The Vanguard Party and the Dictatorship of the Proletariat

Shahibzadeh, Yadullah

doi:10.1007/978-3-319-92522-6_3

Yadullah Shahibzadeh²

329 Accesses

Abstract

Lenin argued that only a well-organized political vanguard party can persuade and mobilize the proletariat and other oppressed classes to bring down the state and lead them toward socialism. He defined the bourgeois state as an instrument of suppression of the proletariat, the primary target of the proletarian revolution. On the verge of the Russian Revolution, Lenin conceptualized the dictatorship of the proletariat to explain the transitory nature of the revolutionary state replacing the bourgeois state. Luxemburg’s response to Lenin’s theory and practice of the dictatorship of the proletariat was that a genuine dictatorship of the proletariat distinguishes the hard kernel of the bourgeois democracy, that is, social inequality, from its sweet shell of formal equality and freedom. Thus, while keeping formal democracy, the dictatorship of the proletariat goes beyond the shell and practices unlimited democracy.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution

Chapter: USD 29.95; Price excludes VAT (USA)

eBook: USD 59.99; Price excludes VAT (USA)

Softcover Book: USD 79.99; Price excludes VAT (USA)

Hardcover Book: USD 79.99; Price excludes VAT (USA)

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Notes

1.
V.I. Lenin, April Thesis, Collected works, Volume 24 (Moscow: Progress Publishers, 1974), p. 24.
2.
V.I. Lenin, The State and Revolution (New York: International Publishers, 1932), p. 9.
3.
Ibid., pp. 23–24.
4.
V. I. Lenin, The Chain Is No Stronger Than Its Weakest Link, Lenin Collected Works, Volume 24 (Moscow: Progress Publishers, 1964), pp. 519–520.
5.
V. I. Lenin, Imperialism, the Highest Stage of Capitalism (Sydney: Resistance Books, 1999), pp. 117–118.
6.
V.I. Lenin, What Is To Be Done?, Collected Works 5 (Moscow: Progress Publisher, 1977), p. 353.
7.
Lenin, What Is To Be Done?, Collected Works 5, p. 354.
8.
Ibid., pp. 354–355.
9.
Ibid., p. 369.
10.
Ibid., p. 370.
11.
Ibid., p. 371.
12.
Lenin, What Is To Be Done?, p. 372.
13.
Ibid., p. 373.
14.
Ibid., p. 376.
15.
Ibid., p. 383.
16.
Lenin, What Is To Be Done?, p. 384.
17.
Ibid.
18.
Ibid., p. 472.
19.
Ibid., pp. 479–480.
20.
Lenin, What Is To Be Done?, p. 481.
21.
Ibid., p. 484.
22.
Ibid., p. 502.
23.
Ibid., pp. 506–508.
24.
Ibid., p. 510.
25.
Ibid., p. 514.
26.
Ibid., pp. 515–516.
27.
Lenin, What Is To Be Done?, pp. 517–519.
28.
Ibid., p. 520.
29.
Lenin, The State and Revolution, Selected work 25 (Moscow: Progress Publishers, 1974), p. 391.
30.
Ibid., pp. 391–392.
31.
Ibid., p. 394.
32.
Lenin, The State and Revolution, Selected work 25, p. 398.
33.
Ibid., p. 400.
34.
Ibid., pp. 402–403.
35.
Ibid., pp. 403–404.
36.
Lenin, The State and Revolution, Selected work 25, p. 406.
37.
Ibid., p. 407.
38.
Ibid., pp. 408–409.
39.
Ibid., pp. 410–411.
40.
Ibid., pp. 412–413.
41.
Ibid., pp. 413–414.
42.
Lenin, The State and Revolution, Selected work 25, p. 416.
43.
Ibid., p. 417.
44.
Ibid., pp. 423–424.
45.
Ibid., p. 424.
46.
Rosa Luxemburg, The Essential Rosa Luxemburg: Reform or Revolution & The Mass Strike, Edited by Helen Scott (Chicago: Haymarket Books, 2008), p. 41.
47.
Ibid., pp. 42–43.
48.
Ibid., p. 44.
49.
Ibid., p. 45.
50.
Ibid., pp. 46–47.
51.
Luxemburg, The Essential Rosa Luxemburg: Reform or Revolution & The Mass Strike, p. 61.
52.
Ibid., pp. 64–65.
53.
Ibid., p. 65.
54.
Ibid., p. 66.
55.
Ibid., p. 68.
56.
Ibid., p. 69.
57.
Luxemburg, The Essential Rosa Luxemburg: Reform or Revolution & The Mass Strike, p. 75.
58.
Ibid., pp. 79–80.
59.
Ibid., p. 83.
60.
Ibid., p. 84.
61.
Ibid., p. 86.
62.
Ibid.
63.
Ibid., pp. 88–90.
64.
Luxemburg, The Essential Rosa Luxemburg: Reform or Revolution & The Mass Strike, p. 90.
65.
Ibid., pp. 90–92.
66.
Ibid., p. 93.
67.
Ibid., p. 96.
68.
Ibid., p. 108.
69.
Ibid., p. 113.
70.
Ibid., p. 118.
71.
Luxemburg, The Essential Rosa Luxemburg: Reform or Revolution & The Mass Strike, p. 141.
72.
Ibid., pp. 145–147.
73.
Ibid., p. 148.
74.
Ibid., p. 149.
75.
Ibid., p. 151.
76.
Luxemburg, The Essential Rosa Luxemburg: Reform or Revolution & The Mass Strike, pp. 151–152.
77.
Ibid., pp. 156–157.
78.
Ibid., p. 158.
79.
Ibid., pp. 159–160.
80.
Ibid., p. 160.
81.
Ibid., p. 163.
82.
Luxemburg, The Essential Rosa Luxemburg: Reform or Revolution & The Mass Strike, p. 164.
83.
Ibid., p. 165.
84.
Ibid.
85.
Ibid., p. 169.
86.
Ibid., p. 170.
87.
Ibid., p. 179.
88.
Ibid., pp. 180–181.
89.
Rosa Luxemburg, The Russian Revolution and Leninism or Marxism (Ann Arbor: The University of Michigan Press, 1961), p. 69.
90.
Ibid., pp. 70–71.
91.
Ibid., p. 71.
92.
Luxemburg, The Russian Revolution and Leninism or Marxism, p. 72.
93.
Ibid., p. 76.
94.
Ibid., p. 77.
95.
Luxemburg, The Russian Revolution and Leninism or Marxism, p. 79.
96.
Ibid., pp. 79–80.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Oslo, Norway
Yadullah Shahibzadeh

Authors

Yadullah Shahibzadeh
View author publications
You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Shahibzadeh, Y. (2019). The Vanguard Party and the Dictatorship of the Proletariat. In: Marxism and Left-Wing Politics in Europe and Iran. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-92522-6_3

Download citation

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-92522-6_3
Published: 29 September 2018
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-92521-9
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-92522-6
eBook Packages: Political Science and International StudiesPolitical Science and International Studies (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics