Bill F.
Updated from
an earlier Marxism Today article
Most
people who are serious about the need for revolutionary change in Australia
agree that the working class is the main force, and that the working class needs
its own revolutionary organisation. The form and style of working class
revolutionary organisation is a point of difference between various trends in
the revolutionary movement.
Marxist-Leninists
seek to build a revolutionary vanguard party as the ideological, political and
organisational leadership of the working class. Here we look at some of the
characteristics of a revolutionary vanguard party and examine how these differ
from other models sometimes put forward.
An
organisation of revolutionaries
A
key feature is Lenin’s concept of a ‘vanguard’ party consisting of ‘professional’
revolutionaries dedicated to organising and leading the working class through its
inevitable economic and political struggles.
Revolutionary
work should be carried out in a way that steadily develops the political
consciousness of the working class. Political consciousness empowers workers to
understand the economic and political features of their particular society,
their class position in that society and the need to ultimately overthrow the
dominant class rulers of the society, rather than merely pursuing day to day
narrow economic interests.
To
provide the necessary leadership for this to happen, it follows that party
members must study and really grasp the essence of Marxist ideology and
philosophy. It is not enough just to be ‘progressive’ or ‘left’ or even
‘militant’ without a depth of understanding of Marxism.
Depth
does not mean theoretical understanding alone, although familiarity with
fundamental concepts is essential. It means being able to interpret events from
a class standpoint, being able to apply the Marxist method of dialectical analysis
to all sorts of struggles, situations and people. It means finding ways to advance
the political awareness of workers in struggle and the class as a whole. It
means finding ways to mobilise workers into activities and actions where they can
learn from their own experience the real nature of the class system that
exploits and oppresses them.
It
means every comrade must become an active contributor, taking responsibility
and being accountable to the collective. Some may have the time, capacity and
opportunity to contribute more than others, but all play their part in
advancing the Party Program. In this
revolutionary party Lenin noted, “…all
distinctions as between workers and intellectuals, and certainly
distinctions of trade and profession, must be utterly obliterated.” (What
is to be Done 1902)
Most
other models of revolutionary organisation do not require such high individual and
collective standards from the membership. Some put forward the concept of a
‘mass revolutionary party’ which usually means that anyone can join, whether or
not they are activists or just active when they feel like it, or are merely passive
supporters.
Seemingly
anti-elitist, this concept ensures that the membership is quickly sorted in
tiers, with the leadership dominated by a small group of well-read and articulate
intellectuals rather than both workers and intellectuals working and learning alongside
each other in struggle.
Mass line method of
political work
Another key feature
of a revolutionary vanguard party is the way in which it conducts its political
work amongst the workers and the masses.
The starting point
must always be investigation, both academic and practical. Mao Zedong put it
bluntly enough, “No investigation, no right to speak.” In other words, listen
to people, seek the facts and don’t just charge in with preconceived ideas. Knowledge
must be connected to practice and this demands research, study and
understanding of the principal and secondary contradictions in society.
After investigation,
sort out the main contradiction from the secondary ones. Sort out the strengths
and weaknesses of the forces involved, the people’s forces and the enemy’s
forces. Sort out the tactics of struggle most likely to involve the mass of
workers or people in struggle, and work to win support for this. At all times,
promote unity around the main demands, be where the struggle is hardest, build
networks of allies and encourage natural leaders from the ranks of the masses.
In the aftermath of
struggle, whether successful or not, be there to assist in summing up and
drawing out the main lessons from people’s experience. In this way, comrades can
move the level of political consciousness to a higher level.
This style of
political work is not easy. It requires comrades to have close and regular involvement
with people over a prolonged period of time, whether in the workplace,
community or in particular issue organisations.
In contrast to this,
the style of some petty-bourgeois radical groups is to set up a headquarters
and drag people away from their natural circles into a ‘left’ hothouse. They
hobnob with trade union officials and ‘left’ personalities. Some even blow in
on activities organised by others and push their newspapers, leaflets and
badges promoting often completely different issues. Such behaviour only
alienates people and gives a bad name to ‘socialists’ and the ‘left’ generally.
Democratic
centralism
Democratic
centralism is also a key feature of a vanguard party. It is characterised by a
high level of self-discipline based on an understanding that the role of a
Communist is to serve the people and to recognise the importance of the collective,
not to seek personal gains.
Decision-making
is carried out through systems of democratic consultation and democratic
voting. Once a decision has been made, there is an obligation on all members to
carry it out. Dissenting minority views can be reserved and re-presented on a
future occasion, but in the meantime, all members are expected to unite and
work to implement democratically agreed decisions.
It
was plainly put by Mao Zedong in his article, The role of the Chinese Communist Party in the national war (1938)
where he stated, “We must affirm anew the discipline of the party, namely: the
individual is subordinate to the organisation, the minority is subordinate to
the majority, the lower level is subordinate to the higher level and the entire
membership is subordinate to the Central Committee.” Mao himself was in a
minority position on the Central Committee for more than ten years, but never
violated democratic centralism.
In
other political organisations, such discipline does not apply. Those with
minority views can just walk away from any responsibility to implement the
agreed policies. Factional activities are accepted and often formalised, even
when the factions work to undermine and sabotage democratic decision-making.
This petty-bourgeois attitude to party discipline stems from the substitution
of liberalism and trade union politics and methods over revolutionary politics
and methods.
Forces
of the state
Another
key feature is the attitude to the forces of the state apparatus. While making
use of the limited scope of ‘legal democratic rights’ to agitate, distribute
material, conduct meetings and so on, a vanguard party also takes into account
the surveillance and disruption instigated by the paid agents of the state
apparatus.
It
should never be forgotten that many millions of dollars are pumped into
spreading rumours, intercepting mail, telephone and email communications,
tracking comrades, friends and acquaintances, to say nothing of outright
spying, infiltrating agents and poisoning relationships, as well as blatant
bribery and intimidation.
There may now be greater
recognition of this with the WikiLeaks and Snowden disclosures, but that just
means the revolutionary movements must exercise greater responsibility and
greater care.
A revolutionary
vanguard party guards its members, supporters and mass connections as much as
possible. It does not conduct all its business in public scrutiny. It does not
proceed as though the ruling class in ‘its’ country is so ‘civilized’, so
‘nice’ as to never resort to vicious, fascist repression in defence of its
wealth and power and domination of society.
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