Karl Marx before him-the emancipation of the working class must be the act of the working class itself. Paul D'Amato is managing editor of the International Socialist Review and author of The Meaning of Marxism, a lively and accessible introduction to the ideas of Karl Marx and the tradition he founded. He also rejected parliamentary socialism for viewing socialism as something accomplished by politicians on behalf of the working class. That's why Lenin opposed individual terrorism, for example-since it created a passive majority waiting on a small minority to take action for them. Lenin's insistence on the need for a revolutionary party is based on the idea that the working class can't be liberated by anyone standing over or outside its ranks. Lenin and the Bolsheviks were a vanguard in the true sense of the word-not isolated cranks. There are, no doubt, self-declared "vanguard" organizations of a few hundred people or less that lead nothing and repeat worn-out clichés.īut Lenin himself was a leader of a mass party in Russia that led a successful revolution. ![]() To the extent that critics of Leninism are denouncing what is, in fact, a caricature of Lenin-that any vanguard party will be top down and autocratic-there's little to be said. SOCIALISTS WHO consider themselves Leninists are often criticized for wanting to create a "vanguard party."
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