Editing Leninism (section)

=== Vanguard party ===
{{main|Vanguardism}}
In Chapter II, "Proletarians and Communists", of ''[[The Communist Manifesto]]'' (1848), Marx and Engels present the communist party as the political vanguard solely qualified to lead the proletariat in revolution:

{{blockquote|The Communists, therefore, are, on the one hand, practically the most advanced and resolute section of the working-class parties of every country, that section which pushes forward all others; on the other hand, theoretically, they have over the great mass of the proletariat the advantage of clearly understanding the lines of march, the conditions, and the ultimate general results of the proletarian movement. The immediate aim of the Communists is the same as that of all other proletarian parties: Formation of the proletariat into a class, overthrow of the bourgeois supremacy, conquest of political power by the proletariat.|title=|source=}}

The revolutionary purpose of the Leninist [[vanguard party]] is to establish the [[dictatorship of the proletariat]] with the [[working class]]'s support. The communist party would lead the popular deposition of the [[Tsarism|Tsarist]] government and then transfer government power to the working class; that change of the ruling class—from the [[bourgeoisie]] to the [[proletariat]]—makes establishing [[socialism]] possible.<ref>{{cite book |last=Townson |first=D. |title=The New Penguin Dictionary of Modern History: 1789–1945 |location=London |date=1994 |pages=462–464}}</ref> In ''[[What Is To Be Done?]]'' (1902), Lenin said that a revolutionary vanguard party, recruited from the working class, should lead the political campaign because only in that way would the proletariat successfully realise their revolution; unlike the economic campaign of trade-union-struggle advocated by other socialist political parties and the [[Anarcho-syndicalism|anarcho-syndicalists]]. Like Marx, Lenin distinguished between the aspects of a revolution, the "economic campaign" ([[labour strike]]s for increased wages and work concessions) that featured diffused plural leadership; and the "political campaign" (socialist changes to society), which required the decisive, revolutionary leadership of the Bolshevik vanguard party.

==== Democratic centralism ====
{{main|Democratic centralism}}
Based upon the [[First International]] (IWA, International Workingmen's Association, 1864–1876), Lenin organised the Bolsheviks as a [[Democratic centralism|democratically centralised]] vanguard party; wherein free political speech was recognised as legitimate until policy consensus; afterwards, every member of the party was expected to abide by the agreed policy. Democratic debate was Bolshevik practice, even after Lenin banned factions among the Party in 1921. Despite being a guiding political influence, Lenin did not exercise absolute power and continually debated to have his points of view accepted as a course of revolutionary action. In ''Freedom to Criticise and Unity of Action'' (1905), Lenin said:

{{blockquote|Of course, the application of this principle in practice will sometimes give rise to disputes and misunderstandings; but only on the basis of this principle can all disputes and all misunderstandings be settled honourably for the Party. ... The principle of democratic centralism and autonomy for local Party organisations implies universal and full freedom to criticise, so long as this does not disturb the unity of a definite action; it rules out all criticism which disrupts or makes difficult the unity of an action decided on by the Party.<ref>{{cite book |last=Lenin |first=V. I. |author-link=Vladimir Lenin |orig-date=1905 |chapter=Freedom to Criticise and Unity of Action |title=Lenin's Collected Works |publisher=[[Progress Publishers]] |date=1965 |location=Moscow |volume=10 |pages=442–443 |url=http://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1906/may/20c.htm |via=[[Marxists Internet Archive]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210124192311/https://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1906/may/20c.htm |archive-date=24 January 2021 |access-date=30 November 2011}}</ref>}}

==== Proletarian revolution ====
Before the [[October Revolution]], despite supporting moderate political reform—including [[Bolsheviks]] elected to the [[Duma]] when opportune—Lenin said that [[capitalism]] could only be overthrown with [[proletarian revolution]], not with gradual reforms—from within ([[Fabianism]]) and from without ([[social democracy]])—which would fail because the bourgeoisie's control of the [[means of production]] determined the nature of political power in Russia.<ref>{{cite book |last=Lenin |first=V. I. |author-link=Vladimir Lenin |orig-date=1917 |chapter=[[The State and Revolution]] |title=Lenin's Collected Works |publisher=[[Progress Publishers]] |date=1965 |location=Moscow |volume=25 |pages=381–492 |url=http://marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1917/staterev/index.htm |via=[[Marxists Internet Archive]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111203042734/http://marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1917/staterev/index.htm |archive-date=3 December 2011 |access-date=30 November 2011}}</ref> As epitomised in the slogan "For a Democratic Dictatorship of the Proletariat and Peasantry", a proletarian revolution in underdeveloped Russia required a united proletariat (peasants and industrial workers) to assume government power in the cities successfully. Moreover, owing to the [[Middle class|middle-class]] aspirations of much of the peasantry, [[Leon Trotsky]] said that the proletarian leadership of the revolution would ensure truly socialist and democratic socio-economic change.