Editing Bolsheviks (section)

===Vladimir Lenin's ideology in ''What Is to Be Done?''===
[[File:Kustodiev The Bolshevik.jpg|left|thumb|''Bolshevik'', [[Boris Kustodiev]], 1920]]

Lenin's political pamphlet ''[[What Is to Be Done?]]'', written in 1901, helped to precipitate the Bolsheviks' split from the [[Mensheviks]]. In [[German Empire|Germany]], the book was published in 1902, but in [[Russian Empire|Russia]], strict censorship outlawed its publication and distribution.{{Sfn | Pipes | 1995 | p = 106}} One of the main points of Lenin's writing was that a [[revolution]] can only be achieved by a strong, professional leadership with deep dedication to Marxist theoretical principles and an organization that spanned through the whole of Russia, abandoning what Lenin called "artisanal work" towards a more organized revolutionary work. After the proposed revolution had successfully overthrown the Russian autocracy, this strong leadership would relinquish power and allow a [[socialism|Socialist]] party to fully develop within the principles of [[democratic centralism]]. Lenin said that if [[professional revolutionaries]] did not maintain influence over the fight of the workers, then that fight would steer away from the party's objective and carry on under the influence of opposing beliefs or even away from revolution entirely.{{Sfn | Pipes | 1995 | p = 106}}

The pamphlet also showed that Lenin's view of a socialist [[Intelligentsia#Bolshevik perspective|intelligentsia]] was in line with [[Marxist Theory|Marxist theory]]. For example, Lenin agreed with the [[Marxism|Marxist]] ideal of social classes ceasing to be and for the eventual "[[withering away of the state]]". Most party members considered unequal treatment of workers immoral and were loyal to the idea of a completely [[classless society]]. This pamphlet also showed that Lenin opposed another group of reformers, known as "[[Economism|Economists]]", who were for economic reform while leaving the government relatively unchanged and who, in Lenin's view, failed to recognize the importance of uniting the working population behind the party's cause.{{Sfn | Pipes | 1995 | pp = 21–30 }}